History Main / FacialDialogue

* In the first ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'' film, Diego has almost no dialogue during the scene where it's revealed that [[spoiler:Manny lost his family to human hunters]]. But his facial expressions tell the audience [[HeelRealization exactly what he's feeling.]]

* Shows up in [[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp08112005.shtml this]] strip of ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive''.

** "Hush" features demons that steal all of the voices in Sunnydale. Although the cast sometimes uses handwriting, they also rely on this trope out of necessity.
** There's also the scene in season 5 where Buffy and Giles have a long discussion about him dressing up in a RobeAndWizardHat for the opening of the Magic Box without either of them uttering a single word.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Allegiance", Picard and a handful of other random aliens are abducted by aliens for the purpose of study (because they communicate only with telepathy and wish to study other forms of communication). When Picard turns the tables on his captors, they return him to the ''Enterprise,'' but before they leave the bridge, Picard and the crew, communicating with only subtle facial expressions, trap the aliens in a forcefield to show them what it feels like to be imprisoned. Picard makes a point of the fact that he and the crew communicated this way.

* According to the writers of ''Series/YesMinister'', during filming Paul Eddington would deviate from the script by replacing his lines with expression. He was so good at this that in later episodes they actually annotated the script with "[[HarpoDoesSomethingFunny Paul doesn't have to say this line if he doesn't want to]]" where they expected this to work. An exceptional example is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9NifqJyDMI when he finds out his predecessor, who was about to publish some embarrassing memoirs, has unexpectedly died]]. The brief worry, then joy, then abrupt attempt to look sad is something to behold.

EyeTake, AsideGlance, FascinatingEyebrow, and SecretMessageWink may be used as part of the Facial Dialogue, but by themselves are only limited versions. Often the forte of TheSilentBob, TheVoiceless and TheQuietOne. Often featured in a NoDialogueEpisode. It is just as often used by characters who are perfectly capable of speaking, but just don't on this occasion, but in that case, you should consider whether or not it qualifies instead as a MeaningfulLook.

* ''Film/GoneInSixtySeconds2000'' features one character, called "The Sphinx" by the other characters, making a ''phone call'' and using nothing but Facial Dialogue to do so. On the other end of the conversation, [[RealityEnsues Memphis can't tell if anyone is actually on the line]] and asks Sphinx to [[OnceForYesTwiceForNo hit a button on the phone to indicate if he's there]].

EyeTake, AsideGlance and FascinatingEyebrow may be used as part of the Facial Dialogue, but by themselves are only limited versions. Often the forte of TheSilentBob, TheVoiceless and TheQuietOne. Often featured in a NoDialogueEpisode. It is just as often used by characters who are perfectly capable of speaking, but just don't on this occasion, but in that case, you should consider whether or not it qualifies instead as a MeaningfulLook.

* ''Series/TheMandalorian'' depends on this during the rare occasions that [[spoiler:the Mandalorian either removes his helmet near another character, or fails to prevent someone else from taking it off. Emotions that the seldom-speaking bounty hunter can't put into words instead come through in his facial expressions, which he struggles to hide without his helmet.]]

* ''Series/TheMandalorian'' depends on this during the rare occasions that [[spoiler:the Mandalorian removes his helmet near another character. Emotions that the seldom-speaking bounty hunter can't put into words instead come through in his facial expressions, which he struggles to hide without his helmet.]]

* Perhaps the most famous and hilarious example of the trope is the Vitameatavegamin sketch from ''Series/ILoveLucy'', where at one moment, Lucy is happily promoting the titular multivitamin syrup and in the next, she cringes so hard after consuming one tablespoonful of the syrup that the other actors watching Lucille Ball performing [[{{Corpsing}} were trying really hard not to laugh]].

* Duma, the Angel of Silence, speaks entire volumes with nothing but expressions in ''ComicBook/TheSandman''. His gestures and actions also say (and accomplish!) volumes more than his partner, Remiel, despite ''his'' almost complete inability to shut the hell up.

** During the opening robbery, River and Zoe have a short conversation using nothing but facial expressions that goes something like, "That guy." "That guy? Are you sure?" "Are you kidding me or just an idiot? Of course, I'm sure! That guy!"

** In the Blu-ray commentaries, showrunners Benioff and Weiss...rather bluntly admit that they're obsessed with this. To the point that they admit, word for word, that most of the storylines they went off-book for were purely because they're in awe that their own cast members (professional actors) are capable of emoting a range of meanings non-verbally with their facial muscles. As in ''everything that happened to Dorne'' for Season 5 onwards was justified as "don't you want to see Indira Varma (Ellaria) making an angry face?" Deciding to truncate Stannis's story then kill him off? They wanted the Stannis actor to give a ''great'' Facial Dialogue scene when he dies. They don't even hide it by Season 7: the post-episode behind the scenes videos, if you pay attention, are filled with the showrunners just...ranting about close-ups on the core cast members' faces, emoting at the camera. Right before Season 7 was released, someone figured out that the Emmy Awards website keeps an archive of any episode that ever won an award, i.e. episode 5.10 and 6.9, which meant we finally got to see their filming instructions in the script: they're filled with...hyper-detailed, lengthy descriptions of a sentence or two's worth of meaning that they intend to get across in just the actor's face with no dialogue. Things such as "Daenerys shoots the slaver a look that says, 'No, motherf--ker, my reign of terror has only just begun". Ask yourself: how ''would'' someone emote that? In theory?

* Dopey, from ''Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'', does this throughout the entire film. Like Gromit, he does so because he is mute.

* ''Series/HarryAndPaul'' skit "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnCD1P_P3aA Eeny Miney Minie Mole]]" has two [[Literature/TheQuestForKarla George Smileys]] (from the [[Series/TinkerTailorSoldierSpy 1979 miniseries]] and the [[Film/TinkerTailorSoldierSpy 2011 film]]) competing to see which one should remain employed by [=MI5=].

* Ryan Gosling uses this a lot in ''Film/BladeRunner2049'', appropriately since his character is a Replicant. A particularly good example comes in his "conversation" with the giant pink hologram Joi. He never says a word during the scene, but his silent, stone-faced reaction to the advertisement woman [[spoiler: calling him by the pet name his own "unique" copy of Joi used for him solidifies his desire to be [[GrowBeyondTheirProgramming more than just a machine]], a desire he acts on by flying out to rescue Rick Deckard from [[BigBad Wallace]]'s men.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': For unknown reasons, [[TheVoiceless the mute Freedom Fighter Longshot]] does this all the time. He's understood by his companions through his eyes and facial expressions, which ([[FridgeLogic somehow]]) indicate his thoughts and viewpoints on particular subjects. [[spoiler:[[SuddenlyVoiced He doesn't talk at all until Jet is killed]], and even then, only says less than fifteen words.]]

* Ryan Gosling uses this a lot in ''Film/BladeRunner2049'', appropriately since his character is [[spoiler: a Replicant.]] A particularly good example comes in his "conversation" with the giant pink hologram Joi. He never says a word during the scene, but his silent, stone-faced reaction to the advertisement woman [[spoiler: calling him by the pet name his own "unique" copy of Joi used for him solidifies his desire to be [[GrowBeyondTheirProgramming more than just a machine]], a desire he acts on by flying out to rescue Rick Deckard from [[BigBad Wallace]]'s men.]]

* Taken to extremes in the ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'' series. The members of the Second Foundation have the ability to telepathically detect and alter emotions, but can't actually read minds. Nevertheless, they are all so thoroughly acquainted with one another's minds that they can have entire conversations based almost solely on facial expressions and body language, saying more than an occasional word is considered superfluous.

* [[CuteMute Akira Oono]], the titular character of ''Manga/HighScoreGirl'', relies almost entirely on facial expressions to communicate with others despite not being mute, to begin with.

* The page quote comes from an episode of ''Series/BabylonFive''. After Ivanova told Delenn that Sheridan had been "carrying on cranky", Delenn (being a Minbari, mostly fluent in English but not a native speaker) tried to look up the word "cranky", only to be given the runaround as she got shunted from one synonym to another. Finally, partway into a conversation with Sheridan, she finally got it just by looking at his rather grumpy expression.

* Simon Tam did this a lot in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', particularly with his sister. It's probably genetic.
** After Simon's ''very'' awesome moment in the operating room in "Ariel", River gives Jayne this ''very'' glowing smile that all but says "''[[BigBrotherWorship That's]]'' [[BigBrotherWorship my brother!]]"

[[folder:Theater]]

* Shows up in [[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp08112005.shtml this]] strip of ''WebComic/SomethingPositive''.

* A Season 7 episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' gives us [[https://derpibooru.org/1424871 one such moment]], where Maud quietly signals to Starlight with her eyes that they should move on before Pinkie Pie can cause any more trouble, a sentiment that Starlight clearly agrees with.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS4E13FamilyReunionAndFarewell "Family Reunion]] [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS4E14FamilyReunionAndFarewellPartII — and Farewell"]], because they can't verbally speak to each other due to the circumstances, [[spoiler:Ezra and Sabine's last (face to face) conversation]] goes this way, where she asks him not to go, he apologizes for having to do it and asks her to help him, and she reluctantly accepts. To emphasize it, all dialogue from other characters is muted in favour of the OrchestralVersion of their respective {{leitmotif}}s.

* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' has a lot of this. There's very little dialogue in the film, and even the most important story and character moments are often communicated through facial dialogue. One example is seeing Max realize he has a chance to escape once Slit unlocks his chains on Nux's car. The seconds-long look that Furiosa gives Max, who she was trying very hard to kill half an hour ago when they're fleeing from Joe's forces and he wordlessly [[FireForgedFriends handing her a sniper rifle]] says more than a full page of dialogue could.

** The Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble play this trope for laughs in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E1PartnersInCrime Partners in Crime]]". They are both spying on the episode's villain by looking through adjacent windows, the villain's office between them, and catch each other's eye. A conversation follows using comically exaggerated expressions, lip reading and mime. The conversation ends when Donna gestures to the villain, who, it turns out, has been watching them embarrass themselves and simply asks, "Are we interrupting you?"

--->''(Raises eyes from his book and glances over Sam and Gily)'' [What the hell is this?]\\

** In the second instalment "Mutiny" and "Retribution", many characters exchange significant looks when they cannot talk freely. It's because they are in front of their superiors and one of those is InsaneAdmiral who loses his ability to control his crew. It heavily overlaps with MeaningfulLook, but some of the conveyed messages were rather complex. For example, Hornblower signals to 1st Lt Buckland that he shouldn't interfere with crazy Captain Sawyer and that he should carry out his order to arrest all the other lieutenants, him including.

* The final scene of ''Film/TheLongGoodFriday'' consists of BobHoskins sitting silently in the back of a car and slowly realizing [[spoiler:that he is completely fucked]].

[[quoteright:200:[[Series/YesMinister https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/facialprimeminister_2620.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:200:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9NifqJyDMI Jim Hacker learns that his rival has just died.]]]]

Facial Dialogue occurs when a character is communicating not just his emotional reactions or intense feelings, but entire reams of dialog using nothing more than their facial expressions and without saying a single word. When two characters do this to each other, it results in entire paragraphs of byplay, all perfectly understandable to the audience despite the entire exchange being silent.

EyeTake, AsideGlance and FascinatingEyebrow may be used as part of the Facial Dialogue, but by themselves are only limited versions. Often the forte of TheSilentBob, TheVoiceless and TheQuietOne. Often featured in a NoDialogueEpisode. It is just as often used by characters who are perfectly capable of speaking, but just don't on this occasion, but in that case you should consider whether or not it qualifies instead as a MeaningfulLook.

* [[CuteMute Akira Oono]], the titular character of ''Manga/HighScoreGirl'', relies almost entirely on facial expressions to communicate with others despite not being mute to begin with.

* ''Fanfic/MuchAdoAboutShakespeareLovesLaboursWon'': Friends and fellow officers Horatio Hornblower and Archie Kennedy bet drinks and dinner at the inn that Archie can/can't speak only in Shakespeare's quotes for 6 hours. When they are at the hat shop, Archie tries to tell Horatio what he thinks of various hats that Horatio's trying on in case he doesn't get the meaning from the quotes. This part of the fic is written like a script and these are some of the notes: [Archie stares at him meaningfully], [Archie raises an eyebrow] or [Looks skeptical].

** During the opening robbery, River and Zoe have a short conversation using nothing but facial expressions that goes something like, "That guy." "That guy? Are you sure?" "Are you kidding me or just an idiot? Of course I'm sure! That guy!"

* ''Film/AsItIsInHeaven'', a Swedish film, where in one scene two main characters have such a non-verbal conversation.

* In ''Film/AnimalHouse'', a lot of Bluto Blutarsky's "dialog" is this.

* In the final scene of ''Film/TheLivesOfABengalLancer'', [[DisappearedDad Colonel Stone]] and [[WellDoneSonGuy his son, a junior officer]] exchange a handshake and [[SoProudOfYou a brief look]] that says volumes more than they've managed to in the whole movie preceding it.

* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' has a lot of this. There's very little dialogue in the film, and even the most important story and character moments are often communicated through facial dialogue. One example is seeing Max realize he has a chance to escape once Slit unlocks his chains on Nux's car. The seconds-long look that Furiosa gives Max, who she was trying very hard to kill half an hour ago, when they're fleeing from Joe's forces and he wordlessly [[FireForgedFriends hands her a sniper rifle]] says more than a full page of dialogue could.
* Used to beautiful effect in ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'', particularly in the MexicanStandoff where an exchange of glances between Blondie and Tuco show us that [[spoiler:they agree to both shoot Angel Eyes]].
* Ryan Gosling uses this a lot in ''Film/BladeRunner2049'', appropiately since his character is [[spoiler: a Replicant.]] A particularly good example comes in his "conversation" with the giant pink hologram Joi. He never says a word during the scene, but his silent, stone-faced reaction to the advertisement woman [[spoiler: calling him by the pet name his own "unique" copy of Joi used for him solidifies his desire to be [[GrowBeyondTheirProgramming more than just a machine]], a desire he acts on by flying out to rescue Rick Deckard from [[BigBad Wallace]]'s men.]]
* Mathilda May's character in ''Film/{{Lifeforce}}'' is a mostly silent (and [[EvilIsSexy always]] [[MsFanService unclothed]]) [[OurVampiresAreDifferent space vampire]]. Many of her interactions with her intended victims are entirely done via facial expressions, the best examples being during the sequences where she escapes from the Research Center at the beginning of the movie: a devilish smirk when she spots a soon-to-be-a-shriveled-corpse guard, a dismissive glance when she encounters the rest of the security force in her way out that soon morphs into a sadistic grin ''and'' a death glare as she blast them away without a second thought, just to name a few.

* In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' [[spoiler:when Thor and Loki come after Odin,]] Loki suddenly resorts to being TheQuietOne. [[spoiler:The only word he says from the moment he falls though the portal to the moment of Hela's arrival is "brother" after their father's death. Be it the looks of surprise and pained recognition when Odin welcomes his sons and later says that he loves them both, slightly shaking his head to tell "this isn't me" when asked to lift his magic, the "I don't know" look when Thor silently inquires about Hela, or the MeaningfulLook between Loki and Thor when they decide to put aside their differences once their sister shows up,]] -- his reactions are conveyed via facial expressions alone.

* An amusing variation in ''Literature/JudgeDee'': While interviewing a possible suspect (an antiques collector), the judge passes his lieutenant as a connoisseur himself. The suspect eagerly asks him his opinion on a new piece of he has doubts on. The unfortunate lieutenant pulls off an expression of such disgust that the guy says he thought it was a fake, but he didn't think it was so obvious.

* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'': Aly and Dove manage to hold an entire conversation like this in ''[[Literature/TrickstersDuet Trickster's Queen]]''. (Apparently it's a hereditary trait, as in the previous book Aly notes how Dove's father and stepmother are able to hold a conversation purely by facial expression. She considers it a sign of a good marriage.)

** "Hush" features demons that steal all of the voices in Sunnydale. Although the cast sometimes use handwriting, they also rely on this trope out of necessity.

** In ''Film/AnAdventureInSpaceAndTime'', William Hartnell wants to find ways to do this when he starts to have trouble remembering his lines. The scene happens in mid-1965 or so, and by this point Hartnell isn't at all well; the memory problems are a symptom of his illness. His efforts at finding a workaround seem more of a quick fix for a problem [[ForegoneConclusion that will eventually get worse.]]

** The very first episode has old friends Ned and Robert meeting again for the first time in years. The first words Robert, a classic AdiposeRex, says to Ned? [[HypocriticalHumor "You've got fat."]] Ned replies by giving Robert a once-over and raising his eyebrows, a perfect nonverbal, "Look who's talking."

''(After Sam tries to win him over with his best charmer smile and a deep existential observation, the Maester gives him a long look, tightens jaw, briefly closes eyes)'' [Bloody hell, this is for real, why did it have to be me, alright, might as well get on with it.]

** In the Blu-ray commentaries, showrunners Benioff and Weiss...rather bluntly admit that they're obsessed with this. To the point that they admit, word for word, that most of the storylines they went off-book for were purely because they're in awe that their own cast members (professional actors) are capable of emoting a range of meanings non-verbally with their facial muscles. As in ''everything that happened to Dorne'' for Season 5 onwards was justified as "don't you want to see Indira Varma (Ellaria) making an angry face?" Deciding to truncate Stannis's story then kill him off? They wanted the Stannis actor to give a ''great'' Facial Dialogue scene when he dies. They don't even hide it by Season 7: the post-episode behind the scenes videos, if you pay attention, are filled with the showrunners just...ranting about closeups on the core cast members' faces, emoting at the camera. Right before Season 7 was released, someone figured out that the Emmy Awards website keeps an archive of any episode that ever won an award, i.e. episode 5.10 and 6.9, which meant we finally got to see their filming instructions in the script: they're filled with...hyper-detailed, lengthy descriptions of a sentence or two's worth of meaning that they intend to get across in just the actor's face with no dialogue. Things such as "Daenerys shoots the slaver a look that says, 'No, motherf--ker, my reign of terror has only just begun". Ask yourself: how ''would'' someone emote that? In theory?

** In the second instalment "Mutiny" and "Retribution", many characters exchange significant looks when they cannot talk freely. It's because they are in front of their superiors and one of those is InsaneAdmiral who loses his ability to control his crew. It heavily overlaps with MeaningfulLook, but some of the conveyed messages were rather complex. For example Hornblower signals to 1st Lt Buckland that he shouldn't interfere with crazy Captain Sawyer and that he should carry out his order to arrest all the other lieutenants, him including.

* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': In "Home Cooked Meal", Miss Brooks' facial expressions as Mr. Conklin is about to light a match in a gas filled room...

* According to the writers of ''Series/YesMinister'', during filming Paul Eddington would deviate from the script by replacing his lines with an expression. He was so good at this that in later episodes they actually annotated the script with "[[HarpoDoesSomethingFunny Paul doesn't have to say this line if he doesn't want to]]" where they expected this to work. An exceptional example is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9NifqJyDMI when he finds out his predecessor, who was about to publish some embarrassing memoirs, has unexpectedly died]]. The brief worry, then joy, then abrupt attempt to look sad is something to behold.

* Used extensively in ''Webcomic/TheBullysBully'' because it's a textless web comic.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS4E13FamilyReunionAndFarewell "Family Reunion]] [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS4E14FamilyReunionAndFarewellPartII — and Farewell"]], because they can't verbally speak to each other due to the circumstances, [[spoiler:Ezra and Sabine's last (face to face) conversation]] goes this way, where she asks him not to go, he apologizes for having to do it and asks her to help him, and she reluctantly accepts. To emphasize it, all dialogue from other characters is muted in favor of the OrchestralVersion of their respective {{leitmotif}}s.