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Another Oscar hopeful in the soundtrack category, Argo is one of the year's most acclaimed movies, but what does Alexandre Desplat's soundtrack hold in store?
Argo soundtrack guide
It doesn't stay low-key for long, though. The movie takes place during the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979, and Desplat's music is careful to absorb as much of the Iranian culture as possible.
Affleck stars as Tony Mendez, a CIA specialist tasked with liberating six hostages from Iran. However, his solution to the problem is rather different to the norm...
Mendez's solution is to pose as a filmmaker scouting in Tehran for suitable sci-fi filming locations for a fictional film called Argo - and with the absence of any better ideas, his supervisor Jack O'Donnell (Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston) agrees.
Mendez enlists the help of a Hollywood make-up artist (John Goodman) to make the transformation of his team all the more believable.
Alexandre Desplat's score isn't the only part of Argo to be nominated for a prestigious Academy Award - for the first time, director Ben Affleck is up for one as well.
A cryptic title for a typically atmospheric little sketch from Desplat... Pictured is the actual film poster created for the fake movie of Argo.
Crucially, Desplat never forgets that Argo is supposed to be a thriller - so the music responds when the narrative moves suddenly into top gear.
When Tony Mendez finally locates the missing hostages, it sets off a bizarre and confusing chain of events that leads all the way back to The White House.
The alarm is raised, alerting the hostages Iranian would-be captors that they've vanished - cue nervy music from Desplat, complete with vocalised percussion.
More vocalised percussion from the Desplat score gives the deepening trouble of the six escapees and Tony Mendez that little bit more dramatic tension.
The action of the movie builds to a climax at a dramatic race-against-time scene at the airport in Tehran - Desplat conveys the necessary trepidation in his score.
Argo also features a winning turn from veteran actor Alan Arkin as John Goodman's assistant in Hollywood.
A dark mood descends in Desplat's soundtrack, as ever the counterbalance to some of the more ridiculous on-screen antics.
In the nick of time, the six hostages are allowed to leave the country and their hostage situation behind them.
Finally free from their hostage situation, the hostages and Mendez head back to America. The soundtrack concludes with a surprisingly reflective piece that sums up their bizarre and strangely comic experience.