Cries and Whispers
Viskningar och rop
Sweden • 1972
Director
#101Criterion Collection →Synopsis
This existential wail of a drama concerns two sisters, Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Maria (Liv Ullmann), keeping vigil for a third, Agnes (Harriet Andersson), who is dying of cancer and can find solace only in the arms of a beatific servant (Kari Sylwan). An intensely felt film that is one of Bergman’s most striking formal experiments, CRIES AND WHISPERS (which won an Oscar for the extraordinary color photography by Sven Nykvist) is a powerful depiction of human behavior in the face of death, positioned on the borders between reality and nightmare, tranquility and terror.
Synopsis
This existential wail of a drama concerns two sisters, Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Maria (Liv Ullmann), keeping vigil for a third, Agnes (Harriet Andersson), who is dying of cancer and can find solace only in the arms of a beatific servant (Kari Sylwan). An intensely felt film that is one of Bergman’s most striking formal experiments, CRIES AND WHISPERS (which won an Oscar for the extraordinary color photography by Sven Nykvist) is a powerful depiction of human behavior in the face of death, positioned on the borders between reality and nightmare, tranquility and terror.
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Credits
Crew
DirectorIngmar Bergman
WriterIngmar Bergman
CinematographerSven Nykvist
EditorSiv Lundgren
ProducerLars-Owe Carlberg, Ingmar Bergman
Cast
Liv Ullmannas Maria
Ingrid Thulinas Karin
Kari Sylwanas Anna
Harriet Anderssonas Agnes
Erland Josephsonas David