Age: 64
male
Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (French:[alɛksɑ̃dʁ dɛspla]; born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer and conductor. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Grammy Awards. Desplat was made an Officer of the Ordre national du Mérite and a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres both in 2016. Desplat has received two Academy Awards for Best Original Score for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and The Shape of Water (2017). He was Oscar-nominated for The Queen (2006), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), The King's Speech (2010), Argo (2012), Philomena (2013), The Imitation Game (2014), Isle of Dogs (2018), and Little Women (2019). Desplat has composed scores for a wide range of films, including low-budget independent productions and large-scale blockbusters, such as The Golden Compass (2007), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) & Part 2 (2011), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Godzilla (2014), Unbroken (2014), The French Dispatch (2021), Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022) and Jurassic World Rebirth (2025). He has collaborated with directors such as Wes Anderson, Chris Weitz, Terrence Malick, George Clooney, Roman Polanski, Guillermo del Toro and Gareth Edwards. Description above from the Wikipedia article Alexandre Desplat, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Helmut Doork, a former famous circus clown now past his prime, faces struggles in a circus during World War II. After causing an accident, he is demoted but stands up for himself with his wife's encouragement. When he overhears plans to fire him, he drunkenly mocks Hitler and is arrested by the Gestapo. Imprisoned for political reasons, he boasts about his past fame in prison. Doork befriends a fellow prisoner named Johann Keltner who opposes the Nazis. When Jewish prisoners arrive, Doork tries to entertain them, leading to his beating by other inmates. Despite the risks, he continues performing for the children until SS guards intervene, resulting in Keltner's death and Doork's isolation. The commandant assigns him to assist in transporting Jewish children to Auschwitz, and Doork ends up leading them to their deaths in the gas chamber, feeling remorseful and ultimately choosing to stay with them in their final moments.
