WINTER LIGHT Movie Review

Nattvardsgaesterna

The centerpiece of Bergman's “crisis of faith,” or “religious” trilogy of films, which began with Through a Glass Darkly and ended with The Silence, focuses on four central characters: a village priest, Tomas (Gunnar Björnstrand), whose faith is in doubt since the death of his wife; a schoolmistress, Marta (Ingrid Thulin), who is in love with Tomas; and Jonas (Max von Sydow), a fisherman whose obsessive fear of nuclear war is driving his wife, Karin (Gunnel Lindblom), to the edge of her endurance. Winter Light is often cited as the least successful of the three films, but this may be simply because of the movie's somewhat elliptical structure and its utter bleakness. Tomas is a man who's just going through the motions of his profession—and unfortunately that profession is based on comforting others with the faith that he no longer has. (One critic likened his dilemma to a man caressing a woman he no longer loves.) There is also the subplot of the fear of nuclear holocaust, which was perhaps a bit too close to home for many in 1962. Nevertheless, though Winter Light isn't as structurally or emotionally fully felt as the trilogy's bookends, it remains a haunting elegy for a man who's spent a lifetime consoling others, and is left to wonder who will console him. As always, Bergman has pulled fine performances out of his cast, most notably Björnstrand and Thulin. Stunningly photographed by Sven Nykvist.

NEXT STOP … Through a Glass Darkly, The Silence, The Sacrifice

1962 80m/B SW Gunnar Bjornstrand, Ingrid Thulin, Max von Sydow; D: Ingmar Bergman; W: Ingmar Bergman; C: Sven Nykvist. VHS, LV NLC