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Film Sound & Vivre Sa Vie

 Jean-Luc Godard’s use of sound in Vivre Sa Vie is unapologetically raw. In an almost experimental use of sound, the film strays away from the established norm of using non-diegetic sound to evoke emotion. In fact, venturing beyond just using diegetic sound, Godard ensured to create an even higher form of fidelity within Vivre Sa Vie, recording all sounds directly as they occurred, in shot. The use of sound is thus highly deliberate, whilst also featuring noises that, completely unplanned, impose upon the shot; such sounds include the all-encompassing noise of the passing truck, which fills the air the first time Nana goes out to prostitute, or otherwise, the hospital bells that may be heard at the end of the film at Nana’s deathbed. Exaggerated by the lack of non-diegetic sound or music, or manufactured audio effects, sound within Vivre Sa Vieis heavily foregrounded, with French reviewers complaining that the intense reality of the film’s atmospheric sounds, such as in the noisy, bustling café, obscure the voices of the actors, as viewers must strain to understand dialogue through the dense soundscape created by recording all of the film’s audio on-set. Godard’s use of sound in this unconventional way ensures that the audience is highly conscious of it,and by this, he not only creates a sense of reality within the piece, butactually presents the audience with reality, as the film’s audio is entirely true to its source. Godard thereby curates a sense of gritty realism withinVivre Sa Vie, used to reflect the harsh actuality of the film’s narrative and engage the viewer in what appears as the raw truth presented on screen.