I saw The Creator on the big screen at the Omniplex tonight. I’m not sure if there was much of a story…! Anyway, I liked the Radiohead sync (although it just reminded me how great Vanilla Sky was in its use of that same song). What weirded me out was after the film ended, over the credits, the music was Clair de Lune. There was an initial feeling of recognition and surprise to hear that piece in the prime spot at the top of the credit roll. We’ve just closed on the beautifully acted emotion in the face of the young actor who plays ‘Alphie’. Clair de Lune plays as we gather our thoughts and our things and the lights go up. But something’s off. My first thought — as it is with most classical piano performances I hear — is that it’s too fast. Then I realise it’s completely metronomic. My immediate assumption is that the music has been played by a computer.

The film has three species in its imagined future world: humans (still in charge but feeling threatened), robots, and a more sophisticated type of robot with realistic human features. At one point, a character says to another who is reacting to the death of one of the AIs “it’s not real, it’s just programming”.

I don’t think I liked the simulacrum of Clair de Lune but it was certainly uncannily realistic. I heard Clair de Lune but it wasn’t real, it was just programming. Maybe it was real enough, though?

I was curious to see what was listed in the credits. There was no mention of its composer, Claude Debussy, instead a name was listed as having “arranged and performed” it.

A fascinating layer of meaning to the film which I personally find more profound than the storyline itself. This piece, known to very, very many people and a cultural shorthand for peace and expressive emotion, is presented earnestly but shorn of its human creator. It is performed without any of the nuances that a human pianist would bring to the score. How are we meant to feel about that?