together continuously in a single shot. Depending
on the story and plot situation, this technique can
intensify the emotional impact of a specific plot sit-
uation by having all of the involved characters on
the screen at the same time.
As with so many other innovations, Orson
Welles pioneered ensemble acting in Citizen Kane
(1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons(1942), and
its influence was quickly seen in the work of other
directors, notably William Wyler in The Little Foxes
(1941) and The Best Years of Our Lives(1946). Other
excellent examples of ensemble acting can be found
in Akira Kurosawa’s The Lower Depths(1957), Fred
Schepisi’s Last Orders (2001), Clint Eastwood’s
Mystic River(2003), Peter Weir’s Master and Com-
mander: The Far Side of the World(2003), Peter
Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–3),
and Stephen Daldry’s The Hours(2002). Two exam-
ples of impressive acting by an ensemble of child
actors are Lasse Hallström’s My Life as a Dog(1985)
and Jacob Aaron Estes’s Mean Creek(2004).The Camera and the Close-up
The camera creates a greater naturalism and inti-
macy between actors and audience than would
ever be possible on the stage, and thus it serves
as screen actors’ most important collaborator.
Nowhere is the camera’s role—that is, its effect on
the actor’s role—more evident than in a close-up.
The true close-up isolates an actor, concentrating
on the face; it can be active (commenting on some-
thing just said or done, reminding us who is the
focus of a scene) or passive (revealing an actor’s
beauty). Thus, actors’ most basic skill is under-
standing how to reveal themselves to the camera
during the close-up.
All great movie actors understand, instinctively
or from experience, what to do and not do with
their faces when the camera moves in. They must
temporarily forget their bodies’ expressive possi-
bilities, must stand as close to the camera as they
would to a person in real life, must smoothly bal-
ance their voices because of the closeness of the
microphone, and must focus on the communicative
power of even the slightest facial gesture.
Close-ups can shift interpretation to the viewer,
as in the two-minute-long close-up of Anna (Nicole
Kidman) in Jonathan Glazer’s Birth (2004; see
page 278), or they can leave little room for inde-
pendent interpretation, as in Marlene Dietrich’s
opening scene as Amy Jolly in Josef von Sternberg’s
Morocco(1930; cinematographer: Lee Garmes). On
the deck of a ship bound for Morocco, the mysteri-
ous and beautiful Amy drops her handbag. A
sophisticated, older Frenchman—Monsieur La
Bessiere (Adolphe Menjou)—kneels at her feet to
retrieve her things and then offers to assist her in
any way he can when she arrives at her destination.
In a relatively quick close-up, Amy looks off into
space and tells him she will not need any help. Design
elements further distance us from the actress and
the character: Dietrich wears a hat with a veil, and
thus the shot is “veiled by the ‘Rembrandt’ light,
by the fog, by the lens, and by the diaphanous326 CHAPTER 7ACTING
Acting and the close-up Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The
Passion of Joan of Arc(1928) vividly and unforgettably
illustrates the power of the close-up. Most of this silent
movie’s running time is taken up with contrasting close-ups
of Joan (played by Maria Falconetti, a French stage actress
who never again appeared on film) and of her many
interrogators during the course of her trial. As Joan is
questioned, mocked, tortured, and finally burned at the
stake, we witness an entire, deeply moving story in her face.
Thus we respond to a single character’s expressions as they
are shaped by the drama and the camera.