Cries and Whispers

This movie is more red than Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Red. It’s more visually precise than perhaps anything Bergman ever made, and the color scheme is just part of it.

Cries and Whispers is the story of three sisters and a maid who have gathered in their childhood home as one of the sisters, Agnes, reaches the end of a 12-year long illness. She’s due to die, and everyone knows it. The home itself is a stately manor in Sweden, and every wall is red. With the movie’s preoccupation with death and...