Sound Production in Three Films by Raúl Ruiz

Abstract

Through an analysis of three films by Raul Ruiz, Image de sable, Les divisions de la nature and Le film à venir, this article explores the creative practices used by this Chilean filmmaker to construct a mode of cinematic audibility. The common factor of these three films is the way they challenge standard practices in cinematic sound, practices that have been dictated by technological progress, synchronisation and sound quality, and that have given rise to other constants, such as the predominance of the human voice and the spoken word. The article concludes by confirming the feasibility of cinematic audibility, the existence of a soundtrack, the aesthetic richness of the materiality of the voice, the breadth of perception in filmmaking and the need to understand film as an ensemble of images and sound, in which neither of these elements loses its autonomy or uniqueness.