Monday, BBC1, 11:10pm
Graham Moore’s The Outfit (2022) is a slick, intimate thriller that feels like a stage play dressed up as a film—and that’s entirely the point. Set in a single location, a 1950s Chicago tailor shop, the film follows Leonard Burling (played with exquisite restraint by Mark Rylance), an English cutter (don’t call him a tailor) whose quiet existence is upended when the mob starts using his shop as a drop point. Naturally, bullets, deception, and finely stitched secrets start unraveling, and what follows is a tense, dialogue-driven game of wits that feels as precise as one of Leonard’s bespoke suits.
The soundtrack, composed by Alexandre Desplat is a masterclass in subtlety. Desplat, known for his lush orchestrations (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Shape of Water), dials it down here to something more restrained but no less effective. The score leans on delicate piano motifs, creeping strings, and a kind of hushed tension that keeps the atmosphere thick with intrigue. It’s the kind of music that doesn’t so much tell you what to feel as it does quietly suggest you start feeling uneasy. The silence between notes is just as important as the music itself, reinforcing the film’s slow-burn intensity.
For soundtrack collectors, the score isn’t necessarily a grand showcase of Desplat’s most bombastic work, but it’s a fascinating exercise in minimalism. The film itself was a bit of a sleeper hit, praised for its sharp screenplay and Rylance’s impeccable performance, but its music deserves its own quiet accolades. Much like Leonard’s approach to tailoring, Desplat’s score is all about precision, economy, and knowing exactly when to cut. Quite fitting, really.
- Paul Allen