Musical minds are about to be blown. I can’t believe I didn’t learn about this musical golden nugget that had existed in one my favorite movies until just today. You all remember Inception? Christopher Nolan? Leo DiCaprio? Ellen Page? Joseph Gordon-Levitt?
Within the plot of the movie, they use Edith Piaf’s classic song, ‘Non, je ne regrette rien,’as an audio clue that is time to awake from the dream. The running joke of the translation of the song “No, I Regret Nothing” worked well in the context of the film.
What you might not have realized is that you’re hearing it even when you think you aren’t…….Seriously. Remember the dramatic instrumental theme you hear over and over for the last 45ish minutes of the movie? While it sounds like typical Hans Zimmer, loud, constant crescendos and decrecendos letting you know the movie is getting intense… but the AMAZING thing is that is actually the exact..same…Edith Piaf song.. Just slowed down to beyond recognition.
Hans has been quoted as saying that they actually went to France and extracted two notes from the original master of the song which laid the basis for the entire score utilizing subdivisions and multiplications of the tempo from the SAME track.
If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Piaf’s song is a way for the characters to know they are about to wake up – but since time passes more slowly inside the dream, the characters should hear the song slowed down as well..and they do. Un-freakin-believable. As the slowed down song ends..maybe it’s our cue to ‘wake up’ too.
Do me one last favor. Watch the credits of the film the next time you see it. At the very last second, you should see Edith pop out and say hello.
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