review for Cries and Whispers on AllMovie

Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers (Viskningar Och Rop) finds the director exploring many of the same themes as his landmark Persona (1966). A study of three sisters and the "tissue of lies" between them, the film once again measures the tremors caused by long-buried secrets, dreams, and resentments. Not one gesture rings false, particularly in the distant-but-sympathetic performance of Bergman's longtime collaborator (and companion) Liv Ullmann, cast against type as the acidic Maria. Though obviously influenced by Chekhov and Tolstoy, Bergman makes the material his own, disrupting the script's Gothic facade with shocking, distinctly modern feelings and incidents: despite the Freudian and Jungian interpretations that can be made of individual scenes, Cries never substitutes abstract theory for character development. Cinematographer Sven Nykvist keeps the proceedings from becoming an inert chamber play; his expressionistic use of color -- punctuated by the fades to red between sequences -- is unlike anything previously seen in Bergman's work. Cries and Whispers became one of the only foreign-language films ever nominated for an Oscar as Best Picture, and Bergman received his first nomination as Best Director, cementing (if tardily) his status as the leading foreign art-movie director.