Matthew McBride
Fine Art Film and Video

The Silence of Morven Callar

Morvern Callar is an ambient film, one that can be viewed through the lens of the following statement: ambience is defined as an atmosphere, or a surrounding influence: a tint. It is a quietly pensive film that resonates in its audience — like a subsonic bass note that can be felt more than it can be heard. It is a film that doesn’t rely on the delivery of a series of events that neatly fit into the audience’s expectations of cause and effect. Instead it builds itself out of an aural architecture — one where sound is a character and a means of organizing plot and sculpting an emotional atmosphere. This atmosphere is an agile complement to Samantha Morton’s stunningly complex performance that is as subtle and adept as the sound design itself.

What strikes a viewer immediately about Morvern Callar is how sound is introduced as a character from the opening frame of the film. The film begins with the pulsing of a red light that reveals and shadows Samantha Morton’s face. The pulsing light and its punctuation of her gestures (as they related to the naked torso of a man) is accompanied by a distinct sound: an “electrical hiss.” The repetitive hiss heightens our interest as to what is the source of the light, but also makes clear that this film is as much about the presence or absence of sound as it is about anything else. The red light and the SOUND of the light tint our impression of what we are seeing and influence what we feel about what we are seeing. The passionate red light and the caressing gestures of Morton are perceived as tender, but it is the abrasive hiss of the light that colors the perception of these gestures. The sound gives these gestures a painful edge and viscerally prepares us for the wide shot of her vacant face staring upward next to the dead body of her boyfriend.

The dedication of sound to the overall power of this film continues with brilliant effect. The first fifteen minutes of the film proceed with only the scant presence of dialogue. The story proceeds via the punctuated rhythms provided by the sound design. The absence of a sound track or gratuitous sound engineering, enforces the empty and quiet shock of Morton’s character. Sound is allowed to provide atmosphere and enforce the narrative by simply being given its autonomy; it is allowed to function as a supporting character. As Morton manipulates objects, whether it is a payphone on a railway platform or the computer keyboard in her apartment, the sound of that manipulation is given a presence. Like a “mood soundtrack,” but much more effective, this supporting character of sound personalizes Morton sculpting her character and defining her emotional shape. Depending on where these events occur in relation to the camera, the sound levels are adjusted so that sound takes on a directional or spatial quality, where it not only enforces mood, but also defines space. Thus, sound defines the entirety of an atmosphere, both emotional and environmental space.

Sound’s relation to emotional and environmental space finds its best example in the soundtrack provided by Morvern’s dead boyfriend. Intermittently, Morvern listens to this tape through headphones. The sound design allows the music to first be heard as an overarching theme that exists in our environmental space. It tints our impression of what we are seeing, influences our emotional state and our impression of Morvern’s emotional state. Here, sound acts as a barometer and influencer of emotion. Deftly the sound mix shifts, vacating the audience-space and retreating into Morvern’s headphones. We now hear the music as an environmental sound of Morvern’s spatial world. The music becomes an action she is involved in, not the film’s “anthem.” The music fuses with her, personalizes her local atmosphere— it becomes a measure or her aural environment.

This oscillation of the sound mix between audience space and film space, between the emotional and the environmental, via the physical device of the “walkman” illuminates an important point. The rapid development of technology of mobility over the last century has greatly changed our relationship to sound, to music, and helped create these notions of the ambient. With advancements in recording and mobile playback, music became disassociated with the “live event” or “live” music. Music could be transported and played back in different environments of personal choosing. Once disassociated from the live, music could be conceived as one element of sensory experience that could be secondary to another. Music could be played while picnicking or engaging in sporting events. Now, music could color an experience; influence our impression of another activity. It could oscillate between our personal emotional states and our physical environment. Morvern Callar is a shining example of this new relationship we have with sound and music — a relationship where sound acts as a character, a means to measure and influence emotion as well as define the shape of physical space.