Edith Piaf vs. 'Inception's Mind Heist
It makes sense once you think about it
Thanks to C. Robert Cargill for pointing out the video to the right on Twitter. For those of you continuing to look for clues and curiosities within Christopher Nolan's Inception here comes one more this time taking a look at an interesting comparison having to do with Hans Zimmer's score.
For those that own the soundtrack you'll recognize the comparison music from Zimmer's score as the first track on the disc, "Half Remembered Dream". As noted in the video by YouTube user "camiam321," the second piece is "Non, je ne regrette rien" performed by Edith Piaf, the music the characters in Inception use as their musical countdown for their "kick" back to reality.
Essentially, the theme to Inception is really nothing more than a slowed down version of Piaf's song, this is something both Nolan and Zimmer addressed in interviews for Inception, one being the piece written up at CHUD.com. Here's a snippet:
Said [Chris] Nolan: 'Right at the beginning of our post-production process, I had to make the decision of "Do I get the sound department or do I get the music department?" Do I get Hans to manipulate that track until it sounds as if you're hearing it through the dream, where it slows down and gets massive and all the rest. There was an interesting way to go; what I decided to do was give it to Hans and let him run with it and see if in some way it might inform elements of the score, because we always knew, we talked in early conversations about how towards the action climax of the film, there was going to be a need for the score to interweave seamlessly with this source cue, which is and extremely difficult technical thing to do.'
'It was also a fun thing to do,' said Zimmer. 'At one point the ambition was for Chris and I — we like having a chat about these things. The ambitions are at one point you have the Edith Piaf song going on in 4/4 which cuts across a different time in ¾ and all these different sorts of puzzles and these Penrose, Roger Penrose-type constructions, and I think Chris and I were really pleased that we had three different times going on, three different things going on.'
I guess my ear isn't well tuned enough to pick up on this on my own, but the more you think about the nature of the film and how things play out this is a musical decision that only makes sense. Give the video a watch and enjoy.
If you haven't yet bought the score for Inception you can do so right here.
In other Inception news, it has just crossed the $100 million mark.
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I noticed that. So glad i was right. Also, ironic that Marion Cotillard won her Oscar for playing Piaf and now its so prominently used here in this movie. Funny Nolan or just a coincidence?
Actually it IS a coincidence – kind of. Nolan had already decided on the music BEFORE casting Cotillard. He actually wanted to change the music after the casting but Zimmer insisted that the music choice was perfect, regardless of the casting.
Yeah, the Piaf-Cotillard thing is just a coincidence. I don't like it when people insinuate that it's some sort of inside joke. The song fits perfectly with the film's theme of guilt and regret that runs through the film.
It sounds very interesting that Nolan wanted the song to resonate differently in the multiple dream levels. I guess I'll have to go see it again and listen more attentively.
On a side note, when Inception picks up a few Oscars, wouldn't it be awesome if they played the Piaf song? Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part…
I actually caught it right away (My grandmother is a big Piaf fan.) and I highly doubt that it was a coincidence. Scores are usually made as part of the post production process and I think Nolan chose the song to add an extra level of depth to the character of Cobb that would not have been there had they casted anyone either then Cotillard. Sure, it a small thing that most may not even notice but I think Nolan's proven to be way too smart for that to just happen.
What I find odd is that this article makes no mention of this coincidence. How could anyone miss that? I actually found it distracting, at some level.
i dislike Inception's score( Wagner is sober next to the score) and how Piaf's song is used in the movie
It seems as though Nolan may be a fan of the film La Vi En Rose. With the music cues..casting of Cotillard and there is a scene in the film where a young Edith Paif wears makeup resembling Heath Ledger's make-up in The Dark Knight. Either that or it's all a happy coincidence…or we are all dreaming. Where's my totem?