The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

If you're sick of the current trend of having movies use a mostly teal color palette with orange for the explosions, then this is the movie for you. Ingmar Bergman and his cinematographer, Sven Nykvist, use a palette of red, red, red, red, and red as a backdrop for their story of three sisters in circa-1900 Sweden. Agnes (Harriet Andersson) is dying of cancer, and her two sisters Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Maria (Liv Ullmann) come to comfort her in her final days. Not that they're much comfort, since the whole family is dysfunctional for reasons that are never clearly delineated. And they all have bizarre sexual hangups.I'm sure I'll be in the minority, but I found that when it comes to dysfunctional families, this movie pales in comparison to Bergman's later Autumn Sonata. There, the characters are real people and it's easy to identify with them. Here, they seem like little more than ciphers standing in for basic human emotions. It doesn't help that the film is grindingly tedious when it isn't being gratuitously creepy (in the creepy old uncle way, not in the horror movie way). What was the point of the "dream" sequence toward the end, anyways? 5/10 for the story, 9/10 for the cinematography, which won Nykvist an Oscar - it's not just the overwhelming use of red that makes the cinematography interesting. Since I think story is worth more than cinematography, at least to me, I give it a six, mainly because it is Bergman and I want to cut him some slack.

I absolutely adore Bergman, but have to be honest. This is the least enjoyable film by him that I've watched, and it's hard to fathom how highly acclaimed it is.In a nutshell, two sisters (Liv Ullman and Ingrid Thulin) are at the deathbed of a third (Harriet Andersson). Andersson's character is in pain, but the sisters have great difficulty empathizing with her. The three are cold and isolated from one another, and it's only the housemaid (Kari Sylwan) who provides any comfort.Through flashbacks, the film gives insight into their characters. One of these is highly disturbing (stop reading now and avert your gaze if you're squeamish) – and has Thulin mutilating her genitals and smearing the blood on her face in front of her husband.Some adjectives to describe the film: cold, bleak, slow, depressing...should I go on? It is emotionally honest, yes, but it doesn't ask the big questions about God, death, life, or love – it just shows us how sad our little existences can be, even when living in luxury as the three sisters do, and how pitiful dying is.It was great to see Harriett Andersson again, 20 years after her first Bergman film, 'Summer with Monika', and she has the movie's best line in the final memory, a happy (and profound) moment on a swing with her sisters: "I wanted to cling to that moment, and I thought…Come what may, this is happiness. I cannot wish for anything better. Now, for a few minutes, I can experience perfection. And I feel profoundly grateful to my life, which gives me so much..." If only there were more of those moments, or philosophical questions raised. As it is, it's too painful to watch or recommend. I have a feeling the 5 Oscar nominations were more a reward for Bergman's films in the 50's and 60's, most of which were genius, and would have me thinking about them for hours afterwards. It's hard to imagine anyone giving 'Cries and Whispers' a high rating wanting to see it again.

I felt that Ingmar Begman's Cries and Whispers was certainly different than I would expect of most films centered around the death of a family member. What surprises me about this film is how dysfunctional and repressed most of the family members are around each other. The sisters look back upon their failed marriages and attempts at proving themselves to each other, all the while the dying sister tells them to just try and reconcile, yet they are ultimately unable to do so. What was so intriguing to me about this film was the fact that it showed you that sometimes tragedy can't heal the wounds and rifts that form in relationships, and that denial can prove more powerful than understanding.

This film is memorable. The close ups of this film makes this movie. I loved how Bergman portrays each of the sisters problems. The acting and edits in this film makes the movie come alive. When the sister is in pain, just the close ups on the faces really makes the audience feels the pain they go through. Yet it's interesting how the cuts really show the space and distance each of the sisters have for one another. Yet in the ending, the cuts show how the sisters start to slowly mend their relationship with each other. I find some of the scenes a bit disturbing and exteme, such as when the sister decides to hurt herself to not have sex with her spouse. That is a bit extreme, but the movie goes through many extremities. The red that is always shown throughout the film really draws the audience into the film because every time there is a red flash, the audience know it's going to get more intense than before. Overall, it's a movie worth to watch! :) It starts off a bit slow but it starts to pick up, even though it's a sad movie.