SILENCE AND SPEECH IN FILM NARRATIVE STRUCTURE: LAILA PAKALNIŅA’S “THE SHOE” AND DĀVIS SĪMANIS’ “EXILED” Cover Image

SILENCE AND SPEECH IN FILM NARRATIVE STRUCTURE: LAILA PAKALNIŅA’S “THE SHOE” AND DĀVIS SĪMANIS’ “EXILED”
SILENCE AND SPEECH IN FILM NARRATIVE STRUCTURE: LAILA PAKALNIŅA’S “THE SHOE” AND DĀVIS SĪMANIS’ “EXILED”

Author(s): Sanda Rapa, Jana Taperte
Subject(s): Applied Linguistics, Film / Cinema / Cinematography
Published by: Latvijas Kultūras akadēmija
Keywords: film narrative structure; speech in cinema; silence in cinema; interaction between sound and image; acoustic and eloquent silence;

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the importance of speech (and absence of speech) for the storytelling strategies in film, which includes verbal and non-verbal interaction between characters, as well as speech in a broader sense as part of cinematic soundscape with particular focus on the relationship between sound and image. For the analysis, Laila Pakalniņa’s “The Shoe” (Kurpe, 1998) and Dāvis Sīmanis’ “Exiled” (Pelnu sanatorija, 2016) where chosen. Although “The Shoe” and “Exiled” differ considerably in terms of visual aesthetics and thematic scope, both films share stylistic features of slow cinema. The significance of silence and speech in shaping film narrative (syntagms) is analyzed using narratology models; the interaction between speech and silence, as well as between sound and image is described using linguistic terms.

  • Issue Year: 18/2021
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 6-19
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: English