Music maestro Lance Ferguson was called on by the director to create a new score of languid cinematic funk and dreamy lounge-exotica for long-lost 1981 French cinematic gem L’Océan de toi, which was recently recovered, restored and is now set to be released with a brand new soundtrack!

Lance Ferguson (The Bamboos / Rare Groove Spectrum / Machines Always Win / Menagerie and lately, The Ferguson Rogers Process) releases L’ocean de toi, his newly scored soundtrack for the long-lost 1981 French film of the same name on his own Pacific Theatre label.

Romantic Thriller L’ocean de toi was the debut film by enigmatic French director Leroi Alarie, long thought lost forever, but recently a 35mm print was unearthed that he has agreed to release after many requests and much negotiation.

Ahead of its planned restoration and subsequent re-release, Ferguson was asked to compose all-new music for the film personally by Alarie (now aged 69), as the original score was never to the auteur’s liking – cobbled together at the time with a patchwork of sound library pieces imposed upon him by the film’s producers in order to save money. He was in so much conflict with the producers throughout the shooting and editing of the film that upon completion he took the only existing finished print and refused to have it released. The newly restored 107 minute-long ‘Director’s Cut’ restores his original vision with extended impressionistic dream sequences and establishing wide shots.

The film’s existence has long been the subject of speculation and rumour amongst French film obsessives, no doubt fuelled by the recollections of the cast and crew that worked on the production at the time, who (in several cases) felt that this was a masterpiece in the making and were in disbelief when it was never released.

The plot centres around the Summer romance between protagonists Alina (Louise) and Laurent (Montagne) at the fictional resort town of Ville de Paix, when the latter’s sudden mysterious disappearance plunges the story arc into a darker, sinister narrative.

Little is known of the original cast or the lead actress Kate Louise (who is featured on the film poster), as famously Alarie strictly insisted on using only unknown actors, often discovered on the street or through friends. As far as anyone knows none of the cast have acted in any subsequent films. The other star of the film is the stunning island of Île Sainte-Marguerite itself, where the numerous beach and ocean scenes for the movie were shot in the late-Summer of 1980.

Ferguson’s score is a collection of languid, (mainly) instrumental funk and dreamy lounge-exotica pieces that evoke the hazy, sun-kissed atmosphere of the film. Conceived and imagined to suit the aesthetic of the era, but with an inevitable twist of “la modernité”. It’s a fitting match for this new addition to the canon of early-’80s European arthouse cinema, thankfully rescued from obscurity for 21st-century audiences to finally enjoy with a brand new soundtrack!