Analysis: The “For Lovers Only” score

By Carmen Amrein (2011)

The Movie

For Lovers Only is a beautiful romantic drama by Michael and Mark Polish, starring Stana Katic and Mark Polish. The movie is about two former lovers, meeting by accident in Paris, after several years of separation. They both are married to people they don’t love. So they take their chances. For Lovers Only is about the moment of love.

The Composer and Musicians

Kubilay Üner, the Munich-born and Los Angeles based composer, worked on For Lovers Only score, featuring Daniel Rosenboom on the solo trumpet, Üner’s favorite violinist, Lili Haydn and Derek Joseph Stein on the cello. Kubi had studied composition with Johannes Fritsch and Klarenz Barlow at the State Academy of Music in Cologne, Germany, before he moved to Los Angeles to study composition with Mort Subotnick, Frederic Rzewski and James Newton at CalArts. The talented composer writes his music for film, television, concerts and theatre. He also acts as a record producer for a range of artists.

“FOR LOVERS ONLY is a fiercely original and visually opulent road movie set in France, and the music is a blend of romantic nostalgia and cutting edge sound design.”Kubilay Üner ¹

The Main Theme “Cache-cache”
The sad/minor/Dorian 4/4 melody could be interpreted as a standing for the sad feeling after a break up of a relationship, but somehow the melody is nice enough to relate to the future, whether, in the case of Yves and Sofia it is a future apart or together. The tune sounds hopeful and reminds us of love. It's a simple but beautiful melody, which is catchy enough to be categorized as "Ohrwurm". An “Earworm” = a song, that won't leave your head for days. You will go to sleep hearing it inside your head and waking up whistling it.

“In fact it is the main and only theme, and it is in almost every cue. After my third draft for the 'blueprint', the brothers still weren't quite happy. They said something like "we're still not feeling the depth of their love". So I decided I had to change my approach. Instead of writing yet another piece from scratch, I went through my old sketches. I have sketchbooks and binders with hundreds of musical ideas that I write down as they come to me, precisely for such occasions.

And I found this melody for a song that I wrote for my wife Jen, one week or so before I proposed to her - at that time I of course already knew I was going to ask her. I thought, well, this melody should work, love doesn't get any deeper. Jen and I have been married for over fifteen years now, and are as much in love now as we were when we got married. So I wrote a sketch based on that melody and sent it to the brothers without telling them anything about its history. They immediately replied that they loved, loved, loved it! So there's obviously some extra magic in those notes.” Kubilay Üner ¹

After Yves and Sofia meet accidentally, you hear the piano, symbolizing the “REAL world”, playing the Main Theme chords. When Yves gets back to his hotel room, confused by what happened minutes before, the piano plays the first two measures of the Main Theme for a few seconds – Yves is thinking about what has happened – until it gets back to chords.

For their first meeting at a restaurant, Kubilay Üner included an homage to Frédéric Chopin –Track No. 2 Pour Frédéric – , which is used as background music.

The Main Theme melody is introduced by the trumpet the moment Yves and Sofia kiss for the first time. The trumpet stands for "fantasy". It is used again when they arrive at their destination and start to make love to each other… when they fulfill their “fantasy”. They start to live out their “fantasy”, so the trumpet is playing again when they go on with their journey and go to the beach.

“The trumpet, played by an extremely talented young player, Daniel Rosenboom, is really the main voice of this score. The trumpet is great for this film because it works both as an homage to the 1960s, when there were more solo trumpets in film scores than there are today, and because the trumpet is incredibly raw and emotional when you record it close. The cello and the violin are only featured in the end title, but they have a big impact there, because the feel of the score changes very much, almost to a 'silent film' approach. It still uses the main theme, though.” Kubilay Üner ¹

The “freedom” of taking a walk as a couple is introduced by the melodica (accordion) and piano as a duet. Therefore the melodica (accordion) stands for "romance" and "freedom". Moreover the accordion is categorized as a typical French instrument. Its voice reminds us of French Musette Waltzes, wine and baguette.

“The accordion is used as typical French instrument. So, many of the sounds and instruments I used, as well as the general musical 'attitude', are inspired by the scores of the French films of that era. But I then definitely wanted to make this musical approach its own, new thing, and I wanted to be sure that the score still sounds 'of today', like the story.” Kubilay Üner ¹

When Yves spots Sofia’s tattoo - her husband’s name - in the bath tub-scene, the piano suddenly takes over… the “REAL world” gets back at them again.

After Yves and Sofia get over the discovery of the tattoo and confrontation with their pasts, they take a walk. Here the piano accompanies the Main Theme playing trumpet with sixthlets. This way the piano sounds like a waterfall, like the “REAL world” is drifting away, making room for the “fantasy” to come true.

The moment Sofia finds out about Yves daughter, the piano, the “REAL world”, starts playing again. But they both don’t want to give up their “dream”. From this moment on – the last 30 Minutes – the score switches between piano and trumpet, between the “fantasy” and the “REAL world”.

When Yves finds Sofia praying in a church, we can listen to the organ playing the Main Theme. Sofia describes the use of the organ perfectly: “We need a miracle”.

At the end of the movie, when Sofia got back to Paris and stops at Yves hotel on her way to the airport, the trumpet sounds again, before the piano takes over, while Yves receives Sofia’s present for his daughter.

The last scene features the complete Main Theme Cache-cache, where the violin and cello are accompanied by the piano. The Main Theme starts, after Sofia – on her way to the airport again – understands that Paris is: FOR LOVERS ONLY. The violin is used to underscore the "dreams" and “hopes” Yves and Sofia share. The "dreams" are accompanied by the "REAL world". Within the last measures the instrument arrangement changes: the violin and cello are suddenly accompanying the piano, the “REAL world” is turning upside down, which might symbolize that Yves and Sofia found a way to be together, after living the moment of love and thinking about the future that is waiting for each of them.

Cache-cache ends on the Tonika (1^st), after a long hold Dominante (5^h). This stands for a last thought (Dominante) before the music tells us in form of the Tonika that all is well. Would the melody have ended on the Dominante (5^th) it would end as a question, as an open ending.

“I (Kubilay Üner) played the other instruments - piano, bass, guitar, melodica, keyboards and drums. Mostly because I love to play and get my hands dirty as much as possible, but of course I also had to make the budget work. It's all part of being an artist - work with what you have available, and turn that into something moving, or exciting, or delightful!” Kubilay Üner ¹

Track list « For Lovers Only «

1. Figé dans le temps - Frozen in time

2. Pour Frédéric - For Frédéric (Chopin)

3. Un baiser au bord de la Seine - A kiss on the banks of the Seine

4. Deux amants dans un château - Two lovers in a castle

5. Sur la plage - On the beach

6. Promenade

7. Les amoureux - lovers

8. "Destruction" - c'est la période que je traverse - is the time I cross

9. Un enfant et un vieillard - A child and an old man

10. Elle prie pour un miracle - She prays for a miracle

11. Cache-cache - Hide and Seek

The music in general

The movie starts with the French song “La noyeé“ (“the drunk”) by Serge Gainsbourg. The title describes the condition of the main male character Yves perfectly… as he is drunk… lost in his life. Sofia, the main female character, describes her –their- situation perfectly as well “My life… FUCK… beautiful mess.”

A lively French song starts to play when Yves and Sofia go out into the streets of Paris. They miss each other each time just by seconds, until they accidently see each other on some stairs in Paris. This moment is marked with a major chord, the song ends with, followed by silence which implicates the total speechlessness of both characters since they had never considered – this moment of seeing each other – could really happen.

The beginning of the movie is marked with French songs, until Yves and Sofia leave Paris Min 25. Leaving Paris together is a twist for both characters and suddenly only English songs are played. Only one French song follows their departure. The French songs stand for Paris, the English songs stand for freedom and the world.

After another twist at the end of the movie, Sofia isn’t sure anymore that Yves would consider a life with her, because of his daughter. Sofia reads Yves’ letter, while “A girl called Eddy” quietly starts to play. The piano plays a sad intro while Sofia reads the letter. Then the singer starts to sing a capella about prayers, tears and God and it’s just as Sofia starts to pray, folding her hands together. The music mediates the feeling that Sofia started to pray and to realize that maybe her life with Yves isn’t for sure anymore. Sofia then goes back on the journey to Paris. Alone. Reading Yves words over and over and over again and thinking about their time, while the song continues to play.