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The second of an Ingmar Bergman trilogy, 1962's Winter Light is a deliberate repudiation of the "God is love" message of its predecessor Through a Glass Darkly. Gunnar Bjornstrand stars as Tomas, a pastor in a remote parish tending to a dwindling congregation, as tense and distracted as David--the novelist Bjornstrand plays in Through a Glass Darkly. He finds himself trying to counsel a local fisherman Jonas, who is plagued by a sense of impending atomic doom but realises that the religious platitudes he consoles him with--"put your faith in the Lord"--are mere drivel. He himself is wracked by religious doubts, unable to tolerate "God's silence" and unable to prevent the fisherman from committing suicide. He finds himself taking out his inner woe on his eczema-riddled mistress, played by an unflatteringly made up Ingrid Thulin.
Described by Bergman's own wife as a "dreary masterpiece", the synopsis to Winter Light seems almost comically miserable, yet this passion play is gripping in its unsparing bleakness, bathed in the stark illumination implied by the title, ironically akin to the light of a religious epiphany. Released at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, its preoccupations and all-pervasive anxieties are especially apt.
On the DVD: Bergman's own notes reveal that Winter Lightis among his own favourites and he explains the evolution of the film's ideas at some length. Critic Philip Strick's background notes reveal that Gunnar Bjornstrand was exhausted and ill for much of the making of the film, which doubtless enhanced his anguished performance here. --David Stubbs
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: LANGUAGES: Swedish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Filmographies, Interactive Menu, Production Notes, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: On a cold winter's Sunday, the pastor of a small rural church (Tomas Ericsson) performs service for a tiny congregation; though he is suffering from a cold and a severe crisis of faith. After the service, he attempts to console a fisherman (Jonas Persson) who is tormented by anxiety, but Tomas can only speak about his own troubled relationship with God. A school teacher (Maerta Lundberg) offers Tomas her love as consolation for his loss of faith. But Tomas resists her love as desperately as she offers it to him. This is the second in Bergman's trilogy of films dealing with man's relationship with God. ...Winter Light ( Nattvardsgästerna )
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a brilliant, if flawed, meditation on faith,
By A Customer
This review is from: Winter Light [DVD] [1962] (DVD)
Winter Light is one of the starkest of Bergman's films. The film opens with prayer, but it seems to be futile. The austere camera work and mercilous frraming points to a word in which God no longer listens, and His people no longer believe they will be heard. But on closer reflection, the film can also be viewed as an attack on the outward view of the main character of the pastor, a man so complacent in his own assumptions of God that he has rendered Him unreal and irrelevant. Gunnar Bjornstrand gives an emotionally powerful performance, as the pastor struggling to find comfort in a world that has become bereft of hope. Lacking many highly dramatic moments, the film can appear brittle, but it is always beautiful and is, at times, almost unbearably moving.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Bergman.,
By
This review is from: Winter Light [DVD] [1962] (DVD)
The second part of Bergman's trilogy of films on the existence of God, Winter Light depicts a village pastor whose faith is crumbling. The film follows his inability to find a way help a parishioner who is struggling with depression and a profound sense of futility, and his abortive and loveless relationship with the local schoolmistress. This is a sombre film with some wonderful performances, and was one of Bergman's favourites of his own films.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bare ruined choirs,
By
This review is from: Winter Light [DVD] [1962] (DVD)
This Pastor, Tomas Ericsonn, has lost his faith and we see him going through the motions in a service. This film is the centrepiece of the trilogy on faith. The film is beautifully yet rigorously shot taking into account the light falling into the church interior. His wife has been dead 4 years and his congregation is small. There is also a sextant, an organist and Marta, a schoolteacher who has no beliefbut loves the Minister. He is unable to return her love. He is also unable to help one of his parishioners, Jonas (Sydow) the fisherman, who seeks his help, due to his fear for the future of the world, with the Chinese hatred for the West and the Atomic bomb. Jonas is married to Karin who is pregnant and has 3 children. Tomas cannot reassure his disturbed thoughts, merely sharing his doubts about God with him, i.e. the silence of God. Later he hears that Jonas has gone down to the river and shot himself in the head. He attends the body until it is taken away. There is an impressive scene in the church when the Pastor looks out of the church window and asks "Why has thou forsaken me?" It is wise to remember this subject was dear to Bergman. His father had been a Royal Pastor and Bergman had opposed his own strict upbringing. He had also asked his father to help him look around churches for this film and seen his father take over a communion service when the Pastor in one was ill. This is an extremely moving film. About the conflict between wanting to believe and simply not believing. Yet something, the love of others, their needs and beliefs lifts him up to go on in the last service we see at the end of the film.
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