Through a magnifying glass--lightly

Last week, CineVerse attempted to peel back the layers on Ingmar Bergman's pscyhologically gripping "Through a Glass Darkly." If the movie intrigued you, read on to learn more and appreciate the artistry of the Berg-Man.

WHAT THEMES DOES THIS FILM ATTEMPT TO DELVE INTO?

·       The “silence of God”: how God has supposedly abandoned us and left us to our own devices

·       Does God exist in the post World War II world, especially a Europe that experienced the Holocaust and intense suffering

·       God is love, and love is God, but what if there is no love? In the absence of love, do you look for a God instead, and will you find him? And vice versa: if there is no God, do you look for love instead and will you find it?

o   Bergman explores one family’s lack of love and stability as a metaphor for questioning the existence of God: their instability is parallel with our not knowing for certain whether or not God exists

o   The family re-examines their relationships when they’re thrust together by a horrible event

WHAT IMPRESSED YOU ABOUT THIS MOVIE: WHAT STOOD OUT AS MEMORABLE, HAUNTING, INSPIRING OR OTHERWISE?

·       Masterful lighting by cinematographer Sven Nykvist:

o   each face is often separately and specially lit, and not always illuminated from the same lighting source

o   there is sometimes a dark line placed between the faces that separates them

o   ordinary objects like the wallpaper or a desk appear to have a glowing, luminescent quality

·       While there is not much of a plot to follow, there is intense focus on faces and facial close-ups, forcing us to carefully evaluate each character through their visage, as if we’re peering into the windows of their souls

·       Bergman is ambiguous in what happens to Karin:

o   is she actually hearing voices from God, or is it a mental illness?

o   Does she actually have an incestuous relationship with her brother?

·       There is very little exposition and backstory; we are only given subtle hints as to why characters act they way they do and their motivations and histories

·       There is no single main character: each of the four gets fairly equal screen time and significance

o   This wisely distances the viewr from the protagonists, who are ironically already distanced from each other

o   It also enables us to sympathize with the situation more than any one character

·       The film has two convergent yet disparate storylines that shouldn’t work together, but arguably do: the tale of a woman who believes she sees God, and the tale of a family’s absence of love and communication

OTHER FILMS THAT REMIND YOU OF THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY

·       The Exorcist

·       A Streetcar Named Desire

·       Interiors by Woody Allen

·       Ordinary People

OTHER MAJOR FILMS BY BERGMAN

·       The Seventh Seal

·       Wild Strawberries

·       The Virgin Spring

·       Winter Light

·       Persona

·       Hour of the Wolf

·       Cries and Whispers

·       Scenes from a Marriage

·       Fanny and Alexander