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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.

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3 wins & 1 nomination. See more awards »

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Cast

Complete credited cast:
... Ester / Elder sister
... Anna / Younger sister
Jörgen Lindström ... Johan / Anna' son
Håkan Jahnberg ... The Waiter
... The Bartender
See full cast »
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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 (112) »

Taglines:

BERGMAN at his most POWERFUL! SHOCKING! BOLD!

Genres:

Drama

Certificate:

R | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Country:

Language:

| | | |

Release Date:

3 February 1964 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

The Silence  »

Filming Locations:

Company Credits

Production Co:

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(AGA Sound System)

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The language in the movie is Ingmar Bergman's own creation, though it has a Slavonic ring to it. The name of the city, which is indicated first in the train's speaker, and then by Anna, as Timoka, is a real word however. Bergman found it in a book in Estonian on the bookshelf of his wife Käbi Laretei. When he asked what it meant, she replied "belonging to the hangman". See more »

Quotes

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

Connections

Featured in Persona (1966) See more »

Soundtracks

Rock in the Rough
(uncredited)
Music by Robert Mersey
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User Reviews

 
One of the greatest films ever made
4 February 2003 | by – See all my reviews

A landmark film - pure breakthrough cinema from Bergman - not just depicting, but living inside the existential dread-abyss of Modernity and its loss of mythic meaning. Two sisters' polarized answers to that dread - one deadens herself - the other seeks escape in mindless sensuality - while the son is abandoned to wander in an empty hotel with only absurd characters to play with, all in a stifling, gray, nameless, tank-ridden, Soviet-Kafkaesque-Eastern block industrial- waste, oppressive city. (I'd be very surprised if this film wasn't a seminal influence on David Lynch.) Brilliant performance by Ingrid Thulin as the cerebral, repressed sister. Startling and beautiful imagery and montage (visual and aural), brilliantly depicting the alienated inner and outer worlds.
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