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Summary: One of the top films of Ingmar Berman!
Review: This film is bitter . And merciless . It challenges and disturbs you deeply . FIlmed in the purest mood of resources economy , the film tells about Agnes , a dying middle aged woman with the presence of Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Maria (Liv Ullman).
The complex and increasingly tense relationship among the members of the family ; with the red color as an additional personae ; will make a story loaded with the anguish you may find in the existencial portrayal ( to name a few The stranger of Camus , House of dolls of Ibsen or Crime and punishment Dostovieski).
The loneliness , the dark shadows of the death , the inner reactions of each member of the family , the pain and the lack of affect who are clearly shown in the ending shot demands from you a special attention . Think it over , because this movie represents one of the milestones in all the cinema story.
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Summary: A Woman's World
Review: This is an expose of the feelings women have when they are by themselves or in a stifling relationship. All of these women are gentle creatures who have formed an alliance for themselves. Their husbands are unable to understand the agonies their wives go through. The man is aloof in this picture. Bergman has always understood women and shown them as the agonized yet nurturing angels of all of our dreams. One of the women goes mad when she can't feel and resorts to pain for sensation. Her husband sees her performing this act and merely shrugs and walks out the door. Such power in a film is very gripping to the viewer. The best I can say is that this film blows away the mind and gives it meat for thought. Bergman succeeds again.
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Summary: Comments
Review: This is my favorite Bergman film, for a variety of reasons; after reading the other reviews posted here, I wanted to add one or two comments. To those who compare the film to a horror movie: What can you possibly be thinking? To those who find the film too "arty," it's odd, but that's the claim I myself would make against Persona (not to say I don't think that it, too, is a great film). But whereas Persona's "artiness" strikes me as being just a touch too vague on the one hand, too heavy-handed on the other, in Cries and Whispers the "art" of the film seems to me both just, and surprising in its justness. While I could ramble on further about the relationships between the four women, film technique, etc, I wanted to mention one other aspect of the film that truly amazed me. I have never before seen actors give themselves up so nakedly in their performances, physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually. The faith and trust they felt towards Bergman and his vision can be felt in every scene. A beautiful film.
Rating: 
Summary: A landmark in film
Review: This is my first Ingmar Bergman film, so I'm still trying to get my mind around it. It is indeed a beautiful film, and the cinematography is astonishing. Sven Nykvist's camera work is impossible to ignore -- the fades to red, not to mention the use of red throughout the picture, give the film a haunting feeling. I also loved the opening exterior shots, as well as the montage of clocks ticking (symbolism, anyone?).The story centers around a woman dying of cancer being cared for by her two sisters and their attentive maid. During this ordeal, the characters are haunted by episodes from their past. The images of blood and sexuality are harsh and stay with the viewer for a long time. The picture quality is stunning, particularly for a thirty-year-old movie. Criterion has done another magnificent job in preserving a classic for the ages. Among the extras is a recent, rare interview with Bergman. My experience with Bergman's work is new -- it in fact starts with this film. I'm looking forward to seeing more of his films very soon.
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Summary: a masterpiece.
Review: This is one of the best films ever made. I cannot recommend this film more highly.
Rating:
Summary: It looks better all the time.
Review: This is one of the very best transfers that I have seen. It captures nuances of Nykvist's cinematography that I didn't even know were there before. And those fades to red are rendered so exquisitely as to make your hair stand on end for the sheer visual perfection of them. There are some pleasures that only the cinema can give. The film itself is one of Bergman's very best, although he has done still better. He has also done far worse. Sometimes one feels that a good crack upside the chops would be a suitable treatment for some of his more nails-on-blackboard neurotics. (Liv Ullman's well-played but ill-conceived wretch of a needy daughter in "Autumn Sonata" leaps to mind.) His characters here, while not going out of their way to be sympathetic (a welcome relief, actually), aren't an overwrought turn-off, either. They may, however, be carrying a little too heavy an aura of deep mystery to really be able to ground the picture. If that's a drawback, though, it's also the source of a lot of the film's enduring strength. Being a more a mood piece than anything else, it can't give us everything. But what it CAN give it gives generously enough that I'm not inclined to complain. The pacing here is, no surprise, languid - but watching this film is like being swallowed up by a supernaturally comfortable chair. One feels caught between a light doze and a heightened sense of awareness. For all of it's slowness, the movie seems to end only a few moments after it has started. Now they need to hurry up and give "Persona" the Criterion treatment.
Rating: 
Summary: a shocking and haunting film
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film. This film, with the original title, "Viskningar och rop", remains one of the most chilling art house dramas to come out of Sweden. The story is about two women Karin and Maria who have moved in with their terminally ill sister, Agnes to help care for her. While the disease Agnes is dying from is never mentioned by name, seems to be a form of cancer as many other terminal illnesses of the time were contagious and the sisters and the maid don't seem to be worry about being infected. The film shows flashbacks of the sisters when they were all healthy and some others also. The film is definately not for children as there are many scenes that even some adults might not be able to watch. One of these scenes is sexual in nature and involves self-mutilation with a piece of broken glass. There is also a disturbing death scene and several others related to terminal illnesses The Criterion DVD has an interview with director Ingmar Bergman as a special feature and there is also an optional English language track.
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Summary: Bergman's masterpiece
Review: This story of a dying woman whose sisters are emotionally unable to care for her needs, is absolutely riveting. Sven Nykvist's photography is unparalled. The scenes with the maid [the only one in the house able reach out and care for this woman] are among the best, you feel that you are intruding and you should leave, but the camera stays and records,unblinkingly, the scene.
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Summary: One of Bergman's Most Memorable Films
Review: Upon its release CRIES AND WHISPERS was hailed as one of Bergman's finest films. Although it has not quite held onto that original evaluation, it remains a very fine film--a subtle and delicately performed drama as remarkable for its silence as for its occasional moments of dialogue. And in many respects it offers an extremely good introduction to Bergman's work. Like many of Bergman's films, CRIES AND WHISPERS shows the director's preoccupations with memory, communication, time, community, and death. The story is bleak: Agnes is dying and her sisters Karin and Maria have come to attend her during this final illness--but they prove unable to communicate in a meaningful way with either Agnes or each other, and Agnes' emotional care is left largely to her long-time maid, the devoted Anna. As the film unwinds, we are bought into the memories of each woman in turn. The dying Agnes (played with powerful realism by Harriet Andersson) not only graples with increasing pain, she recalls with regret the emotional separation that existed between her long-dead mother and herself. Sister Maria (Liv Ullman), a mindless sensualist, recalls an act of adultry that has poisoned her marriage; Sister Karin (Ingrid Thulin), who is emotionally cold, recalls an act of self-mutilation designed to thwart her husband's desires. Only the maid Anna (Kari Sylwan), with a peasant's directness, actually works to be of comfort, even going so far as to cradle Agnes' head on her naked breast and dreaming of comforting Agnes while her sisters fail. The film is ever so delicately tinged with subtle elements of lesbianism, sadomasochism, and incest, and the emotional problems experienced by Maria and Karin are at least partly sexual in nature--but these are not the focus of the film so much as they are surface indications of a deeper internal turmoil. As to what that deeper turmoil is... Bergman might say it is the nature of life itself. We each stand alone, usually in denial of our own mortality, usually unable to reach each other in any meaningful way. A deep film, and in spite of its occasional awkwardnesses a memorable and touching film. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: You'll wish YOU had a terminal disease.
Review: Watch the interview with Bergman and his red-headed friend, whats-his-name, to get an idea of how big a jerk this guy is. Listen as he proudly discusses the fact that he was a rotten husband and absentee father who cared only for his work. What a guy... As for the movie, it strikes me as something that you may want to [fall asleep] to.
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