10 - Fevers, Frights and Psychophysical Disconnections: Invisible Threats in the Soundtracks of Zama and The Headless Woman

Summary

What are the particularities of the soundtrack in Zama (2017)? Is there some type of organisation of sound already present in other films by Lucrecia Martel? We may observe, through an analysis of the soundtracks of both The Headless Woman/La mujer sin cabeza (2008) and Zama, that some techniques in the use of sound effects and ambient sounds are employed repeatedly. These sounds may be subtle or exaggerated, minimal or dense and loud, distinct sounds or even exaggeratedly rarefied, ethereal.

Just like in The Headless Woman, in Zama the off-screen sounds build the world as the presence/absence of the other, in addition to showing themselves as non-diegetic sounds: sounds that do not occur in the world of the characters; an invasion that, in previous films, had not yet appeared so prominently. These sounds are the songs sung by Los Indios Tabajaras and a sound effect that appears at specific moments when Don Diego de Zama, the main character and an official of the Spanish Crown, realises his wait is in vain. In addition to these new ‘invaders’, we can also highlight a process of destabilisation of the narrative as the rarefaction or suspension of ambient sounds used in both films.

Another particularity that is repeatedly employed throughout the director's work is the use of a close-up shot that shows the face, neck and ears, and is nearly always linked to the subjectivity of the framed character, accompanied, at specific moments, by sounds that appear to embody a psychophysical disturbance that affects their bodies. Martel brings us closer to her characters’ hearing through the editing of these sounds, creating an atmosphere of continuous and ever-increasing discomfort, which is displayed by the protagonists’ inability to recognise the objects and sound events that surround them. In this chapter, we will explore these repetitions and innovations in the use of offscreen sounds.

THE PSYCHOPHYSICAL DISTURBANCES AND CRISES IN ZAMA

When watching Zama, distinct feelings and impressions affect us. From the start, it is the vastness of the horizon that catches our gaze. The first image of the film reveals the protagonist's silhouette staring at the horizon while on the bank of a broad river. The ochre-orange colour of the cliffs, the muddy river and its milky texture accentuated by the reflection of the sunset light on the water predominate in this shot.