Skolimowski had previously experimented with the properties of sound in the cinema with the moody drama The Shout (1978), so it’s disturbing to see it handled so slackly here, with one of the leads dubbed completely and obviously, and an over-reliance on additional dialogue recording (ADR) to convey its flimsy narrative. ADR is a common practice in modern cinema, and a growing one on television, that often allows filmmakers to substitute simple exposition in the place of audience participation: it’s often used to add or boost a line of dialogue that explains a narrative point or character trait that would otherwise insist the audience workout themselves, thus overly simplifying the passage of information between the film and its audience, and diminishing the power of the cinematic spectacle.

The Lightship features so much ADR that the plot, which tries to be at once sombre and mystical, seems vacuous next to the constant underlining of the aural material. Indeed, the film suffers froma  voice-over hat seems suspiciously out-of-place, as if the front office had added it afterward to explain the film’s reticence and pace.

The Lightship at the IMDb