No words. Just the face. Here are mine:
Michael Corleone hugging Fredo but looking at Al with something clearly different in mind.
Luca Brassi when called to Don Corleone’s office.
Camelot-When King Arthur announced Lancelot’s knighthood. Focus on the faces of Guenivere, Lancelot, and then Arthur.
Bridge too far-When the German general offered Col. Frost (Anthony Hopkins) chocolate. This was one of Hopkins’ best acting moments.
Joe Buck at the death of Ratso on the bus.
Kevin Spacey in his final scene in L.A. Confidential.
Laurence Olivier in Spartacus, when Peter Ustinov tells him he already saw the man.
Edward Everett Horton.
I can’t seem to find a clip of the full scene now, but: the end of The Third Man, when Harry Lime realizes he’s trapped and silently negotiates the end with Martins. Welles was just awesome in that movie. Really everybody was great in it. I especially liked Trevor Howard (“Callo*way *. I’m English, not Irish.”) I need to watch it again.
James McAvoy in Split.
Edward Norton in Primal Fear.
Brie Larson in Room.
There’s a scene in The Rocketeer where Paul Sorvino (the mobster) realizes he’s been duped by the Nazis, and turns his gang against them. All of Sorvino’s expressions are great, ending up with him and a G-Man fighting side-by-side, and Sorvino gives a little grin when he realizes he’s finally working with the feds.
Obligatory porn joke.
Jim Broadbent as W.S. Gilbert in Topsy Turvy. In this scene, he comes up with the idea for The Mikado. Just himself, no words (other than some psuedo-Japanese gibberish) and you can see him thinking.
In the last 30 seconds of Catching Fire Jennifer Lawrence playing Katniss has just been informed her home village has been obliterated. Her facial expressions go from shock, to sorrow, to piecing together what exactly happened, to anger, to revenge in about 20 seconds.
Ben Affleck, twice. In Good Will Hunting, when his character Chuckie goes to Will’s house to find that Will had left Boston and had moved on to live his life. At first, Chuckie is sad that Will’s gone, and then he goes through a lot of emotions before coming out with being glad for his friend.
And then again, Ben Affleck in Dogma, when his character, Bartleby, realizes on the train that the woman he’s talking to, Bethany, is the Last Scion that he’s been looking for. He just uses his face to reveal his feelings at that moment.
Richard Dreyfuss during the Indianapolis scene in Jaws. Yes, it’s Robert Shaw’s scene but watch Dreyfuss. They’re all drinking and joking and then Quint mentions the Indianapolis. Hooper immediately turns serious, showing he already knows the story Quint’s about to tell. With just his facial expression, Dreyfuss changes the mood of the scene from funny to somber.
The final scene in "The long good friday". Bob Hoskins, realising his goose is well and truly cooked, give us a whole facial soliloquy whilst Pierce Brosnan does “smug”.
Bruce Dern as the mercenary blimp pilot on Black Sunday.
Hugo Weaving walking out of the police station after “The Interview”’
Diane Lane in Unfaithful. After the first time with her lover, taking the train, he face moves from satisfaction, to lust, to shame, to guilt, to lust, to pleasure…I don’t remember the order of the emotions, just the way they flickered across her face.
Most famous is possibly the closing scene from The Graduate.
One that impresses me most (both for the acting and the length of the cut) is the opening scene from Free Zone (and boy is “crying” not a flattering look for Natalie Portman!)
Also, the ballroom scene from Enchanted (especially with Amy Adams and Adele Dazeem.)
(Honorable mention goes to the facial animation for Rapunzel in Tangled.)
Tom Hanks in *Forrest Gump *when he finds out he has a child.
It’s only a few seconds (but part of an amazing scene in the film ‘Manhunter’) when William Petersen (playing FBI profiler Will Graham) suddenly realises how the serial killer ‘Tooth Fairy’ picks his victims.
Watch this video from about 7.00 onwards.
Harrison Ford has a great facial acting moment in Return of the Jedi, which is impressive since he has kind of developed a reputation of hardly moving his face.
It’s at the end when Leia says, “No, Luke is my brother.”
She hugs him and he realizes he has misunderstood the Luke-Leia relationship and that he and she will end up together.
Confusion, realization, and relief/joy. Very well done.
Katherine Helmond in Brazil