The Silence (1963 film)

Infobox_Film
name = The Silence


caption = Region 1 DVD cover
imdb_id = 0057611
writer = Ingmar Bergman
starring = Ingrid Thulin
Gunnel Lindblom
Birger Malmsten
Håkan Jahnberg
Jörgen Lindström
director = Ingmar Bergman
producer = Allan Ekelund
cinematography = Sven Nykvist
distributor = Svensk Filmindustri Palador Pictures Pvt. Ltd. (India)
released = flagicon|Sweden September 23, 1963
flagicon|USA 3 February, 1964
runtime = 96 min
language = Swedish
amg_id = 1:44659
budget =

"The Silence" ( _sv. Tystnaden) is a 1963 film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Ingrid Thulin and Gunnel Lindblom.

ynopsis

Two sisters stop at a hotel in an unidentified European country on the brink of war or insurrection. The older, more cultured sister, Ester (Ingrid Thulin), who translates literature, is terminally ill, and her fear of death clouds her relationship with her younger, beautiful sister Anna (Gunnel Lindblom), who's depicted as the fleshly side of the spirit/flesh dichotomy. The younger sister neglects her son Johan (Jörgen Lindström) (a boy of 12 or so), who wanders the seemingly half-empty hotel.

Cast

* Ingrid Thulin - Ester
* Gunnel Lindblom - Anna
* Birger Malmsten - The Bartender
* Håkan Jahnberg - The Waiter
* Jörgen Lindström - Johan

Interpretation

After Bergman's death, Woody Allen, in the "New York Times", noted that the film opens up when you realize that the two women represent different aspects of the same person.

In a scene, Johan stares out of the window as a lone tank rolls down the street at night; in "Against Interpretation", Susan Sontag considers it an all-too-obvious phallic symbol. According to critic Leo Braudy, Bergman intended the film as "a rendering of hell on earth — my hell."Fact|date=April 2007

Reception

The film has been classified as a "landmark of modernist cinema" alongside Alain Resnais' "Last Year at Marienbad" (1961), Michelangelo Antonioni's "L'avventura" (1960), and Luis Buñuel's "Belle de Jour" (1967).cite book
last =Michaels
first =Lloyd
title =Ingmar Bergman's Persona
publisher =Cambridge University
year =2000
pages =21
isbn =0521656982 ] Popular film critic Vernon Young reversed his position on Bergman and admitted in 1971 that "The Silence" was an "extraordinary achievement in its way..."The Silence" rewards effort..."

Controversy

"The Silence" was released without censorship in Sweden in October, 1963, but the original director's cut included controversial sex scenes, homosexuality, nudity, masturbation, urination, and strong language, leading to a "storm of controversy" with censor boards at the time. [cite book
last =Robertson
first =James Crighton
title =The Hidden Cinema: British Film Censorship in Action, 1913-1975
publisher =Routledge
year =1993
pages =127-128
isbn =0415090342] [cite book
last =Morwaski
first =Stefan
title =Inquiries Into the Fundamentals of Aesthetics
publisher =MIT Press
year =1974
pages =375
isbn =0262130963] [cite book
last =von Bagh
first =Peter
authorlink =Peter von Bagh
coauthors =Per Olov Qvist
title =Guide to the Cinema of Sweden and Finland
publisher =Greenwood Press
year =2000
pages =16
isbn =0313303770 ]

According to Jerry Vermilye, "The Silence" "...achieved a measure of sensationalistic attention by dint of its scenes of sensuality, mild though they were. It raised a great deal of controversy in Sweden, and its notoriety continued to raise hackles elsewhere in Europe. All of which attracted the attention of filmgoers; in Britain and the United States it became a considerable hit, perhaps for reasons of prurience rather than art." [cite book
last =Vermilye
first =Jerry
title =Ingmar Bergman: His Life and Films
publisher =McFarland & Company
year =2002
pages =28
isbn =0786411600 ]

Due to its reputation for "pornographic sequences" the film became a financial success.cite book
last =Gado
first =Frank
title =The Passion of Ingmar Bergman
publisher =Duke University Press
year =1986
pages =305
isbn =0822305860 ]

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0057611|title=The Silence
* [http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=211&eid=324&section=essay Criterion Collection essay by Leo Braudy]