Hors de Prix

The French Camille Bazbaz has made a career as a pop-reggae-soul artist. I can’t comment on this part of his career, but some think of him as a very creative person in that particular field. He wrote the music to Cinne elle Respire, Les Marchards de Sable, Apres Vous and Hors de Priix (2006), marking his most recent film work to date.

Hors de Prix is a small romantic comedy starring Audrey Tautou and Gad Elmaleh. The film has a generally relaxing Mediterranean atmosphere which is reflected splendidly with a consistent warm and lighthearted mood. The style ranges from some jazzy cues performed by a jazz band to melodies inspired by the tango, while incorporating their styles and rhythms. The musical palette includes the Hammond organ, jazz flute, piano, percussion, trumpets and more instruments.

From a dramatic point of view there are two piano solo cues (Une Saison and La Piscine) that underscore the typical feelings of disappointment in love. Like the rest of the music, it’s overtly functional, but does not trigger some ’out of the ordinary’ emotion.

The composer' score is almost primarily aimed to provide a comfortable, soft listening experience, which is its greatest strength and weakness. At times,the music does tend to get as unremarkable as elevator music, which will not be very pleasing to everyone. I am quite confident that in another film, permitting him more time and space to explore a more energetic approach. It generally brings back memories of a great deal of European scores from the period of 1960-1970, times when Italian and French composers seemingly effortlessly wrote works in similar fashion, while the level of inspiration could vary given each individual project.



Tracklist
1. Hors de Prix – Générique (4:26)
2. La plage (2:46)
3. Une nouvelle journée (3:02)
4. Harmonica (4:03)
5. La piscine (1:56)
6. Scooter (3:53)
7. Une saison (1:33)
8. Escroc (1:49)

Total duration: 23:00