Irish Film Institute -FAHRENHEIT 451

FAHRENHEIT 451

Director: FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT

U.K. • 1966 • COLOUR • 112 MIN


Based on Ray Bradbury’s novel, François Truffaut’s first English language film evokes a devitalised future society where books are banned and, if discovered, burned. When Herrmann asked Truffaut why he had not commissioned modernist composers like Boulez or Stockhausen to score the film, the director replied: ‘They’d give me music of the twentieth century. I want music of the twenty first.’ Herrmann supplies a score of great variety and elegance. The nursery-style music for the fire-engines is chilling and funny (‘aimless music for aimless lives’, said Herrmann). In a remarkable finale, a rebellious fireman (Oskar Werner) escapes to join the book people; and as snow falls and danger gathers, Herrmann celebrates humanity’s diversity in arguably the loveliest music he ever wrote.

Critic Michael Dwyer will introduce this screening.

Book Tickets

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