Abstract
Abstract This article addresses music's influence on the dramatic and formal discourse in the film Groundhog Day. Suggesting that the film's ludic and narrative traits are further exhibited through its combination of both musical rondo and variation form, I address Groundhog Day through the lens of musical form, discussing its effect on Phil's transformational experience of time as Chronos to time as Kairos, which ultimately helps him break the time loop. I then demonstrate music's multiple diegetic and nondiegetic functions within the film: (1) as musical commentary; (2) as a conduit between God and Phil; and (3) as leitmotif through composer George Fenton's subtle manipulation of the Eighteenth Variation of Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. I conclude with a semiotic reading of the film's banquet scene, demonstrating how music's diegetic and nondiegetic interaction with the film and its form elevates the discourse surrounding Phil and the film's musico-cinematic form to a higher degree of dignity.
Published Version
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