Ingmar Bergman’s The Silence is the 3rd and final film of his renowned Silence of God or Faith trilogy. Unlike the 1st and 2nd films of the trilogy, Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light, God is entirely absent from the film, which Bergman referred to as a “negative imprint”. When the beloved almighty becomes silent, humans suffer from spiritual and existential crisis, and the world becomes cruel and chaotic. Humans lose connection and communication. They become isolated, cold, vulnerable, helpless, and pessimistic.
The most striking phenomenon in The Silence is the relationship dynamics between Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and Anna (Gunnel Lindblom). Anna is a voluptuous and sensuous woman, but her elder sister Ester is an educated, intellectual literary translator, and she has been suffering from an acute respiratory problem. They share a strained relationship. Anna accuses Ester of controlling her life since childhood, and Ester tries to prohibit Anna from impromptu sexual encounters. Bergman poses multiple questions for the viewers to connect the dots. Are Anna and Ester two different versions of the same person, with Anna representing the body and Ester the mind? Does Ester possess homosexual attractions for Anna? Bergman does not provide the viewers with any direct answers.
The Silence is not a silent film, and Bergman filled it with chaotic, idiosyncratic sounds. Then, why did he choose the film’s title The Silence? There could be two explanations for this. Despite his later refusal to categorize the three films as a formal trilogy, Bergman initially stated that God is completely absent from the film. He referred to this as a “negative imprint”. Therefore, God’s absolute silence in the film might have influenced him to name it The Silence. There could be another reason. The Silence does not mean a silent film; rather, it signifies the collapse of communication and connection. Two sisters, Ester and Anna, share a heavily fractured relationship. Only Anna’s son, Johan, bridges the gap a little. Bergman used incomprehensible foreign language as a metaphor to highlight disconnection and the communication gap.
The boy, Johan (Jorgen Lindstrom), represents hope and optimism amid a painful world. Johan has yet to reach adolescence, and he is inquisitive about every small thing in the world. He discovers new things and experiences new incidents every day. While boarding the train, he enjoys the rain falling outside. He wanders the hotel hallways, and the old porter and the travelling Spanish dwarves entertain him. However, the approaching war tanks scare him. He is trapped within the strained relationship between his mother, Anna, and maternal aunt, Ester. On one hand, Johan represents the future, hope, and optimism; on the other, his character signifies how a troubled past and a traumatic present can trap the future. Bergman shows that the future descends upon the world with immense enthusiasm and inquisitiveness. However, the troubled past and traumatic present crush the enthusiastic and inquisitive spirit.
Despite less dialogue, Bergman’s minimalist screenplay brilliantly depicts the strained relationship between two sisters, Ester and Anna. It remarkably portrays unfamiliar surroundings, a sudden chaotic environment, Johan’s inquisitiveness, communication breakdown, disconnection, and the absence of God. The Silence marks Ingrid Thulin’s outstanding acting performance as terminally ill literary translator Ester. She brilliantly portrays Ester’s decaying health, intellectualism, isolation, mental stress, vulnerabilities, contempt for heterosexual relationships, and yearning for her sister Anna. Gunnel Lindblom’s flawlessly portrays Anna, a voluptuous, sensuous, and rebellious woman who can’t be controlled by anybody or confined within boundaries. She even rebels against her sister, Ester, for trying to control her. Jorgen Lindstrom’s portrayal of lively and inquisitive Johan, who bridges the gap between his mother, Anna, and aunt, Ester, touches hearts.
The legendary cinematographer Sven Nykvist chose soft, radiant, flat, gray light for Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light. However, he chose a film noir style, high-contrast, sharp, and haunting cinematography for The Silence to portray a strained relationship, claustrophobic surroundings, physical decay, mental stress, isolation, communication breakdown, disconnection, yearning, and lust. In multiple scenes, he captures the characters’ faces in piercing close-ups and fills them with stark shadows. Nykvist’s rhythmic camera follows inquisitive Johan when he wanders the grand hotel hallways.
Despite the inclusion of “silence” in the film title, The Silence is not silent. Rather, sound plays an important role in the film. Bergman used amplified everyday mechanical sounds such as the ticking of clocks, the rumbling of trains and war tanks, and echoes in the hotel to portray an isolated, claustrophobic, and uncommunicative environment. Bergman did not use any non-diegetic music in The Silence to portray an isolated, tense, and claustrophobic environment. Instead, he used amplified everyday mechanical sounds in the film. He used only diegetic music, such as Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Mayfair Waltz, and Sing, Baby, Sing, in the background.