In a film within a film segment of Michael Haneke’s Code Unknown (Code Inconnu, 2000), a character being shown a soundproof room is encouraged by the real estate agent to “hear the silence.” Meta-diegetically associating silence with murder (the real estate is a mere performance aimed at luring victims into a soundproof torture chamber), this film within a film acts as an interpretive kernel for the film as a whole: Code Inconnu, like most of Haneke’s films, is about the miscommunication inherent in verbal dialogue and the weighty meaning of silence. Placed strategically within a film that opens and closes with deaf children communicating through signs and gestures, this scene encouraging the audition of silence foregrounds the relation of hearing to understanding: opening with verbally silent but actively communicating children makes explicit not only the ability to hear silence but also the imperative to listen to it. Articulating the distinction between hearing and listening, the film foregrounds the ethical and philosophical dimensions of the auditory as a necessary component for fruitful communication.