Narrative technique · used in 10 films
Opening the film with a long stretch that has no dialogue. Images, sound and performance alone set up the characters, their world and what is at stake.
Examples
Ingmar Bergman · 1972
The film opens with nearly 5 minutes of images and no dialogue: the house, statues, clocks and sunlight. You get the mood and the sense of time passing before anyone speaks. By the time the sisters talk, you already feel the house.
Where to see it: The opening: images of the house, statues, clocks and sunlight play with no dialogue.
Danny Boyle · 2002
Boyle opens with 15 minutes of Jim alone in an empty London (hospitals, streets, Parliament Square, the Thames). The empty city sets up the premise by piling up images with no explanation. The silence of the place says as much as any dialogue could.
Where to see it: Jim walking through Whitehall, through Westminster Bridge, through the City. London's famous landmarks have no people in them. The silence does work that 100 lines of explanation couldn't.
Andrew Stanton · 2008
WALL-E's opening act has almost no dialogue. Using only images, Stanton gives you a complete character, a complete world and a complete emotional situation (loneliness, curiosity, love). The silence is an achievement in craft. It also says something about what is left when language fails.
Where to see it: WALL-E's daily routine. You get to know him fully through what he does and where he lives, without a word.
Pablo Berger · 2012
The film begins with the father's accident in the ring and the mother's death in childbirth. Pictures, music and performance set up the whole family in a few minutes. You do not need a word to understand what was lost.
Where to see it: The opening. Carmen's father is injured in a bullfight, and her mother dies giving birth to her.
George Miller · 2015
Max's capture and the introduction of the Citadel rely on very little dialogue. The film sets up this world's hierarchy, religion and economy through quick visual cues: the War Boys, the blood bags, the half-life boys and the water distribution. Miller shows you a complete social system in minutes and explains little of it.
Where to see it: The Citadel introduction. The waterfall, the crowd and the hierarchy are all shown in images before much is explained.
Steven Spielberg · 2015
The film opens with Rudolf Abel painting a self-portrait and then slipping away from agents. There is almost no talking. You learn he is patient, careful and used to being watched.
Where to see it: The opening: Abel paints in his apartment, then moves through New York while agents track him.
Alfonso Cuarón · 2018
Roma opens on water, tile and reflection. You watch Cleo doing housework before she speaks a single line. The silence presents her world as something to watch, with nothing explained. It puts you in the position of watching work that usually goes unseen.
Where to see it: The opening courtyard wash. The sky is reflected in soapy water. You learn the rhythm of the household through images before anyone says a word.
Robert Eggers · 2022
The Viking ritual sequences cover the hall ceremony, the male initiation rites and the bond between father and son. You get most of it through action, sound and image with very little explanation.
Where to see it: The hall ceremony between King Aurvandil and young Amleth: grunting, crawling, fire. The boy is initiated into Viking manhood entirely through physical ritual.
Pablo Berger · 2023
Berger's film has no dialogue for its entire 102-minute runtime. You learn about the friendship between Dog and Robot only through pictures, movement and music. I feel like having no words makes their bond easier to read.
Where to see it: Dog building Robot from the mail-order kit. You see the waiting, the assembly and the first moment Robot switches on, all without a word. That one sequence sets up the feeling the whole film runs on.
Gints Zilbalodis · 2024
Flow has no dialogue, no human characters and no explanatory text for its entire 85-minute runtime. The story is told only through how the animals behave, what you notice in the environment and the physical rules of a flooded world.
Where to see it: The cat's first encounter with the rising water. You understand the threat only from how the animal reacts. There is no narrator or title card to explain what is happening.
Questions