Review of Cries and Whispers (1972) by Tor M — 01 May 2016

Sometimes I get an eager of watching a Bergman flick. Sometimes it's ends up into a good film, but a bad movie choice of the evening, sometimes it hits the jackpot. This film started of a bit on the wrong side for me. It felt boring. After a while I noticed the way it was shot and it's truly good stuff. The slow start starts to grind into something better. It's very real - still surreal and quite dreamy.

As we follow the sick sister and her gruesome cries it turns into something strong and bleak. Even if it's very real it's also dreamy - nightmare'ish. At times it looks like a horror film, the cries are scary! The two sisters seem less touched by the third sister's condition, but the maid, Anna, is heartbroken. The study of the dysfunction and relation issues is strong and powerful. Scenes that are harder to figure appear and it feels a bit crazier and more psycotic. The blood red fade-outs with following whispers makes it a stand-out. Simple but effective.

Liv Ullman is mixturing up Swedish and Norwegian a bit, it's a bit weird that's never discussed as it seem. That part is a bit shaky, still she and the other actors are quite brilliant. A film filled with many emotions. Guilt, pain, lust, hate, grief and love. Death and religion is in the mix. It's a bit of everything sat in a bleak story that it's hard to find much positivity in.

One of the better films from the director I have seen as it stuck with me directly after watching it, while others seem to need quite some time to find it's place in memory.

8.5 out of 10 pieces of glass.