Cries & Whispers - Criterion Collection | Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan

Cries & Whispers - Criterion Collection | Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan | One of the top films of Ingmar Berman!

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Cries & Whispers -...

	Cries & Whispers - Criterion Collection Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan Criterion, 2001 average customer review:based on 56 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

When film becomes art...

This film's message is so powerful and so devastating that everything will get very still while watching this movie. This is Bergman's masterpiece and since he is a cinematic master this makes "Cries and Whispers" one of the greatest films ever made. Be warned: Cries and Whispers is "Swedish art film" slow and bleak but it's message could change the way you think about life. THANK YOU Criterion.

One of the top films of Ingmar Berman!

This film is bitter . And merciless . It challenges and disturbs you deeply . FIlmed in the purest mood of resources economy , the film tells about Agnes , a dying middle aged woman with the presence of Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Maria (Liv Ullman).
The complex and increasingly tense relationship among the members of the family ; with the red color as an additional personae ; will make a story loaded with the anguish you may find in the existencial portrayal ( to name a few The stranger of Camus , House of dolls of Ibsen or Crime and punishment Dostovieski).
The loneliness , the dark shadows of the death , the inner reactions of each member of the family , the pain and the lack of affect who are clearly shown in the ending shot demands from you a special attention . Think it over , because this movie represents one of the milestones in all the cinema story.

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An intense cinematic experience

This was my second Bergman film. What impressed me was his attention to detail in terms of his characters. As depressing as the film seems, this movie almost requires a second viewing. The first time watching it was like watching a horror film where the villan is the conditions these characters find themselves consumed with. But watching it the second time, everything the characters do, especially the interactions between the sisters in the beginning becomes clear, motives are hidden to the actors but is already known by the audience. The whole experience just becomes more engaging as you see the characters for who they really are. (Spoilers) You see the polar opposites of Karin and Marie. Karin is cold (notice when Agnes first breathes painfully that Anna holds Agnes' face to try to comfort her, but Karin doesn't at first, she just sits beside her). Marie is a sensualist but cannot cope with the unknown or death (notice how she always cries and runs away whenever Agnes calls her in pain to comfort her). The amazing thing is that these details in the characters can be noticed and analyzed in scenes throughout the film. No character acts out of who they really are (even when one would think otherwise). And the dream-like ending when Agnes (after her death) calls for her sisters if you notice the dialouge, Agnes seems to confront Marie's, Karin's, and Anna'a attitude towards death. Karin feels that one shouldn't think about the dead because they are dead, also the idea is too morbid, and in Karin's case too sentimental. Marie feels that the death of someone is tragic and that good memories should be held to, but you have to move on (as she said she had her family to think about) and quickly as possible. But Anna assures the others not to be afraid because she is willing to hold onto the memory of Agnes until Agnes is allowed to rest (or sometime after the funeral). The amazing thing is that these are all real different human reactions to death, and I was a suprised about how it was captured on screen. While I liked "Fanny and Alexander" more, "Cries and Whispers" was still an incredible visual experience for me, epscially after the second viewing.

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Simply amazing

This is a potent and unsettling portrait of four women languishing in an atmosphere of despair and horror. Agnes (Harriet Andersson) is dying slowly and painfully in a bleak Swedish manor house. She is attended by her two mutually antagonistic sisters, Maria (Liv Ullman) and Karin (Ingrid Thulin), and Anna (Kari Sylwan), the simple but good-hearted maid who shows her the greatest kindness. The acting is powerful and director/screenwriter Ingmar Bergman draws us into the fears and obsessions of his characters with startling intimacy. One test of a great film is the variety of interpretations that it can reasonably support, and this film certainly meets that standard. Much is made of the bleakness of "Cries and Whispers," but in its final moments I felt that it also contained a revelation and insight into the human condition that radiated with hope and love, particularly when contrasted with all that has gone before. I won't go into it here. Watch and experience it for yourself.

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TOO COLD

It is hard to know where to start in dealing with this film. On the one hand it is a complex examination of many human things: pain, suffering, relationships (sibling/family and romantic relationships), memory, selfishness, and so many other things it would be impossible to list everything that Bergman reflects on in this evocative picture. On the other hand, this film is melodramatic to a hyperbolic extent. Particularly in the characters of Maria and Karin. Agnes, the dying sister, is believable in her pain and in grappling with her slow death. As she is dying, she wants to come to terms with her life, with her memories, etc. Maria and Karin, though, are both so flawed and improbable that they come off as though they are mere caricatures of people, which is unfortunate. They are also brutal in their treatment of the one person Agnes trusts and cares for, her maid/friend, Anna. While there is a great deal of depth in this film, and so much rich material for analysis, so much subtext and subtlety, it would be difficult to say that this film was "entertaining". At times it was difficult to watch, but this was not because it was not a well-made film but because it was more an academic or clinical feeling approach to humanity and human interactions.

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