As a representative figure of modernist films, Ingmar Bergman's "Cries and Whispers" also belongs to the category of modernist films. [Modernist films are from the traditional dramatic storylines and characters' personalities to the more subtle and secret emotional changes in the characters' hearts, exploring the most primitive things in human nature (publicizing personal intuition and emotions), and horizontally reproducing social life , Character emotions, pay attention to the natural flow of character emotions (stream of consciousness), so that the film is sublimated from visual art to an artistic film that expresses inner feelings. ] The film expresses human nature through fragmented dramatic plots and depicts the images of the characters themselves, and explores a series of issues related to people. Guide the audience's feelings and cause the audience to think. The film mainly revolves around four women, Agnes, Karin, Maria, and Anna. Some people say that the image of these four people borrows the female prototype from mythology, Agnes is the sacrifice on the altar, Karin: the cold, evil witch, Maria: the slut, the blood-sucking woman, Anna: the speechless Mother Earth. The way of portraying the characters: Maria expresses Maria's desire by often wearing red clothes, even when she wears black mourning clothes after her sister's death, the background is decorated with red, she often touches her lips with her hands, and likes to touch others to show her lack of love. ; Showing her hypocrisy through her sister's sudden outburst of loveless cries after her death, and her hypocritical courtship to Karin, just to fill her empty heart. Master Bergman also used the doctor's mouth to let us know more about Maria in a very short period of time. Karin: Karin always wears black clothes, buttoned at the top of the collar, to reflect her closedness and abstinence; by her not communicating with others, not looking at others, her distrust and suspicion of others; Being unable to speak again, trying to touch others and withdrawing her hand, reflects her loss of ability to communicate; hurting herself, in contrast to the subsequent emotional outburst (in contrast), reflects her pain. Anna: Love: Half-naked, caressing the Mother Earth figure, caring for Agnes like a child. Genuinely kiss and caress. The most used are the close-up of the character's expression, in order to express the subtle emotional changes of the character. The blank space is also the director's characteristic technique in this film. The composition is as clean as possible to guide the audience to focus on the things he wants to highlight. Three primary colors form the tone of the film: Red: Represents images of blood, heart, etc. In Agnes, red is a metaphor for death, for Maria, red means desire, and for the entire film, red is the heart, which aims to explore the problems hidden deep in people's hearts. White: deserted, lonely, cross in the cemetery. black: Death, depression, abstinence, closure. Some images in the film: Clocks: At the beginning of the film, there are several close-ups of various clocks, here I think it is a metaphor that life is mechanically passing by in this ticking sound, day after day, year after year, like this Life is rigid and unchanging. This ticking sound also runs through the entire film, making it always imply rigor and coldness. Atmosphere of death: The film begins with the solemn and deserted manor in the early morning, with crows chirping amid the permeating fog. Touching: On the surface, the character's method of expressing intimacy. Whisper: true closeness. Shouting: A way of expressing pain and calling for help. "Cry and Whisper" discusses topics such as death, God, indifference between people, inability to understand each other, and even if there was close communication, it could not last for a long time. Until now, I can't say that I understand what the director wants to express. , but I was also led to think and try to understand his thoughts. The film is full of despair, except for Anna and Agnes, the rest are selfish, indifferent, hypocritical, and can't even get rid of death. And in the seemingly bright scene at the end of the film, there is no relief. Agnes's expression is telling us that she knows that the short happiness she is pursuing is just an illusion.
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