Bergman's intimate examination of the passions and anxieties of four women - Agnes, who is dying in the house in which she was born; Karin and Maria, her two married sisters who have come to look after her; and Anna, her devoted maid. Seen by many as Bergman's quintessential “women's film,” Cries and Whispers swept the National Critics' Awards, although feminist critic Connie Penley found it to be “the filmic paradigm of woman as Other...of woman as cosmic victim....” Few, however, would disagree with Vincent Canby's assessment that Cries and Whispers “is not an easy film to describe or to endure. It stands alone, and it reduces almost everything else you're likely to see this season to the size of a small cinder.”