Film Music
Analysis Project –
Movie Choice: ‘Laura’
Music by: David Raksin
MFT 3
Music in Film and Television:
Critical Theory
Semester 2, 2008
Opinions and research by: Lyndi Green (Beyers)
Student no: 205008356
Lecturer: Professor Potgieter
Laura
1. Provide a brief discussion (two paragraphs) of
film noir.
Film Noir is a category of film made during or just after the Second
World War; a classic film style of the 1940’s and 50’s using dark
themes, stark camera angles (the director not indulging in camera
gimmicks or fancy angles, or using a particular filming style) and
high-contrast lighting. At this time (1940’s and 50’s) men were seen
as not fitting into society. Women were seen as the aggressors, and
in film of this time women symbolized the Femme Fatale, always
under suspicion of wrong-doings. The male is very often a
policeman or private-investigator who ends up solving the story. He
is the vigilant, yet displaced male who is disliked by those around
him. Film noir tells realistic stories about crime mystery, femme
fatales and moral conflict.
2. Give a brief outline of the plot of this film and
explain to what extent it is (and isn’t) typical of
film noir.
‘Laura’ is the story of a Park Avenue society lady murdered in her
apartment. A Detective, Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is brought to
investigate the case. He tries to get inside the head of the victim,
Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney). He also questions the men in her life – the
journalist and critic, Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) and her fiancé
Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price). Detective McPherson finds himself
falling in love with Laura as he spends more and more time in her
apartment and looks on her portrait painting. He is shocked when
Laura appears from a brief time away from town. Who is Laura’s killer?
Infact, who was killed, if Laura is still alive? These are the questions
that Detective McPherson faces as he questions, gathers clues and
finally discovers the killer to be Waldo Lydecker. The first part of the
movie is narrated by Waldo who tells the detective his story of Laura.
McPherson becomes equally obsessed by Laura. The second half of the
movie is told by the detective.
Tagline: The story of a love that became the most fearful thing that
ever happened to a woman.
Plot: A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he
is investigating.
Scenes and musical detail:
Main Titles:
Laura’s theme music is played over credits(non-diegetic music).
Laura’s portrait is shown in the backround.
1. Interogation
This scene establishes the two main male characters in the story
(Lydecker and McPherson). The viewer begins to see glimpses of the
two male characters obsession for Laura. Laura is identified as the
object of their desire, especially to Lydecker. The scene begins with
Waldo narrating: “I shall never forget the weekend Laura died…” – the
Laura theme plays in the backround. Detective McPherson enters
Waldo’s apartment. No music is heard, but we do hear the chimes of
the clock. We notice the clock, which will turn out to be an important
part of the mystery. (the only other clock similar is in Laura’s
apartment). Mr Lydecker and McPherson converse while Mr Lydecker is
in his bath. They discuss Laura’s murder. The Detecter admits he
suspects Lydecker to be her murderer. “Were you in love with Laura
Hunt, Mr Lydecker? Was she in love with you?”
2. A Question of Motive
No music. We arrive at Mrs Tredwell’s apartment (Laura’s aunt). The
detective questions her on the murder and Laura’s upcoming marriage
to Shelby Carpenter. “Was Laura in love with Mr Carpenter?” Did Mrs
Tredwell give him money? She seems to have taken out a large sum of
money from her bank account, and it has been transferred into Mr
Carpenter’s account. Mr Carpenter arrives, and we assume he has
been staying with Mrs Tredwell. The detective wonders if the two of
them are involved in a conspiracy of killing Laura.
3. The Apartment
Laura’s apartment: no music while Mr Carpenter, Mr Lydecker and the
detective approach and enter her apartment. Once inside the
apartment, the men notice Laura’s portrait. Laura’s theme song is
played on the record player (diegetic music). We find out Mr Carpenter
had a key to Laura’s apartment. Detective McPherson plays with a
hand game to keep him calm. This irritates Lydecker. (The detective
uses his hand game throughout the movie to help him calm down and
think clearly.)
4. Initial encounter, Character assassination, Job interview,
Backround check, Confrontation, Decision time
Here the viewer is introduced to a restaurant scene, the place where
Lydecker and Laura first met. Diegetic music plays in the form of a trio
(piano, accordion and violin) who play Laura’s theme. The Detective
and Lydecker sit at a table and Lydecker tells McPherson the tale of
Laura. The viewer is taken back in time by a mental flashback of
Lydeckers as he tells his story. (this is the first time the viewer sees
Laura in the flesh and alive). Laura and Lydecker met five years before.
She was working at an advertising agency and asked Lydecker to
endorse a pen. He refuses. He is annoyed, yet intrigued by her. In the
next mental flashback no music is played. We see Mr Lydecker at
Laura’s agency and he signs her advertisment. Music returns. Laura’s
theme plays as Lydecker tells McPherson how he helped develop
Laura’s career. Lydecker falls in love with her, then feels betrayed
when he sees her with another man (Jacoby – the man who painted her
portrait). Mr Lydecker confesses he thought Jacoby wasn’t good enough
for Laura (jealous). Lydecker writes an article in the newspaper
badmouthing Jacoby, and Laura leaves him. In the next mental
reflection we see Laura at a party with Lydecker and she meets Shelby
Carpenter. (Music is South American party music, Cha-Cha, bossa
based on Laura’s theme – diegetic). We switch to the next memory
with Laura visiting Lydecker. He shows Laura his investigation into Mr
Carpenter. She refuses to hear anything bad about Shelby. Laura tells
Lydecker she is marrying Shelby the following week. Lydecker suspects
Carpenter is having an affair. They depart to confront Mrs Tredmill and
Mr Carpenter dining. In the next mental flashback Laura phones
Lydecker to announce she is leaving for the country to think about her
upcoming marriage. Lydecker tells McPherson this is the last time he
heard Laura’s voice. We are now back in the restaurant scene in
present time. The music has stopped. Lydecker and McPherson leave
the restaurant together and go their separate ways. Detective
McPherson suspects Lydecker was involved in Laura’s murder.
5. Cheap Scotch
This scene is of Laura’s apartment. McPherson is on the telephone with
a liquor shop. He is inquiring about scotch that he found in Laura’s
apartment. He interviews Laura’s maid, Bessie Cleary. No music. He
reads her personal letters and diary. McPherson asks the maid about
the scotch. Someone was with Laura on the Friday night when she was
killed and brought scotch with them. The killer, he wonders? The
doorbell rings. Mr Carpenter, Mrs Tredmill and Lydecker enter. The
detective offers scotch to the visitors. Mr Carpenter and Mrs Tredmill
accept. Lydecker speaks of Laura’s clock that he gave her and that he
wants it back. (We later find out that the murder weapon is hidden in
the clock). Everyone leaves.
6. Falling in love
The scene opens on a rainy night and McPherson entering Laura’s
apartment. The music that is playing (non-diegetic) is dark and
suspicious. McPherson looks at Laura’s portrait, and Laura’s theme
song plays. (the music especially when the viewer sees her portrait,
speaks on behalf of a mute Laura – the theme plays to remind us of
Laura’s unseen presence). When McPherson looks away, the suspicious
music returns. (Oboe in the melody, with strings playing Laura’s theme
juxtaposed over it.) McPherson walks around looking for more clues. He
smells her perfume and becomes intimate with her personal
belongings. He drinks some of her liquor. He looks at her portrait.
(Laura’s theme plays – nondiegetic). He is falling in love with a ‘dead’
woman. Mr Lydecker arrives at Laura’s apartment and questions
McPherson on why he is in Laura’s flat. The detective admits he wants
to buy Laura’s portrait. Mr Lydecker departs. McPherson continues
looking at Laura’s portrait (Laura theme plays)– the portrait symbolizes
the male ‘lost object’ idea, Laura being the perfect, unattainable
woman. He falls asleep. (Music stops).
7. Surprise entrance
Laura enters her apartment and confronts the detective. He realizes
she is alive and has not been murdered. Who is the woman they found
murdered in Laura’s apartment? Laura has been up in a cottage in the
country and did not hear the news of her death. He asks Laura who
had a key to her apartment. Carpenter had a key. Laura shows
McPherson a blouse belonging to Diane Redford that was hanging in
her closet. McPherson realizes that it was Diane Redford that was
killed, not Laura. He thinks Laura or Carpenter could have killed Diane.
Laura has decided not to marry Carpenter. McPherson leaves Laura’s
apartment.
McPherson goes to his office. He tells another officer that the dead
body is not Laura. The two detectives hear Laura on the telephone with
a man, and that she is to meet him in his car.
8. Shelby’s Tale
Mystery music is played – nondiegetic (enhaces the mood, tells the
viewer that to expect – mystery and intrigue). Laura is seen leaving
Carpenters car. Carpenter drives off. McPherson follows him. Carpenter
drives to the country cottage and enters. McPherson follows him into
the room and catches him with a gun. (Mystery music ends- has
McPherson found the murder weapon and the murderer?). Carpenter
tells McPherson that he gave the gun to Laura for protection. The
weapon has been shot with lately. Carpenter admits he took scotch to
Laura’s apartment on the Friday of the murder. He had had dinner with
Diane and then took her to Laura’s apartment. Diane had answered the
doorbell and was shot. Carpenter found her dead and then fled the
scene. McPherson turns on the radio (Big band music- diegetic music) –
he realizes Laura had been lying that the radio was not working at the
cottage; she could have heard about her murder. McPherson and
Carpenter leave the cottage in the rain.
9. Too much
McPherson visits Laura at her apartment. No music. He has brought her
breakfast. Bessie is shocked to find Laura is alive. Carpenter arrives
with flowers for Laura. Laura has decided to marry Carpenter after all.
Doorbell rings. Mr Lydecker arrives. He faints with shock when he
realizes Laura is alive. They revive him. Mr Lydecker organizes a party
to celebrate Laura being alive.
10. Celebration
Music: Big band style. Muted trumpets, strings as melody. Laura’s
theme (the music speaks on behalf of Laura saying she is happy to be
alive and that everyone else is so happy to see her) in duple foxtrot
dance music (the foxtrot dance music signifies those that have come to
the party and their attitude of celebration) – diegetic music. Mr
Carpenter and Anne talk. Anne wants him back in her life. Laura and
Anne talk in the dressing room about who the possible murderer could
be. Anne tells Laura she wants Carpenter to herself. The phone rings. It
is for McPherson. He is to arrest the murderer: Laura. Laura and
McPherson leave for the police station.
11. Prime suspect/ Grilled
The scene opens at the police station. No music (Laura is mute and not
telling what she knows or suspects). McPherson tries to make Laura
confess to the truth. Laura did not kill Diane Redford. But she is hiding
something. McPherson tells her she can go home.
Next scene: McPherson is in a taxi and drives to Lydeckers apartment.
12. Like Clockwork
(Nondiegetic – mysterious music). McPherson enters Lydeckers
apartment. He hears the clock chime (Diegetic sound). (Laura’s theme
plays interspersed with mysterious music – nondiegetic music – the
listener is called to notice that there are clues to be presented about
the murder of ‘Laura’. The clock chimming tells us it could be a clue to
the murder). McPherson opens the clock to see if the murder weapon is
hidden within. He doesn’t find anything inside.
13. A second chance
Laura’s apartment. No music. Laura and Lydecker are speaking about
McPherson. She is afraid Mr Lydecker wants to hurt her. McPherson
arrives. McPherson tells Laura that her shotgun has been cleared and
she is no longer on the list of possible murderers. Laura tells Lydecker
she doesn’t want to see him anymore. Lydecker leaves. (Non diegetic
mysterious music plays as he leaves- is the music telling us he is the
murderer? Or that Laura suspects him to be the murderer). Laura and
McPherson open her clock and find the murder weapon. Lydecker is the
murderer. McPherson and Laura discuss how the murder could have
happened. Lydecker wanted Laura to himself. He thought he was
shooting Carpenter, but shot Diane by accident. McPherson kisses
Laura (she was the lost object, and now has been conquered – will she
live up to McPherson’s idealic idea of her?). McPherson leaves to arrest
Lydecker. (non diegetic music plays – Laura’s theme – as Laura
switches off her light and goes to bed.) Lydecker arrives at Laura’s
apartment and opens her front door. He goes over to the clock to
remove the gun. Laura hears a sound. The clock chimes. Lydecker
takes out the gun. Puts in bullets. (We hear Lydeckers voice over the
radio – diegetic sound). Lydecker walks to Laura’s room to kill her.
Police arrive at Laura’s door. Guns are fired. Lydecker is shot. He dies.
The clock is broken (the clock was a symbol of Lydecker’s love/
obsession for Laura which is now broken). Non-diegetic music plays
and ends the movie – Laura’s theme.
End credits
Laura’s theme is played while end credits run.
Discuss why ‘Laura’ is/ or isn’t typical of film noir:
Yes, Laura is typicl of film noir genre’. This is a realistic crime mystery
story with Laura playing the ‘femme fatale’ and moral conflict is played
out in characters like Lydecker (who wants Laura to himself – should he
kill her lover to gain her love?), McPherson (Can I fall in love with a
woman I am investigating), Carpenter (Should I be having this affair?),
and Laura (Should I marry Shelby? Do I trust him?). The film is typical
of film noir in the use of stark camera angles and high-contrast lighting
(“Laura” is in black and white). The theme is dark and is about murder,
intrigue and crime.
3. Discuss the problematisation of gendered
relationships in film noir, and explain how this is
expressed in LAURA. Compare this with feminist
film theory’s perception of the representation of
women in mainstream Hollywood film.
According to Laura Mulvey’s article, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative
Cinema” (1975), cinema constructs ways in which women are to be
looked at from the male’s point of view within the film. The woman
now becomes the object of the story. Mulvey goes on to say that
‘male fetishes and fantasies are built around their ideal of feminity;
‘real’ women are investigated and ultimately measured against this
ideal, rather than being allowed to be their own (feminine) selves.
Because they can never live up to such a fantasy, they are always
found lacking, which leads to their inevitable disavowel. By denying
her the right to become a symbolic presence, patriarchal society
maintains its power over women.
The woman is seen as an absence, as the object of man’s desire,
man is seen as presence. The woman is eternally fixed as feminine,
but not as subject of her own desire. She is eternally fixed and
therefore mute.
The imaginary or semiotic, the (little) other often represents the
female character. Music speaks on her behalf as she is mute. She
cannot speak over the powerful male character’s ideals and desires
of her.
Throughout the first part of the film, Laura never speaks for herself,
but is often spoken about. She remains the object rather than subjects
of the narrative.
4. Discuss the music of this film as follows:
4.1 Give a brief (2 or 3 sentences) backround on
David Raksin, and notate the ‘Laura’ theme in
this film.
David Raksin was born on 4 August 1912 in Philadelphia, USA. The tune
‘Laura’ was inspired by his first wife separating from him. He started
working with dance bands and arranging music for broadway shows.
He came to Hollywood to work with Charlie Chaplin on the music for
the movie ‘Modern Times’. Chaplin hummed and whistled melodies,
and Raksin wrote them down and arranged them into the score. Raksin
had a son, Alex, a Pulitzer prize winning editorial writer for the Los
Angeles Times, a daughter Tina, and three grandchildren. He was
nominated for two Oscars, first in 1948 (Best Music in a Drama or
Comedy in ‘Forever Amber’) then in 1959 (Best Music in a Drama or
Comedy in ‘Separate Tables’). In 1977, he won the Golden Scroll award
from the Academy of Science Fiction, fantasy, horror film, USA. In 1992
he received a Lifetime achievement award by the ASCAP film and
Television Music Awards. He died on 9 August 2004 in Van Nuys,
California, USA.
David Raksin comments on the film: “There is not a lot of music in this
movie, maybe thirty five minutes and that’s not very much.” He goes
on to say that he did not want to overcrowd the movie with music.
Silences were just as important. When Laura is talked about, her theme
is played. The music theme is both haunting and romantic which is the
essence of the Laura character. Raksin adds: “The music is used to
provide a sense of nostalgia and memory, convey characterization and
provide a brooding atmosphere underlying sexuality.” Raksin doesn’t
see the movie only as a detective story but also as a movie about
obsession, a love story in which Laura haunts two different men who
think of her all through the movie. The music interprets these men’s
thoughts of her. It is a detective classic whodunit because there is not
much action and the storyline is slow-moving while clues are gathered
(typical of film noir). The viewer also becomes the detective.
4.2 Describe the way in which this theme’s
transformation from diegetic music to
nondiegetic music may be explained as a
metaphor for the detective’s growing
obsession with (love for) Laura.
At the start of the film, Laura’s theme is played on her radio and
then at the restaurant (Diegetic music). At this time McPherson is
getting to know Laura and she is still a stranger to him. As he
becomes more acquainted with her – looking at her painting, in her
apartment going through her personal belongings – and as he
becomes more obsessed with her, more and more non-diegetic
music is introduced.
The diegetic music is that music which happens onscreen, it belongs
to the narrated story, eg. a live band at a restaurant, or on a radio
or record player. Film music is mostly nondiegetic, music which does
not happen onscreen. When no music is present, the Symbolic order
is being represented. When music is being played, we are entering
the semiotic world. As the detective becomes more and more
obsessed by Laura and gets taken more into his subconscious mind,
the nondiegetic world, beginning with him sitting in her apartment
and looking at her painting. At the start of ‘Laura’, music enters
sparingly. (Symbolic order – masculine, objective, realistic). The
absence of music is significant in itself. We have ‘diegetic musical
silences’, backround music. Music’s absence functions to make the
diegetic space more immediate. Music becomes symbolic of the
detectives desire for Laura. Laura gets associated with a recurring
theme or leitmotif, ‘Laura’s theme’. This melody takes the role of a
musical idée fixe much like that used by Berlioz’s in ‘Symphonie
Fantastique’ in his leitmotif of his love obsession. The theme
represents the detective’s longing for his ‘dream girl’. The theme
plays in Laura’s absence on screen and signifies McPherson’s
thoughts of her (and to remind the viewer of Laura).
When the music is noticed it swings away from the imaginary
toward the symbolic – we become aware that the music is working –
we become conscious of the recurring ‘Laura theme’. ‘Laura’s
theme’ absorbed the associations we made of Laura in the painting
when we first heard the theme, and its repetition recalls that
context. The question becomes, does the ‘Laura theme’ first heard
over the credits symbolize Laura herself or Laura’s impact on us the
audience and her impact on the detective.
4.3 In this film music may be said to counter the
muteness of women in the Symbolic Order by
acting as the voice of the feminine ‘other’.
Discuss this.
The female (Laura) is the object rather than the subject of the
narrative and is then rendered mute, an absence rather than a
presence, and is disempowered. The music represents Laura’s
muteness. She is never the subject, only object. At first she is the
personification of McPherson’s desire of the idée fixe. The Real is
‘what the subject is unable to speak, so it is like a hole in the
Symbolic order.
The structural silences at the start of the film points to the Symbolic
Order, associated with the Law of the Father, with the masculine.
Music is a counter to Laura’s muteness in the Symbolic Order and
offers her an alternative language by giving her a voice that reaches
out from the Imaginary and semiotic level, to the Symbolic. The
‘Laura theme’ aligns itself to the detective, becoming his gaze,
fixing Laura as mute. The music therefore becomes both the
feminine Other and feminine other. Directly proportional to her
objective presence is her subjective absence. The idée fixe steals
power from Laura making her mute, an abstract personality from
the first moment we see her painting. She is placed in the position
of becoming the ideal feminine rather than being allowed to be her
own self. The moment she enters from her time away at the cabin,
she is doomed to disappoint the detective. His scrutiny will
eventually exposes her flaws, and lead to her fall from empowered
‘Other’ to disempowered ‘other’.
Subjective life arises from a need – a desire – to overcome the
muteness of the Real, thus giving birth to the Imaginary and the
Symbolic orders.
In the Symbolic order there is a desire, or lack, in the place of the
Other, and that there is no ultimate certainty or truth, and that the
status of the phallus is a fraud (Rose 1982: 40)
Music takes over another level of narrative that is not the visual
imagery and the story they convey. There is more to the story than
meets the eye and the music tells us this alternate story.
The silences stands for the Big Other stands for society, the Father,
law (McPherson); and the feminine ‘other’ (Laura’s theme)
represents the disempowered, the feminine.
We hear no music when the Symbolic Order is represented – no
suturing of the audience into the story is happening yet. There is no
music at the start of the story ie. McPherson/ the law is present – we
have not been introduced to Laura. The first third of the story tells
us she is murdered and dead. The second third is told by the
investigator when Laura becomes a real presence through the
painting of her in her apartment. The music themes and the
imaginary order speaks to the symbolic order. Laura is the eternally
lost object that Lacan spoke about – the detective is driven by
desire to attain the l’objet petit a. In the last third of the movie,
Laura comes home from the cabin. She is now no longer the lost
object. Laura could be the killer. The detective now sees her as the
Femme Fatale- fallen from grace- (typical character for a women in
the film noir movie category). The Femme Fatale is now under
suspicion, the detective has formed a love-hate relationship with
her. She becomes the object of his anger as well as his desire.
Finally the lady will move from the man’s image of perfection and
become a real person (fallable). He must learn that there is not such
thing as a ‘perfect’ woman or object.
Bibliography
Gorbman, C. 1987. Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music.
Bloomington, Indiana University Press.
Mulvey, L. 1975. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema in Screen.
Potgieter, Z. 2008. From ‘Other’ to ‘other’, from symphony to film:
Musical representation of women in Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique
and in the film The Appointment. Unpublished Film Music class
notes, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth.
Potgieter, Z. 2008. Music in Film and Television: Critical Theory
MFT3. Unpublished Film Music class Study guide notes, Nelson
Mandela University, Port Elizabeth.
Rose, J. 1982. Feminine Sexuality: Jacues Lacan and the Ecole
Freudienne. London, Macmillan.
Laura. 1944
Direction: Otto Preminger
Writers: Vera Caspary (novel); Jay Pratler (screenplay)
Music: David Raskin
Leading actors: Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb, Vincent
Price
Twentieth Centuty Fox Film Corporation
