For over three decades at the inception of cinema, silent film reigned supreme. The expressions of the actors, whether they be painted on for effect or dramatized by gesture, were the gateway into the soul of the picture; these expressions provided all the insight you’d ever need to create a soundtrack in your head. Nearly a century later, diegetic and non-diegetic sound in film is a key aspect of movie making and attending, from the screeching sounds in the “Psycho” shower scene to Peter Strickland‘s terrific thriller “Berberian Sound Studio.”
Now that sound is such an essential atmospheric element, it’s interesting to see filmmakers deliberately leave it out – not in a modernized silent picture like “The Artist,” but a calculated scene bereft of dialogue to prove a point. In a new video essay from Fandor, David Verdeure explores those films that don’t need words, but speak volumes by insinuating suspense, boredom, conspiracy, or otherwise.
Comedy genius Jacques Tati seamlessly gave us boredom around the house without muttering a peep, and Stanley Kubrick heightened our emotional attachment to Dr. David Bowman in “2001: A Space Odyssey” as he whispered to his co-pilot, Dr. Frank Poole. In the final scene of Sofia Coppola‘s brilliant “Lost in Translation,” Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson silently emote their loneliness and love for one another, while in Hitchcock‘s “North by Northwest” Cary Grant‘s aggravated Roger Thornhill converses amidst helicopter noises, trying to find out why he’s being followed and tormented.
The list of the silent treatment goes on – do you have a favorite? Let us know in the comments below. [Fandor]
