Philippe Sarde

  Quartet Records, in collaboration with Gruppo Sugar, presents the CD release of a Philippe Sarde and Marco Ferreri double-header: Liza and La dernière Femme.  Liza (1972) is an ultimate and bizarre erotic Italian-French collaboration, starring Marcello Mastroianni as reclusive artist Giorgio who gives shelter to the submissive Liza (Catherine Deneuve) after a boating incident. Sarde’s singularly maniacal soundtrack for this crazy love story incorporates both romantic and jazzy elements, beautifully performed by soloists such as Stéphane Grapelli, Pierre Dutour, Didier Duprez and Hubert Rostaing.  La dernière Femme (1976) stars Gérard Dépardieu as a single father, who finds new love with his young son’s nurse (Ornella Muti), but the pressures of society take a toll on the relationship which ends with tragic self-harm. The film has a rather brief score with four out of the six cuts used as source music. Both score cues (the opening titles and Valerie’s theme) feature Hubert Rostaing’s clarinet solo, while source cues include two mood pieces for a shopping center and the songs “Si me quieres aún” and “Like a Bird in the Wind.”  Both Liza and La dernière Femme were released on LP at the time, although the brief score of the last one included several cues from Liza to reach a standard length. We present here the complete scores of both for the first time. 

This album has been produced by Edouard Dubois and the composer, and mastered by Chris Malone from first-generation master tapes provided by Gruppo Sugar. The richly illustrated package features liner notes by Gergely Hubai discussing the films and scores.