House of Gucci

Best known as an actor for her role in the remake of A Star is Born, Stefani Germanotta (a.k.a. Lady Gaga) is set to strike filmic gold again with House of Gucci. Based on the novel by Sara Gay Foden, House of Gucci recounts the dramatic story of the titular Italian fashion house. As might be expected, especially for Lady Gaga’s musical pedigree, the way Blondie’s hit single “Heart of Glass” (from the 1978 album “Parallel Lines”) is edited to the trailer is a significant factor for its success. As one YouTube commenter said, “whoever edited this trailer with the music and specific scenes… got me into watching a film about Gucci.”

Right away, the iconic vocal line (a sixth and fifth, followed by the leading note and tonic, for those keeping score) precedes lines by Patricia Reggiani (Gaga) about how Gucci is “synonymous with wealth”. The iconic syncopated guitar line enters in tandem with the studio title cards at 0:24 and feels like the entrance of the song proper, after teasing melodic lines and fragments. The song’s parts are cut and spliced to fit the dialogue from moment to moment: for example, at 0:28 the riff suddenly changes to slow chord strums and spare, reverberant percussion set to the dialogue “your name is in the history books”. Clearly, the trailer editors had access to the stems, and in this case, it was important that the original music be heard, but that it also fits the visual edit in terms of the precise arrangement of those original parts.

At 0:35 the music stops for a moment for a one-liner (“it’s chic!”), which also serves as a moment of anticipation for the entry of the synthesizer in this steadily building arrangement, as well as pounding percussion synched to the actors’ title cards. More than the title cards, however, is the choice of scenes between them: notice the way the winged doors of the car close perfectly in synch at 0:40, for instance. A rapid-fire montage ensues, timed precisely so as to get a feel for what is happening in each scene, and yet consistently pulling it away such that we’re left wanting more.

At 0:59 we hear some relatively subtle intonations of epic music, or in other words a trailerized arrangement, in the score, with the addition of some militant, rapid-fire percussion at 0:59 and 1:01. As it turns out, however, the arrangement goes full-bore into the epic music side of things at 1:07, now with blaring orchestral chords. The original track is still present, with strains of Debbie Harry’s voice coming through in that tell-tale, jaunty melody, but clearly the trailerized arrangement has tipped the balance here, at times cutting off the vocal melody without warning.

An interesting fact here is how this completely different arrangement causes one to reconsider how the lyrics of the song are indeed about power and corruption. Lyrics such as “love is so confusing, there’s no peace of mind / If I fear I’m losing you, it’s just no good” sounded relatively innocuous in the original arrangement, but take on a more serious guise in this new one. At 1:25 we hear the first original melodic addition, which invokes the harmonic minor scale—quite a change from the original tune’s major key. It lingers on the leading tone and the title card stating “murder”, further ratcheting up the suspense and intrigue. We see a hand with a gun; it fires without revealing who held it.

The trailer ends with a return to that iconic melodic line mentioned earlier—the sixth and fifth, followed by the leading note and tonic. It’s clear that the studios are betting on this small and memorable bit of music to help the audio viewer remember the trailer, and hopefully ultimately spur more moviegoers. As in any trailer using a popular song, it also serves to remind people whenever “Heart of Glass” is played in a different context, which is still reasonably likely.

House of Gucci arrives in theatres in November.

— Curtis Perry