Netflixs’ Leave The World Behind – Music Review and Analysis

Leave the world behind and discover Mac Quayles’ mysterious musical score within Netflixs’ newest thriller

Netflixs’ newest release, Leave the World Behind, starring Julia Roberts (Erin Brokovich) was directed by Sam Esmail who collaborated with composer Mac Quayle (The Robot, AMS), to create an unsettling and unique musical score. The Leave the World Behind music score and soundtrack are contrasting in tone and genre but are equally original and important storytelling components within this film. Set during a mysterious cyber attack that affects all technological infrastructure, two families are forced to live together to ride out the spooky effects of the attack. Unaware of the cause, the characters try to uncover the mystery of assassin-directive, automatic drive Tesla’s, an intimidating change in animal migration, and dangerously piercing siren sounds. Director Sam Esmail takes a creatively ambitious approach at tackling relevant topics such as advancing technology, environmental issues and human choices that trigger serious viewer reflection.

Esmail’s quirky, eerie and modern filming aesthetic tilts it hat to Hitchcock’s signature style. Casting a strong “Hitchcockian leading man” says Esmail in a recent interview with Ehrlich (2023), and featuring striking and terrifying visuals (planes falling out of the sky, oil tankers ploughing beaches) confirms this cinematic influence. Also frequently using creative camera angles invokes a sense of skepticism amongst characters as well as successfully building tension which the movie relies on.

Quayles’ Orchestral Approach

Composer Quayle seeks to match Esmail’s bold visuals, and he does so by using a full orchestra. He uses all four groups of strings, woodwind, percussion and brass instruments to create an unsettling tone with the intention of “making the viewer feel very uneasy and question what is happening” says Quayle in a recent interview with Robinson (2023). A lot of the score uses dissonance and unconventional sound patterns creating an unnerving and harsh musical tone perfect for the movie. In a recent interview with Robinson (2023), Quayle also describes the genre of the score as “avant garde new classical” with influences coming from early mid twentieth century composer Olivier Messiaen and his discover of the Messiaen modes. Quayle was inspired by mode three and from playing around with this scale, he was able to create engaging pieces of music from it. Some of these musical ideas became the starting point for the movie, where Quayle then began creating more interesting motifs and melodies. Esmail and Quayle then decided to host a recording session to record these musical ideas which Quayle was then able to chop up and start creating the score with “using essentially this custom library” that was his own (Robinson, 2023).

Red Rain

Esmail also maximised the use of parallel scenes. For example, at different moments in the movie, characters would become separated but would all be experiencing something similar. For example, during an early scene Clay (Ethan Hawke) drives into town for answers, G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) investigates the neighbours house whilst Archie gaslights his little sister Rose as she see’s something out of a misty window from a nearby shed. All three are stunned as they stare out with big, frightened faces. As we can only see their facial expressions the camera flits between the three scenes gradually increasing in speed to create a more heightened sense of tension. However a large part of this scenes’ effectiveness is down to the suspense built through the music. This scene is entitled Red Rain and starts off with strings playing downward clusters of slurred notes initially creating an unsettling tone. A minor third interval can be heard from a C note travelling down chromatically to an A note followed by other ominous sounding intervals. After half a minute or so, short, sharp plucked strings are heard on a low C note which acts as a drone throughout the piece. Following with interjections of percussion from metallic timbres, random cymbals, and timpani-like sounds to create depth and depict the approaching threat. High pitched, screechy sounding strings enter halfway through which help create tension and unease. The piece continues to build in musical texture and volume, with percussive stabs, overlapping slurred string patterns with woodwind instruments which creates a lot of dissonance and alarm. After this musical climax a decrescendo softens the harshness, as the instruments then whir to a halt with fast upward sinister strings rounding off the piece sharply. The composition of this three part scene allows the viewer to experience the forboding fear and torment each character is going through in an extremely gradual and built up way. Musical tension at its finest.

Human vs Nature

Esmail uses another parallel scene during the latter part of the movie where we see Ruth (Myha’la) and Amanda (Julia Roberts) face to face with a herd of deer and Clay (Ethan Hawke) and G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) in a confrontation with Danny (Kevin Bacon). Both scenes are connected together with themes of survival and courage, as the men are holding each other at gunpoint and the women are at the mercy of the deer. Both are equally tense scenes which show the unpredictability of death but also highlight the idea of human vs nature and how humanity has become so fragile that people are now turning on each other as a result of the second stage of the cyber attack “synchronized chaos”. Without a clear enemy or motive people start turning on each other out of fear and defense. Similarly in the mirroring scene, we see a large, intimidating herd of deer surrounding Ruth with no way out. When Amanda notices she runs to Ruths defense, screaming and shouting protectively at the deer.

Musically this scene is entitled Human vs Nature and we first hear that plucked C note again throughout this scene creating a foreboding tone. We then start to hear high pitched dissonant chords played on strings. They soon begin to overlap and slur upward and downward, creating a musical sense of dizzyness. This matches the scene perfectly as the deer start to surround Ruth from every direction, which is also matched by the wide panning camera angles creating a sense of dizzyness and entrapment. Meanwhile, when Danny refuses to help Clay and G.H. Scott, tensions start to rise, as they do when Ruth is approached by the alpha doe. At this moment the strings start pluck in double time increasing the pace and adding the to tension between characters. Before the deer can attack, Amanda bursts out in front of Ruth, responding to her maternal instinct to protect and defend her by shouting and making a scene. All while Danny and G.H. Scott suddenly draw and point guns out of rage and defense. These two volatile moments are nuanced with extreme high pitched stab chords on the piano. The musical instability of the dissonant chords here reflect the unpredictability of who will shoot first and if the deer will attack or not. The whiring strings continue, as do the dissonant piano chords. Percussive toms are then banged to accent Clays outburst of bravery as he steps in between the two guns in an attempt to diffuse the situation and get the help he desperately needs. The screen then flits to the the deer running away and Amanda and Ruth embracing one another. This is a particularly moving and empowering scene as we see Amanda’s and Ruth’s relationship transform from skeptical and untrusting as it was at the start of the movie to united and protective of one another. The piece then abruptly ends with the sound of Danny counting the money he accepted for the bribe of helping Clay. Deafening.

Conclusion

Leave the World Behind is a high pressured movie that will surely have you on the edge of your seats the whole way through. Upon a first listen titles such as Jaws and A Quiet Place come to mind with their minimal yet menacing sounding notes that can also be heard in Esmail’s latest apocalyptic cyberattack release. Though theories of who started the attack are mentioned, Quayle’s musical obscurity undoubtedly keep viewers questioning everything they see. score. Quayle successfully achieves this through the Messiaen mode, varied musical textures, dissonant chords and a menacing custom music library. An extremely methodical yet unique writing approach that made this score what it is. Exceptional.

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