Rachel Portman

About

Starring Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp and Judi Dench, Chocolat is a comic fable, adapted from the novel by Joanne Harris, about how just one taste of life’s pleasures can change a person, a relationship, town. It is a tale of temptation, repression and the liberating powers of the senses – the comedic story of an escalating small-town war sparked by the passions and fears aroused by the arrival of a mysterious chocolate shop. The soundtrack recording is being released internationally in conjunction with local film openings.

Portman and Hallstrom worked together on the 1999 film The Cider House Rules, for which both won Oscar nominations, and Portman’s score is available on Sony Classical’s original soundtrack recording (SK 89031).

Portman was also nominated for a Chicago Film Critics Association Award for her score for the film, and she was presented the Georges Delerue Prize at the 1999 Flanders International Film Festival for her score for Ratcatcher.

Portman's other credits include scores for The Legend of Bagger Vance; Beloved; Home Fries; Addicted to Love; Marvin's Room; The Adventures of Pinocchio; To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar; Only You; The Road to Wellville; Sirens; Benny & Joon; The Joy Luck Club; Used People and Smoke. In 1997, Portman also created an original score and, with lyricist Don Black, songs for Disney's home video Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas.

Since working with British filmmakers Mike Leigh and Beeban Kidron, Portman has been involved in a growing number of features including Leigh's Life is Sweet and the symphonic score for Where Angels Fear To Tread (for which she won the British Film Institute's Young Composer of the Year Award.) In 1997, Portman became the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Original Score for her music for Emma.

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