The Decree (Poor Things)

Formality here — the pompous gravity of institutional power rendered in full orchestral dress. Desplat writes this with one eyebrow raised, the brass and strings achieving a grandeur that is simultaneously impressive and absurd. It's music that knows authority is costume, that the decree is theater, that the men issuing orders from velvet chairs are playing roles in a production they did not write. There's a slight edge of farce underneath the pomp, a knowing quality that prevents it from becoming straightforward underscore. The film needs music that can critique power while still conveying its suffocating weight, and Desplat navigates that needle with characteristic elegance. It sounds like walking into a room where you are not supposed to be and knowing that the people in it believe themselves very important indeed.