Viskningar och rop (1972)

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writer:

Ingmar Bergman (writer)

Release Date:

5 March 1973 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A haunting and shattering film experience.

Plot:

When a woman dying of cancer in turn-of-the century Sweden is visited by her two sisters, long repressed feelings between the siblings rise to the surface.

Plot Keywords:

Turn Of The Century | Mansion | Dying | Cancer | Love

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 19 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Harriet Andersson	...	Agnes
Kari Sylwan	...	Anna
Ingrid Thulin	...	Karin
Liv Ullmann	...	Maria (and her mother)
Anders Ek	...	Isak, the priest
Inga Gill	...	Story teller
Erland Josephson	...	David, the doctor
Henning Moritzen	...	Joakim, Maria's husband
Georg Årlin	...	Fredrik, Karin's husband
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ingrid Bergman	...	Spectator (as Ingrid von Rosen)
Lena Bergman	...	Maria as a child
Lars-Owe Carlberg	...	Spectator
Malin Gjörup	...	Anna's daughter
Greta Johansson	...	Undertaker
Karin Johansson	...	Undertaker
Ann-Christin Lobråten	...	Spectator
Börje Lundh	...	Spectator
Rossana Mariano	...	Agnes as a child
Monika Priede	...	Karin as a child
Linn Ullmann	...	Maria's daughter

Also Known As:

Cries and Whispers (USA)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:15 | Australia:M | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Singapore:M18 | UK:18 (re-rating) (1998) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Taxinge-Näsby estate, Mariefred, Södermanlands län, Sweden

Company:

Cinematograph AB

Trivia:

Bergman, who produced the film with his own money, could not find an American distributor as they felt it was too uncommercial. Roger Corman, who had just left American-International Pictures to set up his own New World releasing company, was in the market for a prestige picture to give his new operation some class.

Quotes:

Karin: [to Maria] You look so disconcerted. You thought our talk would be different, didn't you? Do you realize I hate you and how foolish I find your insipid smile and your idiotic flirtatiousness?
[exhales]
Karin: How have I managed to tolerate you so long and not say anything? I know of what you're made - with your empty caresses and your false laughter. Can you conceive how anyone can live with so much hate as has been my burden? There's no relief, no charity, no help! There is nothing. Do you understand? Nothing can escape me for I see all!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Une employée modèle (2002)

Soundtrack:

Suite No. 5 for solo Cello in C Minor, 4th mvt 'Sarabande'

A quietly disturbing work of genius

In a perfect demonstration that horror and trauma are the stuff of real, everyday life and not the macabre vision of fantasists, Cries and Whispers marked Bergman's recovery as one of Europe's greatest film directors.

Like most Bergman films, Cries and Whispers is concerned with death, the suffering before death and the re-evaluation of life that death brings. It centres on three sisters: one dying of cancer, another trapped in a repellent marriage, and the last engaged in an uncomfortable affair. Moving between these three women is the maid, who tends the dying woman in her agony and, in one stunning scene, holding her to her naked bosom like a mother holding a child.

It is not, then, a barrel of laughs. Bergman films are not often for casual viewing, and I certainly won't be taking this one home to watch with my mother.

Like a great classical composer, Bergman uses contrast to enormous effect. Muted sounds which force you to strain to listen are punctuated with heart-rending screams from the dying Agnes. The colour scheme is a disquieting red, fading into pastoral greens and blues as the women reminisce about their younger life.

The characters also contrast uncomfortably. The two younger sisters, Karin and Maria, are sitting the deathwatch for their sister, but their task arouses no compassion in them. They are appalled and repelled by their sister's suffering, but they will not hold her hand or comfort her. The mutual dislike for each other is palpable. This contrasts with the simple humanism of their maid Anna – whom they callously talk about firing, once their sister is dead.

Set in the late 19th Century, the story flits intermittently between present and past, fleshing out the motivations and the stories of the sisters. One of these flashbacks confronts the audience with one of the most disturbing image in cinema, a repressed Karin cutting her vagina with glass to avoid sex with her husband.

Only a director of Bergman's calibre could make such a film riveting. Yet riveting it is. Bergman gets sensational performances from his four main leads; regulars Liv Ullmann, Ingrid Thurin and Harriet Andersson and a majestic, understated Kari Sylwan. To call this film Ibsenesque would be a slur on the originality of Bergman's vision. It is a testimony to his genius that this may not be his best film, yet it is one of the most striking films in modern cinema. I cannot recommend it highly enough. 9/10.