In his autobiography ‘Images: My Life in Film,’ Ingmar Bergman writes:
“All my films can be thought of as black and white, except for Cries and Whispers. If I look at the script, red is the interior of the soul. When I was a child, I saw the soul as a shadowy dragon, like a blue winged creature floating in the air, something half bird, half fish. But inside that dragon, everything was red.”
What strikes the eye most in Cries and Whispers is the profusion of red. The wallpaper is red, the blankets are red, the household objects are red—even the background of the opening credits is red. When the film transitions from one scene to another, Bergman draws the curtain with red. And of course, there is blood!
There are exactly three colors in the film: red, white, black. These are the colors of the moon. The rising moon is red, the full moon is white, the new moon is black. This is fundamentally a film about three sisters. Three colors representing three sisters. Three faces of the same moon. Or one might say, three shadows of the same mother’s body.
One sister is Maria. Her hair is red, her gown is red. In the film she is lustful, as if she were Aphrodite’s representative. She seduces the doctor, later has an affair with him.
“Don’t touch me.” “I don’t want anyone to touch me.” Such words from Karin reveal that she cannot bear anyone’s companionship—not even her husband’s. She is irritable, her clothing is black.
The remaining sister is named Agnes. She suffers from cancer. In the film we see her in white sheets, white clothes, red blankets. She is the symbol of death. She is cared for by a servant named Anna. Anna is loving, religious, patient. She stays by Agnes’s side always—even when neither of her sisters is there. In Michelangelo’s sculpture Pietà, we see Christ’s dead body lying in Mother Mary’s lap. Just so, with dying Agnes’s head resting on her bare breast, Anna gives her motherly love. The film shows that the two people Anna shelters with maternal affection—her own daughter and Agnes—both die. Whether Anna is a symbol of life or death is difficult to discern. Perhaps that’s why Bergman left Anna’s color to the viewer’s imagination.
How are men portrayed in the film? After Maria’s husband realizes her infidelity, he attempts suicide. An unsuccessful attempt. Karin’s husband is a diplomat by profession. He cannot even touch Karin! Then there’s Doctor David. His moral strength is weak; Maria easily ensnares him in love’s trap. What remains is the priest. He is called after Agnes’s death to recite prayers for the deceased soul. We don’t see any significant male presence in important roles in this film. This movie depicts the psychology of women. To serve that purpose, men have a subdued presence. Notably, the two women who appear in negative roles in the film have men beside them; the other two have no men by their sides.
Nature is presented in the film in such a way that at different moments, looking at nature, one can easily grasp where the movie is heading, what it’s hinting at. In the film’s final scene, we see all three sisters with Anna walking in the park in white clothes. Here white symbolizes pure and innocent spiritual bonds. They all went to a swing. Everyone sat on the swing, chatting, Anna pushing the swing. Just as the three sisters were with each other in childhood—in affection, in love. We see Anna reading from Agnes’s diary:
“Like three dear little sisters, we sat on the swing and Anna began to push us, very gently. All my pain and suffering was gone. Those I love most in the world were with me. I could hear them chatting in front of me. I could feel the presence of their bodies, I could feel the warmth of their hands. I wanted to hold onto that moment and I thought, ‘Whatever comes next, what I have now is happiness. I cannot think of anything better than this. Now, for these few moments, I understand what perfection is. I am deeply grateful to this life of mine, which has given me so much.’”
Toward the film’s end, Agnes suddenly awakens from death’s icy slumber and tries to embrace her two sisters. Both sisters flee! Humans must suffer alone, humans must die alone too. Yes, Agnes found someone by her side. That was Anna. She could not prevent her daughter’s death, but through love’s bond she tried to either hold back Agnes’s death or walk hand in hand with Agnes on death’s unknown path, trying to taste life’s true essence. In this film, life cries out needlessly, preparing for death before death arrives, while death whispers secrets, teaching the mantra of staying alive. All these cries and whispers, this three-dimensionality of color, all surrender to the loving touch of women—be it a mother’s touch, a daughter’s, a loved one’s, a wife’s.