Absence of Sound=Real Life

When most people watch a movie they take the soundtrack for granted. They go into the movie assuming that most of the scenes will have music playing in the background. In many ways it’s comforting to the viewer. Watching a movie without a soundtrack can have a voyeurism quality, which can make people uncomfortable. So most times when a movie does not have a soundtrack in it it’s to intentionally create a certain mood. This certainly seemed the case in my viewing of the American remake of Funny Games.

Funny Games, which is a shot for shot remake of the Austrian movie of the same name, tells the story of two young psychos who hold a family hostage at their summer home. As the title suggests, the kidnappers force the family to perform cruel and sadistic acts. A few of the “games” that are played include making the mother strip naked to prove she has a good body and forcing her to choose the order in which she and her husband will die in.

While the film would be difficult to watch by any standards, the absence of a soundtrack adds to the overall disturbing atmosphere. With the exception of the opening and closing credits, the only time music is played in the movie is during a brief scene in which one of the kidnappers plays a song on a stereo. For the rest of the film the action plays out without any diegetic or extra-diegetic sound. This adds a heightened sense of realism to the viewing experience. It’s almost as if one is viewing a homemade videotape of torture.

As stated earlier, it is a conscious choice made when a soundtrack is excluded from a movie or a television show. Most times this is done to make the events being viewed seem more genuine and less fictitious. When viewers feel uncomfortable it probably was the feeling the filmmaker intended. They wanted the events to seem as real as possible. And this is very easily accomplished by the absence of a soundtrack.