It makes all the difference, and it's the reason action comes last in this discussion. Point of view and characterization help our reader come to know our characters. And action makes them interesting. We structure it in scenes. Critics think in terms of story and style.
Writers think of scenes.
That's okay, because the cinematic technique borrows its sense of scenes from written fiction. Scenes can be long or short, crammed with activity or contemplative. But all of them fill some fundamental role in putting the story forward. His heart just give out. But she isn't thinking about the dear old woman who has died, but rather the grim task of breaking the news to young Doctor Turk, who had never lost a patient before.