The American

Herbert Grönemeyer. 2010.

You’ll like it… If you admire the frozen beauty of Northern Europe music.
Avoid it… If you’re afraid of loneliness.

Herbert Arthur Wigley Clamor Grönemeyer (Götingen, 1956) is a German actor, musician and singer of pop and rock. Although he’s practically unknown out of the German-speaking regions, his works 4630 Bochum (1984) and Mensch (2002) are the best-selling German-language records of all time. He’s also the author of ‘Zeit, dass sich was dreht’ (‘Celebrate de day’), official 2006 FIFA World Championship anthem. As an actor, he’s well-known for playing Liutenant Werner in Wolfgang Petersen’s Das boot (1981).

But what brings him here is that he’s the composer of the surprising soundtrack for The American (Anton Corbinj, 2010). The film, an adaptation of the book ‘em>A very private gentleman‘(Martin Booth, 1990), is a thriller placed in a remote Italian village. Far from Hollywood efectism, it’s an austere, harsh story about loneliness and redemption. The music by Grönemeyer takes part in the same austerity to bring the protagonist’s inner emptiness to the fore front.

The composer gives the piano the leading role in the score. Melodies are very simple, almost minimalist, melancholic and cold. Sometimes are subtly dressed with a violin or a cello, emphasizing even more the sadness of one who cannot scape his fate. Versatile as few other instruments, it’s also the piano which carries the more somber pieces, taking the strain from the lower keys. An electric guitar takes part in a sound mixture as unconventional as effective.

The album also includes a few diegetic songs: Patty Bravo’s ‘La bámbola’, an excerpt from Madame Butterfly and, of course, ‘Tu vuó fá l’americano’ by Renato Carosone. Despite those songs are interspersed with the music, they not only don’t break the created pace, but contribute to stress the contrast between the loneliness of ‘the american’ and the life that keeps going on all around.

Formally, The American is more an european film than an american one, and Grönemeyer’s score is an excelent example of contemporary european music: cold in the front, but fully loaded of feelings.

Tracklist:

1. Main title (03:20)
2. The chalet (02:07)
3. 1st call to Pavel (excerpt) (00:16)
4. Gun assembly (01:55)
5. La Bambola (02:59) – performed by Patty Bravo
6. Madame Butterfly Lib. Giacosa And Illica, Act 2: Un Bel Di Vedremo (04:31) – performed by Maria Callas
7. Test of trust (Excerpt) (00:38)
8. Filling the bullets (01:26)
9. Let’s meet somewhere new (01:46)
10. Car chase (01:31)
11. Tu Vuo Fa L’americano (03:22) – performed by Renato Carosone
12. Bad dreams (01:11)
13. Dinner date (00:54)
14. After dinner (01:03)
15. The sweets tin (02:21)
16. Stay forever (00:39)
17. Drive to the exchange (02:06)
18. Nel Giardino Dell’amore (03:02) – performed by Patty Bravo
19. The procession (02:16)
20. Mr. Butterfly’s last journey (02:47)
21. End credits (guitar) (00:57)
22. End credits (piano) (01:55)
23. Window of my eyes (03:28) – performed by Cuby & The Blizzards
24. Jack gathers parts (Original Version) (01:36)
25. The tunnel (original trailer music) (03:13)