Cries and Whispers - A Haunting and Stylish Portrayal of Grief

No other director has the ability to portray human emotions as meticulously as Bergman. I watched Cries and Whispers last week, and I have not stopped thinking about it ever since. Its haunting portrayal of death, grief, and the complexity of relationships is hard to forget.

The film has a reputation for its stylish set and costume design, but its colors convey so much more than style. The color red depicts the extreme state of emotions the characters experience. All the characters wear white before Agnes's death and black—the color of grief—after she dies. He uses every element of a film to depict a certain detail. Every color, every shadow, and light is used to tell the story.

As he mentioned in his interviews, he is profoundly fascinated with the human face; he views it as a canvas for expressing the depth of human emotions. Instead of relying on dialogue, Bergman shows the mental states of the characters through their facial expressions. For example, in the first part, when the doctor—whom Maria is having an extramarital affair with—touches her, her eyes show joy; in the very next scene, when her husband touches her face in the same manner, her eyes reveal guilt. Very few words are used to encapsulate so many emotions. He narrates the story not through words, but through visuals. This is what cinema's purpose is: to tell stories through the camera, and Bergman makes the utmost use of it.

The three sisters each have a different perception of life. We can discern the characters' philosophies through their behaviors. Karin is a cynical, nihilistic individual. Maria is a lonely, sad woman who tries to hide her sadness with a smile. She knows life is bitter but tries to accept it. One might suggest she is an absurdist. Agnes, the religious woman slowly dying of cancer, whose pain knows no bounds, is surprisingly the happiest among them. The pain doesn't stop her from being content; she is grateful for the love surrounding her.

After Agnes's death, Maria tries to connect with Karin, who uses bitterness as a shield to stay isolated from the world and her sisters. Despair is what separated them. Now that they have grieved together, crying at life's agonies, they reconnect and share every other emotion: happiness, anger, fear. Grief is what truly unites humans and makes us feel close to one another. That is what Bergman probably tries to convey.

The best part of the film for me was the surrealistic dream sequence where the dead Agnes calls her sisters. Karin refuses bitterly to have any conversation with her. Maria responds, starts talking to her but her dead sister enfolds her in her arms and kisses her on the lips. This sequence uses surrealism to portray how they are dealing with their sister's death. Karin refuses to think about death at all, while Maria becomes too attached, and death starts to provoke existential thoughts in her.

Easily one of the greatest films I've ever watched!