Rating: 
Summary: I've no words to describe how great it is.
Review: Bergman is a cinema God. This movie is a masterpiece about the human condition. It's a movie about repressed emotions and desires, death, love and fear. It's so powerful that in the end you feel like you've read the entire "war and peace" in 2 hours. It's an overdose of feelings, ideas and filosophy. Unforgettable. An essencial movie.
Rating:
Summary: Deeply Moving and Emotional
Review: Certainly this is Bergman's best film. His most beautiful, deepest and severe work. The photography by Sven Nykvist, Bergman's long-time collaborator, is among the most amazing in film history, with the predominance of red, the color of the soul, according to the director. It is the story of a woman in agony who is surrounded by her sisters. All the film is a series of monumental and terrifying sequences, and the only person who can give the dying woman love and affection is the maid. Scenes à la Pietá, sensitive phrases about time passing, and other details make this production a truly masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Certainly one of Bergman's finest...
Review: Cries and Whispers has had a very powerful effect on me any time I have watched the film. It's direction is powerful, extremely formal, and tight. The performances are honest, raw, and brilliant. The structure is exquisite and thought-provoking. The film is a fantastic mixture of realism (a portrait of an archtypal relationship between four women) and expressionistic horror story. This is truly one of the most terrifying and effective GHOST STORIES that has been told on the screen. But of course it goes well beyond that. Some may consider the film stagey or overly formal. It's an approach to film-making that few director's practice now and was mastered by film-makers such as Bergman and Fellini. Cries and Whispers is certainly one of the finest representations of formal film-making in the history of cinema.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best by the one of the best...
Review: Cries and Whispers is an intense mediation on life, death, and how we squander our brief lives by succumbing to our inner demons. The Criterion edition is flawless, but if I remember correctly, some scenes seem to be missing or shortened. But no matter, this is a harrowing exploration of the depth of human pain, brilliantly created.
Rating:
Summary: A Stunning Achievement
Review: Cries and Whispers is an intense mediation on life, death, and how we squander our brief lives by succumbing to our inner demons. The Criterion edition is flawless, but if I remember correctly, some scenes seem to be missing or shortened. But no matter, this is a harrowing exploration of the depth of human pain, brilliantly created.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: CRIES AND WHISPERS is one of my three favorite films of all time. I am a huge film fan, but this of all things is one of my favorites. It affects me in ways I can't even articulate. The power, the horror, the beauty, the strangeness of this film is unheard of. It exists in another dimension, I think. Anyway, I was ecstatic to hear that it was coming to DVD from Criterion. A commentary track might have been nice, but the hour-long interview with Bergman was a nice feature. I had never seen him other than in photos and it was interesting to actually see and hear him talk, although I would have liked to hear more details about his films. Anyway, the print of the film looks beautiful and it was great to see this wonderful film after several years. It's just as wonderful as the first time I saw it.
Rating:
Summary: BERGMAN IN RED
Review: Cries and Whispers was an Oscar nominee for Best Picture of 1973. It won for costumes and cinematography, and rightly so. But not only was it one of the best films of '73, it is one of the best films of the 70s -- and in the history of the cinema. The white on red art direction is absolutely stunning. The sheer elegance alone is worth the ticket of admission. This is somber Bergman, working with three of the greatest actresses of all time. It's a cinematic experience for adults who don't mind a little thinking with their movie, and who appreciate a master cineaste working at the height of his genius. The self-mutilation scene is difficult to watch; the pain on Harriet Andersson's face on the brink of death is excrutiating--this is an astonishing performance!; and Sven Nykvist's camera is always at the right place at the right time. In other words, get this DVD. If you like Bergman at his most chamberesque, you'll love this brooding tale of sibling rivalry and love. It's one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. This is not jovial filmmaking by any means, but you'll feel quite enlightened after it's over. The images of the sisters in their white gowns against the deep red decor is, like the movie, haunting.
Rating: 
Summary: Buy it for the transfer
Review: Enough superlatives have been heaped on this Bergman masterpiece and justifiably so. Lets talk about the much awaited Criterion DVD. The transfer is nothing short of superb, doing full justice to Sven Nykvist's luminous cinematography, one of the best in cinema ever. Very few artefacts are present, and the sound is the original magnetic mono transfer. The extras are little. There is an interview with Bergman (which is a rare treat since he is so camera shy)and Erland Josephson. However, the interview has very little to do about his craftsmanship, and is primarily concerned with his personal life. Bergman comes across as a real "ordinary Joe" filled with the same human folly as all of us. For many of his fans like me who like to worship his enigmatic philosophical existence, this comes as a surprise and a bit of a disappointment to see that he is no "god" after all. No other features, or any commentary. But thank you Criterion for this superb transfer. This is reason enough to toss out your Home Vision VHS copy and get the disc. Especially if you have a widescreen 16X9 TV, where you can enjoy the superb anamoprphically enhanced image.
Rating: 
Summary: Crying, Whispering, SCREAMING...
Review: I can't stand this movie. I have nothing against Bergman. A master filmmaker. But this is just waaaaaaaay too melodramatic for me and I could not get into it at all.
Before you get all defensive and give me a bad rating here, let me just say that I love foreign films, I love classics, I love movies in general. I just don't believe that everyone will like this particular film. I believe this movie has elements that make it a classic and one of the greatest in many people's eyes, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it. What I didn't like about it was the basic drama of the story. It wasn't that it depressed me, or made me want to kill myself or anything, it was just boring. I understand how it is to go through soemone's passing, but there were a lot of scenes that just dragged on, were overacted, or just turned me off.
If you're a Bergman fan, by all means watch this. If you're a casual viewer, you may or may not like this one. I just happened to fall into the latter group. Read everyone's reviews and judge for yourself, because this is one of those that isn't for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: FADE TO RED
Review: I don't know whether it's the same for you but I used to hear above all the cries when I was watching Bergman's CRIES AND WHISPERS. Now, thanks to Criterion, I've distinctly heard the whispers. And they're harrowing. Ingmar Bergman's treatment of the sound in his movies has always been one of the major component of their success. The four actresses, Andersson, Ullmann, Thulin and Sylwan, are exceptional. I personally enjoy again and again Harriet Andersson's performance in the role of the dying sister. Her suffering is as visible as palpable. It could be objected that CRIES AND WHISPERS is more a filmed stage play than a real picture but I don't agree. Bergman's cinematography is stupendous, with this fade to red between scenes. As if all the blood of these sisters has been sucked from their veins and thrown against your TV screen. The 1999 documentary presented in this DVD edition is also indispensable. Ingmar Bergman is mirthful during the 52 minutes of the interview. Quite a shock for the movie lover who's just admired CRIES AND WHISPERS's austerity. A DVD zone your library.
|
