The Listener

Robert Redford was my favorite actor across the decades for many reasons: on the screen he could be charming, funny, controlled, hassled, stoic, outraged, eager, and profoundly patient—all convincingly, and sometimes in the space of a single role. As a director he was fearless and visionary and sensitive to the wounds and glories of life, small and large. One of the joys of encountering Redford onscreen was watching him listen—for Redford listening was an action; he entered into the world of the speaker, engaged with their thoughts, and visibly formed his own, which often went unspoken. But for me the greatest of his performances—and one of my all-time favorite films—was “All Is Lost” (2013), where all he had to listen to was the sea, the creaking of his damaged boat, and his own silent thoughts. The film, almost wordless, was a masterclass not only in the precision of physical action, but also in the actor’s profound art of expressing a rich internal world without making a sound. He played the role at age 75: all of the old charms remained, and with them a weathered but hopeful stoicism that should speak to all of us.

– GBM