*I got a C- on this paper when I wrote it in 1990, and the grade is too generous. The entire article contains spoilers for the film.*
INTRODUCTION
Of all the films I have seen in class this quarter, I think "Cries and Whispers" moved me more than any of the others. This was the first Ingmar Bergman film I had seen, and it affected me in many different ways. This paper discusses the unanswered questions I had when the lights went up but answered after a lot of thought.
-Were the men in "Cries and Whispers" catalysts for the sisters' behavior?
Yes. Karin's husband was an older, distant, uncaring man whose only reason to touch her is sexual. Even then, sex to him is an afterthought when considering his question to her after supper: "Shall we have coffee in the drawing room or shall we go straight to bed?" I do not think Karin ever loved this man, and probably married him for the money he seems to have. After Karin puts the glass in her vagina, he seems only mildly repulsed. He does not scream and go to her. I think that her self-mutilation has something to do with her menstrual cycle. Maybe he finds that aspect of a woman repulsive. From watching them, I got the feeling that these two people hated each other without limits and what we saw in the film was just the latest chapter in an undeclared war between the sexes. Why do they stay together? Probably out of social necessity. He needs a wife to trot around to his friends at parties, and Karin does not want to end up an old maid like her sister Agnes.
-Was there any lesbianism in "Cries and Whispers"?
Of course not, despite the class' reaction. Anna was Agnes' servant, and I could see how a special bond could grow between them. Also, because Anna's daughter had died, Anna was obviously transferring her maternal instincts and love to Agnes. The sequence between Karin and Maria was just sisterly love. If these characters had been American, I doubt if anyone would touch anyone else of the opposite sex. It just would not be "proper."
-Did Agnes really come back to life near the end of "Cries and Whispers"?
I think Agnes came back to life in Anna's imagination. Agnes and Anna had a bond between them that could not be shared with anyone else. My goodness, a lady and her help actually caring for one another? I think the sequence was Anna's way of showing us, the audience, that she was more than a servant. Maria and Karin's reactions are that of revulsion at the thought of being touched by the dead. Their reasons are given in their reactions- Karin does not want to be touched, and Maria has trouble with that kind of unpassionate love. There is no new information or unspoken secret released to the audience. Therefore, this information could only be possessed by someone like a servant, who sees pretty much everything but can only speak when spoken to.
--Nominated for 5 Academy Awards, with one win--
Best Picture (lost to "The Sting")
Best Director- Ingmar Bergman (lost to George Roy Hill "The Sting")
Best Story and Screenplay (lost to "The Sting")
Best Cinematography (won)
Best Costume Design (lost to "The Sting")
