Cries and Whispers Film Difficulty Ranking: 4
This is the ultimate malfunctioning family. One of the three sisters is dying, but the other two are preoccupied with their own lives. Watch this amazingly coloured film if you are looking for a brutal family drama. It’s not for the faint hearted!
Here’s three reasons to watch along with the film’s eerie soundtrack
Why Watch Cries and Whispers?
- This is brutal family drama Shakespearean style
- If you want to see a bit more from celebrated Swedish director Ingmar Bergman outside his big three (Seventh Seal, Persona, and Wild Strawberries)
- For another exploration of life and death (this exploration is far more disturbing than Bergman’s Wild Strawberries)
- To see some more beautiful colours (just as you just saw in Jude’s Scarred Hearts)
The Breakdown
The film starts with the colour red. The only other thing we can perceive is the chimes of a small bell. Next, we see shots of statues and trees in what looks like a misty churchyard. After a few cuts, the misty churchyard fades into redness.
The red themes continue into the films beautiful red and white pictures (see below).
The colour grades are beautifully vivid, but why does Bergman use red and white? Well as put by Bergman below, the red represents the soul. You will notice that the red fades as the film progresses – along with the souls of the characters.
“Cries and Whispers is an exploration of the soul, and ever since childhood, I have imagined the soul to be a damp membrane in varying shades of red”
Another thing that fades as the film progresses is time. From the start you’ll hear the chimes of bells and clocks ticking. You’ll even see shots of clock faces that break up the film narrative. However, just like the fading of the vivid reds (that represent the soul), the images and sounds of time will fade. Agnes, and the other characters, are losing their time on earth.
Conclusion
Cries and Whispers is another dark Bergman film to satisfy your inner demons. It explores life and death and finds emptiness in one of the most vividly coloured sets I’ve seen. Watch this one after you’ve seen Wild Strawberries, Seventh Seal, and Persona to expand your film knowledge of the fantastic Ingmar Bergman.