seeking recommendations: fiction with interesting interrogation/therapy/etc scenes?

[queenlua]

what it says on the tin! basically, i'm interested in hearing from y'all: any recommendations you've got for really good/interesting scenes from any kind of fiction (film, movie, novels, whatever) in which there is (1) Person A, who is interested in finding out something from Person B, and (2) Person B, who has a vested interest in not revealing that thing (whether or not they consciously realize it), and (3) there's relatively little action happening in their scenes together besides them talking. (so, this could be anything ranging from "gritty grimdark interrogation" to "the only piece of fiction that's ever managed to make a therapy session look compelling," lol, so long as it's relatively talk-y)

for some reason i'm getting a mental block on this and can only think of The Silence of the Lambs? which is, y'know, great at what it's doing, but i'm trying to collect a few examples/case studies for the sake of A Thing I'm Working On TM

so yeah, reply a way, and thanks a bunch if you can help!

Comments

[airlock384]

hmmmm. Order of the Stick probably has like ten-thousand of those for how dialogue-heavy it gets -- I'm sure even a fair number of fight scenes would qualify -- but the one thing my brain keeps coming back to is a scene where a villain suggests that there should be an intense interrogation scene, but that doesn't end up happenning.

if I don't end up being 10000 years late with it I'll be sure to bop on here once I've thought of an actual example though

[airlock384]

oh yeah, I just remembered, one of the very latest strips to come out actually qualifies; it's really not the best example as interesting/intense goes, but I guess it could serve as an appetizer?

anyway I'm linking to it with this sentence
(context, also: Serini -- the old halfing lady with the troll skin grafts -- is in charge of stewarding the elaborate dungeon that houses one of the keystones that prevents the world from unraveling. she is, at this point, working with the heroes to keep the main antagonist away from that keystone, but she doesn't trust the heroes and still isn't being forthcoming at all with information about the dungeon. which makes it deeply annoying for her when the party wizard manages to figure out what she's trying not to tell them about, based on what she won't tell them)

[airlock384]

OH YEAH OKAY I REMEMBERED ABOUT A REALLY GOOD ONE NOW and I wasn't expecting to get there so soon so I guess you'll just have to deal with me blowing up your inbox--

it starts here and goes on for another two pages. not much context is needed on this one, but just so you can keep up with what's going on:
-the tied-up dude with the scars is telling the truth. the thing that the villain is trying to get out of him, he genuinely only knows to the most basic, most "everyone's already heard of this" level that isn't at all helpful to explain
-the villain desperately does not believe that until this scene runs its course, so he keeps trying to squeeze the information out regardless

[queenlua]

i can't believe you're the one who finally convinced me to read (a portion of) Order of the Stick after, like a DECADE of being aware of it and never taking the plunge, lol

(actually, on second thought, yeah, if anyone would convince me to read an old webcomic via SHEER CHARISMA it would be you lmao)

THANK YOU FOR THE READ adding this research to my research-hoard, lying upon it like a dragon upon her gold, etc

[airlock384]

I'm hesitant to call it "charisma" but I will accept the compliment with the due (ie immense) flattery,

oots is really good! albeit hard to casually recommend since it's over 1000 strips long now and has a pretty rough start. definitely a worthy read for anyone wanting to refine their dialogue game in general though!