Cries & Whispers, written and directed by
Ingmar Bergman
Nine out of
10
If not the
greatest ever, Ingmar Bergman is surely one of the most outstanding, fabulous
filmmakers, the genius that has given the History of World Cinema some
tremendous, inestimable works of art:
Fanny and
Alexander (reviewed here: http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/03/fanny-and-alexander-written-and.html),
The Virgin Spring (http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-virgin-spring-written-by-ulla.html)
Smiles of a
Summer Night (http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/02/smiles-of-summer-night-written-and.html),
The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Persona, Scenes from a Marriage (http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2017/02/note-on-scenes-from-marriage-directed.html)
and many more…
Cries &
Whispers has been nominated and won to multiple awards – it won for the famous collaborator
of Ingmar Bergman and then other legends, Sven Nykvist, the Academy Award for
Best Cinematography and the film was nominated for Best Picture – not just in a
Foreign Language – Best Director, Writing and Costume Design.
The work of
art is also included on the New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made List:
It is nevertheless
a film that is painful to watch at times, although not in the horror genre, the
pain, suffering, trauma presented are overwhelming and rendered without kid
gloves.
This is actually
the only reason why one might choose to watch Daddy’s Home or stupid comedies
of the same caliber – although including gifted and wasted talent – over this
drama.
Looking back
at it, one might say that there are traces, difficult to observe indeed, of sarcastic,
morbid humor.
Take the
scene where the family considers the fate of the dedicated servant – the one
who would actually embrace, nurse, love the moribund perhaps more than any
relative, in scenes that are so complex as to suggest motherly care, humanity,
perhaps loyalty, lesbianism, compassion, pity all mixed together.
The sisters
and their husbands are talking about the selling of the house, now that Agnes is
dead, the imminent departure of the woman who has cared for the dying woman for
the last ten years.
In its rigidity,
absurd pomposity, inflexibility, preposterous arrogance and indifference, Isak
seems to be laughable, not just loathsome, and despicable in the paucity,
mendacity, the abhorrent lack of compassion for the servant who is going to be
fired.
His wife,
Karin is pleading for a few weeks extra wages, given the torment the woman has
suffered, her loyalty, the patience, dedication, hard work, kindness,
generosity she has shown during all these years.
The spouse
dismisses this with grimace, detachment, inhumanity that seem almost
cartoonish, buffoonish.
Agnes had
been suffering for many years when her sisters come to try to help sooth her
pain.
Maria is portrayed
by one of the most magnificent actresses in the world, Liv Ulmann, an important
figure in cinematic history with Ingmar Bergman, in whose films she is omnipresent
and whom she has married.
The pain
and suffering are excruciating.
The public
feels it.
The red
walls, backgrounds, furniture, dresses and even stops between chapters all
contribute to an overwhelming emotion.
There are
some scenes that recall horror pictures and one that resembles a climactic
moment in The Piano Teacher – directed by another phenomenon, Michael Haneke,
staring yet another Legend, Isabelle Huppert.
Karin cuts
herself in the intimate zone, then takes the blood and wipes it over her face
and mouth, apparently even tasting it.
Other moments
are enchanting, suggesting and mentioning extreme happiness, love, merriment, ecstasy,
elation, with the exulting sisters, Maria and Karin, embracing each other in
bliss.
It even
looks like they may get incestuous.
The film is
extremely complex, suggesting and representing an outlandish spectrum of
emotions, thoughts, feelings that range from terror to glorious exuberation,
from ultimate depression to the ecstasy of pure love.
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