Aural Figuration and the Metaphysics of the Offscreen Sounds in Lucrecia Martel’s La Ciénaga (2001)

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The paper examines the figuration of sounds in the first film of Lucrecia Martel, La Ciénaga (The Swamp, 2001), with a particular emphasis on the interpretation of the figural dynamics of the film’s last scene. It argues that the idea of sonic cinema by Gregg Hainge is relevant for the figural analysis developed by Nicole Brenez since Hainge shows that the sonic realm is a privileged sphere to grasp the figuration of the filmic material. This means also that the essential dynamism of cinema can be clearly revealed through the mapping of sonic operations and through the understanding of sonic plasticity. This paper tries to map the operations of this kind in Lucrecia Martel’s film through the isolation of sonic figures and the description of their transfiguration. The analysis reveals that this film develops a figural relationship (in the sense established by Erich Auerbach) between sounds and the source of sounds, between ambiguous signifier and clear signified, between sensory impression and trancendental experience. Martel’s film uses the very base of filmic material – the connection and disconnection of sound and image – for a metaphisical interpretation of the human experience.