Martin Bradley In a house full of ticking clocks signalling the passing of time and rooms of bright red redolent of blood, three women wait for a fourth to die. Two of the women are the sisters of the dying woman , the other, their maid. Is "Cries and Whispers" Ingmar Bergman's greatest film? Perhaps not and yet it remains one of the towering masterpieces of world cinema which should tell you exactly where Bergman stands.His extraordinary use of colour, (mostly reds and whites; Sven Nykvist won the Oscar for his cinematography), goes some way in alleviating the almost unwatchable horror of the films central situation of a woman dying in agony while those around her are powerless to help her or lessen her pain. There are flashbacks to fleeting moments of happiness and a lot of grief in the women's pasts but for the most part this rigorous and unrelenting film concentrates on that terrible journey into what? Rarely has the cinema tacked the subject of death with such an intellectual compassion as here.As always Bergman's repertory company of players are extraordinary, down to the smallest part. The sisters are Harriet Andersson, (the one who is dying), Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Thulin, (the ones who wait), and Kari Sylwan as the maid. The men in their lives, (Erland Josephson, Henning Moritzen and Georg Arlin), also play a very significant role in shaping the lives of these women and yet they remain very much in the background. Of course, you could argue that only in Bergman's world could people behave as they do here. These people inhabit a world almost entirely devoid of joy, their only 'pleasure' stemming directly from some form of pain. This picture is grim enough to qualify as a horror film and it certainly isn't an easy watch. Indeed, if anything, this was the film that finally cemented Bergman's reputation as cinema's premier master of misery. However, once seen it can never be forgotten and it's a film that repays frequent visits. I reiterate, "Cries and Whispers" is one of the greatest films ever made.

disinterested_spectator This would have been a good movie for "Mystery Science Theater 3000" to take up. After all, if this movie is going to have characters stand around not saying very much, and then have them sit around not saying very much, and then have one of them lie in bed dying of cancer and not saying very much, and then have two sisters talk to each other without giving the audience the benefit of hearing what they are saying, the "MST3K" team might just as well have supplied some witty dialogue.I suppose Ingmar Bergman, while making this movie, said to himself, "Boy, all my movies are profound, but I'm really being profound in this one," and I suppose those people who make up the art house crowd shared in that opinion. I mean, what can be more profound than making a depressing movie about the slow, agonizing death of a cancer victim; a maid who comforts that cancer victim by giving her the benefit of a couple of naked breasts; a woman who cuckolds her husband until he impales himself, who then actually asks her to help him (how exactly?); two sisters teasing us with a little lesbian incest; one of those sisters telling her maid to quit looking at her just before she gets completely naked while the maid looks at her; and that same sister picking up a piece of broken glass and shoving it up her vagina so that she can smear the blood all over her face in front of her husband?As for this last, I thought that after she forced the broken glass up her vagina she was going to invite her husband to have sex with her. Normally, such a twisted thought would never cross my mind, but it seemed like a reasonable expectation at the time. If Bergman had put that in the movie, it really would have been profound.

blanche-2 Ingmar Bergman's Cries & Whispers is a story of death, real death and the walking dead, as epitomized by three sisters: Agnes (Harriet Andersson), Maria (Liv Ullmann) and Karin (Ingrid Thulin). At the turn of the century in Sweden, Maria and Karin come to visit their dying sister Agnes, who is in terrible pain from what is probably cancer. Agnes has perhaps a fantasy idea of her sisters, as the last scene tells us. In truth, Agnes is the only one capable of feeling pain; her sisters really don't want to be part of her dying process and are there out of obligation. Only the maid Anna is there to hold Agnes, to touch her, and to love her.Maria's affair hurt her marriage to the sensitive Joakim, and when he stabbed himself and begged for help, she just stood and looked at him. (Evidently he lives, though.) Karin hates her cold husband and what she does to keep him away from her is one of the most shocking scenes in the history of film.We're not told what childhood trauma, what "tissue of lies" of which Karin speaks that has driven these women to lack compassion or empathy; we know only that Maria was her mother's favorite. We don't know anything about the father. There is a homoerotic undertone to Karin's relationship with Maria, which Karin seems to both want and reject.The cinematography in Cries & Whispers in glorious, from the vivid red that is used to punctuate scenes, to the women's surrounds. In one startling scene that resembles a painting, the women sit in different parts of the room -- Maria in white, staring out the window which is framed by red drapes; Karin in gray at the piano, and on a sofa in the back, a dejected Anna. Each is lost in thought; they are miles apart.Later, as Anna reads Agnes' diary, Agnes recalls a walk the three sisters took along with Anna when they first arrived, the three sisters in crisp white with white umbrellas, Anna by their side. Stunning.The overall coldness of the family is downright icy as they talk about Anna at the end. Maria and Karin are unlikeable characters, and one has no sympathy for them. The only sympathy engendered is for Anna's ability to love and accept love in return and for Agnes' horrible suffering. Her suffering, however, ends. Her sisters' suffering will be infinite.A true masterpiece.

ckbrew Another great film that you shouldn't watch if you are feeling down or depressed. There is no happy ending, no "bright side," or feeling that the movie will pick up. I believe this movie is not the typical Hollywood 3 act structure. There was nothing that was looking like things were looking up. It was as if you were in a family's most troublesome time. There were themes of salvation and redemption in certain characters. I felt that each character was well thought out and carefully used to further the story along to show the audience who they truly were and their fears. That being said, this films composition is so beautiful.