Mironov (#30) strips away the chaos of the scene to focus directly on what was happening within Saul/Paul at that moment.
Yes, Scott--well said. I've noticed that seems to be his usual strategy for approaching these scenes--an example is the masthead painting at the top of this page.
I've wondered why more artists don't use that approach. Perhaps it's because it requires the self-confidence to bet the whole painting on one's ability to paint convincingly the desired facial expression in close-up. Mironov certainly possesses that self-confidence....