MovieChat Forums > Offret (1986) Discussion > Awkward dubbing, anyone else bothered?

Awkward dubbing, anyone else bothered?


On my first viewing of The Sacrifice, I was so bothered by the dubbing I had to stop and google to find out if the audio of the version I downloaded was official or some country's dubbed version, Susan Fleetwood's detached voice being particularly distracting. I read an interview with the sound mixer where he states Tarkovsky saind early on he would want post dubbing, because "he could not concentrate on the dialogue on location. He was only thinking in the terms of visual composition". In a memoir written by the film's editor he says Susan Fleetwood spoke all of her lines in English, and 3 different people dubbed her voice.

First of all, did anyone else think this was a severe hinderance? To me the acting felt wrong, I was almost thinking it could have something to do with an intention of creating a dream-like detachment or something, but it felt so out of place in so many scenes. Also, I find it so bizarre that such a careful and precise director, one who pays deep attention and makes movies that demand deep attention, would think so little of sound, specifically of an actor's impression while speaking on film, of his voice acting and such. I've seen 3 other Tarkovsky films but it was so long ago, I don't recall being bothered by this, is he always this careless about sound? I mean, not sound in general, because the sound in this film is amazingly detailed.

Also, I am aware that many movies even nowadays use dubbing extensively, usually for outdoor locations I think, but I don't know how that works exactly, and how common it is, but I rarely notice it.

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