Music, Noise, and Nature: Energetic Ambiguities in Benedikt Erlingsson's Woman at War

Abstract

Abstract Unlike most films dealing with the challenges of climate change or globalization, Benedikt Erlingsson's film Woman at War (2018) is full of energetic humor and contradictions. The protagonist's conflicting roles as choir director, eco-warrior, and future adoptive mother undermine expected binaries, as do onscreen musicians in this communication of complexity. In our intermedial and ecocritical analysis, we demonstrate how the film's sound design exploits ambiguities of diegesis, nature and culture, music and noise, and order and revolt to generate a more empowering than merely entertaining plot.