Rating: 
Summary: Yes, It's a Horror Movie
Review: "Cries and Whispers" came out around the same time as "The Exorcist" and that was serendipitous timing. Because both films are concerned with ultimate questions of eternity and are designed to explore those questions in intensely disturbing ways. Bergman has been a great director of horror films when he wants to be; check out "The Seventh Seal", "The Virgin Spring" (the original source for "Last House on the Left"), "The Magician", "The Silence" (which could be a lost David Lynch film.) "Cries and Whispers" takes its detour into the macabre after the death of the sister, in scenes so haunting they can't really be described. Just see it for yourself. "Cries and Whispers" is a very great film, and a bone-chiller too.
Rating: 
Summary: The Sounds That Haunt Us
Review: "Cries and Whispers" was one of the first films from Ingmar Bergman I had seen. I was about 13 years old and was a strongly devoted fan. I had only seen the film that one time, but it stand with me. Only, I didn't think it was that powerful. Maybe my age had something to do with it. Could it be I was too young to appreciate it? I enjoyed the previous films I had seen at that point though such as "Wild Strawberries" and "The Seventh Seal". Well, whatever the reason I saw this film again. Now I'm 21. And I think "Cries and Whispers" is one of Bergman's very best films. A memorable and powerful film. A sheer work of genius. I read Roger Ebert's review for the movie. He said he had never seen a film to be so much about pain. Maybe that is true. I hadn't thought of that the first time I saw this masterpiece, but now I understand. Bergman paints such a bleak, depressing picture here, that you could call this film typical Bergman. Even though it my be a depressing film, you should still see this. The story has three sisters, one is dying. She is played by Harriet Andersson, who gives what I feel is the film's best performance. The other sisters include Maria (Liv Ullman) who is almost childlike. She seems so innocent. Then there is Karin (Ingrid Thulin) who is cold-hearted. And even though she is not one of the sisters Anna (Kari Sylwan) who is a mother figure. She is the only one who truly cares for Agnes (Andersson). Bergman than has these characters reflecting on moments from the past, and thus the "cries and whispers" those moments bring. Some are truly terrible memories these characters live with. A scene involving Karin and her husband comes to mind. Are these people trying to learn from their mistakes? Do they regret their past choices? Is there hope for them? I can't give you the answers to these questions, it is for you to decide. "Cries and Whispers" on second viewing is one of Bergman's best films. A work of art. Bottom-line: One of Ingmar Bergman's best films. It was nominated for "Best Picture" in 1973 and Bergman was nominated for "Best Director" as well. A haunting film dealing with our life choices, who we really are and how these events shape us. It leaves a lasting impression on the viewer. I can't speak highly enough about this film.
Rating:
Summary: Sad, cold, desperate as death
Review: "Cries and Whispers," much anticipated, I recall, when it appeared in the United States, as was all of Ingmar Bergman's work in those days, seems too psychoanalytically intense today; dark and mysterious, partially filmed in hues of red-yes, very striking against the northern cold, but somehow not entirely effective--then again, perhaps I have been spoiled by the work of e.g., Zhang Yimou and Krzysztof Kieslowski. Although this is characteristic Bergman, it is not his best work, nor is Liv Ullmann allowed her full range here. One needs to see her in, for example, The Emigrants (1972) where she was nominated for an Academy Award, or in Scenes from a Marriage (1973) to appreciate her real power as an actress. Harriet Andersson (not to be confused with Bibi Andersson, who was the master's protege before Liv Ullmann) gives a striking performance as Agnes who is dying of cancer. I have seen what she portrays, and can tell you she expressed it in all its horror and hopelessness. Ullmann plays Maria, one of her sisters who touches others easily, but without real feeling, so that the touches mean nothing. To see Ullmann, whose nature is so warm and natural, play a role in which her warmth is superficial and fraudulent, is a little offsetting. For those who grew up cinematically during the seventies, she is remembered as a great international star, expressive, sensual, fascinating, one of Ingmar Bergman's jewels. She wrote an autobiography, Changing (1977) that sold very well in the United States, and later played in some English language films including A Bridge Too Far (1977) and the experimental Mindwalk (1991). Bergman himself of course was already a legend by the time this film was made, a great master who did what he wanted and what he felt (The Seventh Seal (1956), Wild Strawberries (1957), The Virgin Spring (1959), etc.), some of it murky and not entirely accessible; yet in some way always connected to an audience. What Bergman seems to be saying here is we are desperate creatures living cold and ultimately empty lives. The ending clip seems an afterthought that seeks our redemption, but it arrives too little too late. We are lost.
Rating:
Summary: BERGMAN'S "CRIES AND WHISPERS"
Review: A dying woman is surrounded by her sisters in a Swedish mansion at the turn of the 19th Century. I can't recall a movie death being as cruel as the one pictured here with the dying sister gasping and pleading into oblivion. Bergman's statement on the wasted measures of our lives is a glorified 'stop and smell the roses' morality tale, deeply depressing, meticulously filmed, and irresistibly haunting.
Rating: 
Summary: A One Of A Kind Bergman Film!
Review: A exquisite film by my favorite foreign filmmaker of all time, Ingmar Bergman. Wonderful performances by the three sisters in the movie, Harriet Andersson (Agnes), Liv Ullmann (Maria), and Ingrid Thulin (Karen). It is the story of three sisters coming together after one is dying of tuberculosis. They each try to relive the past, and try to remember more fonder times. The cinematography by Sven Nykvist is stunningly beautiful. But this isn't really a suprise to those of us who know his work. The screenplay by Bergman is poetic and majestic. His words hit all the right spots to bring up a heartfelt tragedy. The music by J.S. Bach and Chopin are brillantly used here also. The movie went on to earn 5 Academy Award nominations. It won one which went to Sven Nykvist. This is a wonderful movie everyone should see. It would also make for a wonderful start to watch Bergman with. My favorite scene is at the end of the movie, with the three sister talking among each other in a carefree and joyous way. A Bergman classic!
Rating:
Summary: Viskningar och Rop
Review: Agnes is dying of cancer at the end of what one imagines to be late 19th Century, and is taken care of by her sisters Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Maria (Liv Ullman), and the maid Anna (Kari Sylwan). This is one of the purest and most horrifying films I believe Bergman has ever made. A shade of the color red dominates throughout the film, and brings an immediate and naturally convincing mood. All actors contribute with a powerful and chilling intensity, especially actress Harriet Andersson--whose pain as Agnes is very believable, even enchanting--and are more than well supported by the amazing camera work of Sven Nykvist. To prove that this is the work of a brilliant, highly skilled director, and professional actors and crew, the movie was shot on location in only six weeks!
The Criterion disc features a 52-minute interview with Ingmar Bergman and Erland Josephson (who appears briefly in the movie), taped for Swedish television in 2000. Interviewed by Malou von Sivers, Bergman and Josephson discuss life, death, and love. Bergman, here at age 82, proves to be a down-to-earth and young-at-heart guy. The sound in the interview (surprisingly enough for a Criterion disc), distorts a bit, and can be quite distracting at times, but is not so bothersome that one wouldn't want to continue listening to what these masters of film and cinema have to say (even if the topics barely touch upon their work and careers).
Optional subtitles, as well as an English-dubbed soundtrack are available. The dubbing is surprisingly accurate to the picture, and is done by the actors featured in the movie. At times this accuracy may convince you that the movie was made in English. Still (despite this stunning surprise), I would suggest watching this in Swedish, as intended - at least the first time around.
I watched this movie with a pair of good head-phones, in a comfortable chair, and alone in the dark at three o'clock in the morning. I recommend others to watch it under similar conditions - it adds to the intensity, and one can appreciate the intended mood of the film better if there aren't distractions. I seriously doubt that this picture will disappoint any true fan of good cinema.
Rating:
Summary: An exquisitely crafted drama of emotional alienation
Review: All of Bergman's best films explore emotional and psychological terrain that almost no other filmmaker has dared to go near. "Cries and Whispers" certainly ranks among his best. With only minimal dialogue, Bergman uses stunning imagery to lay bare the inner minds and souls of four women - one dying of tuberculosis, her two emotionally distant sisters, and the family maid, who seems to be the only one able to deal with the mortality that they are all forced to confront. There is more introspection here than in many epic novels, and the concluding scene, depicting the moment when one can confront death and achieve grace, is both shattering and comforting. Beautifully done; a must-see for anyone who cares about films that examine our most primal feelings and what we choose to do with those feelings.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best by the one of the best...
Review: Although I am usually strongly opposed to Top Ten, Best of the Year, and All-Time-Favorite lists in film, music, and literature (Hear that, Modern Library?! Just because you're so hot on the works of James Joyce doesn't mean everyone else thinks they're worth the paper they're printed on--but I digress...), I'll make an exception in the case of Cries and Whispers, which has earned every one of its superlatives and acclaims. Along with Persona, it reflects a more adventurous side of the somewhat conservative director Ingmar Bergman--and both films are stunning successes. The ostensible narrative is as follows: Two sisters, Karin and Maria, return to their family estate to keep vigil over their dying sister Agnes. While the two are quite capable and willing--out of duty, perhaps--to attend to Agnes' physical needs, they find themselves ill-equipped to console her or to offer her the emotional support that the quiet, simple household servant Anna devotedly provides. Through their particularly harrowing encounter with Agnes' death--and by inference, of course, with their own--the three survivors are forced to confront their memories, fantasies, and most repressed feelings toward one another. Apart from the largely linear main narrative, three segments of the film are demarcated from the rest by red-hued shots of the faces of Maria, Karin, and Anna, respectively, each staring forward, engaged in the act of remembering and imagining. Between these establishing shots, we enter three ambiguous dream-like settings from each of these women's points-of-view. Each of these three scenarios appears to be a composite, to varying degrees, of actual and imagined events, the latter seemingly motivated by--or a projection of--the repressed feelings of the particular woman. These segments provide powerful insights into the characters of each of these women and further elaborate on their often strained and erratic relations with each other. The cast features three Bergman mainstays: Harriet Andersson (Monika, Through a Glass Darkly) as Agnes; Ingrid Thulin (Wild Strawberries, Winter Light) as Karin; and Liv Ullman (Persona, Autumn Sonata) as Maria. All three are at their absolute best together in this film, and Kari Sylwan, as Anna, delivers a quietly resigned but expressive performance. One of many remarkable moments of the film comes during Agnes' death throes, which are harrowing and relentless--to the extent that she cries out: "Can't anybody help me?" I believe this is one of the most disturbing confrontations with death in all of cinema, and it is because of Andersson's abilities that this sequence is so effective. Ingrid Thulin gives a similarly harrowing performance as Karin, the steely, emotionally-absent sister whose repressed fear and rage gradually escapes from her typically staid demeanor. The ending of Cries and Whispers deserves a special mention: It isn't a shocking conclusion, a surprising revelation, or even a tidy resolution... but it's sublime, bittersweet, and--in spite of all the human misery which the audience has just witnessed--serenely hopeful. POSTSCRIPT: On the Criterion edition, as an "extra," there is a relatively recent interview with Ingmar Bergman and Erland Josephson (who appears in Cries and Whispers, as well as in other Bergman films like Scenes from a Marriage and Fanny and Alexander). While I admire Bergman's work, he is unfortunately not a terribly likable man, and this particular interview offers little in the way of insight into his filmmaking. It concerns, to a larger extent, his personal life, his general outlook, and his attitude toward death. All of this discussion does little more than re-emphasize the impressions left by his autiobiographical work The Magic Lantern and other interviews: that Bergman is a somewhat arrogant and cold man... But nevertheless, buy the Criterion edition for its exceptional quality--and ignore this self-important, unenlightening interview.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling but flawed
Review: Although this 1972 Oscar winner is regarded as one of Bergman's supreme masterpieces, it didn't involve me as much as another of his films (which most critics regard as inferior), namely 'Autumn Sonata' (1978). Maybe it was the superb performance of Ingrid Bergman in that film which made the mother-daughter relationship more credible, or perhaps the contemporary setting. Here the relationship between the sisters didn't gel for me, although all the performances are very fine. Liv Ullmann is better in 'Autumn Sonata' though, I feel. I'm glad I watched it but I doubt I'll return to it again. Needless to say the cinematography is marvellous, of course, and Criterion's anamorphic transfer is wonderful, with no damage to the negative and all the colours (with red predominant) vivid and natural. 'Autumn Sonata' was good but this is outstanding. As usual I viewed it in the original Swedish, but for once the English dubbed soundtrack is recommendable as it was done with the original cast under Bergman's supervision. In some ways the highlight is the 52 minute interview with Bergman and a long time collaborator. His intensity comes over powerfully. A great extra.
Rating:
Summary: A Flawed Gem
Review: Bergman himself considers "Cries and Whispers" to be one of his best films, and many viewers would agree. It is intense, dark, and moving, with many scenes that cling ruthlessly to the memory. Unfortunately, the movie is both stagey and self-conscious, lacking the fine subtlety that characterizes such films as "Persona" and "Wild Strawberries," and without the natural candor of "Scenes from a Marriage." "C&W" is dominated by a sea of red colors and overly-obvious stage setting in the style of Munch's paintings. A tableau based on Michelangelo's Pieta is especially heavy-handed. Despite these problems -- or perhaps even because of them -- newcomers to Bergman or to "art films" may find the extra finger-pointing helpful and inoffensive. Others who are looking for a similarly dark treatment in a color movie by Bergman might prefer "Autumn Sonata." In any case, "C&W" is an essential film for all of us Bergman fanatics: its many points of brilliance -- especially in the first half -- manage to outshine its nontrivial weaknesses.
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