Milan Records releases Ammonite (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) with music by Dustin O'Halloran and Volker Bertelmann. The film tells the story of acclaimed self-taught paleontologist Mary Anning. The days of her famed discoveries behind her, she now hunts for common fossils to sell to rich tourists. When one such tourist entrusts Mary with the care of his young wife, Charlotte, who is recuperating from a personal tragedy. Despite the chasm between their social spheres and personalities, Mary and Charlotte discover they can each offer what the other has been searching for: the realization that they are not alone...

Dustin O'Halloran and Volker Bertelmann's score for Ammonite is made up of 9 tracks (23 min, 54 sec). But what it lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in quality. At times this straddles the fine line between soundtrack and classical music. It's a very sweet, melancholic score which is painfully beautiful.

The composers opted for a small chamber group of strings and piano as their palette and this really helps to mirror the onscreen chemistry between the main characters. There's a tenderness and beauty at the heart of this wonderful score that should ensure it's one you return to time and time again.

9

Darren Rea