Pedro Almodóvar's noir-ish comedy-romance-Catholic school pedophilia drama Bad Education benefits greatly from the haunting and achingly beautiful score from longtime collaborator
Alberto Iglesias. A somber blend of classical, choral, and
Hitchcock-era
Bernard Herrmann, the Spanish composer's reverent compositions both aggravate and diffuse
Almodóvar's controversial images, bringing an elegance to the film's darker moments and a somber beauty to its sweeter ones --
Iglesias builds a surprisingly secular sounding piano-led collage around
Rossini's Kyrie. Like his flamenco-infused score for the director's award-winning Talk to Her,
Bad Education is as jarring, enlightening, romantic, and sinister as the film itself, resulting in one of the year's finest moments in film music. ~ James Christopher Monger