The Silence 1963

Same gimmicks as "Persona", but with silence instead of word diarrhea (and I mean it as a good thing). Two sisters spend time at a hotel in a city whose language nobody seems to know. While they easily find ways to communicate with the people around them through music, gestures, and sex, they seem unable to understand each other despite speaking the same language. The two women could represent two sides of the same person, probably something along the lines of Dionysian and Apollonian, intellect and human impulses, etc. Anna supposedly fucks around as a means to get away from her sister's psychological subjection; Ester can't stay away from Anna, but at the same time seems to look down on her, as our mind acts towards our impulses. We are aware that they bring no good but still can't resist them. Maybe the child could be the point of contact between the two? We are born as animals but are passed over knowledge and intellect from our ancestors, as the child with Ester's letter. But isn't this knowledge and awareness nothing but a burden to carry? Anna has her bad moments indeed, but in her ignorance she seems overall more satisfied than her sister.

Despite the somewhat unclear message, it's a good film to revisit from time to time. It's relatively short and has a bleak and surreal atmosphere that might be just my thing. It could have been a masterpiece if either Bergman made the message more accessible or went all the way with crypticity and cut most of the dialogues.