‘Emilia Pérez' Songwriters Clément Ducol & Camille On Crafting A 'Catalyst For Narrative And Emotions' Through Music
It's not a common occurrence for composers or songwriters to be involved in a film so early on, which is why songwriters Clément Ducol and Camille were thrilled with the opportunity to help craft the story of Emilia Pérez with director Jacques Audiard. The early collaboration was fruitful, as among the film's 13 Oscar nominations, the duo has three nominations for Best Score and Best Original Song for both 'El Mal' and 'Mi Camino'.
Emilia Pérez follows Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an underappreciated lawyer, who is approached by Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón), a Cartel leader, who wants to fake their death so they can transition and live as their authentic self, Emilia. The songwriting preceded the score, as the pair had to aid in creating the story of the film, which allowed for the score to blend with the songs.
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DEADLINE: At what point in the process did you both get involved with songwriting for ?
CLÉMENT DUCOL: We were involved five years ago, actually. It was a long journey and Jacques wanted us to be involved in the very beginning of the script's construction. So, it was a real gift for us because working with Jacques is such an event for a French music film composer, and the fact that he wanted us to write the script in song, in music, was such a gift. And for Jacques, it helps a lot to move forward because working on a script with songs can act as a catalyst for narrative and emotions. So, for him it was like his movie was already existing.
CAMILLE: It was quite thrilling for us to be involved. We were witnessing a story being built under our very eyes, under our very ears. And we've been told along that campaign season by peers that this is so rare, this way to work is so rare and it's such an artist's dream, a musician's dream to work that way with a director.
DEADLINE: For the songs, obviously the lyrics have to go with the script and the story, but what is your process for writing a song like 'El Mal'?
DUCOL: For 'El Mal', it was very hard to find the right tone for the song because the subject is very harsh and singing in front of corrupted people and was complicated to translate in music. We had written six songs before we found the tone with this rock opera rap song, and Jacques was also inspired to use Emelia's voice in the back. And when we found the tone at first, we had a kind of electronic, smooth, warm arrangement, and Zoe Saldaña helped us to find the right arrangement because her performance was so energetic and the choreography of Damien Jalet was so rhythmic too. We redid the arrangement with a live rock band in studio to give to it more energy and a raw sound and rage.
CAMILLE: Jacques told us you've got all these corrupted people around and they're frozen. So, the stage direction has been that from the start and it stayed because it's such a powerful idea that Rita suddenly has the power with her imagination to freeze everyone and they're all waiting for her judgment.
DEADLINE: You're also nominated for the score as well. Did that come after the songwriting?
DUCOL: Yes, because we needed to write the story of the film with the songs with Jacques. And I like the fact that with the score, we didn't have to hide the songs.
CAMILLE: It took us time to find the right direction. We tried different themes, but I think what changed the game is that we realized, of course the themes needed to be strong, but we needed an artistic direction. And we found that the score should be vocal because voices allowed us to subtly accompany the character's journey and not be too invasive. It allowed us to cross genres too. It can do anything with vocals and evoke so many things. I mean a Greek chorus, a scream from the people, the voice of the missing, Rita's breaths, heartbeats… lots of things that can really give a third dimension to the story. We also try to make the sounds from the story overlap in the score. For example, the sounds of the guns when they're preparing for the attack at the end, they build into a rhythm and the rhythm transforms into the rhythm in the score. So, it helps the unbelievable become believable, and it also helps to enchant reality. And that was one of Jacques' first pitches about what he wanted on the movie. He wanted us to enchant the world.
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