What is the significance of shooting through the glass?

In T2 Trainspotting (2017) there's a scene where Franco is talking to his lawyer that was shot through the glass.

Another scene, where Mark and Veronika visit Mark's old girlfriend Diane to get Simon out of the blackmail case, is again shot through glass.

What is the significance of shooting these scenes through glass?

Best Answer

I always felt like this was a way of making the audience feel like an outsider. It's almost like you're a passer-by who is catching a glimpse of what's going on. It's somewhat tense because it's as if you're seeing something you shouldn't be (a private meeting). Depending on how the sound is handled, it may be to obscure the details of what's happening. For example, if you can't hear the sound, then it's to let you know the meeting took place without giving you the details, which would likely ruin the rest of the movie. If you can hear the sound in the room, then it's like being a "fly on the wall" where they wouldn't notice you, but you would get to know what's going on.