The Aural Patterns of Alfonso Cuarón

“You know that ringing in your ears? That eeeee . . . that’s the sound of the ear cells dying like a swan song. Once it’s gone, you’ll never hear that frequency again. Enjoy it while it lasts.” Those are the departing words of Julian (Julianne Moore) after the first meeting with Theo (Clive Owen), the protagonist of Alfonso Cuarón’s apocalyptic masterpiece Children of Men (2006). Julian lays bare the aural motif of the movie. The sound of ringing is a tangible representation of loss, that’ll repeatedly ret