Sunday, July 5, 2015

Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman)

7/3/15

3/4


I liked Cries and Whispers a lot. I loved Liv Ullman again, this time as a somewhat empty damsel. The aesthetic was tantalizing and somewhat terrifying. The plot was intriguing and shocking in some regards. I didn't recover very much philosophy from the film, other than the reliable Bergman bleakness, but there were moments shocking enough, visual or conceptual motifs engaging enough, and characters fascinating enough that this film struck me. [At the top of the list of things are the screaming from Agnes, the blood-red walls and scene transitions, the "whispers" shots with naked character faces, the Anna character, and the amazing scene near the end when Agnes calls again]. The four women give brutal and vulnerable performances in a film highly unsettling and made with a few strokes of brilliance.

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