Amber Heard has stepped back into the spotlight. Not as a defendant or headline, but as a reference point.
The actress’ long and public legal war with ex-husband Johnny Depp is addressed in Silenced, a new documentary that premiered at Sundance on Saturday (January 24). Directed by Selina Miles alongside international human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, the film examines how defamation lawsuits are increasingly used as weapons to mute women who speak publicly about abuse.
Good on Amber for speaking up and sharing her feelings. Heard’s story is part of the frame, but not the centrepiece.
Silenced widens the lens, following a political staffer and a journalist who also faced defamation cases after making allegations, showing how power, money, and public pressure can shape who gets heard and who gets erased.
The backdrop is familiar.
In 2018, Heard wrote a Washington Post op-ed describing herself as a survivor of domestic abuse, without naming Depp. Two years later, Depp lost a UK libel case against The Sun after the court upheld the paper’s description of him as a “wife beater,” a ruling that led to his exit from the Fantastic Beasts franchise and the recasting of Gellert Grindelwald with Mads Mikkelsen.
Then came 2022. Depp won his US defamation case against Heard, securing $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The jury found Heard’s statements to be false and made with actual malice. Depp has consistently denied all allegations throughout every stage of the legal battles.
Heard has not appeared in a film since Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom, released in 2023 but shot before the US trial. Her participation in Silenced comes with boundaries. According to Variety, she makes it clear in the film that this is not about reclaiming her own narrative.
“This is not about me,” Heard says. “I have lost my ability to speak. I am not here to tell my story. I don’t want to tell my story. In fact, I don’t want to use my voice any more. That’s the problem.”
She describes meeting Robinson and recognizing a broader truth in what she experienced. What happened to her, Heard suggests, is not unique, just magnified.
The documentary reportedly closes with Heard reflecting on the other women featured in the film, drawing strength from their willingness to confront entrenched power structures. She speaks about the future, about her daughter, and about the belief that the system does not have to stay broken.
Silenced is currently looking for cinema distribution.
Last summer, Depp claimed Warner Bros asked him to “retire” from acting amid the fallout from the legal disputes.
Speaking of being silenced.
