M83 today announces his third feature film soundtrack, Knife + Heart, will be released digitally March 8 on Mute. Knife + Heart, a French film directed by Yann Gonzalez – the brother of M83 frontman Anthony Gonzalez – premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. This is also the first time Anthony Gonzalez has reunited with original M83 member Nicolas Fromageau since the group’s first two full-length releases, 2001’s self-titled studio album and 2003’s Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts. Knife + Heart represents the first new collection of original M83 music since 2016’s Junk, with more to come in the near future.
The Knife + Heart soundtrack will be available on digital services beginning March 8 with physical formats to follow on April 26 including a blood red double vinyl edition.
Knife + Heart is a noir-tinged erotic slasher that explores the seedy underbelly of Paris in the 1970s. Vanessa Paradis stars as Anne, the producer of third-rate gay pornography who strives to win back the affections of Lois – her editor and erstwhile lover – by shooting her most ambitious film yet. But events take a violent and dark turn when one after another, Anne’s actors fall prey to a masked killer whose bloodlust knows no bounds.
Reflecting on the inspiration for Knife + Heart’s soundtrack, Yann Gonzalez says, “We wanted to recapture the Gialli ambiance of the ‘70s, to feel that sinister yet sentimental tone. Anthony and I are both poetical and even sentimental, in a certain way. We wanted to dive in headlong, particularly as melancholy and poetry are found in numerous ‘70s horror film soundtracks, from films
by Lucio Fulci to those by Mario Bava. I’m thinking in particular of the harrowing soundtracks of Don’t Torture a Duckling or Twitch of the Death Nerve.”
Commenting on the source material, he adds, “This principle of pleasure came rushing back. I got Anthony to listen some old soundtracks from straight and gay porn films. He quickly gathered the musical codes and finally, the most beautiful tracks in Knife + Heart – the most pleasurable ones – are probably the ones he recreated for the film’s fake porn movies.”
M83 previously provided the soundtrack for Yann’s debut full-length feature, You And The Night.
Knife + Heart will be screened at select theatres in the United States. See below for a listing of confirmed engagements including those screenings featuring a special Q&A with director Yann Gonzalez.
Knife + Heart Tracklisting
- Thrash Me (by Malaria!)
- Corridor
- Karl
- Mercedes (by La Maison)
- Vision 1
- La Flicaille
- Filature
- Malaguena (by Pico)
- Vision 2
- Tu M’as Tuée
- Sauna
- Voyance
- Un Couteau Dans Le Coeur
- Sombre Vision
- Pyramides
- Lettre Lois
- Detective Rachid
- La Caverne
- Le Tueur Homo
- Sauna Cheap Version
- De Sperme et d’eau Fraiche
- Hicham
- Cinéma Kill
- Vision Finale
- Love’s Refrain (by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma)
- Un Couteau Dans Le Coeur – Reprise
- End Credits
Knife + Heart Screenings
March 15-21 – New York, NY – The Roxy Cinema Tribeca *
March 15-21 – Brooklyn, NY – Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn *
March 22-28 – Los Angeles, CA – Landmark’s Nuart Theatre +
March 23 – Boston, MA – Boston Underground Film Festival
March 27-April 4 – San Francisco, CA – Alamo Drafthouse Mission *
March 28-29 – Cleveland, OH – Cleveland International Film Festival
March 29 – Boston, MA – WickedQueer
March 29-April 4 – Los Angeles, CA – Arena Cinelounge
March 29-April 4– Yonkers, NY – Alamo Drafthouse
April 3 – Washington, DC – Alamo Drafthouse Woodbridge
April 5-6 – Detroit, MI – Landmark’s Main Art Theatre
April 5-11 – Chicago, IL – Music Box Theatre ^
April 5-11 – Philadelphia, PA – Landmark’s Ritz at The Bourse
April 5-18 – Grand Rapids, Michigan – Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts
April 12-19 – Austin, TX – Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar ^
April 13 – Bethlehem, PA – Frank Banko Alehouse
April 19-25 – Denver, CO – Sie FilmCenter ^
April 19-25 – Phoenix, AZ – FilmBar
April 19-25 – Tucson, AZ – The Loft Cinema
April 23 – Winchester, VA – Alamo Drafthouse Winchester
April 26 – Pittsburgh, PA – PUFF/Reel Q
April 28 – St. Louis, MO – QFest
May 2 – Milwaukee, WI – Union Cinema ^
May 8 – Iowa City, IA – FilmScene
^ 35mm screening April 5-7 at The Music Box Theatre, April 12-14 at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, April 19-21 at Sie FilmCenter and May 2 at Union Cinema
- 35mm screening and Q&A with Yann Gonzalez on March 15 at The Roxy, March 16 at Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn and March 27 at Alamo Drafthouse Mission
- 35mm screening and Q&A with Yann Gonzalez and co-writer Cristiano Mangione on March 22 and 23 at Nuart Theatre