Plaza Mayor Company releases Thierry Malet's original score for the documentary Paris Sous Les Eaux. On the 20 January 1910 the Seine rises and floods Paris and its suburbs. The streets are submerged and the capital is totally paralyzed. The film follows a journalist and a photographer from the Petit Parisien, the most important newspaper of the time, to meet the people and the main actors of the disaster, this film relives this "terrible Week" hour by hour...

Thierry Malet delivers a pretty impressive and very memorable score for Paris Sous Les Eaux. Although its ability to stick in the listener's mind may be the fact that it mainly rests on one main theme that is heavily woven throughout the soundtrack's 42 tracks (1 hr, 04 min, 46 sec). Malet previously composed the score for 1910, Paris Sous Les Eaux but if you're expecting a similar score then you'll be surprised to learn that what he delivers here is a totally different fish.

While, personally, I found this an enjoyable score I can appreciate that some will find it a little repetitive. For me, it works because the main theme is built upon rather than just repeated with numerous variations using different instruments every time, as some composers tend to do. Like the Seine, or Paris itself, this theme is an integral part of the story, acting as a character in its own right.

The end result is a gritty, rather moving melancholic offering which will stay with you long after you've finished listening to it.

8

Darren Rea