An examination of themes from Ingmar Bergman's film 'Cries and Whispers'

Cries and Whispers

Cries and Whispers is a film about how we are all existentially alone in our feelings, the need for an emotional outlet, and the need we all have for human comfort. This 1972 film is by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman starring Liv Ullmann as Maria; Harriet Andersson as Agnes; Ingrid Thulin as Karin; Erland Josephson as the Doctor and Kari Sylwan as Anna. The film received 5 Academy Award nominations, winning in the category of Best Cinematography for Sven Nykvist.  Although the film made $1,500.00 it was considered a commercial success being made for only $400,000.00. The film takes place in a mansion in the late 19th century and focuses on 3 sisters, 1 of whom is dying of cancer. The main theme of the film is how unexpressed feelings often express themselves in destructive ways. The metaphor of this theme is Agnes whose cries are contrasted with the silence of her 2 sisters who keep their own pain bottled up. Another crucial theme in the film is warmth, represented by the maid Anna who provides the film’s human element and contrast to other members of the cast, especially sisters Karin and Maria who are both cold and distant. Another theme explored in the film is redemption. Symbolically, Agnes is Christ bearing the sins and suffering of her sisters, giving her voice to the pain they feel but are incapable of expressing themselves. 

Isolation and suffering

Isolation

Isolation is a universal condition in this film. Agnes appears to be the main character this condition applies to but she isn’t because of their maid, Anna, who is always there to comfort her when she cries out. It is Agnes’ mother and 2 sisters who have no comfort and who are isolated and incapable of expressing their pain and feelings. This film is about existential loneliness, the silences, and “tissues” that prevent us from touching each other. Though there is pain and unhappiness in their lives, none of the film’s characters are able to share their pain with each other nor do they cry out for help like Agnes whose cries for help are answered by Anna. Karin has no one to share her feelings with; Maria is too selfish and Frederik, her husband, is too insensitive. Therefore, Karin expresses her pain by mutilating her private parts. Joakim, also, has no one to share the pain caused by his cheating wife and attempts suicide. The sisters’ mother has no one to share her loneliness with except Agnes whom she neglected. But it is because of this isolation and neglect that Agnes is able to relate to her mother. Like Agnes, the servant Anna, who lost her daughter to an illness, knows also what it’s like to feel lonely and isolated which is why she can relate to Agnes. 

Suffering

Suffering is another universal condition in the film in which Karin and Maria are contrasted against Agnes and Anna. Karin and Maria were favored by their mother and in the context of this theme of suffering never experienced any real suffering or loneliness that would have given them empathy. Their callousness towards each other, their sister, Anna and their husbands are consistent throughout the film. Anna and Agnes, on the other hand, have suffered in ways that made them sensitive to others’ suffering. This is why Agnes relates better than her sisters to their mother even though her mother neglects her. Agnes' suffering in isolation and loneliness helps her understand her mother’s isolation and loneliness. Anna suffers quietly as a maidservant among employers who look down on her. This and the death of her ill daughter makes her able to comfort and relate to Agnes’ pain. 

Warmth

Anna is the only person who expresses warmth in the film. This is beautifully shown when she opens her blouse to press Agnes’ head on her breast. This is also suggested when Karin tells the maid to start a fire. By contrast, Karin and Maria are cold to their sister, Anna, their husbands, and towards each other. 

Maria uses her charms for advantage and deception. She attempts to use these false charms to deceive her dead sister but when Agnes pulls her down for a kiss, the real Maria comes out and she runs out of the room leaving her dead sister to Anna’s care.

By not receiving any warmth herself, Karin is unable to provide any to her husband.

Lies

Karins' and Marias’ relationships with their husbands and each other are based on lies. The doctor points this out in the scene where he “reads”— like sentences— Maria’s face  and characterizing the lines in it as artifice, deceit, coldness, unconcern, and selfishness. In a scene late in the film, she shares an intimate moment with Karin where they appear to open up to each other. Later, however, Karin reminds Maria of this conversation and Maria smiles coldly. Her marriage to Joakim— who knows about her affairs with the doctor— is a lie. When Anna comes back from the dead and pleads for Maria’s comfort she, after 1st pretending to care about Agnes’ pain, comes up with a superficial excuse to get out of comforting her dead sister. 

Karin’s lie is silently putting up with her husband because of his wealth and position while at the same time despising him and faking periods to get out of sleeping with him. 

Pain

Sin in this movie is synonymous with the color red which has a lot to do with the inside of the human body or the human heart. Here are some examples of how red as sin is used as a theme in this film: 

• The red interior of the mansion is Agnes’s body
• Red is also the color of the nightgown Maria wears to seduce the doctor into having sex
• The red fade ins and outs are always associated with pain of some sort like the flashback of Maria’s husband attempting to commit suicide because of her infidelity
• Red is also a metaphor associated with the self-mutilation scene involving Karin

Agnes in this film is the Christ figure, carrying the burden of sins for everyone through her own physical suffering. Karin, Maria, and Anna have on white dresses at the beginning of the film to show that they have been washed by Agnes bearing their pain for them.