Hollywood Theory, Non-Hollywood Practice: Cinema Soundtracks in the 1980s and 1990s (review)

Annette Davison's book is a welcome contribution to the burgeoning area of research known as film musicology. With a crystal-clear writing style, the author does a wonderful job of proposing original interpretations about certain films and practices, while also informing the reader about theories that underlie critical enquiry into film and film music. One cannot overestimate the importance of this framework for doing film musicology, and the book offers one of the first comprehensive discussions of major theorists and their ideas. These range from Bazin, the New Wave, and other auteurs at the Cahiers du cinéma to theories of utopia and spectatorship associated with Adorno, Kaja Silverman, and Caryl Flinn. Each chapter gets into broad filmic issues suggested by its material or approach.

The main point of the book is that many non- Hollywood (read European) films of the 1980s and 1990s display scoring practices that question or depart from classical Hollywood methods even as they make reference to those methods in some fundamental way. A perceptive and mostly convincing feature is the way in which Davison connects stylistic observations to institutional matters—for example, the implications of the studio system, of corporate culture, and of characteristic modes of production and distribution. In this way Hollywood Theory partakes of cultural studies and becomes something much more than an analysis of specific films. For those of us doing film musicology, of whatever stripe, Davison's widely cast net is not just informative but suggests productive ways to study film and music's role in it.

Although not indicated specifically in the table of contents, the volume divides into two parts, preceded by an Introduction and capped by an Epilogue. Part I consists of three chapters that lay out general issues and theories. Chapter 1, 'Classical Hollywood Cinema and Scoring', begins with a historical account that traces the notion of a 'classical' style, with Bazin, Metz, and others, ending with the neo-formalism of David Bordwell, Janet Staiger, and Kristin Thompson. A substantial discussion centres on the nature of classical Hollywood scoring and proceeds to Eisler and Adorno's critique, Composing for the Films (1947). Recent theories of Hollywood scoring, including those of Claudia Gorbman and Kathryn Kalinak, conclude the chapter. Chapter 2, considerably shorter, explores 'post-classical' cinema and scoring. Chapter 3, less successful than its predecessors, repeats material presented earlier as it treats major alternatives to classical Hollywood scoring, starting with Eisenstein. In all, a fair number of theories are summarized in the three chapters. And while a few are incorporated into Davison's analyses of specific films later on, many are not. This exemplifies the dual nature of the volume, as theory for its own sake, useful though it is, becomes as prominent as theory for specific interpretative purposes. Consequently, the book often feels more like a textbook than a critical study.

Chapters 4-7, the heart of the study, analyse major films by major film-makers outside Hollywood: Jean-Luc Godard's Prénom Carmen (1983), Derek Jarman's The Garden (1990), Wim Wenders's Der Himmel über Berlin (1987; English title Wings of Desire), and David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990). These form a nice balance among film traditions, language, and the director's relationship to Hollywood practices. Since I am personally familiar with two of the films, I will devote most of this review to them.

Chapter 4 asks 'What is the role of the quartet?' in Godard's Prénom Carmen. The film is notorious for incorporating fragments of Beethoven quartets and outside noises such as seagulls and urban traffic into a story with a Carmen for our times: a sexy leftist bandit inhabiting both the centre and fringes of society. The quartet music appears mostly in brief sequences of an actual string quartet in rehearsal, and only a few times with the main narrative. Davison argues that 'Prénom...