Film and television are visual mediums. Dialogue is a large part of screenwriting — but it should enhance the visual story, never substitute for it. If the audience needs a character to speak in order to understand what’s happening emotionally, the scene isn’t working hard enough.
The following scene from Lethal Weapon is a masterclass in revealing character without dialogue. Instead, the environment and a character’s relationship to objects within it do all the work.
Detective Martin Riggs is a despondent, grieving widower — drunk, depressed, and suicidal in the aftermath of his wife’s death. We learn none of this from what he says. We learn it from what he does: the wedding photograph he stares at, the ring he turns in his fingers, the gun he picks up, the bullet he loads, the liquor bottle within arm’s reach.
Even the television playing Looney Tunes in the background earns its place. Bugs Bunny shouting “Merry Christmas” into a silent, empty trailer makes Riggs’ isolation more devastating than any line of dialogue could. The contrast does the work.
Riggs does speak one line at the end of the scene — “See you later” — but it’s not necessary for us to understand the layers of grief he’s drowning in. Everything essential has already been shown.
This is the standard to write toward. When a character is truly alone, they are most vulnerable and most honest — and that honesty should live in action and environment, not explanation. Give your characters objects to interact with. Put them in spaces that reflect or contradict their inner state. Then trust the image.
The camera sees everything. Let it.