Cries and Whispers story
Cries and Whispers (Swedish: Viskningar och rop, lit. 'Whispers and Cries') is a 1972 Swedish period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin and Liv Ullmann. The film, set in a mansion at the end of the 19th century, is about three sisters and a servant who struggle with the terminal cancer of one of the sisters (Andersson). The servant (Sylwan) is close to her, while the other two sisters (Ullmann and Thulin) confront their emotional distance from each other.
17 total · 3 choice · 8 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| female sexuality | choice | central to the story was the comparing and contrasting of the three sisters' different attitudes towards matters carnal (Agnes unmarried and perhaps lesbian, Karin disgusted by touch, Maria lascivious), as well as Anna |
| sister and sister | choice | Agnes, Maria, Karin |
| sororal love | choice | the love, and variously lack thereof, between the sisters was central to the story |
| coping with a loved one being gravely ill | major | two sisters attended a dying third sister |
| coping with a terminal illness | major | Agnes was near death because of cancer |
| coping with the death of a family member | major | Maria and Karin mourned after Agnes died. |
| expressing feelings | major | the story came back time and again to how everything is "a tissue of lies", the idea seemingly that people don't speak the truth about what is in their hearts |
| husband and wife | major | Maria and Joakim; Karin and Fredrik |
| master and servant | major | the three sisters and Anna |
| reconciliation | major | Maria and Karin seemed to reconcile as sisters in the end |