Coulais began his musical education on the violin and piano, aiming to become a composer of contemporary classical music. However, a series of acquaintances gradually re-oriented him towards film music. Coulais was particularly influenced by director François Reichenbach, who asked him in 1977 to write the soundtrack to his new documentary Mexico Magico. The first full-length production he composed the score for was the 1986 film La femme secrète by Sébastien Grall. Until the end of the 1990s, he remained low-profile, composing mainly for television. His name can often be found from TV films by Gérard Marx and Laurent Heynemann. He also composed the soundtracks for Christine Pascal's 1992 film Le petit prince a dit, and Agnès Merlet's Le fils du requin in 1993.
In 1994, he met the television producer Josée Dayan, who let him write a theme for the TV series La rivière Esperance, aired on the France 2 network in autumn 1995. He worked with Dayan again with other major productions such as Le comte de Monte-Cristo, Balzac, and Les nuiteux.
The largest turning point of his career came in 1996, when he worked with directors Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou of the documentary Microcosmos. This single film, which gave a great significance to the music in it, was a great success and made Coulais one of the most wanted composers of French film music. In 1997, he won the César award for the best musical score in a film, as well as a Victoire de la Musique. His reputation was confirmed by the soundtracks to Himalaya (1999) and Les rivières pourpres (2000), and after that Bruno Coulais's name was to be found on most new French blockbusters, such as Belphégor and Vidocq.
After producing the soundtrack to Winged Migration in 2001, Coulais announced that he wanted to significantly reduce his contributions to film music, and instead concentrate on other projects, such as the creation of an opera for children, and collaborations with Akhenaton, Akhenaton's group IAM and the Corsican group A Filetta, with whom he had worked since he had made the soundtrack for Jacques Weber's film Don Juan in 1998.
In 2002, his name was found on the ending credits of the animation L'enfant qui voulait être un ours, and in 2004, on Frédéric Schoendoerffer's Agents secrets. The same year, he wrote the soundtrack to the film Les choristes by Christophe Baratier, which subsequently became an international hit. The music for this film received as great praise as the film itself, and it won Coulais his third César award. Since then, Coulais's collaborations in cinema seem to be limited to works by directors with whom he already shares some history, in particular Jacques Perrin, Frédéric Schoendoerffer, and James Huth.
Bruno Coulais's musical style may vary significantly between different projects, but there are some constant factors visible: his taste for opera and for human voice (in particular that of children), for a search for original sonority, for world music and mixing different musical cultures, and finally, a certain tendency to give preference to the ambience created by lighting rather than the film's narration.
Snail-Love
Bruno Coulais Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
nellalcova dorata vè un silenzio
gelido, mortal, vè un silenzio,
un freddo che magghiaccia!
Ed io che mero avvezza
a una carezza
voluttuosa
di labbra ardenti e dinfuocate braccia...
O mia dimora umile,
tu mi ritorni innanzi
gaia, isolata, bianca
come un sogno gentile
di pace e damor!
The lyrics of Bruno Coulais's song "Snail-Love" (from the French "L'Amour Escargot") are in Italian and describe a scene in a luxurious, golden alcove where the silence is cold and deadly, very different from the singer's usual experience of passionate kisses and fiery embraces. The persona is experiencing a drastic change in their surroundings and, by extension, in their own life. The opening lines, "In quelle trine morbide..." ("In those soft laces..."), suggest a perception of a certain decadence and seductive atmosphere, but then the silence is described as "gelido, mortal" ("cold, deadly"). This silence contrasts with the persona's accustomed sensuality ("una carezza voluttuosa di labbra ardenti e di infuocate braccia" - "a voluptuous caress from burning lips and fiery arms").
Line by Line Meaning
In quelle trine morbide...
In those soft laces...
nell'alcova dorata vè un silenzio gelido, mortal, vè un silenzio, un freddo che magghiaccia!
in the gilded alcove lies a deadly, freezing silence, a cold that chills!
Ed io che mero avvezza a una carezza voluttuosa di labbra ardenti e dinfuocate braccia... or ho tuttaltra cosa!
And I, who was accustomed to a voluptuous caress of fiery lips and uncontrollable arms... now have something completely different!
O mia dimora umile, tu mi ritorni innanzi gaia, isolata, bianca come un sogno gentile di pace e d'amor!
Oh, my humble abode, you return to me happy, isolated, white like a kind dream of peace and love!
Contributed by Kaylee A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.