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Cries And Whispers [1972] [DVD]
 
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Cries And Whispers [1972] [DVD]

DVD ~ Harriet Andersson
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
RRP: Ł19.99
Price: Ł6.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Cries And Whispers [1972] [DVD] + Persona [1966] [DVD] + Scenes From A Marriage [DVD] [1973]
Total RRP: Ł59.97
Price For All Three: Ł20.84

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  • This item: Cries And Whispers [1972] [DVD] DVD ~ Harriet Andersson

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Persona [1966] [DVD] DVD ~ Bibi Andersson

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Scenes From A Marriage [DVD] [1973] DVD ~ Liv Ullmann

    Usually dispatched within 9 to 13 days.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions


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Product details

  • Actors: Harriet Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin, Anders Ek
  • Directors: Ingmar Bergman
  • Writers: Ingmar Bergman
  • Producers: Lars-Owe Carlberg
  • Format: PAL, Widescreen
  • Language Swedish
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: All Regions
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 18
  • Studio: Tartan Video
  • DVD Release Date: 25 Feb 2002
  • Run Time: 88 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00005V4WU
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 10,225 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

    Popular in this category:

    #97 in  DVD > DVD Bargains > The Best of World Cinema

Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers is a brilliant and at times shockingly traumatic piece of chamber cinema. It also represented a renaissance for Bergman, whose previous few films had flopped commercially. Set in a large house with interiors done out entirely in a disquieting red and against a soundtrack of ticking and barely audible chatter, the film features three of Bergman’s female stalwarts. Harriet Andersson plays Agnes--a thirtysomething woman dying of cancer--Ingrid Thulin plays her sister Karin--non-tactile and caught in a marriage with a man she finds physically repulsive--and Liv Ulmann is the almost childishly sensual second sister Maria. Kari Sylwan, meanwhile, stars as the earth-motherly maid Anna, whose cradling of the dying Agnes against her naked bosom is one of the centrepieces of the movie.

Much of what transpires here can be construed as fantasy sequence, including one extraordinary incident in which Thulin cuts her vagina with broken glass and smears the blood over herself, in order to avoid sex with her husband. Agnes’ unbearable cries of anguish in her death throes, however, are all too real. Many familiar Bergman themes are explored in Cries And Whispers--mortality, the existence of God (here doubted by a Pastor) and the space between people. However, they are set against a singular, blood-red, dreamlike ambience that is irresistible. This is Bergman at his finest.

On the DVD: the dominant red backdrops of the movie are richly enhanced in this edition. Text-only extras include notes from Bergman’s own memoirs. In a lengthy extract here, he reveals that he had considered Mix Farrow for the part of one of the sisters. Philip Strick’s additional notes add further context and background--it seems that the film’s success in America was due to its distribution by, of all people, Roger Corman. --David Stubbs



Video Description

DVD Special Features: Star and Director Filmographies
Scene Selection
Philip Strick Film Notes
Extract from 'Bergman's book 'Images-My life in Film'
The Bergman Collection Trailer

Language: Swedish Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English
Video Aspect Ratio: Letterboxed 1.66:1


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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One of Ingmar Bergman's Most Notable Films, 28 Dec 2002
By Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
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 an excellent 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.

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.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Bergman., 16 April 2006
By David Welsh (Oslo, Norway) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This is a powerful and intense film depicting the relationships between three sisters, one of whom is dying, as well as their maid, Anna. Colour was still a relatively new tool for Bergman when this was made, and the way he uses it adds to the visual power of the film, with an almost overwhelming amount of red being employed both in the sets and also in between scenes. (Instead of the usual cuts or fades, Bergman fades to a pure red screen and then fades into the next scene.) Viskingar och rop features outstanding performances from three of Bergman's favourite actresses: Harriet Andersson, Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Thulin.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One of Ingmar Bergman's Most Notable Films, 27 Nov 2002
By Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
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 an excellent 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.

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.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A CLOSE STUDY OF DYSFUNCTION
Cries and Whispers is a powerful study of three sisters and a faithful maid who share a manse in a remote location. Read more
Published on 8 Aug 2007 by stuart

2.0 out of 5 stars A bit pretentious
I was really looking forward to seeing this film, but despite some great dialogue in places, i found the whole thing slightly over-indulgent, the idea to fade each shot out with a... Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2002

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