In the dying days of the nineteenth century, three sisters live in a castle by a lake, haunted by the ghosts of their past. Attended by a maidservant, one of the siblings suffers an agonizing sickness. As death takes over the house, the four women must confront loss and mortal suffering.

Cries and Whispers sees Bergman embracing his powerful and sophisticated use of color—the perplexing intensity of the reds and the whites in this film remains unparalleled. Beware: this feverish, sumptuous exploration of human monstrosity is perhaps not a horror film, but a film about horror.