Muted Passions: The Little Music of the Shadows in « The Page Turner » and « The Accompanist »

Abstract

Claude Miller’s The Accompanist (1992) and Denis Dercourt’s The Page Turner (2006) set the stage for tormented, conflicting musical worlds. The relationship that takes place between the consecrated and coveted woman artist and the more humble figure of the accompanist or page turner is fraught with tangled emotions involving both the individual response to music and the power –whether obvious or underlying– that it entails. The present article examines the complex array of emotions and ambitions triggered by music and by the compelling force that it represents, ­delving into the narrative, stylistic and musical modes of representation of female ethos torn between light and shade, fame and secrecy, anonymity and recognition.