Review of Cries and Whispers (1972) by Daren F — 01 Dec 2008

This year I have taken an International Cinema film course and in that class I had to watch a Bergman film [i]Through a Glass Darkly[/i] and after that I was hooked to Bergman, I saw [i]The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries[/i] (which I will write about next), [i]Persona, [/i]and now [i]Cries and Whispers[/i] in a matter of 2 months, for some that would be too much Bergman and I say I wish I could have watched more. After seeing [i]Cries and Whispers[/i] I came to realize that Bergman, with this film, proves that he is an artist at the peak of his abilities and a master of his craft. With this film he became the Da Vinci, the Mozart, the Shakespeare of his craft. He does not use subtle techniques to convey his meaning, he grabs you by the shirt and slaps you in the face with it; however, he does not do that with the meaning of the film, one can see exactly what Bergman is doing but not why, that takes much more time.

I watched this, [i]Through a Glass Darkly,[/i] and [i]Wild Strawberries[/i] for an essay in my International Cinema course and was blown away by the massive changes Bergman has in less than 20 years. With [i]Cries and Whispers[/i] Bergman creates the only film that he considers to be a color film, he made others but they are essential black and white films at their cores. This film uses color and close ups with a burning passion, Bergman does not go easy on these two techniques, he is aggressive and shows you the characters souls not with dialogue but with images.

The film is about 3 sisters, one of which is dying and the other two are there by obligation not by actual love, and a servant. The actresses in this film are amazing, creating characters with little dialogue and extremely long close ups. Everything in this film is done in a way that is far greater than most anything I have ever seen, everyone is working at a level that is rarely achieved by so many people at one moment in time. This is the greatest Bergman film I have ever seen, but that may not hold out, next week my roommate and I are having a Bergman MARATHON!!!! 6 more movies next week, EXCITEMENT HAS BEEN PEAKED!