The voice of Jane Eyre

Abstract

This dissertation explores the relationship between music and narrative through the medium of film. The film Jane Eyre (2011), directed by Cary Fukunaga with music composed by Dario Marianelli, provides a new perspective for the long-standing narrative of Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre (1847). The research was conducted using music-theoretical analysis which involves inspection of notated musical scores and recordings of the music, along with scrutiny of the original film footage for context. Through score analysis, themes and thematic associations were identified and their relationships investigated through lenses including musical variation and instrumentation. Marianelli’s use of leitmotif and clear choice of instrumentation is interwoven into the story in a dense and captivating manner that allows the viewer to connect with the characters and give meaning to certain points in the storyline. The results yielded from the investigation of Marianelli’s style were compared with that of Rachel Portman and her thematic writing in the period film Belle (2013). Similar approaches were identified in both Jane Eyre (2011) and Belle (2013) as they used prominent themes that were presented uniquely and underwent similar processes of variation. However, the sound worlds resulting from the composers’ stylistic approaches were distinct. Their comparative styles were used as a source of creative inspiration in an attempt to rescore two versions of scenes from the film Belle (2013) to further convey this comparison. Specific methods of composition discovered through the above analysis were applied in the rescoring of selected scenes of Belle (2013). The results of both analysis and the rescoring provided a systematic approach to navigating a film score while also allowing space for creativity and innovation in composition practice.