Chant in Films
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 993
    I just finished watching "Teresa de Jesus," the series of the life of St. Teresa of Avila made for Spanish television in the 1980s. There was a fair amount of chant. The Te Deum appeared several times, along with the occasional psalm, and it was well done. Not overly polished. It also only appeared as actual source music, not "atmospheric background."

    Any other films with good use of chant that come to mind?
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    Ironically, "INTO GREAT SILENCE."
    Thanked by 1SrEleanor
  • urli
    Posts: 35
    Mary Jane, is that the series that's in several different parts on You Tube? What I thought was brilliant was how someone singing was doing so off-key.
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    Cadfael. Great stuff, and beautiful singing, esp. from the 1934 Antiphonale Monasticum
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    In honor of the saint of the day: Becket.
  • JamJam
    Posts: 636
    Ha, yes, Becket! The church scenes in that are hardcore awesome. How come we don't do excommunications like that anymore, eh?
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    I seem to recall decent chant in the Connery version of "Name of the Rose." Also, some in DeNiro/Duvall "True Confessions."
    Weirdest episode that comes to mind- the invisible choir chanting "Veni Creator..." during the ordination of Elias Koteas in "The Prophecy" in a totally empty (minus clergy) cathedral.
  • Maureen
    Posts: 675
    Anime is full of chant bits in soundtracks.

    From the Noir series soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura, "Church" is a "Pange Lingua Gloriosi" remix:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UT6PoGbqyo&feature=related

    "Salva Me", the song which always accompanies fighting. Includes evil Gnostic cultist nuns at the end.:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXvVWhQRRyY

    "Les Soldats", the themesong for the evil Gnostic cultists:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wITZK6SMtYs&feature=related

    "Lilium", the themesong from Elfen Lied, a show I've never seen. This is the male voice version, used as backup for somebody's videogame music video.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvBvns1XFmQ

    The female voice version, used for a Bleach series video.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wmSEaLDUds&feature=related

    From the Kuroshitsuji soundtrack. I don't recommend the series, but the Agnus Dei at 7:06 is very nice. It's also the series' fight theme.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03BBRcBGGrs&feature=related

    The Ominous Latin Chanting page at TV Tropes:
    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OminousLatinChanting
  • RobertRobert
    Posts: 343
    I've always found the robustly-sung Dies Irae in Bergman's The Seventh Seal interesting. Not that I would want to emulate this chant performance style!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEQmOHj93Bk&feature=related

    (About 15 seconds in)
  • richardUKrichardUK
    Posts: 85
    In the superb Sam Mendes film "Road to Perdition" (Tom Hanks plays a hired assassin who has to go on the run with his young son), there is a great moment where he is in a beautiful old church confronting Mafia boss (Paul Newman) and you can hear "Alma Redemptoris Mater" floating in the background, as if being sung by nuns. Actually it was a King's College Choir recording from the early 90's where the boys sang chant interspersed with Russian and Slavic choral pieces. The film's other music is by the amazing Thomas Newman, whose musical ideas turn every film he scores into something very striking.
  • bonniebede
    Posts: 756
    just watched Diana Riggs in 'In this house of Brede' based on the novel of the same title. While the film simplified the novels storylines and large cast of characters, it manages to capture a nice sense of the daily round and continuity of monastic life among Benedictine nuns. Nice pieces of chant all over the place in this film.
  • dad29
    Posts: 2,217
    There HAS to be a Bing Crosby flick-with-Chant someplace.
  • Randolph Nichols
    Posts: 398
    Am I so old to be the only one to remember "The Nun's Story" (1959) with Audrey Hepburn? Nice rendition of Veni Creator as I recall in the profession of vows scene.
  • Gina
    Posts: 12
    In the PBS series "Call the Midwife", the sisters/midwives are occasionally shown chanting the Liturgy of the Hours, more often in the earlier episodes than the later ones.
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,916
    There HAS to be a Bing Crosby flick-with-Chant someplace.


    I don't know if this counts, but Fr. Bing sings "O Sanctissima" in Bells of St. Mary's.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byOhtG4CGXI
  • Bobby Bolin
    Posts: 417
    For some reason, The Bells of St. Mary's came to mind when I saw this thread as well. Not sure if there's any chant in it.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    Not sure if there's any chant in it.


    There is not. But they do sing "Happy Birthday to Jesus" in a Christmas pageant.
  • RevAMG
    Posts: 162
    I've always been partial to the settings of the Veni Creator and Tu Es Petrus in Shoes of the Fisherman. I'm not sure if Alex North composed the settings or if they were preëxisting.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    There's a fair amount of chant in the opening of Barbe-bleue (2009), Catharine Breillat's sly retelling of Bluebeard.
  • fcbfcb
    Posts: 331
    Though it's more chant-ish than authentic chant, the liturgical music in Of God's and Men plays a crucial role, since it conveys most of the overt theology in the movie. Michael Joncas has some reflections here.
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