Screenshot (& music) from Amour (dir. Michael Haneke/2012)
Just press the play button and while listening, please read Haneke's thoughts on music's role in his films!
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Michael Haneke: In real life we never hear music in our lives unless it's played on the radio or television or a musician is present.
BlackBook: Can you talk a little bit about the theme of music in your film?
Michael Haneke: You seem to be drawn to people that are musicians or have a love of music.
When I was a young man, it was my dream to become a musician. If it had been up to me, if I had been there when talents were bestowed, then I would have liked to be a musician rather than director. But I would have liked to become a conductor and composer. My stepfather, who himself was a conductor and composer, warned me that I was only a very mediocre pianist and that steered me away from wanting to be a musician and led me eventually to becoming a director. I'm very grateful because there's nothing more depressing than a mediocre concert pianist. But nonetheless, I have maintained my love of music and try whenever possible to use it in my film when the occasion arrives - but I don't use it in the way that's usually done in mainstream cinema, where it's applied to cover up directorial sins and weaknesses. I love music too greatly to use it for those reasons.
BlackBook: Do you think other filmmakers use music as a crutch?
Michael Haneke: I don't think so, I am sure.
BlackBook: The pianist in the film is an actual concert pianist - how did you discover him?
Michael Haneke: We did auditions for actors and for pianists and he was the best actor from among the pianists.
BlackBook: What do you think are the mistakes that other filmmakers make in their use of music?
Michael Haneke: It depends on what kinds of films you're making. If, for example, you're making spaghetti Westerns, if you're making genre films, then spaghetti Westerns without the music of Ennio Morricone is inconceivable. So music has a fiction in that kind of film, but in most films, music is only present to fill in emotions that are lacking. Most films claim to be realistic and the use of music in them is therefore a lie. In real life we never hear music in our lives unless it's played on the radio or television or a musician is present. But music is used then to make up for lack of tension that the director hasn't managed to create. I have nothing against musicals - for example, I love the films of Fred Astaire and the films Hitchcock, but those aren't realistic films. The use of music in conventional cinema is usually used or almost always used to make up for what's lacking in emotion because the director has not done his job properly. (via BlackBook)