Cries and Whispers

Red is blood. Red is passion. But in Ingmar Bergman’s oppressive and suffocating family drama, it is the color of a slow burn, as three sisters and their maid self-immolate and desiccate in their remote, isolated Swedish manor house. Bergman said that his films were essentially black-and-white, except for Cries and Whispers, as its crimson tones won Sven Nykvist an Oscar for his extraordinary and dread-drenched cinematography. A silent primal scream of lust and mistrust, it’s a key influence on Robert Eggers and screens at selected Drafthouses around the country as a primer to his new version of genre-defining vampire horror Nosferatu. – Richard Whittaker