Customer Reviews

Triplets of Belleville (Score)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's a great surprise to go to a movie with absolute zero Kelvin expectations and be completely blown away. It's also as rare as mutual physical attraction. Here's what happened: A friend told me that he had free passes to "...a weird animation... apparently there's only grunting and French or something..." a teaser that was not, but I'm never one to turn down free animation, so I went and I've been singing "Belleville Rendez-vous" fervently ad infinitum ever since.

The music is just as incredible as the animation, and together the effect is almost overwhelming. I was a little worried that the music would not hold up without the images. Fortunately, I was completely stupid in this case. This CD stands on its own and allows viewers of the film to realize the priceless contribution of the soundtrack. There's lots of mellow jazz and skippy rhythms, and the music will evoke scenes from the movie. In some cases the music on the CD runs longer than the music did in the movie, and that's no bad thing.

The CD is overloaded with the film's central song "Belleville Rendez-vous". There are at least six versions of that song on this CD (depending on how one counts them). All of them are different enough to justify their presence. A surprisingly good track is what is called the "demo" for the song; it has great quality and is somewhat more acoustic sounding than the other versions.

Other cochlea-popping delights include: "'Cieco Cieco' Barber" - which will have you stomping and crooning Caruso-style; the beautiful accordian-driven "Attila Marcel"; "Pa pa pa palavas" - which plays during the film's credits - sounds like a French Elvis Presley; "Cabaret Hoover" - those who have seen the film know what this song is - it holds up great on its own.

Some of the songs are less exciting and sound more like movie music; most of the songs that backed the French Mafia aren't as exciting on their own. "The Chase" works great (in fact, REALLY great) behind the scene in the movie, but it's not as interesting on its own. Since most of these songs are towards the end of the CD, the pace winds down a bit as the CD moves on. Nonetheless, it is kicked in the pants by the final version of "Belleville Rendez-vous" sung in English.

Overall, it's an amazing film soundtrack that will reward repeated listenings. Wear out your ears and be proud. But (and this is one of those big BUTS), if you haven't seen the film, GO SEE IT!!!!!

Lastly, don't turn off track 19 too quickly...

Triplets of Belleville soundtrack and Belleville Rendevous are the same disc. The first is the USA version and the second is the UK version - the playlists are identical. They are being offered here as a two disc deal, but unless you're some sort of completist, this is no deal. I advised Amazon of this.

The Triplets of Belleville is a very eccentric movie which I loved. It takes a mature audience to not be completely overwhelmed by the film's sheer genious. But don't let thet scare you! The film is funny, exciting, and totally unlike anything you've ever seen. The soundtrack is even better.

With a cool combination of Django Reinhardt guitar, cabaret singing, and french surf music, Ben Charest has managed to create an original collection of music that satisfies all kinds of listeners.

The title song of the soundtrack is one of the best (it was deservedly nominated for an oscar), and all the rest of the tracks centralize around it. Sung in tight three part harmony with catchy lyrics (in both french and english), 'the triplets of belleville' songs (there are four total on the cd), are enough to make anybody want to get up and start dancing. Another fun thing about this soundtrack is the presence of source music coming from vaccum cleaners, refrigerators, newpapers, tire wheels and more! (I admit, the vaccum makes more sense if you've seen the movie- so do so!) The singers in the vocal pieces are fantastic, and make up for the lack of dialogue in the film. The instrumental pieces completely set the mood for the wide range of sences the film has- from the tour de france to a gangsters hideout.

This is the perfect kind of music for a person wanting to expand their music intake. While listening to this, you get a taste of all kinds of music that are unfortunately underplayed. Hope you enjoy!

We received the "Triplets of Belleville" soundtrack as a late addition to our March in-store play. About thirty seconds after I put the CD into our carousel player, I was dumbfounded: the most discordant, strange noise crackled over our store speakers--a bizarre melody of a refrigerator, vacuum cleaner and bicycle spokes. What *was* this? (I didn't see the film until a couple of days ago, at which point it all made sense).

"This" was the amazing soundtrack to "Les Triplettes de Belleville," a joint French-Québécois animated feature about Madame Souza and her orphaned grandson Champion, who dreams of becoming a bicyclist in the prestigious Tour de France. When Champion is kidnapped by the Mafia and spirited away to Belleville (a synthesis of Paris, New York and Montréal), Madame Souza enlists the help of the Triplets of Belleville, an aging jazz-era vocal group.

The film's soundtrack reflects the jazz stylings of Django Reinhart (Belleville Rendez-Vous (there are three versions: French, demo and English (performed by -M-, and the film was nominated for an Oscar for best song), Jazzy Bach), along with melancholy French café accordion music (Attila Marcel, sung by the amazing Béatrice Bonifassi, and Bruno's Theme), French surf music (Pa Pa Palavas, performed by the film's composer, Benoît Charest), opera ("Cieco Cieco" Barber), and spy-style chase songs (French Mafia Theme, The Shadowing, The Chase).

I would have enjoyed the soundtrack more if it had been listed as it appeared in the movie, though. Also, the gorgeous "Kyrie Eleison" from Mozart's Mass in C Minor was left off. But the nineteen tracks (and one hidden track) are a wonderful mixture of old and new, jazz and Parisian café, delightfully quirky and guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Vive la différence!

Play one of the three versions of the Academy Award nominated (hopefully winning) title track, "Belleville Rendezvous" and tell me it is not the most unique and inspirational song of the year. I can't get it out of my head! The film is a knockout and Ben Charest's magic in the music is worth every dime.

Higher Octave presents a cool, fun and a very upbeat soundtrack "Triplets of Belleville", featuring the music of Ben Charest and frog eating Triplets of Belleville, former scat singing jazz prodigies turned experimental musicians(Charest: Betty Bonifassi, Marie-Lou Gauthier and Lina Boudreault gave the Triplets their voices) ~ more credit to these performers were Benoit Charest (guitar), Mathiew Herkowitz (piano), Thomas Dutronc, -M- (bass,guitar), Chet Doxas (tenor sax), Marin Nasturica (accordion), Jean Claude Donda (spoken word) and Beatrice Bonifassi (background vocals) pulling off an original musical jazz score that will keep you dancing in the isles, till the cows come home.

This animated comedy film is from director Sylvain Chomet who takes the audience into the '60s in France ~ orphan boy (Champion) is kidnapped by Mafia gangsters and held in Belleville ~ just before a bicycle race of Tour de France ~ a grandmother (Madame Souza) and his dog Bruno, with some help from a '30s jazz trio are into the rescue, thus enters The Triplets of Belleville and the chase is on ~ much like the Pink Panther (Henry Mancini) tradition, jazz age themes prevail.

Let's look at the stand outs ~ "BELLEVILLE RENDEZ-VOUS(FRENCH VERSION)", theme is great fun and intoxicating ~ "CABARET HOOVER", nothing like you've ever heard before, completely mesmerizing and spellbinding~ "THE CHASE", great jazz vibes on this one, keeps changing rhythms and tempos with each member of the group interacting within the cue (very much into the Mancini Scene) ~ Two Academy Award Nominations - "Best Animated Feature Film" and "Best Song "The Tripletts of Belleville"...gotta love it!.

Total Time: 50:39 on 19 Tracks ~ Higher Octave 96811 ~ (1/27/2004)

If you haven't seen the movie, I would advise you do - it's one of the best animated films to come out in a long while, and a fine example that traditional methods of animation are not dead. If you haven't, then one thing you should know is that barely any of it is told in words - therefore, the soundtrack became very important, and what we got was one heck of a soundtrack.

Listening to it alone, I'm immediately reminded of the soundtrack for the Japanese film "Metropolis," which is heavy in jazz. The main theme (presented in both English and French) is the finest example of this, and has to be one of the catchiest themes I've ever heard. (took a month just to get the dang thing out of my head) You'll find several versions of it on this CD, some in its pure form (including a "demo" version) and in its use as background music. But don't worry, there's more than that. You've got stand-on-their-own tracks including "Attila Marcel," (which made me feel like an American soldier in a 1940's French cafe) the two versions of the French mafia theme, a piano version of a Bach piece, and the lighthearted "Cieco Cieco Barber."

Overall the soundtrack is well worth the purchase. If you enjoyed the movie, by all means add this to your collection as soon as possible.

I first heard the Belleville Rendez-vous while watching the Academy Awards, and I have hardly stopped listening to this fantastic soundtrack since I got it in the mail yesterday! Jazzy, organic and original it's fun to listen to.

But you should note that the CD has some sort of copy control technology on it -- it says in small print "On some equipment, for example car CD players, playback problems may be encountered". Well, my Sony stereo -- not entry level, at least according to the money I paid for it! -- doesn't recognize the CD at all, so I can only listen to it using my computer CD player. I'm not quite sure what to do about this glitch, and I'm not willing to part with the soundtrack, but this aspect of the CD sure is annoying.

Triplets of Belleville is a great movie, but this album is even closer to perfection than the film. Great hot jazz music abounds, dominated by the "Belleville Rendez-vous" (wonderfully performed at the 2003 Academy Awards), which is reprised several times, including a demo and an English-language version. A few tracks are perhaps better in service of the film than they are as stand-alone compositions, but that is a minor point. This is perhaps the most essential soundtrack album in decades. I think I would have to go back as far as Ragtime to think of an original soundtrack album of such achievement. See the film, then get this album.

I bought this disc solely based on the trailer to the movie. I fell in love with it instantly. I haven't even seen the movie yet. It is eclectic, rambunctious, and brings to mind a cabaret show. If you're a fan of French music from the first half of the last century and/or older jazz pick this up. I truly enjoyed it. Also check out the reviews for the import version of this disc for more opinions.