The monochrome palette in the film "Cries and Whispers"

Ingmar Bergman made black and white films all his life, but for the «Cries and Whispers» he made an exclusion. Red, white, black are the main colors of the film. Each of them tries to resist the onslaught of another and all this ultimately creates vivid visual scenes.

Three colors in «Cries and Whispers» is so tightly connected that it can be completely silent: facial expressions of the main characters, the camera angles and colors in the frame can fully describe what is happening in the frame. Bergman's color is more expressive than any dialogue. Color changes replace the plot of the movie, they say much more than words.

Red, according to Bergman, is the soul, the protagonist of the film. It prevails in almost every frame and especially in the scenes that take place in the manor house. Red color is the conductor between the scenes, between the past and the present.

White is a thematic color, first of all it is connected with faith in God. For example, all the main characters of the picture are dressed in white, which symbolizes purity. When they lose faith, they dress in black, which clearly indicates the approach of death. By the way, black is also one of the key colors. 

«Cries and Whispers» combines monochromatic colors rather unique way. Red is present in 90% of duration of the film. Its inseparable connection with white and black creates a dichotomy, that is, a duality, a gradual division into two parts. If red is a soul, then black and white are her two collide states. By the way, even the name of the film is two opposite words.

This work with color is amazing, it's not a modern movie, where you can easily customize any shade. «Cries and Whispers» shows that a exellent use of color in the movies was long before the beginning of the digital era.