Ingmar Bergman Trilogy. The Silence / Tystnaden (1963) [The Criterion Collection]

Director: Ingmar Bergman
Writers: Ingmar Bergman
Stars: Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten

Two sisters—the sickly, intellectual Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and the sensual, pragmatic Anna (Gunnel Lindblom)—travel by train with Anna’s young son, Johan (Jörgen Lindström), to a foreign country that appears to be on the brink of war. Attempting to cope with their alien surroundings, each sister is left to her own vices while they vie for Johan’s affection, and in so doing sabotage what little remains of their relationship. Regarded as one of the most sexually provocative films of its day, Ingmar Bergman’s The Silence offers a disturbing vision of emotional isolation in a suffocating spiritual void.

Extras:
- On the Blu-ray: New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Introduction to the film by director Ingmar Bergman, recorded in 2003 (Blu-ray only)
- Interview from 2003 with film scholar Peter Cowie
- Poster gallery for the films of the trilogy
- With the DVD: Essay by film scholar Leo Braudy
- Original U.S. theatrical trailer
- Alternate English-dubbed soundtrack




A Film Trilogy by Ingmar Bergman:
In 1960, Swedish director Ingmar Bergman began work on three of his most powerful and representative films, eventually presented as a trilogy. Already a figure of international acclaim for such masterpieces as The Seventh Seal and The Magician, Bergman turned his back on the expressionism of his fifties work to focus on a series of chamber dramas exploring belief and alienation in the modern age. Collaborating with the distinguished cinematographer Sven Nykvist, and eliciting searing performances from his refined cast of regulars—Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Gunnel Lindblom, Ingrid Thulin, and Max Von Sydow among them—Bergman unleashed Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, and The Silence in rapid succession, exposing moviegoers worldwide to a new level of intellectual and emotional intensity. Drawing on Bergman’s own upbringing and ongoing spiritual crises, the films of the trilogy examine the necessity of religion and question the promise of faith.




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