FANTOME AVEC CHAUFFEUR (GHOST WITH DRIVER)

Aware of the valuable contribution of original music in his films, director Gerard Oury always called on talented composers, notably Maurice Jarre (La main chaude), Georges Delerue (Crime Does Not Pay, The Sucker), Georges Auric (La Grande Vadrouille), Vladimir Cosma (The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob, Ace of Aces, etc.) and Michel Polnareff (Delusions of Grandeur).

For his sixteenth film, Ghost with Driver, Oury chose Polish composer Wojciech Kilar, a regular contributor of filmmakers Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Zanussi. However, it is Kilar's score for Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola that above all attracted Oury’s attention. In addition, Wojciech Kilar had already done a wonderful job for the French animated feature Le Roi et l’oiseau (1980) by director Paul Grimault.

In Ghost with Driver (1996), Philippe Noiret and Gerard Jugnot play, respectively, a rich business owner and his chauffeur. The two men never got to know each other in their lifetime, each being confined to his role and social class. Their death just a few hours apart will lead them to fraternize as spirits who have to face the problems of their relatives.

Wojciech Kilar’s purpose was not so much to underline the comic effects of the story than to enhance its poetic dimension and the psychological development of the two main characters. His score performed by The Prague Symphony Orchestra is light and nostalgic, mostly melodic, tinged with a typical French style that the composer admired. One can actually detect the influence of the French school in Kilar’s abundant production, both for cinema and the concert hall.

This reissue of Ghost with Driver, a limited edition of 500 licensed from Larghetto Music, is a way for us to pay homage to the great Kilar who passed away near a year ago.

1 Le fantome, son fils, son chauffeur et sa voiture ? The ghost, his son, his driver and his car (3:21)
2 Valse des fantomes ? Ghosts’ waltz (2:42)
3 La course du fils a travers les puces ? The son’s race through the flea market (2:46)
4 Que la vie etait belle ? Life was so beautiful (3:03)
5 Une Francaise a New York ? A French woman in New York (1:27)
6 Papa, tu es toujours la? ? Dad, are you still there? (2:21)
7 Le cardinal ? The cardinal (2:39)
8 L'envol ? The flight (4:17)
9 Chez Toutankhamon ? Visiting Tutankhamun (2:22)
10 A Biarritz, au casino, un soir d'ete ? At the casino in Biarritz, on a summer evening (2:15)
11 Deux fantomes au paradis ? Two ghosts in paradise (2:37)

Total Time 29:53