Cries and Whispers (1972)

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Director / Writer: Ingmar Bergman

Stars: Harriet Andersson, Liv Ullman, Ingrid Thulin, Kari Sylwan, Anders Ek, Inga Gill, Erland Josephson



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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