Music to write to: Cliff Mansell - The Fountain Soundtrack

The Fountain is a movie that polarizes audiences due to a complex plot, open interpretations and varying pacing… it’s also a movie I truly love. It is a beautifully sad movie with rich imagery devoid of excess CGI, spirited performances and a haunting soundtrack that even includes the participation of Mogwai.

At times morose, at times an explosion of sound and other times frail and delicate, this soundtrack inspires so many emotions it’s hard not to let it get to you, and when I’m writing, sometimes I need something to get to me. Sometimes I need something that reminds me of pain I’ve lived and make me think because that’s where the story needs to be, in a beautifully sad and lonely place.

As a composer, Cliff Mansell is not one for overpowering the story of the music with excess notes, everything sounds as if it’s where it should be, be it destructive drums and a roaring choir or the icicle tinkles of a weeping piano.

If you’re writing something that needs you to tap into a beautiful fountain of sadness, please do yourself a favor and listen to this wonderful soundtrack.

Cheers