Cries and Whispers

Cries and Whispers (Viskningar Och Rop) (1972)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: Ingmar Bergman

Starring: Harriet Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin, Anders Ek

From: Cinematograph AB/Svenska Filminstitutet

This is a movie to experience if you wish to feel depressed the rest of the day. Then again I knew this (undoubtedly the reddest motion picture ever to be seen by my eyes) would be about serious, mature topics which involve death. Via the Criterion Channel I finally got to experience another film from Bergman, a director who’s always been a hit w/ me the few times his work has been experienced. It’s a period piece where a mansion is bathed in red everywhere, some of the clothing is the color of claret, and even the scene fade-outs are that color. That color was literally a part of a recurring dream for Bergman involving a quartet of women where the soul was the color crimson.

To mention this right away, at times the movie did bring back uncomfortable memories. As hundreds have followed me in the past three years, I’ll mention something that only gets brought up by me: Mom was sick for all of 2020 before passing away in late July of that year, NOT because of COVID. Seeing Agnes in Cries & Whispers be bedridden before passing away due to cancer-yeah, that was rather sad for me due to personal experience as Mom hung on while bedridden for far longer than anyone expected then she finally died. 

The plot of the film revolves around the two sisters of Agnes in a posh mansion who have their own issues so it’s poor Anna the maid who puts in more an effort to nurse Agnes as long ago the matriarch of the family passed away so we only see the women members of that family.

The general message of the movie seemed to be “rich people are A-holes”, which is a common refrain I tend to agree with; that duly noted, there is plenty of subtext concerning family, religion, a meditation on grief and other topics that can be further researched on websites like Wikipedia or YouTube videos. The acting, the direction, the sound design-expect plenty of clocks & bells-the color scheme worked in this case when I know it would have flummoxed a lesser director-Bergman and cinematographer Sven Nykvist deserve all the credit in the world for making it work-the Bach and Chopin that serves as the soundtrack…

The film did make me thankful that while the relationship with my sisters could be better, praise the Lord it is not as screwed up as the familial ties here; the kinship between my two sisters is far more normal than the dysfunction you saw in the film. Also, my mother did receive nice hospice care in the dying moments of her life AND me/my father visited her on a daily basis under the very end; I’ll always take comfort in that.