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Mildred Pierce (1945)


Home > Film: Mildred Pierce > Theme: Secret Revealed > Instance: 1:45:37




Instance
Theme name: Secret Revealed
Start time: 1:45:37
End time: 1:45:56
Total duration: 0:00:19
Page #: 136
Measure #: 22
Scene: Reel 11 Part 4
Key: unstable
Meter: 4/4
Tempo (bpm): 88
Instrumentation: woodwinds
Description
On-screen: Mildred finds Veda and Monte together
Description: The theme associated with the revealing of secrets (previously associated with Veda learning that her mother worked as a waitress and Mildred learning that her daughter had been secretly married) is now brought back at the moment in which the film's darkest secret is revealed - the illicit relationship between Veda and Mildred's husband Monte; it begins with a slithering bass clarinet line, followed by harsh, chromatic woodwind gestures
Music annotations: [m. 22] a tempo; [m. 24] from reel 5 Pt 1; [m. 26] molto cresc
Film annotations: [m. 22] Monte + Veda; [m. 26] C.U. Mildred; [m. 27] We weren't expecting you
Analysis: Features a chromatic wedge gesture that passes through a variety of sonority types, culminating in an octatonic chord (8-28)
Tags

antagonist | chromatic parallelism | chromatic scale | chromatic wedge | climax | dark | daughter | discovering | kissing | linear chromaticism | reveal | room | stinger | tense

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