Worth 1,000 Words
They say a picture is worth a thousand words—well, that's a good thing for these movies, because they have hardly any spoken words in them (not counting films from the silent era, of course).
Dunkirk (2017)
Director Christopher Nolan studied classic silent movies in preparation for his epic film.
All Is Lost (2013)
Robert Redford alone at sea. With only a few spoken lines in the film, the script for All Is Lost was only 31 pages. And speaking of solo survival dramas...
WALL-E (2008)
One report put the total amount of dialogue in the film at just 17 lines.
Arctic (2018)
This one stars Mads Mikkelsen rather than Robert Redford and takes place in the Arctic Circle rather than the middle of the ocean—but just like All Is Lost, Arctic doesn't rely on dialogue to tell its story, and tell it well. As one reviewer put it: "Arctic proves that a good survival thriller doesn't need much in the way of dialogue to get by".
Under the Skin (2013)
Scarlett Johansson doesn't say much as an alien in female form who lures lonely Scottish men to their demise.
Silent Movie (1976)
A Mel Brooks silent movie.
Twentieth Century, Silent Movie (1976)
Drive (2011)
Nicolas Winding Refn's brilliant 2011 film began filming with only an 81-page script and both he and Ryan Gosling cut out even more dialogue during filming. And we can't talk about Drive without also mentioning one of the films that influenced Refn's movie...
The Driver (1978)
This film about a getaway driver for hire has been cited by Nicolas Winding Refn as one of the inspirations for his 2011 film. Unlike Refn's film, The Driver was not a success or very well received upon its release—however, it has since gained a better reputation and has been cited as an influence by many other filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright.
Twentieth Century, The Driver (1978)
Le Dernier Combat (1983)
The film, whose title translates in English to "The Last Battle", was Luc Besson's first feature film and the first major role for Jean Reno. In a post-apocalyptic world where no one is able to speak, there are only two words of dialogue in the entire film.
Les Films du Loup, Le Dernier Combat (1983)
The Bear (1988)
Despite what Disney has taught us—animals can't talk. So, it makes sense that a movie about an adult Kodiak bear and an orphaned grizzly cub wouldn't have any chit chatting. It wasn't director Jean-Jacques Annaud's first dialogue-light movie, though.
Quest For Fire (1981)
Seven years before The Bear, Jean-Jacques Annaud made the prehistoric adventure, Quest For Fire. While there is dialogue in this one, it is a made up dialect (and there are no subtitles).
Twentieth Century, Quest for Fire (1981)
A Quiet Place (2018)
While the characters communicate via sign language, the amount of spoken dialogue is extremely minimal (as the title suggests).
Paramount, A Quiet Place (2018)
Brown Bunny (2003)
One of the most controversial films of the century, Vincent Gallo's Brown Bunny was praised by some for its artistic expression and reviled by others for...well, for many things (you've probably heard about one of them). But not for the minimal amount of dialogue.
Wild Bunch, The Brown Bunny (2003)
Cast Away (2000)
While he's alone on the island, Tom Hanks talks to himself a little and to Wilson—but for about 45 minutes, dialogue is minimal.
Twentieth Century, Cast Away (2000)
The Aerial (2007)
This surreal fantasy drama from Argentina takes place in a nameless city in an unnamed year—where everyone has lost their voice. Everyone except for the faceless La Voz ("the voice"), who works for the sole television channel in the city.
Alice (1988)
Czech filmmaker Jan Švankmajer's surreal dreamlike telling of Alice in Wonderland combines live action with stop-motion animation and a minimal amount of dialogue.
Blancanieves (2012)
It's a silent film—but not from the silent era (so it counts). This Spanish film is a dark telling of the Snow White story that—spoiler alert—doesn't have a Disney-esque happy ending. The movie was Spain's official selection for the Best Foreign Language category at the 85th Academy Awards—and it won 10 Goya Awards (the Spanish Oscars), including the Best Film.
Blood Tea And Red String (2006)
Blood Tea and Red String is a stop-motion adult fairy tale that took 13 years to make. But what they ended up with was hailed by critics, made plenty of "best" lists, and has zero dialogue.
Christiane Cegavske, Blood Tea and Red String (2006)
The Color Of Pomegranates (1969)
The Color of Pomegranates is a poetic telling of the life of 18th-century Armenian poet and troubadour Sayat-Nova. A visual poem with minimal dialogue, The Color of Pomegranates is often cited as one of the greatest films ever made and as one of the most important films in the history of the medium.
Armenfilm, The Color Of Pomegranates (1969)
Cyclo (1995)
Dialogue is sparse throughout this 1995 Vietnamese film about a poor bicycle-taxi driver in Ho Chi Minh City, who is forced into a life of crime when his cyclo is stolen. The film won the Golden Lion at the 52nd Venice International Film Festival.
Earwig (2021)
This strange and thought-provoking drama takes place in the 1950s and is about a 50-year-old caretaker and the girl in his care—his most important task being maintaining her ice dentures (which need to be changed out multiple times per day).
EO (2022)
A donkey road movie might sound odd—but this Polish-Italian drama is one of the best reviewed films of the last few years and won the Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. The donkey doesn't talk—the people he comes in contact with do (albeit minimally). To quote the Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus, "EO is a donkey-driven drama that'll stubbornly stick with you long after the credits roll".
Gerry (2002)
Matt Damon and Casey Affleck are lost in the woods without food or water. Director Gus Van Sant initially thought that the characters "were definitely going to have a lot of long bits of soul-searching dialogue". But it never came to be and instead the film uses minimal dialogue and is an example of non-narrative cinema. The film was the first in a trilogy of films Van Sant would make that would become known as the "Death Trilogy". The second being...
Elephant (2003)
Loosely based on the events of the Columbine High School massacre, Elephant is another minimalist film that uses long tracking shots and imagery with a minimal amount of dialogue and long stretches of silence/diegetic sound.
Last Days (2005)
The third film in the trilogy is a fictionalized telling of the last days of Kurt Cobain. Once again, non-linear storytelling and minimal dialogue. One of the films Van Sant mentioned as an influence on how he shot the three movies was...
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
This brilliant masterpiece of the slow cinema genre follows the daily—and often mundane—routine of a widowed mother of one, Jeanne Dielman. In long, extended takes we watch her cook and clean and mother her child and earn her money. Much of this she does alone, with very minimal dialogue.
Paradise, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
A Ghost Story (2017)
A Ghost Story stars Casey Affleck as a man who dies and comes back to the house he shared with his wife as a ghost—with a white sheet over his head and two eye holes, like it's some kind of classic cheap Halloween costume. The film is an emotional powerhouse that takes its time with each scene—but has very little dialogue throughout.
Hundreds Of Beavers (2022)
A slapstick comedy in the style of the 20s and 30s silent era cinema, this wonderfully weird and wacky film doesn't need dialogue to generate the laughs.
SRH, Hundreds Of Beavers (2022)
Night Of Fear (1973)
An Australian horror film about a hermit who stalks and captures those who get lost in his forest. The film has no dialogue or character names.
Terryrod, Night of Fear (1972)
Meek's Cutoff (2010)
This wonderful and slow moving Western follows a group of settlers along the Oregon Trail.
Evenstar, Meek's Cutoff (2010)
Moebius (2013)
This disturbing Korean horror film uses no words or subtitles. Just vocal sounds and non-word utterances.
Next Entertainment, Moebius (2013)
Never Cry Wolf (1983)
Most of this great film is centered around a government biologist alone in the Canadian arctic researching wolves.
Walt Disney, Never Cry Wolf (1983)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
iIt's quite possibly the greatest movie ever made, and only about 40 minutes of its entire 142 minute runtime contain any speech.
