Solitude is an eternal theme.

Nico 2022-01-12 08:01:36

Bergman's film "Silence" tells the story of Anna taking her son John and her sister East on a train journey. As a result, East was seriously ill and had to stay in a small city temporarily. The story tells the situation of the past two days and one night.
The main background of the movie is Europe during the war. The roar of airplanes, including the sound of the boy John playing imitating airplanes, all explain that civilians are accustomed to the roar of fighters. When the movie was about to end, the tank blatantly drove into the alley below the hotel, also saying that the situation was getting worse.

In this movie, which can't be described as any plot, what is worrying is the relationship between the two sisters.
Sister East is an intellectual, translator, old-school hairstyle, and capable professional suits, all showing that she is a very strict person. Even when I was sick, I had to get up to see my sister during the period, and I would comb my hair meticulously and put on formal clothes. However, such a woman is still seriously ill, smoking and drinking, she is in a huge conflict. Including her masturbation, her alcohol dependence, tobacco dependence. She was in extreme pain, but strictly demanded herself. And as a parent, he asked his adult sister.

Sister Anna is like a rebellious girl. Although she took her children out together, she was as free as a single woman. As soon as she checked into the hotel, she went to the bar to drink and have fun. Although she doesn't care about her son, obviously she cares about what her sister East thinks. She tells East one by one where she went and what she did. Of course, she also deliberately stimulated East. She had a fight with East, and then brought the bartender into the room.

Anna's son John, so silent, he traveled by train with his mother and aunt. He was full of curiosity and walked around alone. On the train, in the hotel. He is wary of people, but also curious. He observes the staff on the train, observes the dwarf passengers living with him in the hotel and plays together, he observes the hotel staff and looks at his old photos with him. Even if there is no language communication, even if the language is not communicated, there is still something flowing among them.

Better than East and Anna.

Anna said to the bartender, I wish East would die.

She was also alone to death. The person opposite her did not understand her words. Sometimes language is the weakest. But her state, her emotions, at that moment, she can understand without words.
She told herself that he was just a stranger, and he listened.

Anna deliberately made love to the bartender in front of East, nothing more than a resistance to her sister. However, she is still sad. Her crying, her struggle, her pain and loneliness are equally unintelligible.
East did not understand Anna, just as Anna did not understand East.

Lonely, deep into their bones. I can't walk along the way, I just want to escape without a helmet and armor.

The hotel staff is the same. He manages the hotel alone. Take care of the sick East. East could only communicate with him in body language. However, his concerned eyes took good care of her.
He took a picture of himself and showed it to the little boy John who was walking alone in the hotel. The language is not fluent, but the photos can be understood. The person in the photo must be his relatives, but now he can only miss it with the photo.

In this world, everyone lives with a heavy story. Everyone is an island. There is a vast ocean all around, and no one can see each other's hearts.

Solitude is the theme of our eternal life. From the moment we fell to the ground, we began our lonely life.

All the talk, all the search, all the running, thinking that it would take us out of this lonely place, and finally found that we were alone.

Finally, Anna took John to East's bed and told her that we were leaving by the two o'clock in the afternoon train.
I suddenly felt relieved in my heart.

Such a entangled relationship is not as good as a person.

Although East was still eager to live, she yelled, "Mom, save me" when she was having difficulty breathing.


No matter how lonely this world is, it still makes people want to live.

East wrote a letter to John on the hospital bed. John and Anna got on the train and opened the letter, only to be snatched by Anna to read it.


It's just that, like Anna, we don't know what we wrote.


Perhaps John knows.


I really hope he will not live in such a lonely world when he grows up.

View more about The Silence reviews

Extended Reading
  • Marques 2022-03-19 09:01:07

    The finale of Bergman's silent trilogy, the lens language is extremely smooth, through the composition and language settings, the gap between the characters and the loneliness of the characters themselves, the cruel silence, and the fierce emotional collision under the calm surface of the image. See the middle man. I almost burst into tears when I communicated with my child.This is a work worthy of all my heart and soul.

  • Dell 2022-03-23 09:02:49

    Rewatch. The delicate relationship between sisters turned into wounds torn each other in the ineffective communication, the balance collapsed in the estrangement, the excess lust was dug out of the ground and exposed to the sun, no amount of words was futile. A favorite old man.

The Silence quotes

  • Ester: I didn't want to accept my wretched role. But now it's too damn lonely. We try out attitudes and find them all worthless. The forces are all too strong. I mean the forces... the horrible forces. You need to watch your step among all the ghosts and memories.

    Ester: All this talk... There's no need to discuss loneliness. It's a waste of time.

  • Ester: No, I don't want to die like this. I don't want to suffocate. Oh, that was horrible. Now I'm frightened. That scared me. That mustn't happen again.

    Ester: Where's the doctor? Must I die all alone?