Page 86 - Aesthetic Formations Media, religion, and the Sense

Chapter 3

“More Sexpression Please!” Screening

the Female Voice and Body in the

Bangladesh Film Industry

Lotte Hoek

[T]he female body is made to speak
in place of the female voice . . .
—Kaja Silverman (1988, 70)

Into the Dubbing Theater

1
Shima sighed into the microphone, breathing heavily. She looked up
attentively at the actress Jenny on screen and paced her sighing to coincide
with the moving lips of the silent Jenny. “More sexpression, please!” the
assistant director hollered at her through the headphones. Jenny’s character
was about to embark on an erotic encounter and Shima’s voice needed to

reflect that. The dumb image of Jenny on screen shuddered with antici-
pated pleasure. The reel was rewound, and Shima started all over. As the
image of Jenny came closer to that of her sleeping lover, Shima’s sighs
became more pronounced and the small yelps that escaped from her mouth
hovered between arousal and endearment.
In the dubbing studio of the national film industry of Bangladesh,
Shima gave voice to the image of Jenny’s body presented on screen. In his
call for more “sexpression,” the assistant director encouraged Shima to sigh