Cries and Whispers (1972)
Ingmar Bergman's "Cries and Whispers" While " Persona " may be a shining, monolithic beacon in the discography of Ingmar Bergman, 1972's " Cries and Whispers " certainly comes close to equaling its greatness. Now fully in his color period, specifically using Eastman coloring for this effort, Bergman takes advantage of color to its fully affect. He infuses the film with the color crimson, giving the film a gothic quality somehow (despite crimson being completely oppositional to darker, more gothic colors). The reason for this gothic texture stems from the film's themes of terminality. After all, the film centers around two sisters (and a maidservant) who must witness the excruciating and slow death of their beloved sister, Agnes. During these tragic moments, the sisters must reconcile with their own profound suffering, along with the irreparable fractures between them. While death certainly is THE theme of the film, " Cries and Whispers...