Description
Les Papillons Noirs (2022, dir. Olivier Abbou) is a francophone TV miniseries that was broadcast last year on Arte and Netflix. In six episodes, a complicated narrative is woven into a love story annex serial killer narrative. Nothing is how it looks, and through unforeseen plot twists in which past and present alternate, unexpected family ties are unveiled. The main character Adrien Winckler/Mody (Nicolas Duvauchelle) is an author with a writer’s block who accepts a commission to record the memoirs of a dying man, Albert Desiderio (Niels Arestrup). Albert’s recollections become bloodier and increasingly gruesome every time Adrien comes to meet him to jot down his biography.The series is unique in various ways. The flashbacks are set in striking 1970s colors, the montages are brutal; the cinematic reality crosses with real life through the genuine novel Les Papillons Noirs likewise published under the pen name Mody. The eclectic music track is comprised of a clever mix of typically needle-drop pop songs, contrasting an often minimalistic underscore realized by French composer and music director Clément Tery. The first film-musical category forms an illustrative accompaniment, aurally linking past and present, and features what I qualify as ‘bridges of consciousness’. Intertwined with these, Clément Tery’s 33-cues soundtrack offers additional orchestral motives for the characters, tied together via a haunting musicbox-tune. The proposed paper is partly based on first-hand input from Clément Tery.
| Period | 21 Jun 2023 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Music and Media, 14th annual conference IMS Study Group |
| Event type | Conference |
| Conference number | XIV |
| Location | Paris, FranceShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |