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"Winter Light"

Posted by sjb (A) on July 24, 2007 at 07:17:16

There was a point early into this film about a self absorbed pastor, struggling with his faith while being - at least outwardly - indifferent to (and sometimes even feeding) the suffering of those around him, that I thought it was going to be the first Bergman film I didn't like.

But just as I felt myself slipping away I made the decision to stay with it and was rewarded with yet another Bergman masterpiece.

Part of the problem I had early on was that I just didn't care about the pastor. Nothing about him elicited any sympathy in me and, frankly, I was bored. But then I realized I cared about everyone else in the film and as it progressed I came to greatly appreciate the performance of Gunnar Björnstrand (who, IMO, despite the great performance of Max von Sydow, pretty much stole the show in the Seventh Seal) as the pastor.

The movie starts and ends on a similar note... a dry, lifeless church service; and in the three hours in between services (that's three hours in story time, the film is 80 minutes long) we basically discover the why's and wherfore's of that dryness and lifelessness.

It's no great revelation to say that this film is more of a chamber piece and that, as such, it requires a bit more from the viewer... it's a film about the inner live's of people and to access it fully you must get to the inner life of the film. Once there the rewards are tremendous.

Like every Bergamn film I've seen it deserves a second viewing before sending it back and like the others, I look forwrard to that, and to discovering even more of its treasures.

Two other performances worth mentioning are Kolbjörn Knudsen as the caretaker of the church. His monologue on suffering was the highlight for me and he suffused his character with a kind of honesty and luminosity that really made me believe in his faith.

And, of course Ingrid Thulin as the woman in love with the pastor. What an honest, raw and vulnerable performance. She really carried the film for me.

Don't piss on my shoe and tell me it's raining.

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