For the entire film, music provides the thread as it is a universal connection. It creates the relationship between Avril, Jacob and Arthur, between love and sensuality, between Earth and Mars, between the past and present, and most importantly between the movie and its audience. Mars et Avril doesn’t take itself too seriously while tackling some pretty weighty themes, like the nature of inspiration, the obstacles to desire and the notion of how music can set you free.
“Sound design and score (are) huge plusses… nicely complementing the film’s ideas about music and its relation to time and love.” – Boyd van Hoeij, Variety
“Oh, yeah – and there’s a brilliant score from Triplettes de Belleville composer Benoît Charest, the go-to guy when you’re looking for someone to pen music that has to be pure genius.” – Brendan Kelly, The Gazette
In 2013, Benoît Charest was nominated at the Canadian Screen Awards and at the Iris Awards for his work on Mars et Avril, and won the Félix in the category Album of the year – original soundtrack at the ADISQ Gala. For the occasion, a limited edition of 300 vinyl records of the soundtrack was released, as a nod to the retro-futuristic look of the film.
The soundtrack is available under the Simone Records labels:
Listen to Mars et Avril’s main theme on SoundCloud
BENOÎT CHAREST – Biography
At the age of 13, Benoît Charest became fascinated by the guitar, and learned by ear the songs of the Beatles and Led Zepplin. He soon discovered jazz and decided at 17 to undertake private lessons. During his college studies, Benoît earned a living playing with the best jazzmen in Montreal. In 1991, he signed his first score for Montréal rétro, a documentary of the National Film Board of Canada, for which he composed, arranged and conducted the musical framework. Since then, he has composed over twenty motion picture soundtracks, among them that of The Triplets of Belleville, which earned him a Cesar and an Oscar nomination for Best Music in 2004. Benoît has also composed music for television, theatre, and more than sixty commercials.
SOME IMAGINARY INSTRUMENTS
Even before production began, TED2013 speaker Martin Villeneuve envisioned the instruments that play a central role in the aesthetic and plot of Mars et Avril. The problem was how to afford construction of these elaborate designs based on the female form. So Martin approached Guy Laliberté, Cirque de Soleil CEO, who was intrigued and purchased the instruments before they were ever built. The artist, Dominique Engel, created the instruments over the course of a year as a part-time job. The instruments weren’t functional – a bunch of pieces were welded together and the sounds and music were added later in post-production.
In order to bring these invented instruments to life, the composer says he’s been inspired by retro-futuristic music that he translates as being a music from the future with a realm of the 40’s and 50’s imagination. “In those times, people had a very optimistic outlook into the future; they thought everything was going to be great, different and funky,” says Charest. To be reflective of his inspiration, he chose well-known acoustic instruments – modulated, oscillated and mixed their sounds to create the fictional “gravophone” and “soupirotique”.
MARSOPHONE
The symbol of Jacob and Arthur’s love for Avril… which resonates through Mars!
Listen to the MARSOPHONE on SoundCloud
PLEINEMUSE
A type of bagpipes with a keyboard and a huge bag. The model for the resonance chamber is a pregnant woman, so the musician playing it must be very delicate with the blow pipe. Same goes for the mouthpiece and buttons – sensitive areas. The instrument has two mouth pieces, one to give voice to the mother, the other for the baby. For the baby, the creator took it up an octave, so it would sound more high-pitched.
Listen to the PLEINEMUSE on SoundCloud
ORGUE-ASME
A cross between a large organ and a wind instrument: a huge horn coming out of a keyboard. It is a very imposing structure and the sound it emits is quite powerful.
Listen to the ORGUE-ASME on SoundCloud
CONTRE-BAISE
A large string instrument that allows the creator to heal the wounds left behind by a tumultuous past relationship. Work and love do not always live in harmony…
Listen to the CONTRE-BAISE on SoundCloud
GRAVOPHONE
Its generous curves are reminiscent of an obese woman. The creator welded the breech, but the valve is still gaping. He made sure to lift the pallets to lower the pressure in the sound box. However, he must have hit a heartstring, as the instrument emits a very deep sound.
Listen to the GRAVOPHONE on SoundCloud
SOUPIROTIQUE
This instrument takes the shape of a beautiful dancer who’s incapable of standing still. The creator fused together various parts from different instruments, resulting in a cross between a wind instrument and a string instrument. The sound it emits is airy and pleasant.
Listen to the SOUPIROTIQUE on SoundCloud
PERCUSSENSUELLES
A type of drums, with parts shaped like breasts, stomach, buttocks, etc.
Listen to the PERCUSSENSUELLES on SoundCloud
