"Hellfire" is a song from
Disney's
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
1996 animated feature
These lists of animated feature films compiles animated feature films from around the world and is organized alphabetically under the year of release (the year the completed film was first released to the public). Theatrical releases as well as ...
''
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story ...
''. The song is sung by the film's main
antagonist,
Judge Claude Frollo, who is voiced by
Tony Jay
Tony Jay (2 February 1933 – 13 August 2006) was a British actor.
A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was known for his voice work in radio, animation, film, and video games. Jay was particularly noted for his distinctive bari ...
.
When lustful thoughts regarding the beautiful
Romani woman
Esmeralda enter Frollo's mind, he "panics and seeks to rid himself of
tssource". This internal struggle prompts "Hellfire", which has been described as "one of the best Disney villain songs of all time". Frollo "confronts his
lust
Lust is a psychological force producing intense desire for something, or circumstance while already having a significant amount of the desired object. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see libido), money, or power. It c ...
ing for Esmeralda, blaming her for turning towards darkness, and pleading to be saved". He sings "destroy Esmeralda, and let her taste the fires of hell, or else let her be mine and mine alone" while the image of Esmeralda "provocatively dances in front of him".
This "scene of lust and longing" that the song is centered on received much press coverage at the time of the film's release, along with the alterations made to give the film a
"G" rating.
"Heaven's Light" and "Hellfire"
The song was intended to contrast with the song "
Heaven's Light", which was sung by
Quasimodo
Quasimodo (from Quasimodo Sunday) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the novel '' The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (1831) by Victor Hugo. Quasimodo was born with a hunchback and feared by the townspeople as a sort of monster, but ...
just moments earlier, expressing his desire for love and hope that Esmeralda may love him, while "Hellfire" focuses on Frollo's
internal conflict
An internal conflict is the struggle occurring within a character's mind. Things such as the character views for, but can't quite reach. As opposed to external conflict, in which a character is grappling some force of themself, such as wars or a c ...
between his feelings of lust for her and his hatred of the Gypsies.
Both songs, which are sometimes referred to collectively as "Heaven's Light"/"Hellfire" (for example on
the soundtrack, in which it is track 7), describe two opposing views towards the same woman. Quasimodo sees love as "Heaven's Light" and expresses a pure hope for Esmeralda, while Frollo feels only lust for her and therefore views her as a "Hellfire".
Composition
It begins in
B flat major, before turning to its
relative minor
In music, relative keys are the major and minor scales that have the same key signatures (enharmonically equivalent), meaning that they share all the same notes but are arranged in a different order of whole steps and half steps. A pair of major an ...
G. It soon modulates briefly into
C minor
C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of three flats. Its relative major is E major and its parallel major is C major.
The C natural minor scale is:
:
Cha ...
, then
F major
F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor.
The F major scale is:
:
F major is the ...
, has a spoken intersection where the bass lies on A,
dominant of
D minor, the key in which the song finally ends.
"Hellfire" contains parts of the
Confiteor
The (; so named from its first word, Latin for 'I confess' or 'I acknowledge') is one of the prayers that can be said during the Penitential Act at the beginning of Mass of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. It is also said in the Luther ...
, a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
prayer of confession used by the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. This prayer begins directly after "Heaven's Light" and serves as the introduction to "Hellfire". It also provides counterpoint material throughout the song, whose ending also contains the "
Kyrie Eleison
Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek , vocative case of (''Kyrios''), is a common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, also called the Kyrie eleison ( ; ).
In the Bible
The prayer, "Kyrie, eleison," "Lord, have mercy" derives f ...
".
The instrumental accompaniment to the song serves as a musical motif that alters in tone depending on the action. As well as some variations heard early on (such as in "
The Bells of Notre Dame"), this motif "informs much of the score that chronologically follows in the film." Reviewer Christian Clemmensen of
Filmtracks.com
Filmtracks.com is a modern film score review website created and maintained by its sole reviewer, Christian Clemmensen. Since the launch of Filmtracks in 1996, the website has reviewed nearly two-thousand soundtracks dating as far back as 1954, t ...
adds that "both 'Paris Burning' and 'Sanctuary!' explicitly continue the instrumental backdrop and Latin chanting of 'Hellfire', a sound that becomes more general in 'And He Shall Smite the Wicked'."
Also, "the opening fanfare is also reintroduced at the end of 'Heaven's Light', makes up the melody during the chorus of 'Hellfire', and plays in the instrumental 'Sanctuary!'"
Visual sequence
The beginning of the song starts with the Archdeacon swinging the incense-filled
thurible
A thurible (via Old French from Medieval Latin ) is a metal censer suspended from chains, in which incense is burned during worship services. It is used in Christian churches including the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Assyrian Church of th ...
, as he and his altar servers walk through
Notre Dame, chanting the beginning of the
Confiteor
The (; so named from its first word, Latin for 'I confess' or 'I acknowledge') is one of the prayers that can be said during the Penitential Act at the beginning of Mass of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. It is also said in the Luther ...
. The camera pans upwards to the famous
rose window, and flies through it and over Paris, revealing that all the lights in the city are going out as people are turning in for the night. The only light that remains is the light in the
Palace of Justice where Frollo looks out at Notre Dame from his window, singing to the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
(whom he addresses as "Beata Maria", in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
) about how she knows he is "a righteous man" and purer than "the common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd". Frollo walks to the fireplace and asks Mary to tell him why he lusts for Esmeralda if he is pure. During this, a fire apparition of Esmeralda dances provocatively in the flames.
During the second verse, Frollo steps back from the fireplace, revealing a piece of silk that Esmeralda had used to tease him earlier in the film. Frollo sings about how he lusts for her and resents her for it. He accuses her of turning him to
sin
In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
and denies his own culpability as
red-hooded figures rise from the floor, chanting "''
mea culpa
' is a Latin phrase that means "my fault" or "my mistake" and is an acknowledgement of having done wrong. The expression is used also as an admission of having made a mistake that should have been avoided, and may be accompanied by beating the br ...
''" ("my fault"). For a few seconds, as he looks at them, the light forms the shape of a coffin, foreshadowing his eventual fate. Frollo runs through the chamber, with the cloaked figures standing on either side of him. He passionately declares his inculpability, claiming that Esmeralda had cast a spell on him and tempted him. He asks if it is in a part of God's plan that God made
the Devil
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood ...
stronger than "a man," though in reality this refers to (Frollo) himself. The hooded figures turn into flames, enveloping Frollo as they return to the fireplace as if he was being dragged down into
Hell, foreshadowing his fate.
Frollo continues singing, pleading to Mary to rescue him from Esmeralda's voluptuous temptations that would lead to his eternal
damnation
Damnation (from Latin '':wikt:damnatio, damnatio'') is the concept of Divine judgment, divine punishment and torment in an afterlife for actions that were committed, or in some cases, not committed on Earth.
In Ancient Egyptian religion, Anci ...
. He holds out the scarf and clenches it angrily, stating that Esmeralda must burn or become his. The fire apparition of Esmeralda returns, but her provocative dancing is replaced by her shriek-filled writhing as she is about to burn. A smoke apparition of Esmeralda emerges from the fireplace, and as Frollo embraces it passionately, there is a knock at the door. The apparition disappears as a guard enters, informing Frollo that Esmeralda escaped from the Cathedral of Notre Dame where Frollo had "imprisoned" her. Shocked at her escape, Frollo orders the guard out - “Get out, you idiot,” and vows to find Esmeralda, even if he has to burn down all of Paris. Frollo continues singing, claiming that he will give Esmeralda an ultimatum: she must choose to accept him as her lover or she will burn. Frollo then throws Esmeralda's scarf into the fireplace, symbolically burning her as well.
In the final verse, Frollo backs up against a wall, and asks God to have mercy on him and Esmeralda, implying that he ultimately knows that his actions violate God's will. As he sings, shadowy figures holding crucifixes emerge from the light of the fireplace and swarm Frollo, who then drops to his knees, saying that Esmeralda will be his or she will burn. Finishing the song, Frollo passes out and falls face down on the floor in the shape of the
Petrine Cross as the fire fades.
Production
The producers of Disney's adaptation of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' stated that they felt that the "Hellfire" scene was important in portraying Frollo as he was in
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
's
original novel. They hoped that this sequence would be one of the greatest animated sequences ever produced. Frollo was animated by Kathy Zielinski and the sequence was
storyboarded by French animators
Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi
Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi (born December 24, 1951 in Paris, Francehttp://www.artistregister.com/brizzis.html ) are twin French artists, painters, illustrators, animators, and film directors.
Career
thumb
thumb
The Brizzis first made their name w ...
, who were the heads of the
Walt Disney Feature Animation
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fr ...
satellite studio in
Montreuil,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
The elements of fire, smoke, and shadows in the sequence required significant support from the Feature Animation visual effects department.
According to one of the film's directors,
Kirk Wise
Kirk Wise (born August 24, 1963) is an American film director, animator and screenwriter best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Wise has directed Disney animated films such as ''Beauty and the Beast'', ''The Hunchback of Notre ...
, Frollo's song "Hellfire" needed a visual sequence more meaningful and powerful than past Disney animated features, akin to the ''Night on Bald Mountain'' sequence in Disney's ''
Fantasia'' (1940), which depicted the devil
Chernabog
The following are fictional characters from Disney's 1940 film '' Fantasia'', its 1999 sequel '' Fantasia 2000'' and the 2014 video game '' Fantasia: Music Evolved''. Characters in this list are sorted by the film and segment in which they appe ...
rallying his demons for a single night.
In the audio commentary on ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' DVD, Wise described his fear that he would have to plead with Feature Animation chairman
Roy E. Disney
Roy Edward Disney KCSG (January 10, 1930 – December 16, 2009) was an American businessman. He was the longtime senior executive for the Walt Disney Company, which was founded by his father, Roy O. Disney, and his uncle, Walt Disney. At the ti ...
and Walt Disney Company CEO
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...
to let them do the sequence. The two executives ended up enjoying the idea, and no plea was needed.
[Trousdale, Gary; Wise, Kirk; and Hahn, Don (2006). DVD audio commentary for ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame''. Walt Disney Home Entertainment]
Wise also indicated that he and visual effects artistic supervisor
Chris Jenkins wanted to make sure the "fire-spirit" shots of Esmeralda in the sequence would not endanger the film's possibilities of earning a
"G" rating from the
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...
. Thus, they went through every frame to ensure that Esmeralda's figure was fully clothed at all times,
[ despite her provocative dancing.
]
Themes
The Latin Chant in the background is the Confiteor, which is a Catholic penitential prayer recited during Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
as an "admission of guilt and wrongdoing". There is a sense of dramatic irony throughout the song as Frollo sings "It's not my fault / I'm not to blame / It is the gypsy girl / The witch who sent this flame / It's not my fault / If in God's plan / He made the devil so much / Stronger than a man", to which the priests (at this point of the song represented by ominous red-hooded figures) reply in a counterpoint melody with "''Mea culpa''", Latin for "My fault", or "''Mea maxima culpa''", meaning "My most grievous fault".
Jim Miles of Laughingplace.com analyses "Hellfire" by saying that the song marks the turning point when "Frollo's hate for the gypsies has taken on a new dimension", and is "no longer about ending vice and sin utabout fulfilling his own desires". The scarf he takes from Esmeralda "symboli esthe physical manifestation of his desire for er, and the resulting internal struggle is illustrated in the song. His life's work involves making the city of Paris "pure and righteous", and no matter how much he wants to be too, he sees a "flame...burning within him" and so turns to God (Asking Mary to intercede for him, notable that in his lust he prays to the Holy Virgin) to "help him overcome those feelings". However throughout his pleading, he holds onto the scarf, thereby holding onto the sin. He tries to rationalize the sin before the "judges of his heart", and seems to be returned to purity, but after the judges disappear the temptation returns. Though he sings "Protect me, Maria" with "repentant agony on his face", he stares into the fireplace and holds onto the scarf, giving into temptation. After being "interrupted by the soldier, he makes a decision within his heart to hold on to the sin". Because the "desire s nowfirmly rooted ithin him he is able to throw away the scarf - the external representation of his inner feelings - into the fire as he has fully accepted this persona. After doing this, he "realizes his mistake, and visually, we see the spiritual battle for his soul--crosses rising above shadowy spiritual figures--but even then, he reconfirms his resolution and proclaims that "she will be mine or she will burn."
Sean Griffin in his work ''Tinker Belles and Evil Queens: The Walt Disney Company from the Inside Out'' says that Frollo's hate for Esmeralda seems to stem from his hatred of his own feelings. His shame of "turning to sin" overwhelms him, and he turns to blaming and punishing others. He says that although Frollo's lust for Esmeralda is strictly heterosexual
Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" ...
, his behaviour "mirrors conclusions from studies about homophobia...unconscious conflicts about one's own sexuality or gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the ...
." He argues that "Frollo's grim determinations to punish Esmeralda hroughout 'Hellfire' are sparked from his own denial that he has "'urges' that fall outside the rigid parameters of social acceptance."
Miles argues that the "Archdeacon acts as a foil for Frollo" because through his "caring for Quasimodo's dead mother, he exhibits the kindness and love that God calls all Christians to, which is what Frollo fails to understand". He shows Esmeralda compassion while Frollo only feels contempt towards her. He also "does what Frollo should have done" by "direct ngher attention to God." The climax of this is when "he leads a prayer in Latin that calls upon God, Mary, the archangel Michael, the apostles, the saints, and...the Father, for forgiveness of sin in thought, word, and deed." This leads straight into "Hellfire". Miles says that "while the Archdeacon turns from sin, Frollo chooses to toy with sin."
There is a juxtaposition of imagery between Heaven and Hell between the two parts of "Heaven's Lights"/"Hellfire".
Home media release
The LaserDisc provided the song demo for "Hellfire", as well as for "The Bells of Notre Dame" and "Out There
Out may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
* ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander
* ''Out'' (2002 film), a Japanese film ba ...
".
Critical reception
The song was universally acclaimed, and it is considered to be one of the highlights of the soundtrack to ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' which in turn received generally mixed to positive reviews. The consensus is that if the direction taken with "Hellfire" had been taken for the other songs, the film as a whole would have been substantially better.
In a review of the film's soundtrack, Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks.com
Filmtracks.com is a modern film score review website created and maintained by its sole reviewer, Christian Clemmensen. Since the launch of Filmtracks in 1996, the website has reviewed nearly two-thousand soundtracks dating as far back as 1954, t ...
stated that "the darkest depths of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' exist in 'Hellfire', one of the most stunning visual and aural combinations in animation history." Though the film was aimed at children as well as adults, Clemmensen comments that the "constantly frightening Latin chants and a heavy string, timpani, and choral bass" scared the younger demographic (despite attempts at lighthearted music and humour to dilute the film). He argues that if Disney had fully embraced the dark nature of the source material by building the soundtrack upon numbers like "Hellfire" and "Sanctuary!", "the film could have been a brilliant adult feature." He says the "spattering of comedy pieces", which include three "silly songs", are "a significant detriment to the gains of the aforementioned themes and performances", and ultimately cause both the film and soundtrack to be a "mixed bag." Pieces such as "Hellfire" are "serious, dramatically brilliant nd amongsome of Menken's very best work." Later on in his review, Clemmensen notes the Latin mass which leads into " onyJay's hauntingly deep performance of Frollo's torment," and adds that it "produc sa song so overwhelmingly compelling in an evil sense that it alone was worth the cost of admission (and the album)."
Jim Miles of Laughingplace.com says that "Frollo's passionate pleading" is "visually astounding, masterfully conceived and animated," and the "standout" of the film. He adds that "accompanied by intense music of agony and complex lyrics of psychological revelation, 'Hellfire' is everything a musical scene aspires to be." Reviewer Kenneth E. Rathburn said the song's "grandeur... contributes and fulfills" more than other songs, such as " A Guy Like You", making it one of the better tracks. Jack Smith of the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
describes the tone (set by the opening number) as "an unholy marriage of the Tridentine Mass and Les Mis." He says the score, "driven by hysterical choirs and crashing percussion" is most effective in "Hellfire". The ''
'' described it as ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame''s "true show-stopping tune." Simon Brew of ''Den of Geek!'' says the suffering Frollo goes through in this song makes him a "far more rounded villain." He describes "Hellfire" as "a stunning piece of work, with the visuals and music working in complete tandem."
. This song and visual sequence prompted the ratings board to consider a PG rating for the film. In its defense, Disney claimed that its adaptation of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' was intended to play as much to adult audiences as it would to children. The studio attempted to produce an animated film with an audience broader than only children: the main target audience of Disney animated features.
In ''Film Genre 2000: New Critical Essays'', film critic Marc Miller said that "Hellfire" "was too much for many adults," which prompted reviewers such as Mark Silver of ''
a beautiful powerful film that I would not recommend to children under eight or nine years old."
Animator Floyd Norman recalled the pitching session for the musical, in which Menken and Schwartz were "on hand to perform the songs that would grace the production." He recalls "Hellfire" "clearly ha
the executives squirming nervously," wondering if this material could be in a Disney film.
The "Hellfire" subplot, "involving the villain’s need to desire to fornicate and/or murder the heroine because of his guilt-ridden lustings for her," which was described as "a cross between ''
''" by Scott Mendelson of HollywoodNews.com, was also referred to by him as one of the Disney events such as
being killed onscreen in ''The Lion King'', that surprisingly were given "G-ratings from the
''s PG rating.
Religious conservatives boycotted ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' due to this song, which they said was "a suggestive rejection of purity amplified by imagery of a half-naked Esmeralda dancing in a fire."