The Silence (Criterion Collection)
by Ingmar Bergman
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DVD Cover Information
Director: Ingmar BergmanBrand: Criterion Collection
Primary Contributor: Ingrid Thulin
Primary Contributor: Gunnel Lindblom
Primary Contributor: Jorgen Lindstrom
Primary Contributor: Hakan Jahnberg
Primary Contributor: Birger Malmstem
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Swedish (Unknown); English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Criterion Collection, Dubbed, Subtitled
Running Time: 95 unknown-units
Published: 2003
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Svensk Filmindusti / The Criterion Collection
Movie Reviews of The Silence (Criterion Collection)
Movie Review: Baptism in Silence
Summary: 5 Stars
Originally titled God's Silence. This is a film of loneliness and despair. It is a film where there is great pain in existence. Three primary characters: Anna, Ester and Johan (Ester's son). The film opens on a train. This snapshot is telling - Anna coughing up blood and emotional, Ester comforting her son yet shooing him away minutes later, Johan the acute observer noting happenings in each cabin, noting the tanks careening by. They get stuck in a village where a language is spoken that they do not understand. They get stuck in a very old hotel where it appears that other than a troop of little people, they are the only one's in the place. Three auxillary players come into play - the maintenance man, the bartender and the hotel waiter. Most of the film is silent - except for some ambient music in the bar; and a very critical scene where Bach's Brandenburg Concerto is featured on the radio. While this is a piece representing Bach's highest achievement - the people we are exposed to in The Silence are all at their lowest. Seeking comfort in base desires. For Ester it is within that she seeks comfort from loneliness, sickness and despair. She turns to cigarettes, liquor, her intellect and her work translating great literature, and she brings pleasure to herself sexually. Anna, on the other hand, seeks to ease the pain of loneliness through others. Through the attentions and affections of her son; and when that doesn't work through the company of a stranger - in this case a bartender. Her efforts fail to ease her pain as well. Ultimately there is no relief. It is worth noting here Francis Schaeffer's comments on this film in "The God Who Is There." He points out that: this film is a statement of utter nihilism. Man, in this picture, does not even have the hope of authenticating himself by an act of the will. The Silence is a series of snapshots with immoral and pornographic themes. The camera just takes them without comment...That is all there is. Life is like that: unrelated, having no meaning as well as no morals." Is there any hope in this film. I'd like to say that the waiter has some redeeming qualities to him. But he too is but a charicature of who he once was. The film ends back on the train with just Ester and Johan as they travel there is a storm raging outside. Ester opens the window to feel the rain on her face. Maybe the rain is God. Cleansing. Baptising. What she needs. The answer to her despair.
Summary of The Silence (Criterion Collection)
Screen Formats:B&W Sound:Dolby Digital Mono Aspect Ratio:1.33:1 Features: New high-definition digital transfer of the original, uncensored Swedish version, with restored image and sound Exploring the Film: video discussion with Ingmar Bergman biographer Peter Cowie Poster gallery for the trilogy films Essay by film scholar Leo Braudy Original U.S. theatrical trailer Optional English-dubbed soundtrack New and improved English subtitle translation Optional image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition. Synopsis: The third entry in Ingmar Bergman's trilogy about faith and redemption (with Through A Glass Darkly and Winter Light) is a stark and enigmatic allegory fueled by subtle performances from Ingrid Thulin and Gunnel Lindblom. Thulin plays Ester, a translator and intellectual, who is traveling back to Sweden on a train with her younger sister Anna (Linblom) and Anna's son Johan (Jorgen Lindstrom). They stop in the town of Timuku and check into an old hotel in a foreign land where the language cannot be understood by the three travelers. Ester, who suffers from a terminal lung disease, is very protective towards Anna; but Anna resents being tied down by her sickly sister, and she leaves the hotel room, picking up a waiter (Birger Malmsten in a nearby café. Returning to the hotel room, Anna tells Ester about her sexual encounter with the waiter, and Ester becomes sexually aroused. Anna leaves for another room in the hotel to continue making love with the waiter. Johan helps Ester track Anna down Anna, and Anna and the waiter proceed to make love a third time. This provokes a violent and biter argument between the two sisters. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie GuideSimilar DVD Movies
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