face off.

 Forget the circumstances around this image for a minute. To get a better understanding, let’s ignore the context and focus on the content. Doubt is very much about clarity versus uncertainty. Its brilliance is not in that the characters are in this struggle of doubt, but that the audience is in the dark as well. We’re constantly battling between doubt and certainty ourselves. Though we never reach a certain answer, we all come to our conclusions. How? Through the little hints the director chooses to imply their own interpretation. And each character, scene, even moment does it differently. The smallest things—even single frames—can add to our battle of certainty versus doubt. So forget what’s happening in this scene, who’s in it, what she’s doing. Focus only on this still image.

            It’s a close up—notice that the subject of this image takes up the entire foreground (besides the papers, which are blurred out), and that the background is simple, and more importantly, not attention-grabbing. Instead, your attention is entirely on the subject. Her facial expression is very obviously expressing certainty. The way she looks down at you condescendingly, how still her brow is, even the slight wrinkles in her cheek are condescending! But then you have to consider where on the subject your attention is most focused toward. And it’s her eyes. Look at her eyes especially. With the angle the director is using, her eyes are almost perfectly framed. They’re positioned in the upper left intersection of the frame, and not only that, but are looking into the lens. You know that’s where the director wants you to look, and when you do, you’re making eye contact with her. The look she’s giving is right at you. Eye contact is an expression of certainty and honesty. If you were doubtful or dishonest, you would be looking away, and no way would you be this still. No, this face is one of anger, maybe disgust, maybe disappointment, but certainly one of action. One of decisiveness. And that’s the certainty the director perfectly frames, with literally nothing to distract you from it.

            Now switch to Judah. This is from Crimes and Misdemeanors, but imagine the circumstances of this shot are the exact same as the one from Doubt. It’s just a central character looking at some papers. However, the reaction is being caught differently, and it says something about doubt versus certainty.

Again, the background allows you to focus on the subject. But the subject itself is what’s being framed differently, changing how we see his reaction and what it means. This time, our subject is centered, looking straight down. Sure, we can look at the facial expression again and compare it to Sister Aloysius’. This time, his brow is curved downward, his mouth slightly opened and crooked, and instead of coming off certain or condescending, looks worried and concerned. Nothing about his face looks certain. But it was the eyes of Sister Aloysius in the shot from Doubt that was so powerful. So when comparing these two faces, that’s really what we need to focus on. How this shot is framed, his are also looking down, but not directly toward us. We’re angled differently. His eyes are centered this time, but are not looking into the lens. This time, the director doesn’t only draw us to the eyes, but to the entire face as well. His face is much less still, and far more revealing, while it was Sister Aloysius’ eyes that dominated her look of certainty above all else.

Surely, both of their entire faces express certainty in her case and doubt in his, and it isn’t only the eyes that give it away. But a concerned or uncertain face is much more obvious than one that expresses certainty. As I said, his face didn’t rely solely on his eyes, while hers did. In your head, take these images and flip the angles. Imagine looking at Judah from the paper’s point of view. Imagine how his eyes look from that angle. Then do the same for Sister Aloysius at a dead-on angle with her face center-frame. It’s the way she looks at you so condescendingly that expresses certainty, and from this new angle, it’s not there; it just looks like she’s reading. With Judah, yes, he probably still looks worried, but it’s his entire face that’s expressing this worry, and highlighting his entire face rather than only his eyes makes that more apparent. So, their faces were framed and angled entirely differently.

Now you can consider what these shots mean in their contexts. In Doubt, this may be a clue to the audience that she has certainty, while in Crimes and Misdemeanors, you’re being introduced to his uncertainty. Then there’s the thematic context. In comparison, both movies are about the doubts or certainties of moral situations, so perhaps it’s not only a hint to their certainties about the situation, but also about their own moralities. If she has this look of positivity, maybe she’s the character who’s morality is clear, while he’s a character who’s sense of morality is the opposite—uncertain.