Ingmar Bergman makes the sorts of intellectually challenging films that are almost not allowed anymore. The younger generation is basically taught that the sorts of profound questions that Bergman asks (and Bergman more than any other auteur, for even the most highly respected auteurs, Truffaut, Fellini, Kurosawa, Kubrick, shied away from subjects such as Bergman has tackled) are unnecessary. They are taught this because, if they were to willingly examine the emptiness of human existence, they would quickly fail to participate in all the lovely shadows on the cave wall, and then society would go kaput.
Truthfully, I have not seen all that many Ingmar Bergman films. This shocked me, too, as I realized this. Before I came to college, I rented his most famous film, The Seventh Seal. Even the uneducated realize upon seeing it that it is one of the best films ever made. Next, probably the next week after I saw The Seventh Seal, I rented his second most famous film: Wild Strawberries. At the time, I did not find it all that interesting. It has been four years since I saw it, and I know I should rent it again, but I remember that I was sure that I understood it when it was over, and that its profundity was slight in comparison with The Seventh Seal. Like I said, I need to see it again. It was some three years later that I saw another Bergman film, Through the Glass Darkly. I was stunned at it, as I was at The Seventh Seal, even if slightly less. And then I saw maybe the greatest film that I ever saw, and it was one of his: Persona, the film that has haunted me for months now.
And now comes my fifth Bergman experience: Cries and Whispers. At first, I found it sort of slow, but that did not last for long. Without even realizing it, at about the half-hour point, I was so drawn in that I was experiencing the same pain as was being experienced by the four main characters onscreen. This is a devastating film. Its silence hurts terribly. And sometimes subtle sound effects scrape across your skin like a fork: the clock especially. Also, the whispers, which turn up as the film has faded out and is fading back in. I know for a fact that Criterion is doing a DVD version of this film, and that is great. On a VHS tape, the static is so loud as to drown out the subtleties on the soundtrack. And then there are the cries, which made me want to cry aloud along with the characters. All in all, my understanding of this completely exhilarating and painful film are weak. But in this lies the greatness of such a film that challenges my intellect. I must think hard about this, reading up on it, and hopefully seeing it again. I do not at all mind having to do this. It is much better than the escapism of an everyday film.
And if you are reading this comment because you love this movie, may I suggest Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, which was obviously inspired by this film. It is not as great, for it is lighter, but it is a worthwhile followup to the film. Also, William Faulkner's novel As I Lay Dying, which has a somewhat similar plot. It is about a family's relationship as concerns their dead mother.
Truthfully, I have not seen all that many Ingmar Bergman films. This shocked me, too, as I realized this. Before I came to college, I rented his most famous film, The Seventh Seal. Even the uneducated realize upon seeing it that it is one of the best films ever made. Next, probably the next week after I saw The Seventh Seal, I rented his second most famous film: Wild Strawberries. At the time, I did not find it all that interesting. It has been four years since I saw it, and I know I should rent it again, but I remember that I was sure that I understood it when it was over, and that its profundity was slight in comparison with The Seventh Seal. Like I said, I need to see it again. It was some three years later that I saw another Bergman film, Through the Glass Darkly. I was stunned at it, as I was at The Seventh Seal, even if slightly less. And then I saw maybe the greatest film that I ever saw, and it was one of his: Persona, the film that has haunted me for months now.
And now comes my fifth Bergman experience: Cries and Whispers. At first, I found it sort of slow, but that did not last for long. Without even realizing it, at about the half-hour point, I was so drawn in that I was experiencing the same pain as was being experienced by the four main characters onscreen. This is a devastating film. Its silence hurts terribly. And sometimes subtle sound effects scrape across your skin like a fork: the clock especially. Also, the whispers, which turn up as the film has faded out and is fading back in. I know for a fact that Criterion is doing a DVD version of this film, and that is great. On a VHS tape, the static is so loud as to drown out the subtleties on the soundtrack. And then there are the cries, which made me want to cry aloud along with the characters. All in all, my understanding of this completely exhilarating and painful film are weak. But in this lies the greatness of such a film that challenges my intellect. I must think hard about this, reading up on it, and hopefully seeing it again. I do not at all mind having to do this. It is much better than the escapism of an everyday film.
And if you are reading this comment because you love this movie, may I suggest Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, which was obviously inspired by this film. It is not as great, for it is lighter, but it is a worthwhile followup to the film. Also, William Faulkner's novel As I Lay Dying, which has a somewhat similar plot. It is about a family's relationship as concerns their dead mother.