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The Silence (Criterion Collection)

Ingmar Bergman (Director) Rated:
Unrated
Format: DVD
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 70 ratings
$12.17
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Genre Foreign
Format Black & White, Subtitled, Criterion Collection, Dubbed
Contributor Jorgen Lindstrom, Hakan Jahnberg, Ingrid Thulin, Birger Malmstem, Ingmar Bergman, Gunnel Lindblom
Language Swedish
Runtime 95 minutes
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Product Description

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 Guide

Product details

  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
  • Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.1 x 5.42 x 0.58 inches; 2.93 ounces
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Ingmar Bergman
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ Black & White, Subtitled, Criterion Collection, Dubbed
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 95 minutes
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Jorgen Lindstrom, Hakan Jahnberg, Birger Malmstem
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
  • Language ‏ : ‎ Unqualified (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Svensk Filmindusti / The Criterion Collection
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000IZ8FZY
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 70 ratings

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
70 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Galina
5.0 out of 5 stars The Cries and Whispers of Silence
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2006
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The title of a dark and erotic final chapter of "faith" trilogy may sum up Bergman's own philosophy regarding religion and God - "God has never spoken because He does not exist". Bergman mentioned that he wanted to make a film with as little dialog as possible because "he had made many films with a lot of talking". He wanted "The Silence" to be a pure cinematographic experience where the images do all the talking. The films centers on two sisters, Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and Anna, (Gunnel Lindblom) to whom Ester is physically attracted. Esther, Anna and her 10-year-old son travel together and had to stop in a hotel located in an unnamed European country due to Esther's serious illness.

The film may be viewed on several levels -as the story of two sisters who apparently used to be close but are not able to communicate and understand one another anymore. Or it can be interpreted as a parable of Sensuality, Intellect, and Innocence, that cannot coexist in the world where God does not exist. As with every great and intelligent work of art, "The Silence" has so much to offer to its viewer, it's got so many questions to ask and it does not provide the easy answers.

Complex, suffocating, screaming through the silence, poignant, passionate, harrowing yet strangely hopeful and even funny sometimes - this is an unforgettable film, a masterpiece, a hidden treasure that has to be rediscovered and to receive as much praise and admiration as "Persona" and "Cries and Whispers" - for both of which "The Silence" was an inspiration. The acting by two Bergman's actresses is a miracle (as usual) as well as Sven Nykvist's camera work in creating the claustrophobic world where silence cries, whispers, and kills...
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John P.
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent movie!
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2021
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Excellent movie!
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C McGhee
4.0 out of 5 stars Great images / incomplete story
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2011
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The Silence by Ingmar Bergman-

like a Bergman picture, a story based in the images presented & not enough backround to really make any concrete sense out of the story. He means to raise questions in your mind as a primary purpose.

The story revolves around two sisters that stay in a foreign country at a hotel. The country is either at war, preparing for war or experiencing civil unrest as your shown tanks in the street more than once. There doesn't appear to be any war damage though. One sister has a son of about 8 to 10 years old. His mother is very sensual & motivated by oils, perfumes, baths, nudity & men. The other woman is the older & responsible sister motivated by work, yet enjoying masturbation as men & their equipment along with the physical act of sex repulse her. She is also dying of a lung disease. The boy loves both his mother & his aunt but lives in a childs world avoiding the adult context of it. When he does see some of it he is more mystified than anything.

The two womens relationship is complex & subject to many interpretations. I bought the Criterion edition & it of course has an overview of the movie in it's booklet. I disagree with a lot of what is said there but most notably that the story is told through the eyes of the boy. So much do I disagree with it that I feel you must be brain dead to reach that conclusion.

The why of the younger sisters sexual activity can be taken as being anything from wanting out from under her older sisters babying of her to a desperate attempt to deal with the fact her sister is slowly dying in front of her eyes. She takes her boy & leaves the country on a train while leaving her sister dying in a foreign land while being watched over by hotel staff that do not speak her language.

There are tons of religious, famalial & societal questions raised by this movie but since you never get a clue as to why they were traveling, why they stopped in a foreign country where they didn't speak the language or even why they have come to the point where they can barely speak to each other you cannot make a coherent story out of it.

You watch a movie like this for the wonderful images put on screen & the upclose & personal, though unexplained actions of the individuals. A great Bergman movie but not a great story as he never intended to tell a complete story.

The acting is dynamic, real & a joy to watch. Ingrid Thulin as the older sister Ester & Gunnel Lindblom as the younger sister are perfect in their roles, few others really matter at all. The is very little dialogue & only the words of the main characters are in the subtitles so be ready for a slow paced but well constructed movie with great acting & cinematography. I give it 4 Amazon stars.

A bit of nudity but nothing at all by todays standards. It was very racy when made though. Recommended for at least one viewing & more than one to try & put it together.
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Paul Morel
5.0 out of 5 stars only extinguished by love. Love is the key
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2014
The Silence is the third film in the trilogy, beginning with "Through a Glass Darkly," and then the second entry, "Winter Light."
Bergman 's search for God goes very far and he takes us on journeys that demand stamina and perhaps some idea of how spirituality works for him and for ourselves.

The first two describe God as a Spider, savage, devouring, only extinguished by love. Love is the key, and those who are lucky enough to attain it will find joy, healing, even some modicum of belief.

In "Winter Light" the idea of love as salvific is questioned. The pastor of a remote Lutheran Church has lost his wife, love has died and so has God. A school teacher has since entered his life; he loathes her attempts to be like his wife. He despises her skin disease, her vulgar mockery of faith, faith he has long since discarded. Death odf a parishioner frightens the pastor and makes him cling agaion to Martha, the school teacher. His conclusion is a hollow witness to Christ in the Eucharist as a distraction from panic..possibly suicide.

The Silence is a world without God. It begins on a train headed for a strange town where two sisters and a young boy begin to absorb the pervasive angst and reveal themselves in the face of this hellish landscape as essentially carnal, with the boy looking on in misunderstanding and fear. Incest, self-defilement, unhealthy Lesbian sex, stark carnality, make up for who is silent, has always been silent..God. There is only this savage, devouring existence, a real hell, where gratifications are repeated, where dwarfs dress the boy as a girl, where people fornicate in the local theater, mimicking the actions on the stage..formulaic copulation among the dwarfs, displays of transvestism with real men, all presented in a smoke-filled arena, hot and humid, where nothing seems to gratify the senses. It's all semi-lust, no referents, no cause and effect, no rationale except desire without communication or real choice..a hell indeed.

The trilogy is one of the great masterpieces on film. The Silence is the completion and it is daring, not because the scenes of carnality, but because of the themes it unfurls. The absence of meaning is acted out with a realism that mesmerizes and scares all at once, and never lets go of you for one moment.
.
Unforgettable, deserving all the hurrahs it has received..all three films..The Silence is the greatest, but it is the coda so it had to out do
perhaps the others. Buy the three and experience something of the horrible, inescapable truth Bergman bravely serves up.
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Top reviews from other countries

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mr john popey
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 14, 2024
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Excellent
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Rudi Mentär
5.0 out of 5 stars Sehr gut verwendbar.
Reviewed in Germany on December 21, 2023
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Der Film wurde hervorragend restauriert
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César Castro Sanz
5.0 out of 5 stars Bien y a tiempo
Reviewed in Spain on November 9, 2020
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Bien y a tiempo
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コーネリアン
1.0 out of 5 stars リージョンコードが違う
Reviewed in Japan on July 12, 2019
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リージョンコード2とされていたが，実際はリージョンコードは0でした．したがって，見ることはできません．
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Claude Aubanel
1.0 out of 5 stars i wish I knew
Reviewed in Canada on May 17, 2023
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I did not ask for the German version
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