Blonde (soundtrack)

Critical reception for Cave and Ellis' score were positive, with reviewers highlighting as "one of the positive aspects of the film".[12]^[13] Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in called it as "an ethereal score that foreshadows Monroe’s fate".^[14] Calling it as "a gloriously evocative score", Mark Kermode of The Guardian "a melancholy symphony of ambient electronica and eerie voices, interspersed with tinkling acoustic themes that sprinkle a hint of tearful stardust glitter upon a sea of mournful tragedy and despair."^[15] Clint Worthington of Consequence had called the score as "arresting and hypnotic",^[16] while Siddhant Adlakha of IGN called it as "gentle" and "glamorous".^[17] Kaveh Jalinous of Under the Radar wrote that "the film’s score, composed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, is hauntingly beautiful and perfectly connects with the images on-screen".^[18]

Analysing the film's music, BBC's Rafa Sales Ross wrote "It is in great part due to the soulful empathy of Cave and Ellis's music that Blonde manages to prod at unyielding melancholia without ever needing to resort to a cheap tugging of emotional heartstrings. When Norma Jeane stumbles upon a calming love, the skin-tingling synthesiser beats employed to mark the pace of the woman's sexual escapades give way to the stirring falsettos of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' Bright Horses, a song that plays like a hymn, written in memory of Cave's late son. It foreshadows the imminent sorrow doomed to drown all sense of joy and, still, for a brief moment in time, one gets a glimpse of what could have been."^[19] Jeremy Urquhart of Collider, in defense of the film against its polarizing critical reviews, had praised the music, saying "the sparse, eerie pieces of music are perfect accompaniments to Blonde's story and visuals, with an instrumental from their 2019 song, "Bright Horses," proving particularly moving during one of the film's rare (semi) hopeful moments."^[20]

Charts

Notes

References