Winter Light (1962)

Ingmar Bergman’s study of a pastors crises of faith is brilliant. I have watched this movie three times in the week since it arrived via Netflix, and I continue to get something more out of it each time. It is a complicated, layered, even ambiguous film, and intentionally so. The performances of the actors and interrelations of the characters are complex and deeply human. The snowy setting in the north of Sweden, in the winter time no-less, adds to the strained and alienated subtext of the characters. The cinematography distant, the dialog often sparse, but an intensity permeates throughout. This is the first Bergman film I’ve seen with a contemporary setting, and I felt that helped me relate to it more directly then The Seventh Sign or The Virgin Spring; yet Winter Light must be called timeless as well. I could talk about this film for a long time with you in conversation, but I find that writing about it almost seems futile at this point. You need to see this film to appreciate it. I appreciated it so much that I’ve orderd up the two other chapters of Bergmans ‘Faith Trilogy’, Through a glass Darkly , and The Silence, and shall see those both real soon. I may write a longer post about all three films in the future. Again, I love this movie. Five out of Five.