Roman Holiday: The Power of Silence

Sometimes we let a genre fool us. Whether horror, melodrama, or romance, in the case of Roman Holiday, genre films are often seen as a separate category when discussing the greatest films. But don’t let the light touch fool you; Roman Holiday is one of the best-crafted films of the Golden Age of Hollywood.

The story of a princess falling in love with an American journalist during a week among the commoners, Roman Holiday finds its whole cast and crew locked in sync with a singular vision throughout the film. Led in her Oscar-winning breakout role by Audrey Hepburn and the established Hollywood star Gregory Peck, Roman Holiday is brought together by director William Wyler’s skilled hand, making excellent use of his on-location shoot in Rome to encapsulate a magical romantic getaway between our princess and a commoner.

Our couple enjoy a moment on the streets of Rome.

There’s a lot I could gush about this bona fide classic, but the best evidence of Roman Holiday‘s mastery of cinematic storytelling is its poignant final scene. Taking place after Hepburn’s Princess Ann returns from her unforgettable holiday out on the town, the two lovers meet once again at a run-of-the-mill meeting with the press. Peck’s journalist Joe Bradley stands in the press line behind a sectioned-off rope while Anya sits perched on an elevated throne-like chair, surrounded by her royal staff, answering political and surface-level questions about her trip.

Reading just the dialogue spoken in this final scene (as you can in the film’s screenplay), there is almost nothing of substance spoken. In fact, in the last three minutes, the only words spoken come from journalists sharing their name and newspaper while shaking hands with the princess in a procession, spoken in several languages to boot! The important story is left unspoken, told almost entirely visually through silent glances.

William Wyler was plenty familiar with silence, getting his start in the director’s chair at Universal in 1925, making a series of two-reel, silent Westerns before breaking into features during Hollywood’s transition to sound. Wyler knew that, as Norma Desmond reminded the world three years earlier, his stars “had faces”. You certainly won’t find much better faces than Gregory Peck’s and Audrey Hepburn’s!

Hepburn and Peck saying more than words could convey

Wyler relies on the knowing glances between Anya and Joe, intercutting when their eyes meet throughout the press conference. When Anya sits down and locks eyes with Joe, standing resolute amongst the crowd of journalists, a brief look of surprise crosses her face. Hepburn subtly displays a mix of emotions rushing over Anya, having not expected to ever see Joe again.

Even when Joe and Anya speak directly to each other, their faces convey the most important information. When answering a question on international relationships, Anya turns toward Joe, still speaking to the crowd to declare that she has faith in not just relations between nations, but between people. Joe responds diplomatically, promising her that as a representative of his paper, her faith in the people will not be unjustified. Wyler cuts into a close-up of Peck, the gleam in his eye telling us his true feelings far more than his courteous response.

Wyler cuts in closer to better capture Joe’s emotions

For me, Wyler’s insistence on silence, leaning into Hepburn’s and Peck’s naturally emotive faces, is what cements Roman Holiday as a crowning example of the classical Hollywood style at its best. A lesser director would have made this final farewell scene far grander and more dramatic. Instead, Wyler represents it as a rather unremarkable press conference destined to be a puff piece in the newspaper, quickly forgotten by all but our two protagonists.

Wyler’s restrained approach allows both Peck and Hepburn to convey the emotional weight of the scene almost entirely through their facial expressions. A slight smile, a furtive glance, a small sparkle in their eyes is all Hepburn and Peck need to portray the wide range of emotions their characters feel during their final encounter. Rather than spelling out every thought and feeling, Hepburn and Peck allow us to experience those emotions directly through their subtle performance, creating a deeper connection than words alone could achieve.

The final interaction

I find many of my favorite films ask us, the audience, to contribute in some way. Silence is often the perfect vehicle for audience participation, providing us an open space to fill in the gaps, meeting the characters where they’re at. Even the best-written speech placed in Roman Holiday’s final scene would cheapen the experience, sounding much like Don’s comical declarations of love in The Dueling Cavalier. In the same tradition that saw John Gilbert and Greta Garbo’s wordless exchanges become iconic romances to 1920s audiences, Roman Holiday‘s final goodbye leaves such a profound effect because we fill the unspoken words with our own romantic experience, memories, feelings, and desires that the fanciest declarations of love could never draw out.

In Hepburn’s and Peck’s furtive glances, we feel the pain of their separation mixed with the profound gratitude for their brief but impactful time spent together. We might have never had a week-long romance with a princess, but we all have been forced to say goodbye to someone who touched us. In the silence, we are given space to recall those mixed emotions to fill the space and bridge the gap between the fictional protagonists’ experiences over the past ninety minutes and our own.

The final shot

As the camera lingers on Gregory Peck slowly walking away in the film’s final shot, there’s no new information to convey, no more plot points to resolve. There is no magical twist coming that’ll bring our couple together across their impassable social class differences. Instead, Wyler gives us a minute to reflect.

As Peck gives a final glance back to the now-empty grand hall and THE END appears onscreen, Wyler leaves us with ourselves. And if that’s not cinematic storytelling at its finest, then I don’t know what is.

This post is part of The Audrey Hepburn Blogathon hosted by Maddy at Classic Film and TV Corner. Visit the blogathon’s main page to read other great posts celebrating the iconic Audrey Hepburn.