Patrick Doyle writes melodies that take a film’s feelings seriously, even when its screenplay does not. We value his warmth and appetite for drama, but his orchestras sometimes keep explaining what the actors have already made clear.
Fi1m perspective
In the gold palace of Thor (2011), Patrick Doyle’s brass and choir sound at home. In the desert, the music is less convincing. Kenneth Branagh’s film takes its family quarrel seriously, and Doyle gives it the weight the palace scenes need. We welcome his willingness to make these people’s feelings matter, though his scores can become tiresome when the performances have already done the work.
His first film score, for Branagh’s Henry V (1989), followed their work together in theatre. Their partnership has repeatedly found uses for his appetite for drama. The emphatic music of Dead Again (1991) helps its extravagant romance survive the plot’s complications. In Hamlet (1996), though, we wanted him to stop underlining emotions that were already clear in the speech.
Working with Alfonso Cuarón, Doyle supplies choir and strings for the childhood fantasy of A Little Princess (1995), where the music’s fullness suits the green schoolrooms and imagined adventures. Great Expectations (1998) exposes the risk: his strings rise whenever Estella enters, but the writing gives the romance little reason to matter. We felt faintly annoyed, because the score was working so hard to persuade us of something the characters never established.
Doyle can be quieter than this. In Mike Newell’s Donnie Brasco (1997), he supports the sadness of the friendship while leaving the actors to provide the anxiety; Jon Gregory’s patient editing gives both room. For Robert Altman’s Gosford Park (2001), the music helps the household seem civilised enough for its rudeness to sting. It is less memorable than the dialogue, but a score need not be the first thing we remember.
The larger studio adventures are an uneven fit. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), we prefer his waltz to the rushing brass of the tournament cues. Brave (2012) makes good use of his traditional sound, finding affection and excitement even when the broad comedy intrudes. Start with Donnie Brasco for his restraint, then Dead Again for a film that can take him at full volume.
Biography
Patrick Doyle (also credited as Pat Doyle) is a Scottish composer and occasional actor. Born on 6 April 1953 in Uddingston, South Lanarkshire, he trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, graduating in 1975. He joined Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987 as composer and musical director.
Doyle is best known for his film scores, including Henry V (1989), Dead Again (1991), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Carlito's Way (1993), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Hamlet (1996), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Gosford Park (2001), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Thor (2011), Brave (2012), Cinderella (2015), Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Death on the Nile (2022). He has scored films for directors including Branagh, Brian De Palma, Robert Altman and Alfonso Cuarón.
Doyle received the Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Theme for Henry V. He has been nominated for two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA and two César Awards. He has received lifetime achievement awards from the World Soundtrack Awards and Scottish BAFTA, as well as the ASCAP Henry Mancini Award.
