floating hair mingling with the reeds, we hear
Harry singing one of his hymns; that music bridges
the cut to shot B, where Harry, continuing to sing,
is standing in front of their house looking for his
stepchildren. Hearing Harry’s hymn singing over
Willa’s submerged body affects the meaning of
this scene in two ways: it both adds to the shot’s
eerie feeling of heavenly peace (with her gently
undulating hair, diffused light, etc.) associated with
what should be a grisly image and connects Harry
directly to the murder. In addition, the fact that he
sounds calm, satisfied, even righteous reinforces the
interpretation that he sees his killings as acts of
God. When the picture catches up with the sound to
reveal Harry calmly stalking the murdered woman’s
children, the dramatic tension is increased as a
result of the association between Harry and Willa’s
body that the sound bridge has reinforced.
Joel Coen’s The Man Who Wasn’t There(2001;
sound designer: Eugene Gearty), a dark, twisted
neo-noir film, contains a smoothly edited sequence
of fifteen shots, thirteen of which are linked by
overlapping, nondiegetic bits of a Beethoven piano
sonata and two of which show Ed Crane (Billy Bob
Thornton) listening to Rachael Abundas (Scarlett
Johansson) playing the sonata (diegetic music). In
the midst of a life filled with conflict and tragedy,
Ed has found “peace” listening to Rachael play this
particular sonata, and this sequence is made all the
more peaceful by its lyrical theme. But Carter Bur-
well, the movie’s composer, must have chosen this
sonata—no. 8 in C Minor, op. 13—for its subtitle,
Pathétique, a pointedly ironic reminder that Crane
sees himself as a loser, as does everyone else.
Overlapping sound can also be used to link and
provide unity between disparate scenes, as in Roy
Andersson’s You, the Living(2007; sound: Jan Alve-
mark, Günther Friedhoff, Robert Sörling), a very
stylish black comedy composed of 50 long takes and
set in Sweden, which uses lively music and sound
bridges that help the story move and make sense.Emphasis
A sound can create emphasis in any scene—that is,
can function as a punctuation mark—when it
accentuates and strengthens the visual image.
Although some movies treat emphasis as if it were
a sledgehammer, others handle it more subtly. In
Peter Weir’s The Truman Show(1998; sound: Lee
Smith), Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) unknow-
ingly has lived his entire life in an ideal world that
is in fact a fantastic television set contained within
a huge dome. When after thirty years he realizes
the truth of his existence, he overcomes his fear of
water and attempts to sail away. To deter him, the
television producer orders an artificial storm,
which temporarily disables Truman, but the sun
comes out, he wakes up, and continues his journey,
thinking he is free. Suddenly the boom of one of his
sails pierces the inside of the great dome with a
sound that is unfamiliar to him—indeed, one of the
most memorable sounds ever heard in a movie. His
first reactions are shock, anguish, and disbelief.
How could there be an “end” to the horizon?
Distinct as this sound is, it has nothing of the
sledgehammer effect. Rather, it underscores Tru-
man’s quiet, slow epiphany of who and where he is.
His next reaction is the awareness that something
is very wrong with his world. Cautiously touching
the dome’s metal wall, he says, “Aah,” indicating a
further insight into his situation. He walks alongMusic supporting characterizationRichard (John
Hawkes) and Christine (Miranda July) are just two of the
endearing characters looking for love in Me and You and
Everyone We Know. When they meet initially, nothing
clicks——at least not for Richard——but later they discover
that they live in the wacky world of LA and view it in the
same detached way. The musical score does not create a
theme for them; instead, it echoes their casual way of living
and loving.
FUNCTIONS OF FILM SOUND 421