The Silence Film Still

The Silence

Ingmar Bergman

Sweden

1963

95 minutes

Black and White

1.33:1

Swedish

211

Synopsis

Two sisters—the sickly, intellectual Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and the sensual, pragmatic Anna (Gunnel Lindblom)—travel by train with Anna’s young son Johan (Jorgen Lindstrom) to a foreign country seemingly on the brink of war. Attempting to cope with their alien surroundings, the sisters resort to their personal vices while vying for Johan’s affection, and in so doing sabotage any hope for a future together. Regarded as one of the most sexually provocative films of its day, Ingmar Bergman’s The Silence offers a brilliant, disturbing vision of emotional isolation in a suffocating spiritual void.

Cast

EsterIngrid Thulin
AnnaGunnel Lindblom
JohanJörgen Lindström
BartenderBirger Malmsten
Hotel waiterHåkan Jahnberg
The little peopleEduardo Gutierrez
The Eduardinis

Credits

DirectorIngmar Bergman
Written and directed byIngmar Bergman
Assistant directorLenn Hjortzberg and Lars-Erik Liedholm
CinematographySven Nykvist
Assistant photographerRolf Holmqvist and Peter Wester
Production managerLars-Owe Carlberg
EditingUlla Ryghe
SoundStig Flodin, Bo Leverén and Tage Sjöborg
MusicJohann Sebastian Bach, Robert Mersey and Ivan Renliden
MixingOlle Jakobsson
SetsP.A. Lundgren
MakeupBörje Lundh

Disc Features

  • New high-definition digital transfer
  • Exploring the film: Video discussion with Ingmar Bergman biographer Peter Cowie
  • Poster gallery for the trilogy films
  • Essay by film scholar Leo Braudy
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
  • New and improved English subtitle translation

From the Current

The Silence

by Leo Braudy Aug 18, 2003

Two women, Anna and Ester, accompanied by Johan, Anna’s ten-year-old-son, travel slowly through the night by train into a foreign country that seems to be at war. They are sisters, it will turn out, perhaps lovers. We will never discover the reason for their journey, to a place where the inhabitants . . .

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