CRIES AND WHISPERS (music cues from the scheduled film for 7 May 2010)

In Cries and Whispers, director Ingmar Bergman uses two main pieces of music, including the Sarabande from a Bach Cello Suite (here) and a Chopin Mazurka (here). The romanticism of Chopin seems to be opposed to the Baroque restraint of Bach, in the way the three female characters range from rigid restraint (the statuary, autumnal landscape, long shots, final image) to the emotionalism of close-ups that typically end on red fades (formal counterpart to the film breakdown in Persona).
    The use of Bach is shown in the way that music literally replaces words when Karin and Maria caress and speak loving words while we hear only Bach's music. In the same way, sympathetic pans of the camera and extreme close-ups are the formal means that allow Bergman to capture elusive emotions. Typically, this scene ends on a red fade, another echo of the film breakdown in Persona, but now suggesting artistic control.