The best film soundtracks
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Selecting the most beautiful soundtracks in cinema history is certainly no easy task. Each piece carries a personal memory: some become the very heart of a film, while others take on a life of their own and continue to move audiences long after the closing credits.
This compilation travels through time and genres, extending beyond the works of Morricone and Nino Rota to include more recent compositions such as “Mia and Sebastian’s Theme” from La La Land and the tender “Married Life” from Up, with the aim of creating a cohesive journey.
Some pieces are tied to love stories, others to tales of hope or sorrow, yet all of them share the same power to touch our emotions.
- Justin Hurwitz – Mia and Sebastian's Theme (La La Land)
The theme of Mia and Sebastian is the musical heart of the 2016 film La La Land: a recurring melody that follows, and entwines itself with, the protagonists’ emotional journey. Just as viewers gradually grow attached to Mia and Sebastian, they also form a bond with this motif, which becomes ever more meaningful with its growing familiarity.
The composition reflects both the fragility and intensity of their feelings, setting the film’s tone and marking its key moments. It opens with wistful delicacy, then slowly expands until it reaches an emotional complexity that evokes regret for what might have been, as well as the tension and hope bound up in pursuing one’s dreams.
Simple in structure yet rich in resonance, the melody manages to capture the film’s essence: a love story poised between reality and idealism, between what we choose and what we forfeit.
For La La Land, Justin Hurwitz won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
- Ennio Morricone – Gabriel's Oboe (The Mission)
“Gabriel’s Oboe” is one of the most celebrated and spiritually intense pieces in Ennio Morricone’s output. Written for the 1986 film The Mission, the theme unfolds as a clear, contemplative melody entrusted to the oboe, which becomes a symbol of Father Gabriel’s purity and faith. In the key scene, the oboe acts as a vehicle for a universal message, a language that transcends linguistic barriers.
The power of the piece lies in the simplicity of its melodic line: free of embellishment, it reaches the listener directly, conveying both peace and a deep ache. With just a few elements, Morricone captures the sense of fragile beauty standing in stark contrast to the surrounding brutality. This is music that invites silent, almost meditative listening, and it remains etched in the memory for its grace and depth.
- Michael Giacchino – Married Life (Up)
“Married Life,” written by Michael Giacchino for the 2009 film Up, tells an entire love story in just over four minutes. Scored in a retro style inspired by 1940s- and 1950s-era music, it accompanies one of Pixar’s most emotional narrative sequences: Carl and Ellie’s shared life, from youthful dreams to old age.
The melody starts out light and playful, then gradually evolves with the couple’s journey, shifting among tenderness, wistfulness and sorrow. Without a single word, “Married Life” manages to evoke the full spectrum of human feeling, proving how music can tell a story every bit as vividly as images.
Giacchino crafted a piece that moves listeners deeply without ever feeling heavy-handed, a little symphony that is both intimate and universal. Michael Giacchino won the 2009 Academy Award for Best Original Score for Up.
- John Williams – Theme from Schindler's List
The main theme from the 1993 film Schindler’s List, composed by John Williams, is one of the most intense and heartrending pieces ever written for the screen. Masterfully performed by violinist Itzhak Perlman, the theme gives voice to silent pain and to the collective memory of the Holocaust, lending a profoundly human, emotional dimension to the tragedy portrayed in the film.
Its melody, simple yet deeply expressive, moves at a slow, meditative pace, as if each note were a step through remembrance. Williams balances compositional elegance with genuine vulnerability, steering clear of rhetoric. The result is music that does not try to explain but instead makes the listener feel.
The theme extends beyond the film itself, becoming a symbol of mourning, compassion, and historical reflection through the universal language of music.
The soundtrack earned numerous accolades, including an Academy Award.
- Yann Tiersen – Comptine d’un autre été (Amélie)
“Comptine d’un autre été,” by Yann Tiersen, is one of the most significant film music pieces of the past decades. Written for Amélie (2001), it is another perfect example of how music can reveal a character’s inner world without a single word.
Built on melodic and harmonic minimalism, the composition employs just a few chords and a spare piano line to create a suspended, almost timeless atmosphere. This simple yet deeply evocative style mirrors Amélie’s inner universe, made of quiet observations, small gestures, and private fantasies.
Balancing lightness and melancholy with delicate precision, the piece supports not only the film’s narrative but also its poetic spirit: the attempt to find meaning and beauty in everyday life, even in its most ordinary moments.
- Don Alan Schlitz Jr., Paul Overstreet – When You Say Nothing at All (Notting Hill)
Unlike the other tracks featured in this selection, “When You Say Nothing at All” was not originally composed for the film Notting Hill (1999). Written in 1988 by Don Schlitz and Paul Overstreet, the song has been interpreted by various artists over the years, but it was Ronan Keating’s version, chosen to accompany one of the film’s most iconic scenes, that brought it to the attention of an international audience and tied it indelibly to the world of cinema.
The song stands out for its emotional immediacy and its simple yet powerful message: often, words are unnecessary when the feeling is genuine. The simple melody and acoustic arrangement create an atmosphere of intimacy and sweetness, perfectly aligned with the romantic and melancholic tone of the film.
Although not originally written as film music, “When You Say Nothing at All” has shown how a song can gain new life and become an integral part of a story.
- Nino Rota – A Time for Us (Romeo and Juliet)
Composed by Nino Rota for the film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet directed by Franco Zeffirelli in 1968, “A Time for Us” is one of the most iconic love melodies in the history of cinema. Rota, with his extraordinary melodic sensitivity, manages to translate the intensity and tragedy of Shakespeare's story into music, offering a theme that blends sweetness, passion, and melancholy.
The melody, originally written as an instrumental theme, later became a song with lyrics, gaining further popularity and success beyond its cinematic context. What stands out in “A Time for Us” is its ability to evoke, in just a few musical phrases, the tenderness of youthful love and the inevitable sense of loss that accompanies the fate of the two protagonists.
The piece thrives on contrasts: the simplicity of the melodic line against the emotional depth of the story, the hope suggested by the title against the drama of the narrative.
- Alan Silvestri – Forrest Gump Suite
Composed by Alan Silvestri for the film Forrest Gump (1994), “Forrest Gump Suite” is one of the most iconic and recognizable melodies in the history of cinema. The main theme, carried by the piano, is built on a delicate and melancholic melodic line, which is revisited in various forms throughout the narrative, adapting to the emotions and turning points of the story.
Silvestri succeeds in capturing the essence of Forrest’s character with remarkable effectiveness, thanks to a musical composition that reflects his view of the world: simple, sincere, yet deeply moving. The piece becomes the true emotional voice of the film, defining its poetic and contemplative tone.
The Suite acts as a musical thread, guiding the viewer through the different stages of the protagonist’s life and highlighting, without ever overpowering, the contrast between the simplicity of his perspective and the complexity of the world around him.
- Nicola Piovani – La Vita è Bella
The main theme composed by Nicola Piovani for La vita è bella (1997) is a melody that manages to convey the power of love and imagination even in the darkest moments of history.
The piece perfectly captures the magic of life, the same magic that, in the film, gives a father the strength to protect his son from the brutality of the Holocaust. Within the concentration camp, reality is transformed into a game by ingenuity and love in order to preserve the child’s innocence. The music becomes a silent yet essential voice, reflecting humanity’s ability to hold on to hope, affection, and dignity even in the heart of horror.
It is music that moves and inspires, because it shows how, even in pain, life can still retain a sense of beauty.
With this composition, Piovani won the Oscar for Best Original Score in 1999.
- Michael Nyman – The Heart Asks Pleasure First (The Piano)
Composed by Michael Nyman for the film The Piano (1993), “The Heart Asks Pleasure First” is one of the most evocative and distinctive soundtracks piece of the 1990s. The piece takes its title from a line by poet Emily Dickinson, and like the poem, the music expresses a deep and poignant longing: the desire to find comfort, beauty, and meaning through art, despite pain and the constraints of reality.
The composition is built on a minimalist structure: a few repeated and modulated phrases create a growing sense of emotional urgency. The piano, the sole featured instrument, becomes the voice and body of Ada, the mute protagonist who communicates through music. Nyman succeeds in translating this inner world into a hypnotic melody that blends simplicity and intensity in a profound and immediate way.
This piece embodies the film’s deepest identity: that of a work suspended between silence and expression, between repression and freedom. It is much more than a musical theme—it is a voice that speaks in place of the protagonist, with the same urgency and depth.