Review of Cries and Whispers (1972) by Richard T — 19 Apr 2009

This one I shall certainly keep brief because, well, I think Bergman, and the film as a whole, demands a much more in depth analysis than I am capable of fully giving at this point in the night. I'll just hit the big things. Emotionally the film is a ride, it's tough to watch at points and truly gruesome at others, though it changes to beautifully tragic at the drop of a hat as well, to a wonderful final scene that is just ambiguous enough, I think. All of the female leads are incredible and they each turn in captivating performances that bring out raw emotion from their characters while allowing Bergman to really get under each one's skin and flesh out the specifics rather wonderfully. The direction is great as well, so is the cinematography. The red and white scenes, which are frequent, are generally effective and usually always stunningly shot. The close ups come often, perhaps too frequently, but that's pretty minor of a complaint I think, so I don't deduct too many points for that kind of thing. The choice of sound was great as well, kept mostly scoreless except for one key sequence, which makes for a great directorial decision, and the constant use of the clock was brilliant as well. I still need my time to wrap my mind around the specifics, and I do think there were a number of points that moved too slow for my liking, but as a whole it's a really great film and I do want to check out more Bergman if I can keep the stomach for his work.

A- or 4.23784209742323450871.