Facial expressions in movies

My friend Chris Landreth, the great computer animator, has pointed out that facial expressions in film acting do not follow obvious rules. Of course there is the Kuleshov effect (you could look it up), but it goes beyond that.

Chris has shown, for example, still frames from Citizen Kane, at a moment when Orson Welles’ character is flying into a murderous rage, and just about to trash a room. If you look at his face, Welles’ expression in that scene, counter to naive intuition, is completely serene.

The theory that Chris puts forward is that in fact John Foster Kane has, at that moment, accepted that he will now act out his deepest anger and need for destruction, and so he is actually in a state of acceptance and balance. It is part of Welles’ genius that he understood this, and underplayed the moment the way he did, rather than giving in to a fit of florid overacting.

Thinking about this now, I am curious to know what other movie scenes have this property? What moments from films portray a character in a state of extreme emotion, but where in fact the actor’s expression appears perfectly calm and serene?