THE “WORLD’S” OPINION – MUST SEE
There is little to say, ultimately, about Michel Legrand (1932-2019). Gifted. Hungry for life and music. Outstanding arranger and orchestrator, cool creator of ambient music. Capsifying melodist, composer of hundreds of film scores, many of them unforgettable. Associated for eternity with the musical comedies of Jacques Demy (1931-1990). Accomplice of the divine Nougaro. Moreover, it seems, a dog's character. Not the first artist to shine in the genre.
Read the obituary (in 2019): The composer Michel Legrand is dead
Read later
The documentary devoted to him by David Hertzog Dessites, notwithstanding its almost two hours of duration, does not say much more. We could, of course, be alarmed. Call for more complexity. More perspectives. Claiming that a documentary shouldn't just be pure hagiography. If only because artists are anything but saints.
But what's the point? David Hertzog Dessites is a fan, should we blame him? He demands the right to be charmed. He loves Legrand so much that he continues to speak to him personally in voiceover in his film. He draws from the archives to remind us of his sublime tunes. It requires testimonies that confirm it to us. A biography, in broad strokes, is also being written. The character of the father, Raymond Legrand (1908-1974), the greatest French arranger of the interwar period, unloving and unloved. The discovery of bop in 1949 in Pleyel at a Dizzy Gillespie concert. Piano lessons with the uncompromising Nadia Boulanger. America, where he works with Miles Davis and Bill Evans, who extends his arms to him.
Three Oscars
Film music will be his nirvana, and will earn him three Oscars. A woman is a woman (Jean-Luc Godard, 1961) ; Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda, 1962) ; Eva (Joseph Losey, 1962) ; Pretty May (Chris Maker and Pierre Lhomme, 1962); The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964); The Young Ladies of Rochefort (Jacques Demy, 1967); The Thomas Crown Affair (Norman Jewison, 1968) ; Donkey skin (Jacques Demy, 1970); A summer of 42 (Robert Mulligan, 1971) ; The Bride and Groom of the Year II (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1971); Breezy (Clint Eastwood, 1973); and many more.
Died in 2019, at the age of 86, Michel Legrand met David Hertzog Dessites a year before his death. We understand, implicitly, that the preparation of the film was as important for one as for the other.
You have 23.75% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
