Phone conversations often produce expressive gestures. In this case, the sharp person in the foreground seems to making an appeal to a higher force, looking upwards and using an open hand for emphasis. That hand holds a cigarette, and so does the hand of the softly focused woman in the background, who is also talking on the phone. The subject is forceful, while the contextual subject is relaxed. Yet in our mind’s eye, we can imagine them talking to each other.