The Silence

It is the least alike among the films of Bergman’s ‘trilogy’: more stylistically and thematically rich; he has shifted his focus from the absence of God to the horrifying, alienated human condition. He has clearly turned that corner here, and it’s for the best, in terms of my interest. ‘God’s silence’ is if anything taken as a given here. He doesn’t drone on about it, or even consider it. The silence referred to in the title is really about the insurmountable barriers between all individuals. Anyway my rating is up in the air because on the one hand I feel this is the least successful, most disjointed, strangely not ‘of a piece’ among the trilogy (to be honest, I can only imagine a strong link between the first two); on the other, my interests are much more in line with Bergman’s here and if its pieces don’t make a satisfyingly complete whole they are still fascinating in themselves…