The best silences

I love silence (especially you, there, when you shut up it's wonderful), and some movies make a splendid use of it, instead of cramming every scene with redundant music or explosions. So. Appreciation thread for moments of silence. Such as :

- Noodles stirring his cup after Max enthusiastically described his empire and big plans for the future, in Once Upon a Time in America. Oh so many of these in Leone movies.

- Harry Palmer awkwardly trying to interpret people's (and potential spys') glances and non-verbal cues in that remote, foreign cabin from Million Dollars Brain.

- Space, 2001. Silence is still so under-used in space movies.

- That scene, that scene, you know which one, from Legion: The Exorcist III.

I have vague memories of impressions left by movie endings made only of silent acknowledgments. Heck, I love non-verbal communication in movies. I love good acting, and that's one of its expression (you can't "recite" complex facial expressions, you have to feel them). And slow pacing, good respiration in movies.

So, examples of silences that struck you ?

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Only one answer for me - the heist in Rififi.

The Straight Story:

The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes

The almost endless silence that pervades Jeanne Dielmann. Because, just like 2001, it's about space. And how much of it is between her and the rest of the world as she makes the bed yet again.

Only one answer for me - the heist in Le Cercle Rouge

I thought of another one, from Big Night:

It gave me such an eerie feeling the silence that accompanied some of those supernatural events happening in Hereditary.

You might be interested in Silence (1961) by John Cage. Reportedly there's a new edition from 1994.

And I'd bet a dollar to a dime that you would enjoy a performance of his famous 4' 33" (1952).

In his music, Cage was as much interested in silence as he was deliberate sound.

I thought it was interesting when Darren Aronofsky said that he wanted a moment of silence in The Fountain but was told by the studio that he he couldn't have that because it would, supposedly, confuse audiences that there was a techincal glich. Apparently complete silence is not allowed in Hollywood productions.

I recently revisited Hour of the Wolf and I found the cliff flashback quite effective.

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This might not be what you are looking for, but I would say that Chaplin's silents, especially City Lights, showed that he was a master at making the most of silence.

A Quiet Place does some exquisite work with silence.

John Carpenter's The Thing has a pretty good one. I'll let you seek it out.