Cries and Whispers      

By Tom Keogh

Ingmar Bergman's great 1972 film is about the elemental things: death and dying, sex, injury, repression, and the body as a fount of sustenance. No wonder Bergman chooses to focus on female characters, in this case three sisters--one of whom is dying of tuberculosis--and a maid who is the only one capable of caring for the ill woman. The film is noteworthy for many reasons, not least of all an interesting camera style that marries beautiful imagery with an anxious frame. That tension perfectly suits the overlapping psychodramas of the piece, but this is a movie that ultimately pushes beyond the particulars of these characters' virtues or neuroses to a greater mystery, one that somehow sustains our existence while slowly taking it away. A landmark film.

Academy Awards

Cries and Whispers received an Academy Award for Cinematography (Sven Nykvist). Cries and Whispers also received Academy Awards nominations for Best Picture (Ingmar Bergman - Producer), Directing (Ingmar Bergman), Writing (Best Story and Screenplay based on factual material or material not previously published or produced; Ingmar Bergman), and Costume Design (Marik Vos).

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