WINTER LIGHT (1962)

Original Title: Nattvardsgästerna

Directed by: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow, Gunnel Lindblom
Run time: 81 minutes

After seeing Through a Glass Darkly I am intrigued to watch this one. Especially since the critics seems to praise it and I myself wanted to finish the so called trilogy of faith by Bergman. So what silence it is actually? I still have to guess it, was it the silence of God or a man? Pastor Tomas Ericsson (Gunnar Bjornstrand), who seem to have some  major doubts on his faith but unable to materialize it into words. The film start and ends abruptly as Tomas makes his sunday sermon.

Tomas must face another problem, the fisherman Jonas (Von Sydow) is very sad and kill himself and then there is Marta (Ingrid Thulin) who cares and loves the pastor. But Tomas doesn't know how to respond to such feelings, he even hurt Marta verbally. Tomas seems to have difficulties in helping others based on what he believed in. He even cannot help himself psychologically. He seem powerless in changing his own fate.

What cause it to happen? It does not being explained but one can easily guessed that perhaps faith has something to do with it or perhaps Tomas is just a plain stiff man.

Although it does not being addressed directly but it seems the whole film is about questioning the existence of God in a quiet way and also about pain. Pain of being a believer just like what Marta says; “If only we could feel safe and dare show each other kindness. If only we had some truth to believe in. If only we could believe.”

The acting is very satisfying and somehow I get the feeling of coldness and tension from this film. Coldness and stiffness since it only use small number of location. It lacks the visual awesomeness of Persona (1966) but I think from the trilogy, this is the strongest one after Through A Glass Darkly.

Overall the film really lived up to my expectations. It is not being too difficult to comprehend but has a very deep meaning and I loved how this film is being made in black and white, it makes the tension looks elegant.

THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY (1961)

Original Title: Såsom i en spegel

Directed by: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Harriett Andersson, Max von Sydow, Lars Passgard
Run time: 89 min

My first Bergman film was Persona and it blows me away. Although I had to think harder to understood what the meaning of it, at least I made it. So I began to read more about this particular Swedish director and my choice for the third film by Bergman is this one (the second is The Seventh Seal but I need to collect more mojo to write it down).

From what I read this film is one of the so called  "Man-God trilogy" or "the Silence trilogy" or "the Dark/Faith trilogy" (three films: Through a glass darkly, Winter light, and The Silence) that deals with deep theological question.

From the outside it looks like that it is just another family drama. Karin (Harriet Andersson) is the daughter who suffers from schizophrenia. Her husband, Martin (Max von Sydow), loves her but feels powerless to help her. While her brother, Minus (Lars Passgard), seems to be lonely and wanting a deeper connection with his father, David (Gunnar Bjornstrand). David himself is an author who always away and seems to be disconnected with his family.

They are on vacation and somehow Karin's madness manages to pull and disintegrate the family in the same time. In one scene Karin looks like she's in a trance and talking to an empty open door that she thinks as God.

I am impressed on how this film is character driven and on how a simple family drama can contain such deep message; questioning sanity and faith. I am looking forward to see Winter Light and The Silence to grasp what Bergman is trying to say.

In black and white, the scenes are carefully shown and it doesn't rely on panoramic or photographic shot to woo the audience with the beauty of the island.

Bergman use his famous two shot, placing two faces on the screen in very close physical juxtaposition, but the characters are not looking at each other. Each is focused on some unspecified point off-screen, each is looking in a different direction. So close but yet separated. I think it tries to show us that the characters are physically close but psychologically separated.