Georges Delerue

Georges Delerue (1925–1992) was a French composer whose lyrical film scores ranged from French New Wave cinema to Hollywood productions, including Platoon.

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Jules et Jim: François Truffaut’s 1962 film follows two friends and the woman whose love reshapes their lives. Delerue’s recurring music gives Truffaut’s story its buoyant, wistful emotional signature.
François Truffaut: François Truffaut was a French filmmaker and critic, and a leading director of the French New Wave. Their repeated collaboration made Delerue’s music a defining part of several Truffaut films.
Paris Conservatory: The Paris Conservatory is a leading French institution for music and dance education. Delerue studied composition there, grounding his film work in formal musical training.
Film score: A film score is music composed or selected to accompany a motion picture. Delerue’s career centers on composing music shaped by a film’s scenes and dramatic structure.
Contempt: Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 film examines a marriage strained during the production of a film adaptation of the Odyssey. Delerue’s score supplies a sweeping romantic counterpoint to Godard’s fractured drama.
Jean-Luc Godard: Jean-Luc Godard was a French-Swiss film director whose formally experimental work helped shape the French New Wave. Delerue’s score for Contempt contrasts with Godard’s disruptive visual and narrative style.
Darius Milhaud: Darius Milhaud was a French composer and member of the group known as Les Six. Milhaud taught Delerue at the Paris Conservatory and influenced his musical formation.
Leitmotif: A leitmotif is a recurring musical idea associated with a person, place, object, or theme. Recurring melodic ideas help explain how Delerue’s tunes can carry emotion across scenes.
A Little Romance: George Roy Hill’s 1979 romantic comedy follows two young people traveling through Europe. Delerue won an Academy Award for his score, bringing his melodic style to an American film.
Oliver Stone: Oliver Stone is an American film director and screenwriter known for politically charged films. Stone hired Delerue to score Platoon, linking the composer to a major American war film.