To achieve more effective treatment, a nurse (Bibi Andersson) and her patient (Liv Ullmann) -- an actress who's lost the power of speech -- check into a private cottage by the sea, where the two isolated women become co-dependent and insanely jealous of each other. It's a case of the cure being worse than the affliction in this black-and-white cinematic classic directed by Swedish master Ingmar Bergman.