Cries and Whispers (1972)

Directed by Ingmar Bergman

More than anything when Ingmar Bergman’s 1972 familial drama Cries and Whispers is brought up the intense use of the color red is remarked and talked about. The color red creates a visually breathtaking aesthetic and creates a plethora of metaphors and symbols within the film. However, it seems to me, that Bergman’s astounding use of sound feels masked by his overwhelmingly beautiful color use of primarily red, white, and black in this tragic expressionist tale of three sisters.

Bergman’s use of sound is best exemplified in the scene pictured above, about 38 minutes into the film, when Karin and Maria care for Agnes right after she has just been in a state of massive screaming pain. Within the scene Bergman perfectly juxtaposes the reoccurring ear-piercing sounds of Agnes’s screams and the constant ticking of clock to gentle, calm sounds of water pouring and almost complete silence to showcase the pain of life and death.

This expert employment of juxtaposing boisterous and violent intonations to placid sounds transcends this scene to an extremely brief and rare dream-like sequence where the audience sees not only a different side to each sister, but the complete opposite reactions each sister would usually be having. It seems, within the scene, Bergman juxtaposes sound to convey a paradox of character for each Karin, Maria, and Agnes.

Significantly, the scene both starts with a close-up shot of a ticking clock and ends with a close-up shot of a ticking clock, with each shot of said clocks blaring the noise of the tick-tick-tick of the tellers of time. The fact that the scene starts and ends with the noise of clocks clacking conveys the never-ending loss of time that is heavily prevalent throughout the film, but especially emphasized in this scene.

This scene is the first where Karin and Maria can be seen both tenderly caring for Agnes; however, much like Agnes’s life, that tender care and almost genuine affection from both of her sisters is sadly short-lived. The ticking of clocks at the end of the scene accentuates that this reunion of three sisters to what seems like a state of childhood care for each other is brief and will inevitably end. Yet, it is this inescapable knowledge that this ideal love and care cannot last that gives the scene it’s strange dream-like quality.

Bergman continues with his use of the tick-tock of clocks throughout the scene, but in a different way than the rest of the film. Instead of hearing the clocks blaring throughout the whole scene the noise of the clocks starts heavily noticeable in the beginning of the scene only to gradually die down as the sisters fall into roles and actions that appose their personalities apparent in the rest of the film. As the scene goes on the ticking of the clock can be clearly head gradually fading, as the sisters slip into their contradictory roles and actions, almost as if time has stopped along with their usual personalities, entering into a scene where for one moment the pain of the world and the impending threat of death and depression is gone.

Right before the initial close-up and heavy ticking of the clock that starts the scene Agnes can be heard screaming in excruciating pain and writhing on her bed, on the brink of death. Yet, within this scene Agnes is serene and calm, not screaming, talking, or really making any noise at all, a clear contradiction to the constant shrieks of agony heard from Agnes throughout the film.

As the ticking of the clocks fade, another sound is introduced. The sound of the pouring of water can be head as Karin and Maria bathe Agnes and then eventually Karin pours Agnes a glass of water. Though it may not seem entirely significant, the pouring of water is a clear regression from the persistent ticking of clocks, which represent never-ending fear and death and doubt. While, the pouring of water is not only at a base level more calm and clear than the ticking of clocks, the sound of water pouring also serves to symbolize nature, something that Agnes, in her weakened state, longs to feel.

The water also serves a religious function as a symbol for the sisters, mainly Karin and Maria, to wash away their sins and embrace purity through caring for their ailing sister. Through Karin and Maria’s action of bathing Agnes, we see a diversion in both of their characters. Karin in the fact that she is physically touching and helping Agnes whereas in the rest of the film she can be seen shying way from any physical contact to the point of expressing deep hatred for it at all. Maria’s diversion in character can be seen in the sense that she is caring for Agnes at all compared to nearly the whole rest of the film where she is extremely selfish, self-serving, and uncaring to the needs and wants of anybody else.

The two sisters brief caring for Agnes and shift from their regular, obscenely strict personalities can also be seen as Maria pours Agnes a glass of water and Karin brushes her hair. As the sound of pouring water overwhelms the ticking of the clock Karin gives Agnes physical comfort in the form of brushing her hair wile Maria pours Agnes a glass of water. Each sister’s action is a symbol of something they would never do but seem to be doing now from this one brief moment of a scene, creating a dream-like wonder.

However, like all good dreams this one was never meant to last, which Bergman reminds the audience of as he has the ticking of clocks roar back to life at the end of the scene. Finally, this carefulness and comradery of the three sisters ends with a close-up of another ticking clock indicating a shift back to their usual roles: pain and sacrifice for Agnes, selfishness and uncaring for Maria, and obligation and loathing for Karin. Through his use of sound within this scene Bergman reminds us that states of goodness were never meant to last and impending ticking of doom always prevails.