The Most Beautiful Face Close-up Shots in Film History

"I like to fill up the frame with the characters' faces. There's nothing more interesting than the landscape of the human face.” - Irving Kershner - Director of The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Our last listicle was a set of perfectly composited movie stills that could stand on their own in the canon of great photography. Here we take another still journey through the history of film with a look at the best close-ups of the face.

Moving images would be little more than just that without the human element. Human faces are why we pack theaters day after day, year after year. We want to get to know people who carry on a different sort of existence, but still manage to exude a universal sense of humanity. The James Stewarts and Tom Hanks's spring to mind.

Of course, there is more than one emotion that we can attribute to the human experience and that’s where things get interesting, because it’s not a clear cut distinction. We have to turn to the face for our answers since that’s where the nuances lie. And each face is different, telling a different story, giving a different perspective on humanity. The human form and the face specifically are crucial to this cinematic experience. This creates a connection with the audience and elicits a response.

Few film techniques are more expressive than the close-up. When used sparingly it can be the dynamic tool of a director leaving a lasting impact for hours, days, and even years to come. What follows is a spread of some of the most impactful examples of close-ups from film history. Big stars and small characters alike, all are united by the uniqueness of their face.

Broken Blossom (1918) - Director D.W. Griffith - Lillian Gish

Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) - Director Carl Theodor Dreyer - Renee Jeanne Falconetti

City Lights (1931) Director Charlie Chaplin - Charlie Chaplin

Public Enemy (1931) - Director William A. Wellman - James Cagney

King Kong (1933) - Directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack - Fay Wray

The Great Dictator (1940) - Director Charlie Chaplin - Charlie Chaplin

Casablanca (1942) - Director Michael Curtiz - Ingrid Bergman

Double Indemnity (1944) - Director Billy Wilder - Barbara Stanwyck

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) - Director Frank Capra - James Stewart

Notorious (1946) - Director Alfred Hitchcock - Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman

Great Expectations (1946) - Director David Lean - Finlay Currie

Gilda (1946) - Director Charles Vidor - Rita Hayworth

Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948) - Director John Huston - Humphrey Bogart

The Third Man (1949) - Director Carol Reed - Orson Welles

Criss Cross (1949) - Director Robert Siodmak - Yvonne De Carlo

Rear Window (1954) - Director Alfred Hitchcock - Grace Kelly

Rebel Without a Cause (1955) - Director Nicholas Ray - James Dean

The Searchers (1956) - Director John Ford - John Wayne

The Seventh Seal (1957) - Director Ingmar Bergman - Bengt Ekerot

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) - Director Alain Resnais - Emmanuelle Riva and Eiji Okada

The 400 Blows (1959) - Director Francois Truffaut - Jean-Pierre Leaud

Some Like it Hot (1959) - Director Billy Wilder - Marilyn Monroe

Psycho (1960) - Director Alfred Hitchcock - Janet Leigh

Psycho (1960) - Director Alfred Hitchcock - Anthony Perkins

Breathless (1960) - Director Jean-Luc Godard - Jean Seberg

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) - Director Blake Edwards - Audrey Hepburn

Repulsion (1965) - Director Roman Polanski - Catherine Deneuve

The Good The Bad and The Ugly (1966) - Director Sergio Leone - Clint Eastwood

Persona (1966) - Director Ingmar Bergman - Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson

In the Heat of the Night (1967) - Director Norman Jewison - Sidney Poitier

Bonnie and Clyde (1967) - Director Arthur Penn - Faye Dunaway

Clockwork Orange (1971) - Director Stanley Kubrick - Malcolm McDowell

Serpico (1973) - Director Sidney Lumet - Al Pacino

A Woman Under the Influence (1974) - Director John Cassavetes - Gena Rowlands

Network (1976) - Director Sidney Lumet - Peter Finch

Empire Strikes Back (1980) - Director Irving Kershner - Mark Hamill

The Shining (1981) - Director Stanley Kubrick - Jack Nicholson

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - Director Steven Spielberg - Paul Freeman

Sophie’s Choice (1982)  - Director Alan J. Pakula - Meryl Streep

Die Hard (1988) - Director John McTiernan - Bruce Willis

When Harry Met Sally (1989) - Director Rob Reiner - Meg Ryan

Home Alone (1990) - Director Chris Columbus - Macaulay Culkin

Thelma and Louise (1991) - Director Ridley Scott - Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis

Silence of the Lambs (1991) - Director Jonathan Demme - Anthony Hopkins

Three Colors: Blue (1994) - Director Krzysztof Kieslowski - Juliette Binoche

Good Will Hunting (1997) - Director Gus Van Sant - Robin Williams and Matt Damon

The Sixth Sense (1999) - Director M. Night Shyamalan - Haley Joel Osment

Fight Club (1999) - Director David Fincher - Brad Pitt

Amelie (2001) - Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet - Audrey Tautou

The Lives of Others (2005) - Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck - Ulrich Muhe

No Country for Old Men (2007) - Directors Joel and Ethan Coen - Javier Bardem

The Dark Knight (2008) - Director Christopher Nolan - Heath Ledger

Lincoln (2012) - Director Steven Spielberg - Daniel Day-Lewis

12 Years a Slave (2013) - Director Steve McQueen - Lupita Nyong'o

Birdman (2014) - Director Alejandro González Iñárritu - Emma Stone