MAURICE JARRE / "GRAND PRIX"

Maurice Jarre, falecido em Los Angeles, aos 84 anos (madrugada de domingo, dia 29 de Março de 2009), significou sempre um sinónimo de Cinema para mim, tantos foram os filmes que tiveram a sua inconfundível assinatura. Foi francês por nascimento (em Lyon, a 13 de Setembro de 1924) mas internacionalizou-se através das mais de 160 partituras que compôs ao longo da sua vida para grandes realizadores: Alfred Hitchcock, Luchino Visconti, John Huston ou David Lean, por exemplo. A colaboração com este último resultaria na obtenção de 3 Oscars da Academia pelos filmes “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), “Doctor Zhivago” (1965) e “A Passage to India” (1984). Seria nomeado ainda por mais 6 vezes, a última das quais em 1990 pelo filme “Ghost”.

Muitos outros prémios lhe iriam parar às mãos, em variadissimas partes do mundo. Tem uma estrela na calçada da fama em Hollywood e, para além do cinema, compôs ainda ballets, concertos, óperas e cantatas. Recebeu também o Urso de Ouro, um prémio honorífico do Festival de Cinema de Berlim, destacando-o como um dos compositores "mais importantes e ao mesmo tempo mais populares" da história da sétima arte: «Os compositores dos filmes estão freqüentemente à sombra de grandes realizadoress e actores. É diferente com Maurice Jarre. A música de "Doutor Zhivago", como grande parte de sua obra, é famosa no mundo todo e permanece na lembrança da história do cinema», afirmou o diretor do festival, Dieter Kosslick.

Da sua extensa e impressionante filmografia é meu desejo partilhar aqui a banda sonora do filme “Grand Prix” que Jarre compôs para John Frankenheimer em 1966 (gravações efectuadas nos MGM Studios Scoring Stage, Culver City, California, entre 25 de Novembro e 14 de Dezembro de 1966). Trata-se de uma edição especial, limitada a 3000 cópias, e que contém toda a música do filme, a maior parte da qual não usada no album editado na altura da estreia, em Dezembro de 1966. Quem quiser escutar o alinhamento original basta programar o leitor de CD’s com a sequência 1 – 22 – 23 – 24 – 7 – 13 – 26 – 27 – 4 – 29. De referir que nas faixas 13 e 29 foi eliminado o barulho dos escapes dos carros, constantes na versão original.

“Grand Prix” fez as minhas delícias de adolescente, quando o vi pela primeira vez em Johannesburg, a 19 de Agosto de 1967, um sábado à noite. Tinha sido o filme escolhido para inauguração de uma nova sala de cinema chamada Royal Cinerama, especializada na passagem de flmes naquele formato (écran semi-circular com tripla projeção simultânea). Ao longo dos anos revi o filme dezenas de vezes, mas a memória daquela 1ª sessão nunca mais me abandonou. Recordo ainda o foyer do cinema todo ele engalanado com artefactos relacionados com o filme, onde nem sequer faltavam dois ou três prototipos dos bólides de Fórmula 1 da altura. E que lindos que eram esses carros...

Transcreve-se de seguida parte das notas que constavam da edição original do album (MGM) com a banda sonora, que na altura se resumia apenas a 10 faixas:

Grand Prix is the story of four drivers, the women behind them, the cars beneath them. These four daredevils dice with death across the race tracks of the globe. Each has his eyes and heart on the world championship. Only one can win. They are:

The American…Peter Aron (James Garner). Aron, a restless, abrasive personality, lives for driving. Starting the season with Jordan - BRM he is fired after a multiple crash at Monaco, rejected by the autocratic Manetta-Ferrari owner (Adolfo Celi), finally ends up in partnership with Japan’s ambitious Izo Yamura (Toshiro Mifune). Both badly want the world championship. Yamura for his cars. Aron for himself.

The Corsican…Jean-Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand). At an age when most top drivers have retired to the grandstands, he aims one last fling at the world title…and a win that could give him the elusive hat trick. An added tension to his bid is his blossoming love affair with fashion editor Louise Fredrickson (Eva Marie Saint). And at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour, tension spells trouble.

The Britisher…Scott Stoddard (Brian Bedford). A talented young Jordan-BRM driver, whose marriage and racing suffer from the shadow of his dead brother Roger, a former world champ whose personality still haunts the circuits in general and the Stoddard family home in particular. And then there is his wife, Pat (Jessica Walter). Pat is a problem - a bored ex-model, failed actress, indifferent wife and troublesome mistress to Stoddard’s archrival and ex-colleague Pete Aron.

The Sicilian…Nino Barlini (Antonio Sabato). A wild young driver played by a wild young actor. Barlini lives and dreams cars, motorbikes and girls. One of the girls is Lisa (Françoise Hardy), an enigmatic beauty who emerges from a Riviera discotheque to follow the racing season…and Barlini.Of the quartet, one will raise his hand in victory, another will die. Not one of them or their women will ever be the same.

Maurice Jarre was born in Lyon, France. He studied composition and percussion at the Conservatoire with Jacques de la Presle, Louis Aubert and Arthur Honegger. In 1944 he was called up by the Navy and saw active service in World War II. When Jean Louis Berrault formed his own theatre company, he asked Jarre to become orchestral conductor and arranger. Jarre stayed with the Barrault company for four years. In 1951, he joined Jean Vilar, who had started a national theatre company. For the first time Jarre composed music for a wide range of plays: Shakespeare, Moliere, O’Neill, Eliot and Victor Hugo. In 1955 Jarre was awarded the Zurich prize for a symphony and violin concerto. That same year he won the Italian Opera Radiofoniche prize for a radio opera, "Ruiselle". In 1962 he again received the Radiofoniche prize, this time for a TV opera, "Les Filles du Feu". The composer has written concert music for the festivals at Aix-en-Provence and Strasbourg; ballets for the Paris Opera Comique and London’s Sadler’s Wells. Jarre started writing music for films in 1952. His first feature film assignment was Franju’s "La tête contre les murs". In addition to "Grand Prix" he has done scores for 38 other foreign and American films, including "The Longest Day", "The Collector", "Is Paris Burning?", "Night of the Generals", "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago". He won the coveted Motion Picture Academy Oscar in 1962 for "Lawrence of Arabia" and again in 1965 for "Doctor Zhivago".

The Music

The relationship of the main characters in this film is a very close and personal one. Jarre expresses this musically, by intermingling the main characters’ identifying themes.

Side 1

1. Overture - The Overture contains substantial portions of the three Main Themes from the film: 1) Theme From Grand Prix – relates to all the drivers. 2) Sarti’s Love Theme – is generally used in connection with the Frenchman’s (Yves Montand) adventurous and romantic schemes; 3) Scott’s Theme – serves as background music for scenes featuring the British Jordan BRM driver, Scott Stoddard (Brian Bedford). (4:35)

2. Scott & Pat – Sarti & Louise Unrequited love and fulfilled love. Mr. Jarre skillfully contrasts the Scott and Sarti themes. (2:20)

3. Theme From Grand Prix - This version of the theme is heard at the finish of the Brands Hatch race. (1:55)

4. Sarti’s Love Theme (Bossa Nova) - Employed by Jarre to underline portions of the racing sequences. (2:25)

5. The Zandvoort Race (Scott’s Comeback) - The crippled Scott painfully lowers himself into his dead brother’s racing car and triumphantly roars away. The engine’s blast signals the start of the Zandvoort Race – and a glorious comeback for the determined Britisher. (5:21)

Side 2

1. The Clermont Race - Unusual multi-camera shots – almost kaleidoscopic in effect. Sarti is driving but his mind is on Louise. Photographically and musically the Clermont Race has the quality of a racing car “ballet.” (2:15)

2. Scott’s Theme (Bossa Nova) - Heard over the loudspeakers while the Clermont Race is in progress. (2:15)

3. Sarti’s Love Theme - The scene is Sarti’s apartment at the Sports Club; Sarti and Louise first realize that they are deeply in love. (4:15)

4. In the Garden - A tender scene between Sarti and Louise. Music is heard coming from Barlini’s victory party which they have just left. (3:00)

5. The Lonely Race - Track it is the end of the film. The grandstands are empty. Pete (James Garner), deep in thought, is seen walking down the empty track reliving in his mind the races and events we have just seen. Sarti’s Theme comes first, then the roar of the invisible racing cars, followed by another version of the stirring Theme From Grand Prix, a dedication to all racing drivers. (2:26)

Produção: Edward Lewis
Realização: John Frankenheimer
Argumento: Robert Alan Aurthur e William Hanley
Música Original: Maurice Jarre
Montagem: Henry Berman, Stewart Linder e Frank Santillo
Estreia nos EUA: 1966, Dezembro 21

CAST:
James Garner - Pete Aron
Yves Montand - Jean-Pierre Sarti
Eva Marie Saint - Louise Frederickson
Brian Bedford - Scott Stoddard
Toshiro Mifune - Izo Yamura
Jessica Walter - Pat Stoddard
Antonio Sabato - Nino Barlini
Françoise Hardy - Lisa
Adolfo Celi - Agostini Manetta
Claude Dauphin - Hugo Simon
Geneviève Page - Monique Delvaux-Sarti
Enzo Fiermonte - Guido
Jack Watson - Jeff Jordan
etc.

(VER COMENTÁRIO SOBRE O FILME AQUI)