The award for the most effective piece of classical music in a film goes to......

[chomalungma]

Well - lots of candidates.

But I think that Variations on a theme by Thomas Tallis ...by Vaughan Wiliams which is used at the end of Master and Commander just after the battle when they are reflecting on their losses has to be a contender.

Plus the use of the Enigma variations in Dunkirk when the little ships arrive.

A perfect use of classical music to fit a scene in a film.

So what's yours?

I like the beginning of Platoon - Adagio for strings.

Sinfonia Antarctica has to be a contender, of course.

I do agree with you about the Vaughan Williams in "Master & Commander". Actually all the music choices in that film.

Slow movement of Beethoven 7 in ‘A King’s Speech’. Love that film and that music!

Agree with all so far...The King's Speech uses Beethoven's 7th beautifully.

2001: A Space Odyssey
Apocalypse Now

Definitely Apocalypse Now.

Tannhauser, What's Opera, Doc.

I instantly thought Jaws but i suspect that was composed specifically for the film??

I would go for The Entertainer in The Sting. Sums up Robert Redfords character perfectly.

Oh God, Albinoni's Adagio at the end of Gallipoli. I first watched that film as a teen, and it has stayed with me forever. The music has me in bits every single time.

Nothing else comes close.

Gabriel's Oboe.

Bartok - The Shining

I know this is cheating (and I am not French) but for me this is such a powerful use of music in a film.
Disclaimer I love a rousing anthem... goosebumps every time

I know this is cheating (and I am not French) but for me this is such a powerful use of music in a film

It's a great piece of music in a film!

Gattaca's use of Schubert's impromptu.

Film scores themselves... The Lord of the Rings scores are absolute masterpieces.

Requiem for a Dream too.

Not exactly classical, but the hymn Dear Lord and Father of Mankind sung in the Dunkirk scene in Atonement. The cinematography in that scene is also beautiful.

Death in Venice Mahler's Adagietto from the 5th Symphony.

That incredible Dunkirk single shot can be seen in this article (scroll down): www.indiewire.com/2017/07/christopher-nolan-dunkirk-atonement-joe-wright-james-mcavoy-long-take-1201857569/

Maybe not strictly classical but Max Richter's On the Nature of Daylight in Arrival makes me weep every time.

From "Atonement", that is.

Posters here might know or if not be Interested in really good podcast called ‘settling the score’ - going through American film institute top (20?) filmscores analysing the music and why and how it works.

Puccini in room with a view.

Schubert G Major quartet in Crimes and Misdemeanours.

Not strictly classical but Suo Gan in Empire Of the Sun.

Saw this film years ago

Somewhere in
Time

with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve - it was so sad and I'm surprised it was never shown on tv.

Theme in Paganini? - Rachmaninov

Schubert G Major quartet in Crimes and Misdemeanours

Woody Allen knows what he’s about with this, and in Hannah and her Sisters with the Bach harpsichord concerto in F (Sharp?).

@woodhill I saw that film on TV in the 1980s. I was at secondary school and lots of us talked about it the next day.