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Comments 1 - 12 of 12

deadendjob's avatar

deadendjob

A terrific, emotional film. The acting is brilliant, the usage of red.... sublime! This is one of Bergman's best achievements. 9/10
13 years ago
heat_'s avatar

heat_

Incredibly intensive movie. Best of the best in terms of dense expression.
7 years 6 months ago
benhere's avatar

benhere

One of the most extraordinarily beautiful films I have ever seen.
8 years 1 month ago
Siskoid's avatar

Siskoid

A woman is dying and three women attend her, two of them her sisters, the other a maid closer to the ailing Agnes than either can imagine, in Bergman's beautifully shot Cries and Whispers. This is what grief - and waiting for grief - looks like. A boredom, a familial kindness, a false sense of rapport (and ensuing false promises), an awkwardness and shame, and a space to reflect on one's own pain, then probably feel guilty for that selfishness. Although in Anna the maid, her pain leads her to a different, more caring attitude that highlights the sisters' hypocrisy. The climax of the film presents an impossibility, whether dream or piece of magical realism, we can't be sure, but it highlights grief as a haunting, metaphorical if not veritable. A haunting that exposes every character's relationship with death - rejection, fear, or embrace? Those are some of our choices. It's Bergman, so there's a sense that the question is wrapped in one's relationship with God, and you might be able to substitute love for the sister with the love demanded by faith. You know, if you need another layer of the onion to pull back (that's a crying joke).
2 years 4 months ago
Lord X's avatar

Lord X

My favorite Bergman.
11 years 9 months ago
Emiam's avatar

Emiam

6+/10

Beautifully filmed with the photo and the use of red. Good acting. But I found it, despite excellent lengths (about 1:28) at the time when you could "kill your darlings", small-scale. Beautiful and interesting environment similar to Fanny & Alexander.

According to Bergman himself this is his best film together with "Persona". Won 1 Oscar for best cinematography (Sven Nykvist)! On FLM's top list of the 130 best Swedish films in history.
5 years 6 months ago
smannsve's avatar

smannsve

A quote from the movie perfectly describes how I felt watching it: "It is early Monday morning and I am in pain."

Of all the movies I have watched this might be my least favorite. It was boring, tedious, pretentious and miserable. I couldn't relate to any of the characters either. Only 90 minutes long, but every second was painful suffering.

Disappointing, as I've liked all the other Bergman movies I've seen.
4 years 10 months ago
acoltismypassport's avatar

acoltismypassport

Didn't like it. I guess Bergman just isn't for me, as the only films I like of his are the ones the hardcore fans normally tend to rank quite lowly, if not at the bottom of his filmography.

I just thought this was a largely redundant picture of suffering: over-extended, overplayed, overly sentimental suffering. Far too much reliance on pure, uninspired dialogue-and of course, much like other Bergman pictures-the inclusion of largely irrelevant sexual undertones.

Really, if one's film illustrates memories, dreams or personal experiences so literally and without license, then most, if not all entertainment value is completely desiccated out of it. It's just not entertaining anymore, and I won't give a shit about it. I'll be bored. And that's precisely what I was during the entire run-bored.
9 years 1 month ago
monclivie's avatar

monclivie

Every emotion feels staged and every word sounds fake.
8 years 6 months ago
locovoco's avatar

locovoco

More lowly servitude at the hands of rich despotic high society tyrants....sounds like a job for? TARANTINO! Come in and give the maid Agnes a Thor-like hammer and start kicking some Swedish ass!

seriously...can't you see the sequel Cries and Whimpers?
8 years 2 months ago
nicolaskrizan's avatar

nicolaskrizan

white and red

https://beyond1001movies.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/backtrack-viskningar-och-rop-1972/
9 years 1 month ago
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