A Closer Listen
What seems on the surface to be a wistful coming of age story about a teenaged girl on summer vacation turns out to far more resonant when the full plot is revealed. Fanny’s mother is terminally ill, and this will be their final summer together.
Copenhagen composer Patricio Fraile must have been honored when he learned that music would hold an integral role in the feature. Mother and daughter both play the piano, and Schubert’s ‘Du bist die Ruh” (heard here in two versions) is crucial to the plot. The family’s love for music forms a physical connection which soon will be transferred to the spiritual. The memories of music, as well as the love of music, are seen as transcending time and even death.
As expected, these pieces, written for piano and cello, are tender and at times melancholic. The title “Days to Come” means more when one already knows the days will be bittersweet, and the score launches in this knowledge. When cascades of notes give way to single keys, it is as if cold reality is settling in. If “Summerland” seems like a wide open field, it also suggests the passage of time, one hand playing fast, the other slow, like a clock.
The brief appearance of the Swedish lullaby “Vem kan segla förutan vind?” (“Who can sail without wind?”) may conjure tears in those familiar with the lyrics: “Who can sail without wind, who can row without oars, who can leave a parting friend without shedding tears?” Using only strings to convey the tone, the piece bleeds into the ambivalently named “Above Ground”; is the time above ground a blessing, or will foreknowledge prove too hard to bear? When the piano returns, first alone, and then with cello, it sounds like the emotions have come full circle, landing on tearful acceptance mingled with gratitude. Alternate ambient versions of two tracks arrive after the end credits on the album, but are found earlier in the movie: echoes of themes, underscoring their significance. The backdrop of ocean foam in “Through the Window” is particularly poignant.
We expect that those who see the film will come away with an appreciation of music as connective tissue: a gentle binding of generations across the seas of time. Fraile’s score is perfectly tailored to these expectations; even his last name suggests the fragility of life. (Richard Allen)
Sun Feb 09 00:01:34 GMT 2025