I have recently watched movie called “Basic Instinct”(1992) directed by Paul Verhoeven. It’s a neo-noir erotic thriller film.
The film follows San Francisco police detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas), who is investigating the brutal murder of a wealthy rock star. During the investigation Curran becomes involved in a torrid and intense relationship with the prime suspect, Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), an enigmatic writer.
I wanted to focus on score for this movie, which in my opinion isn’t one of this soundtracks that I would listen to afterwords, however it definitely “gets its job done”. By this term I mean that soundtrack did everything that it was expected from soundtrack to do. First of all it was revealing unseen or impending drama moments. Whenever something was about to happen, sound intensified, got faster. Typical manipulation, in this moments, was use of pizzicato strings and piano played on low tones. Another element, soundtrack has fulfilled, was providing transition or in other words being a “sonic glue”. It helped to smoother transitions between scenes and help viewer to accept sudden geographic displacements as the drama develops. My friend once told me that really good score, is the one you won’t even notice in a movie. Therefore last element that is worthy appreciating, is the fact that music was one with the story line. I had to constantly remind myself to focus on the soundtrack because I kept forgetting to put attention to it, during watching, as the sound was literally blending into movie.
based on soundtrack from movie “Basic Instinct”(1992) composed by Jerry Goldsmith