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The Silence (1963)

Tystnaden (original title)
R | | Drama | 3 February 1964 (USA)
The Silence Poster
Two estranged sisters, Ester and Anna, and Anna's 10-year-old son travel to the Central European country on the verge of war. Ester becomes seriously ill and the three of them move into a hotel in a small town called Timoka.

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writer:

Ingmar Bergman

Stars:

Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten | See full cast & crew »
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3 wins & 1 nomination. See more awards »

Photos

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Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ingrid Thulin ... Ester / Elder sister
Gunnel Lindblom ... Anna / Younger sister
Jörgen Lindström Jörgen Lindström ... Johan / Anna' son
Håkan Jahnberg Håkan Jahnberg ... The Waiter
Birger Malmsten ... The Bartender
See full cast »
Edit

Storyline

"The Silence" is about the emotional distance between two sisters. The younger one is still attractive enough to pick up a lover in a strange city. The older one -- even though she is very ill -- would like to make a human connection also but cannot leave the hotel room. Traveling with the sisters is a small boy who escapes into the hotel, meets a troupe of dwarfs. Which sister is this little boy's mother? Written by Dale O'Connor <daleoc@interaccess.com>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

room | illness | translator | hotel room | dwarf | See All (101) »

Taglines:

BERGMAN at his most POWERFUL! SHOCKING! BOLD!

Genres:

Drama

Certificate:

R | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

View content advisory »
Edit

Details

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish | English | German | French | Spanish

Release Date:

3 February 1964 (USA) See more »

Also Known As:

The Silence See more »

Filming Locations:

Svensk Filmindustri, Filmstaden, Råsunda, Stockholms län, Sweden

Company Credits

Production Co:

Svensk Filmindustri (SF) See more »
Show more on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Mono (AGA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See full technical specs »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Johan: [points to a sign] What does that mean?
Ester: I don't know.
See more »

Alternate Versions

According to a "Playboy" magazine interview with Ingmar Bergman conducted in 1964, "almost two minutes" were removed from the film's "erotic scenes" for its US release. See more »

Connections

Referenced in Jeg reiser alene (2011) See more »

Soundtracks

THE GOLDBERG VARIATIONS
Music by Johann Sebastian Bach
See more »

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User Reviews

 
Igmar at his most cinematic
25 January 2005 | by dennis70 – See all my reviews

This film marked a turn for Igmar Bergman's career. While always great, most of his films from the fifties are always plagued with an excess of theatricality and long parliaments. However this 1963 film he creates a strange world with very little dialogue and surreal imagery a la Bunuel (See the scene with the dwarfs)

For the time the film was also very shocking because of the sexually explicit scenes. The film starts with two sisters and a boy (the son of one of them), travelling by train into a strange country in the verge of war. They decide to stay in an almost empty hotel, where most of the film takes place.

The film involves themes like, incest, lesbians, alienation and the impossibility to communicate in general. Not to be missed.

10/10
25 of 37 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you? | Report this
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