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

Cries & Whispers - Criterion Collection | Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan | Perfection. Timelessness. Genius.

DVDs:

Cries & Whispers -...

	Cries & Whispers - Criterion Collection Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan Criterion, 2001 average customer review:based on 54 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Legendary director Ingmar Bergman creates a testament to the strength of the soul-and a film of absolute power. Karin and Maria come to the aid of their dying sister, Agnes, but jealousy, manipulation, and selfishness come before empathy. Agnes, tortured by cancer, transcends the pettiness of her sisters' concerns to remember moments of being-moments that Bergman, with the help of Academy Award®-winning cinematographer Sven Nykvist, translates into pictures of staggering beauty and unfathomable horror.

The horror within

At first glance, there might not seem to be much identifiable terror in this story. The relaxed intangibles fail to produce any moments of heightened drama. The tension never erupts. Not an abundance of blood or gore either. So is this really horror?
I say yes yes YES! There is a simmering level of uneasiness and even hatred between these sisters as death looms over the household. One of them is dying of tuberculosis, and you would think this family tragedy would pull them together. That's not the case.
Ingmar Bergman is the master at deriving the maximum from the minimum. He lets the darkness expose the inner frailties of people. There won't be any brains devoured or any charred baby fetuses in this one, but it is absolute horror, on a more visceral level.

for more information click here

Perfection. Timelessness. Genius.

It is apropos that I am the first to contribute to this page since Bergman's death. Apropos for reasons too viscerally considered, and perhaps self-serving, to articulate. Still, though audacious enough to consider myself a lifelong student of Bergman's genius, I will keep this brief.

Though it may sound trite to proclaim this or that film to be one's "all-time favorite," Cries and Whispers is just that for me. When, at the film's transcendent conclusion, the great Harriet Anderson recites in voiceover: "...Now, for a few moments, I can experience perfection, and I feel profoundly grateful to my life, which gives me so much..." it is clear to me that Bergman knew he'd NAILED it that time: nailed the finale, nailed the film, realized his vision and, in so doing, created a monumental achievement, not only in the history of cinema but art itself.

Thank you, Mr. Bergman, for making the words "...Come what may, this is happiness; I cannot wish for anything better..." chime true for me--timelessly--time and time again.

for more information click here

sisterly love

one of ingmar bergmans most moving films, as three sisters (harriet andersson, ingrid thulin, liv ullman) reunite around the pending death of one of them. harrowing and unflinching, with great supporting performances around the 3 central characters, not to mention a stark photographic style (longtime bergman collaborator sven nykvist gets huge kudos). i wish i could understand swedish, since im certain there were many subtleties of the language that can not be conveyed in translated subtitling. not a movie you want to watch if youre feeling down, but it IS oddly cathartic. one of the masters best.

for more information click here

A House of Pain!

After viewing this one time, you might ask yourself ...what the hell was all that about??? It clearly leaves one feeling uneasy and misunderstood.

The first noticeable thing is how Bergmann sets the mood with colors, first the innocence and purity in the white dresses, then fiery and demonic red for walls and carpet, to the brooding and gloomy mood with black. The creation of the Victorian era, the striking furniture in the manor house, to the period hairstyles of the cast was an excellent depiction. Bergman employs the use of close-up camera work when he focuses on facial emotions and movement of hands. The cast is well-portrayed.

The complex multilayered story begins with the dying and agonizing Agnes, who many believe it was cancer, although through the quality of the translations, I did not acknowledge that. Her two callous, cold sisters are now here to aid the long-time caregiver Anna.

And the tortured souls of the sisters slowly unfolds. Maria and Karin have no relationship with each other, they are in lifeless, loveless marriages, and both are afraid to touch their dying sister when she needs that human empathic connection as she dies. It is the caregiver Anna who is the only person who can offer the touch even though it, too, is bizarre with hints at lesbianism.

Briefly, we learn further about the sisters' anguish as the husbands of Maria and Karin appear in flashback, but otherwise offer nothing more to the plot. But you will grasp that something happened within their childhood, sinister, incestual??

This film will leave one with questions, uncertainity, with its complexity, as its themes are anguish, turmoil, pain, unfaithfulness, lesbianism, self-mutiliation lonliness, and death. If it's your first Bergman film, you might see it again.

The subtitles move quick, dialogue is plenty, and on the DVD there is an interesting chat with Bergman. Ingmar Bergman, a master filmmaker, died in July 2007 at 89. Excellent film....Rizzo

for more information click here

The Artistry of Ingmar Bergman

If ever there was a film that literally depicts the title of a film, Ingmar Bergman's 1972 CRIES AND WHISPERS deserves that distinction because of the painful and agonizing howls that come from several of the actors. The film is extremely dramatic and shows Bergman's filmmaking trait of portraying the human condition. There are several themes within the film, which involve masochistic tendencies and gender roles, but the film would not be a Bergman film without religion, which he subtly shows in several scenes.

The film takes place during the turn of the century, which resonates the harsh aspects of the Victorian Age. However, Bergman reflects on events of the period in which it was made, 1970s women's liberation movement. The film revolves around three sisters, Agnes (Harriet Andersson), bed-ridden with cancer, Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Maria (Liv Ullman) who are in lifeless marriages, and Anna (Kari Sylwan), the young unmarried maid and caregiver. The men in the film, David the doctor (Erland Josephson), Karin's husband (George Arlin) and Maria's husband (Henning Moritzen), are merely background fixtures who have little or no dialogue in the film, and possibly portray the troubling aspect of the women's non-communicative relationships. The most surprising and underdog character of the film is Anna, the most sympathetic and motherly character who attempts to take care of Agnes and her sisters.

The cinematography and screenplay are exceptional. Bergman's technique of using the colors of red, white, and black are effective in portraying the mood and thoughts of the characters as well as the use of close-ups and the sounds of silences in between the brief dialogue, which makes the film the most memorable. And there is little or no soundtrack to the film, but the strength of the movie comes from the superb acting.

CRIES AND WHISPERS may be one of those films that may jerk emotional reactions because of its horrific portrayal of the period in which it depicts in women's history. And it may interest period film viewers. Indeed, the film is similar to Woody Allen's most serious film, INTERIORS, but Bergman's finale is much different and worth watching.

for more information click here