8. The Silence (1963)
Two sisters - Anna and Ester - are travelling through a Central European country for some unknown reason. Ester is a seriously ill intellectual. Anna has a 10 year old son called Johan. Ester self medicates with vodka and cigarettes, working away from her sick bed. Anna is buy eyeing up the local men. Ester attempts to forge a relationship with Johan while Anna taunts Ester about her sexual peccadilloes. This torments Ester - Johan comforts her, as if he knows she is seriously ill. Anna brings a man back to the apartment and Ester cries at the bedroom door. Anna lets her in and turns on the light to show herself in bed with the man. An argument breaks out between the sisters and Ester says "Poor Anna" which drives Anna into paroxysms of laughter and then sobs. The next morning Anna tells Ester that both she and Johan are leaving. Ester's condition deteriorates and she has violent coughing spasms. The hotel porter tries to comfort her and she reveals her fear of loneliness and death. Anna, meanwhile, is on a train with Johan, apparently unaffected by everything. The Silence is not an easy movie to watch but it remains one of Bergman's very best. He was surprised that the film did so well at the box office given the lack of dialogue. The film was a landmark in sexual explicitness in Swedish cinema and paved the way for other films like "I am Curious: Yellow". It broke down censorship boundaries and forged new territory, showing fairly strong scenes of fornication and female masturbation. As usual, Bergman's actresses do stellar work - both of them coping with emotional alienation in different ways - Ester through frigidity and Ann through sexual abandon. There is also a creepy incestuous vibe between the two sisters. A difficult masterpiece but infinitely rewarding.