#3
Through A Glass Darkly
Through A Glass Darkly
1961
Written and Directed by: Ingmar Bergman
Cinematography by: Sven Nykvist
Starring: Harriet Andersson, Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand and Lars Passgård
Cinematography by: Sven Nykvist
Starring: Harriet Andersson, Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand and Lars Passgård
I'm always awestruck after watching an Ingmar Bergman movie. They are so complex and the writing is so brilliant that they require multiple viewings to pick up on the subtexts and underlying themes. In many movies I feel this can lead to nowhere and is only a clever hoax to appear more complex. But for Bergman, his films are always provocative and deal with questions essential to human nature in an unassuming way. This is what can upset people. Watching Bergman leaves you more confused than before the movie started as he is rarely straightforward nor does he end his movies with a definite conclusion. For me this requires serious soul searching though and is the heart of its brilliance.
Through A Glass Darkly is perhaps the best example of what I just tried to explain. Described as a 'chamber film', because it takes place throughout a single day on the secluded Fårö Island in Sweden and involves only four characters, is quite slow paced. The plot centers on Karin (Harriet Andersson) who suffers from an increasingly de-habilitating schizophrenia. She takes a brief vacation with her husband (Max von Sydow) who she is growing distant from, her father (Gunnar Björnstrand) who has neglected her due to his inability to come to terms with her condition, and her brother (Lars Passgård) a sexually/socially frustrated teenager. With characters like this, the story pretty much writes itself.
You can basically distinguish three different types of Bergman films: those about God, those about relationships, and those about both. Through A Glass Darkly belongs to the final category. Throughout the movie, Karin suffers from increasingly severe episodes of schizophrenia. In these episodes she becomes convinced that God is talking to her and guiding her. She retreats to the attic and stares at the wall blankly in a trance. At first this gives her comfort as she appears in her daze to believe she has found her purpose. But she is destroyed when God is finally revealed to her. The title Through A Glass Darkly is taken from Chapter 13 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament. It explains that our view of God is like that of looking through a dark glass, window or a mirror in some translations. We won’t truly understand God until we die. This was not the case for Karin though obviously.
Most of the other major Bergman movies which discussed God (The Seventh Seal, Winter Light) deal with mankind's frustration with the inability to understand or believe in God. The characters in these films feel unfairly tested when they are forced to put up with God's silence. They want to believe but feel cheated when they have doubt, which according to religious dogma was given to them by the creator itself. Through The Glass Darkly on the other hand deals with the opposite scenario: conquering certainty. Karin appears content in the early episodes of her disease. Her belief in a higher power is like an opiate, soothing her nerves. The allusion to Marx’s statement that religion is the ‘opiate of the masses’ is unavoidable. It was a belief likely accepted by Bergman as this point in his life. In the latter stages of her illness God is revealed to Karin and, unfortunately, the reality is far too much for her to handle and she goes mad. For Bergman, it appears that God was not the benevolent creator that he is considered by most to be. Instead he is the source of our discontent. Or perhaps what was revealed was that our lives are nothing more than chaos and hopes of an afterlife are misguided. That is open to interpretation I suppose. As this clip puts it perfectly though, the idea of ‘God’ penetrates us our whole lives as a spider would:
Through A Glass Darkly is perhaps the best example of what I just tried to explain. Described as a 'chamber film', because it takes place throughout a single day on the secluded Fårö Island in Sweden and involves only four characters, is quite slow paced. The plot centers on Karin (Harriet Andersson) who suffers from an increasingly de-habilitating schizophrenia. She takes a brief vacation with her husband (Max von Sydow) who she is growing distant from, her father (Gunnar Björnstrand) who has neglected her due to his inability to come to terms with her condition, and her brother (Lars Passgård) a sexually/socially frustrated teenager. With characters like this, the story pretty much writes itself.
You can basically distinguish three different types of Bergman films: those about God, those about relationships, and those about both. Through A Glass Darkly belongs to the final category. Throughout the movie, Karin suffers from increasingly severe episodes of schizophrenia. In these episodes she becomes convinced that God is talking to her and guiding her. She retreats to the attic and stares at the wall blankly in a trance. At first this gives her comfort as she appears in her daze to believe she has found her purpose. But she is destroyed when God is finally revealed to her. The title Through A Glass Darkly is taken from Chapter 13 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament. It explains that our view of God is like that of looking through a dark glass, window or a mirror in some translations. We won’t truly understand God until we die. This was not the case for Karin though obviously.
Most of the other major Bergman movies which discussed God (The Seventh Seal, Winter Light) deal with mankind's frustration with the inability to understand or believe in God. The characters in these films feel unfairly tested when they are forced to put up with God's silence. They want to believe but feel cheated when they have doubt, which according to religious dogma was given to them by the creator itself. Through The Glass Darkly on the other hand deals with the opposite scenario: conquering certainty. Karin appears content in the early episodes of her disease. Her belief in a higher power is like an opiate, soothing her nerves. The allusion to Marx’s statement that religion is the ‘opiate of the masses’ is unavoidable. It was a belief likely accepted by Bergman as this point in his life. In the latter stages of her illness God is revealed to Karin and, unfortunately, the reality is far too much for her to handle and she goes mad. For Bergman, it appears that God was not the benevolent creator that he is considered by most to be. Instead he is the source of our discontent. Or perhaps what was revealed was that our lives are nothing more than chaos and hopes of an afterlife are misguided. That is open to interpretation I suppose. As this clip puts it perfectly though, the idea of ‘God’ penetrates us our whole lives as a spider would:
What you will also notice after the clip is the brilliant cinematography by long-time Bergman collaborator Sven Nykvist. His brilliant work with light is perfect for films such as this which deal with darkness and light as a theme. The shots in the attic, especially the opening of the door revealing God are perfectly constructed. I wish I could get more technical about the matter but I can’t. As I’ve been trying to explain though, that’s the thing with Bergman; it may take a while to pick up on things and work it out but you’re instantly aware that you’re taking in a brilliant work of art.
For making a solid argument against living an unexamined life, in my opinion Through A Glass Darkly is the 3rd greatest movie of the 1960s.
For making a solid argument against living an unexamined life, in my opinion Through A Glass Darkly is the 3rd greatest movie of the 1960s.
