Lily Gladstone doesn’t have to speak a word in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, and we are transfixed. When her Mollie Burkhart uses words, she selects them carefully–they mean something. As Mollie’s family is systematically killed by an inner circle of dastardly men, Mollie carries around immense pain and grief, and Gladstone skillfully transmits that fear and helplessness on her exquisite face.
A moment that I haven’t seen anyone talk about yet is during one of the first meetings between Mollie and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Ernest Burkhart. He is watching a race speed down the street, and she is sitting in the back of his cab. As the camera pans down, we see that Mollie is plugging her ears. Due to the sound, it’s clear why she’s doing it, but the gesture, I think, means something bigger. Since the discovery of oil on the land, the town has been bombarded by white people who wouldn’t take interest in the land otherwise. Does Mollie feel the need to block noise on an even bigger level?
Early in the film, Mollie is sitting with her sisters as they watch the men play around, and the conversation is one of the most talked about moments of the year. The chemistry between these four characters is so easy, and Gladstone was thankful for that moment. We see the differentiation between all four women’s personalities but they also gel so beautifully together.
Gladstone isn’t taking this moment for granted at all, and she relishes this collaboration with DiCaprio and Scorsese. Mollie’s chosen words hold such power and weight, and it’s all spoken without being said. Gladstone knows how to affect us with a slow blink or a tilted head, but she never loses an ounce of dignity. Silence and stillness are two of Mollie’s greatest assets.
Killers of the Flower Moon is in theaters now, and it’s available to rent or buy digitally.
