Probably our greatest horror is the fear of facing a long, painful death. To be murdered is one thing, but to die through torture is something else entirely. For this reason, I view Ingmar Bergman’s, “Cries and Whispers”, as not only a horror movie, but one of the scariest and most disquieting films I have ever seen. Among its other deep psychological themes, it is a movie that reenacts with utter realism a terrible painful death.
Set in the 19th century, when pain killers were nonexistent, the movie centers around Agnes (Harriet Anderson in one of Cinema’s great performances), who is dying of cancer in her last few days on earth. She is a wealthy, single, middle-aged woman dying in her large mansion surrounded by furniture, statues, works of art, her two sisters, and her maid. Her sisters are there to comfort her in her suffering, but the only person capable of giving comfort is the maid (Kari Sylwan). As Agnes is dying, each of the other main characters reflects on her life. Bergman interprets these reflections in flashbacks and illusions. The only main character not reflective is Agnes, as she is too busy suffering and fearful. After her death, there is a prolonged surrealistic nightmare whereby Agnes’s ghost demands emotional responses from her sisters.
The sisters are the older, seemingly strongest Karin (Ingrid Thulin), and the younger seductress Maria (Liv Ullmann). The witnessing of their sister dying, reveals their utter inability to care and comfort another person. The maid, Anna, has been Agnes’s companion for years, and readily comforts her not only emotionally but also physically. There may have been more than an employer-employee relationship between them, and Anna is the only religious person of the four, as Bergman hints at the humanity that religion can help enforce. As in many of his films, Bergman is always involving his own conflicting opinions on religion in his films. Here Anna represents those conflicts.
The death of Agnes is easily the most realistic death I have ever seen on film. Cancer tears the body from within, leaving the poor victim to suffer terrible pains. Without the painkillers of the modern world, death through cancer was an excruciating way to die. Bergman and Anderson hold no punches with the horrifying predicament of Agnes. Harriet is so involved in her performance, that I was certain I was seeing an actual act of great suffering. From the opening scene when we first meet Agnes waking up in her bed through bolts of pain, to her frightening last night on earth when every one of her last breaths seemed to burn her from within. I had to force myself to keep watching the movie. Bergman has always been terrific with his use of closeups to get into the minds of his characters. Here he uses the closeup to make his viewing audience almost feel the suffering going on inside Agnes. It is a horrifying viewing experience.
The rest of the cast is also first rate, succeeding in bringing their characters to life. Bergman also makes use of flashbacks to let the viewer understand each sister better. None of the main characters in the movie are people I would wish to get to know, and there is not really a good kind person among them. Even Anna seemed to have exterior motives for her kind actions. Karin is trapped in a loveless marriage with a cold, older diplomat who she loathes not only physically but also emotionally. There is a famous scene where she goes to drastic measures not to get intimate with her husband, which is also very hard to watch. As Maria, Liv Ullman flaunts her beauty, while taunting her husband, by openly having affairs. That this is painful to him, does not matter to her in the slightest, and she even has time to rekindle a tryst with the local doctor while Agnes continues to suffer in pain. Agnes’s ordeal does at one point spark a moment of humanity where the two sisters attempt to strengthen their relationship. It is, however, too late for any salvation for them, as the movie’s cruel cold ending makes quite clear.
Bergman worked with his longtime cinematographer, Sven Nykvist, to create striking scenes. For a director who previously worked almost entirely in black & white, he makes brilliant use of red in this movie, which he uses extensively in the film. Red dominates almost every scene in the mansion and is given an even more profound definition within Karin’s flashback that shows her desecrating herself with her own deep red blood. Agnes is always shown dressed in a white night gown, as if to say she will die a virgin. Red is the dominant color in all the scenes within the large mansion and is either combined with a deep white or a dark black, resulting in some startling scenes of beauty.
Strengthening my view of this film being a horror movie, are the post-death surrealistic scenes of the dead Agnes reanimated to life, demanding help, or care from her sisters. A demand that they are both unable to fulfill. Shown as a possible dream or sort of flashback, these scenes contain their own sense of remaining horror that will follow the surviving sisters. The question at the end of the movie remains as to whether they loved Agnes at all. Their actions do not point to this being true. However, I believe by showing Agnes’s death and haunting after death, Bergman is trying to tell us that they did in fact care and love their sister. They just do not know how to express it.
Certainly, I expect to enjoy myself when I watch a good movie. However, I also appreciate good horror movies that have the ability to scare me. Ingmar Bergman’s, “Cries and Whispers”, is not a movie that I enjoyed watching, yet it had me terrified, with its reflection on death, allowing me to reflect on it long after the closing credits. Only a very special and powerful movie can have this effect on its viewing audience.
1001 Movies before you die 