Sound and image in Peeping Tom

Peeping Tom is a reflexion and a mise en abime about cinema and the process of recording sound and image.

The blind mother represent the sound aspect of the movie. But why using a blind character in a movie about voyeurism ? First, someone who is blind developpes other sensory capacities that someone who is able to see doesn’t have. The blind is capable to analyse and process any auditive informations. In that sense, the importance that sounds is going to have for the blind can be seen as auditive voyeurism. Sound is a communication vector that can be perceived by anyone. The blind is exploring every aspect of it whereas other people just assimilate the essential. For example, Helen’s mother knows when Mark is home and she also knows he is always in his screening room, watching his movies. She tells him : « I visit this room every night. The blinds always visit the rooms they live under »

The sound in Peeping Tom becomes complementary of the image. The blind character is here to add to the theme of voyeurism and penetrate in the voyeur’s intimate space itself in a way that he does not expect. In fact, Mark is focused on his visual sphere and do everything he can to hide his actions from the sighted. The sound for Mark will end up being  something that he does not control and what is going to give him away.

The confrontation between image and sound will reach its climax when Mark is projecting Vivian’s murder while Helen’s mother is in the room. The movie doesn’t have any sound, and us, spectators, are witnessing the horrible scene. We are between Mark and Helen’s mother. Mark see and act, the spectator observes, and the blind character questiones and is trying to guess what is going on.

Also, Mark’s father was extremely voyeur and Helen has a blind mother. They both appear as a sound/image complementary couple. The film is the setting of Mark and Helen’s meeting. What can happen when two people – which relation with two important senses were disturbed or even, perverted – meet?

28 thoughts on “Sound and image in Peeping Tom

  1. Wow, this is a very unique analysis of the film!

    This post does a great job of comparing the visual to the auditory through the connection of voyeurism in Peeping Tom. I especially like the analysis that sound is something that is out of Mark’s control, which is in stark contrast to his expertise in controlling visual voyeurism. I think it is especially convincing when you make the analogy to the scene in which the visual and auditory come together to create horror in the confrontation between Mark and Helen’s mother.

    I also like your use of questions throughout your post. That aspect of an analysis does an effective job of displaying to the reader that you are not stuck in your views, but analyzing the film’s features through an open-minded and educated lens.

  2. Yeah, this is a great post. Your observation at the end about how Mark’s father and Helen’s mother are counterparts is really insightful, and made me think about the film in a totally new way.

    Your point about Mark’s lack of control of sound is interesting in light of the police investigation into the murder. Mark almost gets caught when the pens fall from his pocket and make a loud noise – sound conspiring against him! Under a certain light, the disconnection between sound and image add up to a critique of auteur theory. Mark sees himself as the director of the murder movies he makes, but he doesn’t control the sound, which undermines his vision in the end. Eh, maybe that’s pushing the interpretation too far.

    As a side note, I still have a lot of questions about Helen’s mother. Like, what’s the significance of the botched surgery that cost her her eyesight? Do we ever learn what happened to Helen’s father? Helen seems so happy and carefree, but is she carrying trauma from her own childhood?

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