I feel unraveled and penetrated. How Bergman can create a film of such subjective, horrific matter - and be complimented with such astounding, psychotic performances from the actresses - I know not. This film subverts any film you would normally label "Horror" - because one never needs zombies, torture, demons, ultra-violence, gore, etc. - but only guilt, discontentment, jealousy, and self-loathing - in the context of family, grief, and religion - to be truly horrified. Very few directors, if any, will ever reach this level of filmmaking.
Bergman creates a film about the "interior of the soul" - allowing us to understand why we rarely confront or expose our deepest desires, hopes, fears, and failures - because they usually manifest themselves in horrific, psychotic episodes, that our "normal" existence cannot acknowledge or justify - and simply have no place in any "civilized" society.
However, there is the element of TRUE beauty, like in Kurosawa's "Ikiru" - that is often only seen in hindsight, even through a process as heinous as death - that those of us who confront terminal illness, are often those of us who embrace gratitude at a much deeper level...
"All my aches and pains were gone. The people I am most fond of in all the world were with me. I could hear their chatting around me. I could feel the presence of their bodies, the warmth of their hands. I wanted to hold the moment fast and thought, "Come what may, this is happiness. I cannot wish for anything better. Now, for a few minutes, I can experience perfection. And I feel profoundly grateful to my life, which gives me so much."
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