THE HOUSEMAID

Jerome Leroy’s experience scoring The Housemaid for Vietnamese-American film director Derek Nguyen was an especially rewarding experience. The movie is a romantic horror film rooted in the ghosts popular in much of Asian folklore. It was a tradition that Nguyen was personally experienced in, and his treatment of the vengeful spirit at the center of the film afforded Leroy a number of unique compositional opportunities.

Upon the recommendation of producer Timothy Bui, who had worked with the composer previously, Nguyen brought in Jerome Leroy to score his film. “Tim had given me a quick overview of the film, describing it in these terms: a ghost story set in Vietnam in the 1950s,” Leroy recalled. “So, I was genuinely surprised and intrigued when Derek and I first discussed the score, because he made sure to mention two points I didn’t expect: first, that while the film was clearly anchored in the horror genre, it was first and foremost a gothic love story; and second, that even though it was set in a specific country during a specific period in history, the story had to feel universal. These two statements strongly influenced the stylistic direction of the score.”

Initially director and composer explored the idea of using Asian instrumentation in the score, but Nguyen decided the film needed something that was more classical and universal in tone. “I wanted the score to be lush and haunting with a gothic feel,” he said. “It was also essential that the music was in line with the dark visual style of the cinematography”. --- from the label

Release Date: 2019/2/6.

1. Openig titles (3:34)
2. Welcome to Sa-Cat (3:52)
3. The State (1:06)
4. Untroducing Linh (1:38)
5. Captain Laurent is back (1:09)
6. Tending the Captain (1:01)
7. The rubber workes (2:50)
8. The conjuring (2:04)
9. Cleaning the wounds (2:15)
10. Bloody tree (1:10)
11. Madame Camille’s bedroom (1:01)
12. Alone in the Woods (2:58)
13. Conuntryside outing (2:01)
14. Dinner invitation (1:25)
15. Romantic encounter (1:50)
16. He was an overseer (2:46)
17. Madeleine intrudes (2:04)
18. Making up (2:07)
19. Mr. Ham leaves Sa-Cat (2:28)
20. Traitor (2:25)
21. One last night (3:08)
22. What happened (5:31)
23. Finding the parents (2:38)
24. Epilogue (2:08)

Total Time: 56:23