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Cries and Whispers

Swedish theatrical release poster
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Produced by Lars-Owe Carlberg
Written by Ingmar Bergman
Narrated by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Harriet Andersson
Kari Sylwan
Ingrid Thulin
Liv Ullmann
Inga Gill
Erland Josephson
Music by Johann Sebastian Bach
Frédéric Chopin
Cinematography Sven Nykvist
Editing by Siv Lundgren
Studio Svensk Filmindustri
Release date(s) United States:
21 December, 1972
Sweden:
5 March 1973
Running time 91 min.
Country Sweden
Language Swedish
Budget 1.5 million SEK

Cries and Whispers (Swedish: Viskningar och rop, lit. "Whispers and Cries") is a 1972 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin and Liv Ullmann. The film is set on a mansion at the end of the 19th century and is about two sisters who watch over their third sister on her deathbed, torn between fearing she might die and hoping that she will. After several unsuccessful experimental films Cries and Whispers was a critical and commercial success, gaining nominations for five academy awards. This included a nomination for Best Picture, which was unusual for a foreign-language film.

Cries and Whispers returned to the traditional Bergman themes of the female psyche or the quest for faith and redemption. Unlike Bergman's previous films, Cries and Whispers uses saturated colour, especially crimson. It was for the color and light scheme that the cinematographer and long-time collaborator Sven Nykvist was awarded the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

Contents

Plot

Cries and Whispers is set at the end of the 19th century on a mansion. It depicts the last days of Agnes (Harriet Andersson) who is in the final stages of cancer and is experiencing heavy pain. Her sisters Maria (Liv Ullmann) and Karin (Ingrid Thulin) have returned to the family home to be with her. They remain distant and cold as their dying sister is reminding them of their life's scars and their own mortality. Only the deeply religious maid Anna (Kari Sylwan), whose only daughter died early, is able to comfort her. When Agnes dies and a priest (Anders Ek) arrives at her death bed she returns to the living for a short moment. In a dream-like sequence she asks her family for love and care. For a moment Karin, Maria and the dead Agnes are getting closer to each other, only to be even more distant shortly afterwards. Only Anna is able to embrace and mourn the dead.

The film is characterized by flashbacks that return to the life of the protagonists and their memories, dreams and desires. Maria remembers her adulterous affair with the physician David (Erland Josephson). Agnes remembers her childhood and her enigmatic mother. Karina remembers how she snubbed her hated husband by harming herself. The last flashback visualizes an entry from Agnes' diary shows where the three sisters clad in white stroll together in the park of the family mansion.

Cast

Production

Writing and pre-production

Bergman's films were difficult to market commercially and thus foreign capital was not available to finance the film. Bergman then decided to shoot the film in Swedish and not in English as his previous film The Touch (1971 film) and to finance Cries and Whispers through his own production company Cinematograph. Although he used personal savings of 750,000 SEK and loans of 200,000 SEK he also had to ask the Swedish Film Institute for support to finance the 1.5 million SEK budget. To save costs the main actresses and Nykvist gave their salary as a loan and were nominally co-producers.[1]

Soundtrack

  • "Suite No. 5 for solo Cello in C Minor, 4th mvt 'Sarabande'" by Johann Sebastian Bach. Played by Pierre Fournier
  • "Mazurka in A minor, Op.17/4" by Frédéric Chopin. Played by Kabi Laretei

Reception

Awards

Cries and Whispers was shown out of competition at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, where Bergman received an overwhelming emotional response by the audience.[1] and where it won the Vulcain Prize of the Technical Artist.[2] At the 46th Academy Awards it was nominated for five awards, the Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design for the costume designer Marik Vos and unusually for a foreign-language film for Best Picture. In the end Sven Nykvist won the cinematography award for his work as director of photography.[3] To qualify for the academy awards the film was rushed to a premiere in Los Angeles county, before the official premiere in Sweden a few months later.[1]

Cries and Whispers was nominated and won several other awards on festivals and from critics associations. At the 27th British Academy Film Awards Sven Nykvist was nominated for Best Cinematography and Ingrid Thulin for Best Supporting Actress[4], at the 30th Golden Globe Awards the film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.[5] and at the David di Donatello ceremony Ingmar Bergman won in the category Best Foreign Director and Andersson, Sylwan, Thulin and Ullmann won the Special David award.[6] In Scandinavia the film won the Guldbagge Awards for Best Film, Harriet Andersson for Best Actress and Sven Nykvist the Special Jury Price, the Jussi Award for Best Foreign Director and the Bodil Awards for Best European Film. The film won also several awards from critics associations, including the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, National Board of Review awards and National Society of Film Critics awards.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Gado, Frank (November 1986). The passion of Ingmar Bergman. Duke University Press. pp. 397–399. ISBN 9780822305866.  
  2. ^ "Le Prix Vulcain de l’Artiste Technicien" (in French). Commission supérieure technique de l'image et du son. http://www.cst.fr/spip.php?article49. Retrieved 2009-11-14.  
  3. ^ "Database entry for Cries and Whispers". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1258186661989. Retrieved 2009-11-14.  
  4. ^ "Film Nominations 1973". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. http://www.bafta.org/awards/film/nominations/?year=1973. Retrieved 2009-11-14.  
  5. ^ "Database entry for Cries and Whispers". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. http://www.goldenglobes.org/browse/film/23895. Retrieved 2009-11-15.  
  6. ^ "Database entry for Cries and Whispers" (in Italian). Accademia del Cinema Italiano. http://www.daviddidonatello.it/english/premia.php. Retrieved 2009-11-15.  
  7. ^ "Viskningar och rop (1973) - Utmärkelser" (in Swedish). Svenska Filminstitutet. http://193.10.144.138/sv/svensk-film/Filmdatabasen/?itemid=4905&type=MOVIE&iv=Awards. Retrieved 2009-11-15.  

External links

The films of Ingmar Bergman
1940s
Crisis (1946) • It Rains on Our Love (1946) • A Ship to India (1947) • Music in Darkness (1948) • Port of Call (1948) • Prison (1949) • Thirst (1949)
1950s
To Joy (1950) • This Can't Happen Here (1950) • Summer Interlude (1951) • Secrets of Women (1952) • Summer with Monika (1953) • Sawdust and Tinsel (1953) • A Lesson in Love (1954) • Dreams (1955) • Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) • The Seventh Seal (1957) • Wild Strawberries (1957) • Brink of Life (1958) • The Magician (1958)
1960s
The Virgin Spring (1960) • The Devil's Eye (1960) • Through a Glass Darkly (1961) • Winter Light (1962) • The Silence (1963) • All These Women (1964) • Persona (1966) • Hour of the Wolf (1968) • Shame (1968) • The Rite (1969) • The Passion of Anna (1969)
1970s
Faro Document (1970) • The Touch (1971) • Cries and Whispers (1972) • Scenes from a Marriage (1973) • The Magic Flute (1975) • Face to Face (1976) • The Serpent's Egg (1977) • Autumn Sonata (1978) • Faro Document 1979 (1979)
1980s
2000s
Saraband (2003)
TV plays
Mr. Sleeman Is Coming (1957) • The Venetian (1958) • Rabies (1958) Storm Weather (1960) • A Dream Play (1963) • Don Juan (1965) • The Misanthrope (1974) • Hustruskolan (1983) • After the Rehearsal (1984) • De två saliga (1986) • Markisinnan de Sade (1992) • Backanterna (1993) • The Last Gasp (1995) • In the Presence of a Clown (1997) • The Image Makers (2000)
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