MAURICE JARRE

   

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Film music composer Maurice Jarre attended the University of Lyons, then went to Paris, where he studied engineering at the Sorbonne before entering the Paris Conservatoire to study composition and percussion. He became musical director of the Théâtre National Populaire and composed his first film score for the short Hôtel des Invalides in 1951. He worked mostly on short films through the mid-'50s before graduating to mostly full-length features in the late '50s. By the early '60s, he had begun to attract international attention, getting assignments from British and American directors, and with that he embarked on a remarkably prolific career that found him scoring an average of over three films per year during the 40-year period 1960-1999.

Jarre's first major international success came with British director David Lean's 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia. The soundtrack album containing the composer's appropriately lush and exotic music just missed topping the American LP charts, and when the film swept the Academy Awards, Jarre received his first Oscar for best original score. The following year, he was nominated for the award for best adapted score for the French film Sundays and Cybèle. He repeated his success with Lawrence of Arabia by scoring Lean's next mammoth production, Doctor Zhivago (1965). Again, he won the best original score Oscar, and the soundtrack album, stimulated by Ray Conniff's Top Ten vocal recording of "Lara's Theme" under the title "Somewhere, My Love," topped the charts and went gold. It was one of only a handful of all-instrumental recordings of movie scores ever to hit number one.

Jarre had his third soundtrack album in the charts in March 1967 with Grand Prix, the music for director John Frankenheimer's 1966 racing film, which spent more than six months among the LP best-sellers, and though the disappointing critical response to David Lean's 1970 effort Ryan's Daughter probably robbed Jarre of another Oscar, the soundtrack album of his music did get into the charts. The motion picture academy bestowed nominations on Jarre for The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean in 1977 and Mohammad, Messenger of God in 1977, and he finally won a third Oscar for his music to David Lean's return to filmmaking and final work, A Passage to India, in 1984.

The 1980s were even busier for Jarre than the '70s had been, and he adapted himself to the expanded opportunities offered by technological innovations, composing and performing electronic music for such scores as the one for Peter Weir's The Year of Living Dangerously (1983) and Witness (1985). The latter earned an Oscar nomination, while Jarre's music for Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome produced a soundtrack album that reached the Top 40. There were further Academy Award nominations for Gorillas in the Mist in 1988 and Ghost in 1990. The composer slowed his busy pace after turning 70 in 1994, but he entered the new century still working, with I Dreamed of Africa released in 2000. (Jarre's son, Jean-Michel Jarre, is also a composer.)

     

FILMOGRAFIE:

2001
Uprising

2000
I dreamed of Africa ***

1999
Sunshine ****

1997
Le Jour et la Nuit (Day and Night)

1996
Sunchaser, The

1995
Walk in the Clouds *****

1993
Fearless
Mr. Jones

1992
Shadow of the Wolf (Agaguk)  ****
School Ties ****
Setting Sun (Rakuyô)

1991
Fire Within (Little Havana)
Only the Lonely

1990
Almost an Angel
Jacob´s Ladder (Dante´s Inferno)
After Dark My Sweet
Solar Crisis
Ghost ***

1989
Enemies: A Love Story
Prancer
Dead Poets Society ***
Chances Are

1988
Wildfire
Distant Thunder
Gorillas in the Mist: Story of Dian Fossey ***
Moon over Parador
Murder of Marry Phagan (TV)

1987
Le Palaquin des Larmes
Gaby: A true Story
Julia and Julia (Giulie e Giulia)
Fatal Attraction
Shuto Shoshitsu (Tokyo Blackout) 
No Way Out

1986
Solarbabies (Solar Warriors) 
Mosquito Coast ****
Tai-Pan
Apology (TV)

1985
Enemy Mine ****
Bride ****
Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome ***
Witness ***

1984
A Passage to India ****
Dreamscape
Top Secret! ****
Sky´s No limit (Sky´s the limit) (TV)

1983
Au Nom de tous les miens (For those I loved)

1982
Don´t Cry It´s only thunder (Vietnam: Hell or Glory)
Year of Living Dangerously ***
Young Doctors in Love ****
Firefox
Coming Out of the Ice (TV)

1981
Vendredi ou la vie sauvage (Robinson Crusoe and Man Friday) (TV)
Taps 
False Witness (Circle of Deceit / Le Faussaire / Fälschung, Die)

1980
Black Marble 
Lion of the Desert
Shogun! (TV series) ***
Resurrection
Last Flight of Noah´s Ark

1979
American Success Company (The Ringer / Success)
Magician of Lublin (Der Magier)
Winter Kills
Die Blechtrommel (Tin Drum)

1978
La Tortue sur le Dos (Like a Little Turtle on its back)
Ishi: The Last of his Tribe (TV)
Mourning Becomes Electra (TV series) 
Users (TV)
Two Solitudes
Crossed Swords (Prince and the pauper) 

1977
March or Die
Jesus of Nazareth (TV)

1976
Message (Mohammed, Messenger of God) ***
Risâlah, al-
Last Tycoon
Shout at the Devil

1975
Rudyard Kipling´s: Man Who Would be the King ****
Mr. Sycamore
The Silence (TV)
Posse
Mandingo

1974
Island at the Top of the World
Great Expectations (TV)
Grandeur Nature (Life Size / Love Doll)

1973
Ash Wednesday
Macintosh Man

1972
Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, The ***
Jean Vilar, Un Belle Vie
Liza with a "Z" (Singer Presents Liza with a "Z")
Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
Pope Joan (Devil´s Imposter)

1971
Soleil Rouge (Red Sun)
Plaza Suite

1970
Una Stagio all´inferno
Ryan´s Daughter ****
El Condor
Only Game in Town

1969
Extraordinary Seaman
Topaz ***
La Caduta Degli Dei (Damned)
Survivors (TV)

1968
Isadora (Loves of Isadora)
Fixer
5 Card Stud
Villa Rides

1967
Cimarron Strip: The Battleground (episoda TV seriálu)
25th Hour

1966
Night of the Generals
Grand Prix
Gambit
The Professionals
Is Paris Burning?

1965
Doctor Zhivago *****
The Collector (Butterfly Collector) ****

1964
Weekend at Dunkirk
The Train ***
Behold a Pale Horse

1963
Les Animaux (The Animals)
Judex
To Die in Madrid
A King Without Distraction
Les Rustres

1962
Dragon sky
Olive Trees of Justice
Sun in Your Eyes
Therese
Your Shadow is Mine
Les travestis du diable
Lawrence of Arabia *****
Les Dimanches de Ville d´Avray
Longest Day

1961
Famous Love Affairs
Spotlight on a Murderer
Three Faces of Sin
The Witnesses
Big Gamble
The President

1960
De fil en Aiguille (TV)
Recourse in Grace
Crack in the mirror
Lovers on a Tightrope
Itchy Palm

1959
Vel' d'Hiv
Eyes without a Face
Vous n'avez rien à déclarer? 
Étoiles de midi, Les (Stars at Noon)
Les Dragueurs (The Chasers / The Dredgers / You have no morals)
Tête contre les murs, La (Head against the wall  / The Keepers)

1957
Bel indifférent, Le 
Feu aux poudres, Le (Burning Fuse)

1956
Sur le pont d'Avignon 
Théâtre national populaire, Le 
Toute la mémoire du monde 

1952
Hôtel des Invalides 

     

© Petr Kocanda 1998-2003, last version 22.07.2003 09:45