Julie & Julia (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score to the 2009 film Julie & Julia directed by Nora Ephron starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. The film score is composed by Alexandre Desplat and released through Sony Music Entertainment on August 4, 2009.

Background Alexandre Desplat scored music for Julie & Julia and began working on the film during early-February 2009 amidst his multiple film scoring commitments. Desplat admitted scoring a comedy being difficult as he had to understand the limits and know when does the music become gimmicky or stupidly funny. Since both the stories, set in New York City and Paris being love stories, Desplat focused on the romantic side with the wit and lightness. Most of the time, the film's music is in a "gentle, soulful, Manciniesque mode". In 2021, Desplat considered the score to be his personal favorite as he tried to dwell into the clichés of France in the 1950s aided by an acoordinist to really play up to the traditional feel of that city.

Reception Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK wrote "In the bigger scheme of things, Julie & Julia is an inconsequential work. It’s by no means a highlight of Desplat’s career – it’s not even his best score of 2009 – but it’s yet another example of Desplat’s seemingly endless knack for writing enjoyable score after enjoyable score." Filmtracks wrote "this is a breeze of a soundtrack that extends beyond the usual primary appeal to Desplat collectors to reach a mainstream audience interested in a safe musical souvenir from the film that overflows with cheer." Dana Stevens of Slate wrote "The score by Alexandre Desplat can get overly expressive, earnestly underlining the pathos or humor of moments that were doing just fine on their own."

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "Alexandre Desplat's whimsical score make the film's two worlds inviting." Richard Propes of The Independent Critic wrote "Alexandre Desplat's original score is vibrant yet balanced across the film's different decades". Richard Knight Jr. of Windy City Times called it a "jaunty score". Stephanie Zacharek of Time wrote "In places, Alexandre Desplat’s score makes Ephron’s job harder than it needs to be: Desplat has written some beautiful scores (most notably that for The Painted Veil), but here, as Julie does things like reminisce about her mother’s version of Julia’s boeuf bourguignon, he resorts to twinkly piano stuff that hangs in the air with the heaviness of Glade." Sukhdev Sandhu of The Daily Telegraph wrote "Alexandre Desplat’s rippling score add to the bonhomie".

Track listing

Personnel Credits adapted from liner notes:

Music composer, conductor and producer – Alexandre Desplat Producer – Dominique Lemonnier Compiler – Joe E. Rand, Steven Galloway Orchestrators – Alexandre Desplat, Bill Newlin, Clifford Tasner, Conrad Pope, Don Sebesky, Nan Schwartz Contractor – Sandra Park Recording and mixing – Dennis Sands Mastering – Patricia Sullivan Score editor – Todd Kasow Album coordinator – Tim Ahlering Copyist – JoAnn Kane, Mark Graham Design – Elizabeth Prochnow Executive producer – Nora Ephron Executive in charge of music for Columbia Pictures – Lia Vollack Instruments Accordion – Myriam Lafargue Bass – Gail Kruvand, Jeff Carney, Kurt Muroki, Martin Wind Brass – Birch Johnson, Kyle Turner, Matt Muckey, Mike Davis, Ryan Keberle, Tony Kadleck Cello – Bruce Wang, Eileen Moon, Jeanne LeBlanc, Joel Noyes, Maria Kitsopoulos, Mary Wooten, Maureen McDermott, Melissa Meell, Mina Smith Drums – Shawn Pelton Guitar – Chuck Loeb, Frank Vignola Harp – Victoria Drake Percussion – Ben Herman, Dave Samuels, Erik Charlston, Joe Passaro Piano – Bill Mays Viola – Dawn Hannay, Irene Breslaw, Karen Dreyfus, Karin Brown, Michael Roth, Nick Cords, Becky Young, Robert Rinehart, Shmuel Katz, Vivek Kamath Violin – Ann Lehmann, Annaliesa Place, Cenovia Cummins, Duoming Ba, Liz Lim, Ellen Payne, Erica Kiesewetter, Erin Keefe, Eva Burmeister, Jeanine Wynton, Jennifer Kim, Jenny Strenger, Joanna Maurer, Joyce Hammann, Jung Sun Yoo, Katherine Fong, Kuan Cheng Lu, Laura Seaton, Lisa Kim, Matt Lehmann, Michael Roth, Minyoung Baik, Minyoung Chang, Nancy McAlhany, Natalia Lipkina, Ragga Petursdottir, Rob Shaw, Sein Ryu, Sharon Yamada, Suzanne Ornstein, Tom Carney, Vivienne Kim, Yurika Mok Woodwind – Kathleen Nester, Lawrence Feldman, Marc Goldberg, Mindy Kaufman, Nadine Asin, Steve Williamson

Accolades Awards Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result BMI Film & TV Awards May 20, 2010 Film Music Award Alexandre Desplat Hollywood Music in Media Awards November 19, 2009 Best Original Score – Feature Film Alexandre Desplat International Film Music Critics Association February 26, 2010 Best Original Score for a Comedy Film Alexandre Desplat World Soundtrack Awards October 23, 2010 Soundtrack Composer of the Year Alexandre Desplat

Notes

References