Who composed the music for Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch?

Alexandre Desplat composed the music for Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch.

Desplat’s score supports the film’s anthology structure, moving between newsroom scenes, prison art, student protests, and a kidnapping investigation. The music helps distinguish the fictional French city of Ennui-sur-Blasé while maintaining Anderson’s brisk, carefully arranged style.

The French Dispatch was released in 2021 and is framed as the final issue of an American magazine’s French bureau. Desplat had already collaborated with Anderson on several films, including Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Isle of Dogs. Their partnership is one reason the score’s orchestral colors feel closely integrated with the director’s visual rhythm.

This answer refers to the original score, not every piece of music heard in the film. The soundtrack also includes licensed songs and performance music, so “composer” questions can be confused with questions about individual songs or musical performers.