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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'Cries and Whispers')

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/direct-chair/bergman.htm
Sweden 1972

 

Legendary director Ingmar Bergman creates a testament to the strength of the soul—and a film of absolute power. Karin and Maria come to the aid of their dying sister, Agnes, but jealousy, manipulation, and selfishness come before empathy. Agnes, tortured by cancer, transcends the pettiness of her sisters’ concerns to remember moments of being—moments that Bergman, with the help of Academy Award-winning cinematographer Sven Nykvist, translates into pictures of staggering beauty and unfathomable horror.

***

This existential wail of a drama from Ingmar Bergman concerns two sisters, Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Maria (Liv Ullmann), keeping vigil for a third, Agnes (Harriet Andersson), who is dying of cancer and can find solace only in the arms of a beatific servant (Kari Sylwan). An intensely felt film that is one of Bergman’s most striking formal experiments, Cries and Whispers (which won an Oscar for the extraordinary color photography of Sven Nykvist) is a powerful depiction of human behavior in the face of death, positioned on the borders between reality and nightmare, tranquility and terror.

 

  Posters

Theatrical Release: December 21st, 1972 - NY, NY, USA

Reviews                                                                            More Reviews                                                                      DVD Reviews

 

Comparison:

Criterion - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray vs. Criterion (Ingmar Bergman's Cinema) - Region FREE - Blu-ray

1) Criterion - Region 0 - NTSC LEFT
2) Criterion Collection - Region 'A' - Blu-ray MIDDLE

3) Criterion (Ingmar Bergman's Cinema) - Region FREE - Blu-ray RIGHT

 

Box Covers

   

 

   

Distribution Criterion Collection - Spine # 101 - Region 1- NTSC Criterion Collection, spine #101 - Region 'A' - Blu-ray Criterion (Ingmar Bergman's Cinema) - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:31:15  1:31:43.873 1:31:56.511
Video 1.68:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 7.83 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 47,967,277,483 bytes

Feature: 27,102,799,872 bytes

Video Bitrate: 35.02 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 48,385,618,414 bytes

Feature: 27,867,131,904 bytes

Video Bitrate: 35.05 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:

Bitrate (original Criterion): Blu-ray

Bitrate (Criterion's Ingmar Bergman's Cinema): Blu-ray

Audio Swedish (Dolby Digital 1.0) , DUB: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)  LPCM Audio Swedish 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
LPCM Audio Swedish 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles English, None English, None English, None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Criterion

Aspect Ratio:
1.68:1

Edition Details:

• Ingmar Bergman: Reflections on Life, Death, and Love with Erland Josephson (2000)—A candid and revealing 52-minute interview with Bergman and long-time collaborator Erland Josephson, originally broadcast on Swedish television

Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
• 6 page liner notes (2 page essay by Peter Cowie) 

DVD Release Date: June 19th, 2001

Keep Case
Chapters: 18

Release Information:
Studio: Criterion

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 1.66:1

1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 47,967,277,483 bytes

Feature: 27,102,799,872 bytes

Video Bitrate: 35.02 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Edition Details:

• Introduction by Ingmar Bergman from 2001 (7:08)
• New interview with actor Harriet Andersson, conducted by film scholar Peter Cowie (20:00)
• New video essay on the film’s visuals by filmmaker : : kogonada (12:49)
• Behind-the-scenes footage with commentary by Cowie (34:00)
• Ingmar Bergman: Reflections on Life, Death, and Love with Erland Josephson (2000), a 52-minute interview with Bergman and his longtime collaborator (52:18)
• Trailer (1:54)
• Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
• PLUS: An essay by film scholar Emma Wilson
 

Blu-ray Release Date: March 17th, 2015
Transparent Blu-ray Case

Chapters 18

Release Information:
Studio:
Criterion

 

1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 48,385,618,414 bytes

Feature: 27,867,131,904 bytes

Video Bitrate: 35.05 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Edition Details:

• Introduction by Ingmar Bergman from 2001 (7:08)
• New interview with actor Harriet Andersson, conducted by film scholar Peter Cowie (20:00)
• New video essay on the film’s visuals by filmmaker : : kogonada (12:49)
• Behind-the-scenes footage with commentary by Cowie (34:00)
• Ingmar Bergman: Reflections on Life, Death, and Love with Erland Josephson (2000), a 52-minute interview with Bergman and his longtime collaborator (52:18)
• Trailer (1:54)


Blu-ray Release Date: November 20th, 2018

Custom Blu-ray Case

Chapters 18 

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: These Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

 

The Criterion Blu-ray of Cries and Whispers is part of their Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema 100th Anniversary 30 Blu-ray Boxset (reviewed, as a work in-progress, HERE). This is a new transfer indicated by the source-text before the film:

 

Colors take a dramatic shift - skin tones cool and normalize, contrast in superior with more pure whites and richer black levels, grass and other colors are far more realistic etc. looking more like the scheme exported by the 2011 DVD. The technical transfer is marginally more robust but this improvement seems directly related to the 35mm original negative source.

Same audio - linear PCM mono with the optional lossy English DUB and optional English subtitles. The extras are the exact same as well. The new Blu-ray disc is also Region FREE-locked.

This is a huge upgrade for Bergman fans. This new 1080P makes the 2015 Blu-ray presentation appear flawed. Another strong support for the Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema 100th Anniversary 30 Blu-ray Boxset.

NOTE: Yes, as has been leaked, we can now confirm that this Blu-ray set is Region FREE!

***

ADDITION: Criterion - Region FREE - Blu-ray - February 2015': Firstly, Cries and Whispers is one of the most draining film experiences and I am struggling to give full review descriptions below, having just watched it.

 

The image is significantly different from Criterion's 2001 DVD. Much of the film in 1080P has the intentional red-bias. Skin tones warm significantly. The grain texture is wonderfully tight and even on the dual-layered transfer with a max'ed out bitrate. For the most part, the Blu-ray visuals show much more information in the frame on all 4 edges.

 

Uncompressed monaural audio via a linear PCM track, in original Swedish at 1152 kbps. It sounds authentically flat, with crisp dialogue. Of course, there is no officially composed score for Cries and Whispers, but we do get Bach's Suite No. 5 for solo Cello in C Minor, 4th mvt 'Sarabande' played by Pierre Fournier and Chopin's Mazurka in A minor, Op.17/4 played by Kabi Laretei. Criterion also include the standard Dolby Digital English DUB option, in mono. There are optional English subtitles on the region A-locked Blu-ray disc.

 

On their Blu-ray Criterion include the 7-minute introduction by Ingmar Bergman from reporter Marie Nyrerod's interview with the director for SVT Svensk Television in the summer of 2003, on the island of Faro, where he had lived since 1967. In this excerpt, Bergman, at 85, talks about Cries and Whispers. There is a new, January 2012, 20-minute interview with actor Harriet Andersson, conducted by film scholar Peter Cowie, where she talks about her work in Cries and Whispers. There is also 34-minutes of silent, color behind-the-scenes footage, shot during the production with commentary by Cowie. In a new 2014 video essay filmmaker : : kogonada explores director Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers, a film in three movements. It runs 12.5 minutes long and is entitled 'Solace' on the supplements menu. We also get the same 52-minute interview also found on their 2001 DVD entitled Ingmar Bergman: Reflections on Life, Death, and Love with Erland Josephson from 2000 where Bergman talks with his longtime collaborator. There is a trailer, plus the package contains a liner notes booklet with an en essay by film scholar Emma Wilson.

***

ON THE DVD: On initial viewing this image looks excellent, but putting it under the microscope we notice some minimally noticeable manipulations. Contrast, usually Criterion's hallmark, is a shade out of sync here with the variance from white to black being quite dramatic - I usually wouldn't be bothered but I felt the darkness excluded some important details and the whites were literally glowing. Color seems strong and Bergman's extreme close-ups detail a bit of inconsistent grain and noise. There is an English DUB included with the original Swedish audio and optional English subtitles. I felt that the 52 minute interview with Bergman and Josephson was worth the price of the disc alone. This DVD looks very good, but not as filmic as one might expect. Still it is HD-sourced and anamorphic at a ratio at 1.68. No one will do this better than Criterion have done. A must-own for Bergman fans and all cinema lovers. out of      

Gary W. Tooze

 


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Screen Captures

 

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1) Criterion - Region 0 - NTSC TOP
2) Criterion Collection - Region 'A' - Blu-ray MIDDLE

3) Criterion (Ingmar Bergman's Cinema) - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


1) Criterion - Region 0 - NTSC TOP
2) Criterion Collection - Region 'A' - Blu-ray MIDDLE

3) Criterion (Ingmar Bergman's Cinema) - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


More Blu-ray Captures

 

1) Criterion Collection - Region 'A' - Blu-ray TOP
2) Criterion (Ingmar Bergman's Cinema) - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) Criterion Collection - Region 'A' - Blu-ray TOP
2) Criterion (Ingmar Bergman's Cinema) - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

More Criterion (Ingmar Bergman's Cinema) - Region FREE - Blu-ray Captures

 

Box Covers

   

 

   

Distribution Criterion Collection - Spine # 101 - Region 1- NTSC Criterion Collection, spine #101 - Region FREE - Blu-ray Criterion (Ingmar Bergman's Cinema) - Region FREE - Blu-ray

 


 




 

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