Cries and Whispers 1972

In a grand, candle-lit 19th-century mansion with deep red walls and plush carpets, Agnes lies dying from uterine cancer. Her sisters, Maria and Karin, travel from the outside world to their childhood home, stepping into a space where care is shared in turns by the maid Anna. Anna, a woman of strong faith who has endured personal loss, tends to Agnes with a quiet devotion, even after she has endured the pain of losing her own young daughter. The presence of a visiting doctor, David, unsettles the atmosphere as he confronts his past with Maria, a memory that weighs on both of them.

As conversations unfold, Maria is drawn back to memories of their former romance and the unraveling of her marriage to Joakim, who, in a moment of despair, attempted self-harm in response to the affair. David observes that Maria has grown more numb to life’s pleasures, a reflection that contrasts with Agnes’s burgeoning, if fragile, need for meaning. Agnes recalls their mother, a figure who favored Maria while neglecting her, and in that recollection she finds a bittersweet clarity about the family’s earlier dynamics. Throughout this time, Anna’s quiet, intimate care becomes a counterpoint to the sisters’ emotional distance; she comforts Agnes by revealing tenderness in an unorthodox, intimate gesture, an act that underscores her deep sense of responsibility and faith.

When Agnes passes away after a prolonged period of suffering, the wake becomes a space where faith and doubt mingle. A priest offers a reflection on the strength of Agnes’s beliefs, which seems to outmatch his own, leaving the family to process sorrow in a room charged with memory. Maria tells Karin that it is unusual for the sisters to keep physical distance from one another or to share meaningful conversations; she attempts to reach out, only for Karin to recoil. Karin’s own history is laid bare: at an earlier moment in the mansion, she grappled with self-destructive impulses and damaged herself in an attempt to repel her husband, Fredrik. The complexity of Karin’s feelings surfaces again as she dines with Maria and notes Anna’s devotion to Agnes, a devotion that borders on familiarity that unsettles Karin. Her frank confession of resentment toward Maria’s flirtatiousness and superficial smiles adds to the emotional tension, yet a quiet reconciliation eventually emerges as the sisters reach out and physically touch one another.

In a dreamlike sequence, Agnes briefly returns to life, inviting Karin and Maria to come closer. Karin recoils, insisting she still has life to live and cannot join her sister in the afterlife. Maria approaches the undead figure but flees in terror when Agnes grabs her, confessing that she cannot leave her husband and children behind. Anna re-enters the room, gently taking Agnes back to bed and holding the dying woman in her arms as a final, comforting cradle.

As the family contemplates what remains, they decide to send Anna away at the end of the month. Fredrik refuses any additional severance, and Anna herself rejects the promised memento that might have signaled a final gratitude. Maria returns to Joakim, seeking a continued path in their marriage, while Karin questions the truth of Maria’s claim that she cannot remember their shared touch. In a poignant moment, Anna discovers Agnes’s diary, which recounts a quiet visit with Maria, Karin, and Anna—a memory shared on a swing that ends with a hopeful line written by Agnes: “come what may, this is happiness.”

come what may, this is happiness.