Cries and Whispers is a quintessential entry in the director's oeuvre. This is a visually stunning film deeply concerned with the emotional and physical pain of its protagonists. Even more, it is a highly praised and much admired film, which could possibly be the most accomplished cinematographical work of Bergman's multi-faceted career.
The story takes place at an old English manor and revolves around four women - Agnes (Harriet Andersson), Maria (Liv Ullmann), Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Anna (Kari Sylwan). Agnes, the owner of the manor, is a young, virginal woman terminally ill with womb cancer. Agnes' sisters, Maria and Karin, are unhappily married and have traveled to the manor to help take care of their dying sister. Anna is Agnes' faithful and reliable maid, who goes to great lengths to make her as comfortable as possible. The film depicts Agnes' last two days of life in terrible agony, her death, and in a sense, even her resurrection and legacy. Cries and Whispers offers a glimpse into the lives of these characters, the terrible effects of the emotional and physical pain they are afflicted with and the different ways they cope with their suffering.
Undeniably, Cries and Whispers is a film about the world of women, and is very open in terms of the gender and sexual politics that it portrays. Males, as represented by the doctor and the Chaplain, are completely useless in providing any comfort to Agnes. Also, Karin's and Maria's husbands utterly fail to understand the emotional needs of their wives. Women are not presented in a much better light. Except for Anna, all the women metaphorically epitomize monsters. Agnes's terrifying disease is a biological horror clearly related to her sexual anatomy. Maria's infidelities drive her husband to attempt suicide. And most shockingly, Karin performs an act of self-mutilation on her sexual organs to disturb and drive away her husband. On the other hand, Anna allegorically represents the maternal figure. But then again, Anna as a mother proves to be a disappointing failure as both children under her care - her biological daughter and Agnes - end up dead.
Although all the characters have different and very well delineated personalities, they all share a profound agony. In a sense, Cries and Whispers is a film about pain, either emotional or physical. Agnes' bodily pain is at the core of the narrative, and the scene showcasing her overwhelming suffering just before death is one of the most dramatic and terrifying depictions of pain in cinema history. Maria and Karin undergo a frustrating life of repression and emotional horrors, as excruciating as the physical misery endured by Agnes. The film offers a bleak and depressing portrayal of pain, as all the characters are unable to find any relief from the pain through either medicine or religion.
The sisters remember that they were close in childhood, but somehow in growing up they lost the ability to love ... to touch. Only Anna, the servant, remembers how to. When Agnes cries out in the night, in fear and agony, it is Anna who cradles her to her bosom, whispering soft endearments. The others cannot stand to be touched. In a moment of conjured nostalgia, Maria and Karin remember their closeness as children. Now, faced with the fact of their sister's death, they deliberately try to synthesise feeling and love. Quickly, almost frantically, they touch and caress each other's faces, but their touching is a parody and by the next day they have closed themselves off again. These two scenes - of Anna embracing Agnes, and of Karin and Maria touching like frightened kittens - are two of the greatest Bergman has ever created. There is no abstract message; it communicates on a level of human feeling so deep that viewers are afraid to invent words for the things found there.
Nevertheless, the most distinctive feature of Cries and Whispers is its striking colour palette made almost exclusively from shades of red, black and white. These colours have a definite metaphorical connotation for Bergman and are used throughout the film to support the narrative. The colors, and the images that they form, seem to be more important than the dialogue. Red dominates almost every single scene that takes place inside the manor, and represents the interior of the soul, and most probably, is also used as an allegory for the interior of the womb. White is a colour often linked to the virginal Agnes, and stands symbolically for sexual repression. Black is a colour that is associated with priests and Christianity. More importantly, these colors mostly appear in two combinations, either red and white, or red and black, creating an arresting visual and thematic dichotomy. Bergman seems to suggest how seemingly opposite forces affect the human condition, the nature of the soul on one side, and socio-cultural repressions on the other.
Within the context of the narrative 'cries' are related to emotional conditions such as pain, anguish, impotency, loneliness, guilt and suffocation. In contrast, 'whispers' are associated with feelings of tenderness, tolerance, love and compassion. All the characters in Cries and Whispers appear to be trapped in a complex web of emotions, unsure if they want to cry or to whisper at any given time, as if they were being torn apart by their conflicting feelings. However, even with Agnes' ultimate sacrifice, this film does not provide any closure or resolution to these antagonisms. Instead, Cries and Whispers is a beautiful film that invites the viewer to think about the nature of the human condition. The ambivalent end of the film may to some place Agnes in a heavenly paradise, where she is absolved of her painful martyrdom. For others, it may merely suggest the futility of her sacrifice. Nevertheless, as with many other works directed by Bergman, the film's conclusion is not as important as the unforgettable process of self-discovery endured by characters and viewers alike.
The film ends with a scene of astonishing, jarring affirmation: We see the four women some months earlier, drenched with the golden sun, and we hear Anna reading from Agnes' diary, "I feel a great gratitude to my life, which gives me so much." And takes it away.
