The Forgotten Beauty of Silence

With the digitalization, our pace of life has become increasingly difficult to keep up with. In an age of endless noise, notifications, the chaos of traffic, and loud conversations, silence is a rare gift, but only for those who are truly willing to listen. 

Although most people feel discomfort when there is silence in the air, it is in those quiet moments that life begins to speak. It leaves us standing face to face with our thoughts—unpolished and perhaps even unsettling. Silence strips away the distractions of the world, allowing us to see things as they truly are, not as we would like them to be. Also, it demands honesty and reflection, and perhaps that’s why it is so difficult to embrace. 

However, there are many examples of silence in art used for deepening and intensifying, mostly in cinema. Some of the most memorable and impactful scenes in film history are those where no words are spoken at all. In Eric Rohmer’s Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987), silence is used to evoke deep emotions. The term ‘Blue Hour’ is introduced as the moment of silence before sunrise—when the day birds aren’t up yet and the night birds are already asleep. It is a pause in time, and one is reminded of the beauty in this quietude. This idea of silence shows us that it is not an emptiness but rather a perfect gateway to exploring our inner voices. In quiet moments, we uncover our true selves and begin to perceive the world around us from a different perspective. It also allows us to hear things we so often overlook, such as the chirping of birds, the howling of the wind, and the rustling of leaves. In our modern world, we need silence more than ever. Surrounded by loud machines and people, we must reconnect with the true essence of being. 

In Andrei Tarkovsky’s films, the absence of sound invites the audience to reflect and to feel, which increases the emotional depth and transforms the ordinary into something valuable and meaningful. The same principle applies to our daily lives. By embracing silence, we can recover from the complexity of modern life and find meaning beyond words, allowing silence to speak louder than any dialogue could ever.