Silence, The (1963)

Silence, The (1963)

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“How nice that we don’t understand one another.”

Synopsis:
A pair of sisters (Ingrid Thulin and Gunnel Lindblom) travel by train with Thulin’s son (Jörgen Lindström) to an unnamed Central European country, where the increasingly ailing Lindblom is cared for by an elderly doorman, Thulin has an affair with a man she meets at a bar, and Lindström wanders the halls of their hotel.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Ingmar Bergman Films
  • Scandinavian Films
  • Siblings

Review:
The third entry in Ingmar Bergman’s informal mid-career trilogy about the complexities of love and connection — following Through a Glass Darkly (1961) and Winter Light (1963) — was this surreal chamber piece taking place primarily on a train and in a hotel, where individuals struggle to communicate with one another and make sense of the world around them. It’s unclear whether Lindblom and Thulin are meant to be lovers or even (symbolically speaking) two sides of the same person (the latter actually makes more sense):


… with Lindblom erupting defiantly in sensuality:

… Thulin imploding from an unnamed illness:

… and Lindström (the neutral child observer) taking everything in.

The film was primarily notorious upon its release for its sexually explicit nature — though its content is downright tame by today’s standards.

Those who enjoy weird imagery and symbology will have a field day, given that Lindström encounters a group of traveling dwarfs who put him in a dress:

… is cared for by a questionable elderly staff person (who speaks an unknown language):

… and watches as a military tank rattles down the deserted street outside their hotel room while his aunt lies prone.


You will have to decide for yourself whether this is the type of film you get immersed in, or simply watch with curiosity (or boredom).

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • Sven Nykvist’s cinematography

Must See?
No; you can skip this one unless you’re a diehard Bergman fan.

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One thought on “Silence, The (1963)”

  1. Rewatch (10/23/17). A once-must, for its theme, the performances and the impressive work by DP Nykvist. As posted in ‘Revival House of Camp & Cult’ (fb):

    “How nice that we don’t understand each other.”

    ‘The Silence’: Ingmar Bergman believed this film would be a box office bomb. However – due to its small number of sexually charged scenes (mild now but oh-so-spicy for 1963), the film was a huge hit. People didn’t seem to mind that they were actually watching an art film about the frailty of language (though they no doubt would have liked more ‘smut’).

    This is the kind of film that could be seen as dripping with symbolism but I don’t think it is. It’s basically saying that we are all, often, speaking in ‘a foreign language’ whether we’re using the same language or not.

    Communication is tough, esp. when it concerns emotion. In the film (largely set in a hotel in a foreign country possibly on the brink of war), two sisters (one very ill, one with a young son) are biding their time before they leave. We don’t know many of the particulars (the ‘silence’ here is often the silence of what’s left unsaid) but the sisters may possibly be incestuous. (Personally, it seems to me they, at least, may have been at some point – and there’s residue.) At any rate, there’s a real emotional struggle between them.

    Some of the details of the activity inside the hotel would suit David Lynch just fine. The acting is first-rate – and one of the real ‘stars’ of the film is DP Sven Nykvist, who bathes the film in a stunning, b&w light-and-shadow game.

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