I use subtitles and I am a native English speaker.. sometimes the actors mumble or get washed out in the mix, or just the room we're watching in is a bit noisy, so being able to read the dialogue helps my brain to pick out what they're saying a lot easier.

Whispers: Fuck. Yes. Thanks.💥 🤯 💣 🧨 💣 🤯 💥

Night mode does the same thing on your TV, or sound bar/system.

Ohhhh, that's really useful, thank you!

I've also found on vlc sometimes the audio mode is the problem. Switch to stereo or headphones mode to see if it helps

Does this work on the funny android smart TV versions of vlc? The layout is so different to what I am used to on my PC.

While volume leveling helps in a lot of cases, it frequently makes the sound all wonky and weird as a tradeoff for the improved voice clarity. Lots of clipping and other things that also came up in the loudness wars for music.

I speak English, I'm from the US, and I use subtitles anytime there's British people. Australians too. It's essentially a different language.