You can’t avoid it. Even the soundtrack has courted advance publicity. The British Board of Film Classification requested that Hans Zimmer’s score be toned down after it unnerved audiences in previews. They must have had in mind a startling outburst from the strings sending shivers down the spine on the opening track in an otherwise often muted soundtrack.

No surprises for guessing that the score includes a strong choral input, for which Zimmer has assembled a fine group of singers. Two choral compositions are outstanding: the ‘Kyrie Magdalene’ (a lyrical composition by Richard Harvey), introduced by a low bass, and ‘Salvete Virgines’, where the choral line is punctuated with off-beat staccato interjections.

Zimmer sets out his principal themes in the opening cue, a suitably sombre affair, echoing the vault of the Louvre where the picture opens. Cell-like motifs lead to a fully worked-out theme on piano with synthesiser. There is, given the unostentatious nature of the soundtrack, a considerable variety of texture in Zimmer’s music and many imaginative touches in the orchestration. Moreover, in having several tracks segue into one another, the listener comes away with a greater appreciation of Zimmer’s not inconsiderable achievement. His ‘Chevaliers de Sangreal’ is the most developed piece on the soundtrack, where the multi-layered writing is undeniably impressive. An auspicious score that deserves the popular success that the same composer’s Gladiator received.