Cries and Whispers
(Ingmar Bergman, 1973)

I've been losing a little sleep over a certain scene in Cries and Whispers. This film is about two sisters, Maria and Karin, who have come back to their family home to to attend their sister, Agnes, during the last days before her death.

There is never any question as to whether or not Agnes will die. Her impending death is inevitable- and she is not the protagonist of the film. The protagonists are Maria and Karin.

The crucial scene where the character arcs of Maria and Karin are decided, is the scene that keeps me up at night. It could almost be out of a horror film.

The deceased Agnes calls out to her sisters from the bed where her corpse has been laid out. The camera work is fantastic. We don't really see Agnes's face very well. We learn from the dialogue that she is starting to show some decay. There are splotches of rot already blooming on her hands.

Agnes explains that, while to the living it may seem that they are having a dream, for her this moment is very real. Agnes begs her sisters to come to her, to keep her company in the last hours before her spirit flees her body forever. She asks them to hold her hands, to keep her warm, to kiss her.

First Karin, then Maria approach their sister's corpse. Each sister's reaction to Anges's plea gives us a profound insight into their characters, showing us that Karin and Maria, while seeming fundamentally different, in reality are exactly the same.

So, what keeps me up at night isn't really the image of Agnes's corpse tumbling to the ground when one of the sisters spurns her- it's wondering what I would do in Karin or Maria's place. It creates a sort of horrid fascination, both with the nature of death, and the nature of one's self.