Window to Paris offers a modern reinvention of the St. Petersburg myth and plenty of laughs. One aspect of the film that stood out to me right from the opening sequence was the power of music and musical icons within the narrative and satire. First and foremost is Nikolai’s brandishing of a tuning lever like a gun on two occasions. In this way, the means of correcting the pitch of an instrument and restoring harmony to a scene is shown to carry might similar to the ability to take a life. Furthermore, a few major plot points owe to musical intervention. Nikolai’s scheme to break Nicole out of jail entails presenting her as a famous French singer-songwriter, while he assume’s Elvis’ name. Likewise, his plot to evacuate the children from Paris entails passing his entourage off as a French army band before hijacking an airplane. These examples show music as a force transcending conventional authorities — Nikolai asserts that Edith Piaf is worth more to St. Petersburg than its entire police force, a position that yields no opposition from the police. It is no surprise that the master musician can bend the will of the children to stay in Russia and thus avert brain drain despite proving meek in other regards. At the same time, we can see the improbable developments owing to musical elements as marking music as one of the mystical forces governing the St. Petersburg myth.
As for the film’s social critique, music represents an indicator of a society’s health on multiple occasions. For instance, the comedically off-key rendition of “The Internationale” amid a vodka shortage hints at the failure of communist ideals to create a harmonious Russian society. We see a similar theme of music exposing failure and fraud in Gorokhov’s attempt to scam Parisians with the music box concealing a speaker; the pitch drops as the speaker dies, exposing the sinister intent. In addition, the sequence of business instruction superseding musical education for a time in Nikolai’s school points to a loss of aesthetics as a cause of social degradation in spite of ethical reform. The out-of-tune piano too falls into this symbolic category. As I lack formal training in music, I would be curious what you guys make of the finer details of the score.
Zach, I think you make great point about the use of music in the film. I also found the use of music a very prominent theme in the film as many people do. I found the song that Nikolai plays from his flute to get the attention of his children very delightful. This is one way that the film uses music in the way of grabbing the attention of a large group of people. You point out many ways that the film uses music without account playing it out loud which I think is very interesting.
The use of music in the film was very important, and I enjoyed reading your post on it! The off-key rendition of “The Internationale” was very obviously symbolic, to your point. The symbolism of that song being off-key carried along the idea of the film, in that the film itself seemed to be a take on the Soviet empire starting to tumble down.
Zach, you did a wonderful job pointing out the importance of music in this film! The duality of Nikolai’s piano tuner also speaks to the power of music in Russian society. It can be used to restore humanity like you say but it also has the potential to bend people against their will.
I love this discussion! You all truly understood this important aspect of the film so well. Another funny yet significant music-related moment is when Nikolai claims that Nicole is Edith Piaf (an extremely popular French singer from the 1930s) and that he himself is Elvis Presley, and the Russian police are so ignorant that they actually take what they are saying at face value. This is another instance when the arts are essentially weaponized–in this case, we have a sort of “insider’s code,” similar to the way poets expressed subversive messages “between the lines,” and the censors, with their sensibilities being a rather blunt instrument, sometimes missed these and allowed the works to pass through.