“El Mal,” the show-stopping number sung by Zoe Saldaña in Netflix’s “Emilia Perez,” won the best song Oscar Sunday night for French songwriters Camille and Clément Ducol and their co-writer, the film’s director Jacques Audiard.
Later in the evening, English composer Daniel Blumberg won the original score for his music for Brady Corbet’s epic “The Brutalist.”
“The song”El Mal,” in Audiard’s operatic drama, is a three-minute tour de force for Saldaña as lawyer Rita Castro, a fantasy in which she dances around a room filled with the rich and powerful, decrying the hypocrisy of those responsible for the murders of thousands of Mexicans during the drug wars.
Mick Jagger introduced the category, taking the stage to the strains of the Rolling Stones’ 1968 classic “Sympathy for the Devil.”
After thanking the audience and saying how pleased he was to present the award, he said, “Much as I love doing it, I wasn’t the first choice to give this award out. The producer really wanted Bob Dylan. But Bob said, ‘The best songs this year were obviously in the movie ‘A Complete Unknown,’” Jagger said, imitating 83-year-old Dylan’s deadpan. “Bob said, ‘You should find somebody younger.”
“I said, ‘I’m younger I’ll do it’ — so here I am!,” said Jagger, 81.
Continuing the theme, winning co-writer Camille began her acceptance speech with the “Whoo-woo” chant from “Sympathy for the Devil.”
Turning more serious, she said, “We wrote ‘El Mal’ as a song to denounce corruption, and we hope it speaks to the role music and art can continue to play as a force of the good and progress in the world.”
“Emilia Perez” was not hurt by competing against itself in this category. “El Mal” was one of two songs from the film that earned nominations; the other was “Mi Camino,” a romantic ballad performed as a karaoke number by co-star Selena Gomez, also written by Camille and Ducol.
“When the lights go down and Jacques gives you the impression that we’re inside her thoughts, that’s when she unleashes,” Saldaña told Variety about “El Mal” earlier during awards season. The song contains both rock and rap elements and won the Golden Globe earlier this year.
The French songwriting duo were also up for best score for “Emilia Perez.” Camille, whose surname is Dalmais, is a well-known singer-songwriter in France, with hit albums “Le Fil,” “Music Hole,” “Ilo Veyou” and “Oui” over the past 20 years. Her voice can be heard on the soundtracks of the animated films “Ratatouille” and “The Little Prince.” Ducol was music director for the rock opera “Annette” and scored the French animated film “Chicken for Linda.”
When scoring “The Brutalist,” Blumberg worked side-by-side with director Brady Corbet throughout shooting, often supplying music in advance that was played on the set for the actors. He employed just 19 musicians, but they were based all over Europe, so Blumberg often recorded them remotely and mixed them together later. The centerpiece of the score is an extensive theme-and-variations performed by 89-year-old English pianist John Tilbury, whose modernist views dovetailed nicely with Blumberg’s experimentalist approach. The score includes a three-part, 10-minute overture, bebop-style jazz, and contributions by Depeche Mode’s Vince Clarke for the synthesizer-laced finale of the film. This was Blumberg’s first nomination and only his second feature score, after Corbet’s partner Mona Fastvold’s “The World to Come.” He’s now working on Fastvold’s next film, the musical “Ann Lee.” He has already won BAFTA and Society of Composers & Lyricists awards for “The Brutalist.” During his indie-rock years he was part of London bands Cajun Dance Party and Yuck, and his solo album “Minus” met with rave reviews from London critics in 2018.
