Winter Light

'Winter Light' is the second film of an informal trilogy by Ingmar Bergman, which is preceded by 'Through the Glass Darkly' and is followed by 'The Silence'. The trilogy explores the spiritual issues of human existence. A trend can be observed through the three films – from the spiritual perspective common in many of Bergman's earlier films to the more secular perspective in his later films. Though I prefer a more secular reading of 'Through the Glass Darkly' (mental illness as opposed to spiritual experience), for many Bergman's intention in the film was to demonstrate the possibility of spirituality. 'The Silence', in contrast, was signifying God's silence, and the film placed its focus on humanistic issues. That made 'Winter Light' an interesting transition because, this middle film appeared to have the most ambivalent tone in all three films. Conflicting interpretations abound from different viewers, and Bergman welcomed both spiritual and secular interpretations. He seemed to suggest that, no matter how modernized human societies have become, the issue of faith is just as thought-provoking as ever.

In 'Winter Light', Tomas was a pastor in a small rural church. His responsibility was to provide a channel for people to be closer to God. Yet, as many critics have agreed, what Bergman has tried to do in the film is to 'smash the proof of God'. Through Tomas' observations, he had plenty of evidence to conclude that (a) either God did not exist, or (b) God was not benevolent. Thus no place of Theodicy, and no pre-established harmony advocated by Leibniz.

Organized religion, for which Tomas was part of, has become a meaningless ritual, and it has failed to enlighten the people. Tomas suffered a spiritual crisis himself, and was consumed by apocalyptic paranoia. Marta, who was Tomas' ex-mistress and felt that Tomas has alienated her in their relationships, has proactively tried to mend fences with him. Yet, she was the most avid disbeliever of God. The whole issue has become a psychological one – when people encounter bad things in their lives, they are willing to deny God's existence in order to reconcile the harsh reality with their experience.

The scenario of 'Winter Light' reminds me of Paul Schrader's book on Transcendental Style. Tomas has passed through the 'everyday' – carrying out his duties in the church and also making sense of God's teachings for the people around him. He then faced 'disparity' - from his own experience and his interaction with others, he was on the verge of losing his faith no matter how he has tried to convince himself about religiosity. Thus, was 'transcendence' possible for Tomas?

That came to the most contentious part of the film, where viewers have drawn up their own conclusions. Bergman gave an open-ended answer. At the end, Tomas had to carry out the ceremony service even when there was only one person in the Church. More ironies were apparent – that single person was Marta, and the self-proclaimed atheist started to pray. The outcome regarding Tomas was just as ambivalent. While he has sorted out his thinking and come to admit of God's silence, something he would rather choose not to believe; he still provided the consolation of God's benevolence through the ceremony. Was it an existential understanding of his own status, or was the doubt regarding God's absence a necessary part to reach a firmer faith to God, like Christ on the Cross? As for Marta, while some viewers might interpret Tomas has convinced Marta of God's presence through the film, it could also simply be that Marta treasured the compassion with Tomas and came for an emotional support. Bergman might be subtle here, yet the focus has displaced from the existence of God to the possibility of human relationships, the central theme that has defined so many of the masterpieces in his later years.

by Ed Law

Film Analysis

Persona : Bergman x Ibsen x Strindberg

    Ingmar Bergman's 'Persona' is one of the most iconic films from the European Art Cinema of the 1960s. The unique and enigmatic style from Bergman has led the film to diverse interpretations over the years. On surface reading, Persona appears to be a film about the intimate relationships of the two female characters. That is in tune with Bergman’s turn from a more spiritual perspective in the 1950s to a focus on human relationships from the late 1960s. The film suggests companionship can be therapeutic when one is confronting existential angst and alienation that are inherent in human nature. 

    Yet if one looks beyond the surface of this apparent narrative, one will likely discover a more immanent meaning offered by Bergman. Along with Antonioni, Resnais, Godard, Straub and others, Bergman belonged to the cinematic Modernists from the 1960s to the 1970s, whose idiosyncratic films often defy straight-forward readings. In order to discover the new meanings, we have to two of Bergman’s influences, who have shaped the Modernist Drama in the early 20th century – Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg.   

    It is well known that Bergman has been heavily influenced by Ibsen and Strindberg. Other than the films he has directed, Bergman has been involved in a number of theater productions, including the most iconic plays from Ibsen and Strindberg. To Bergman, cinema is a distilled essence of his theater work, and the two art forms intertwine with each other. After all, who is a more suitable candidate to direct Ibsen's 'Ghosts' than someone like Bergman? 

Ibsen x (Bergman x Strindberg)

    Starting from a theatre grounded in realism, both Ibsen and Strindberg moved towards on symbolic and expressionistic style over their careers. The late plays by Ibsen can be considered the precursor of chamber plays, for which Strindberg has both reacted against and further developed at the same time. The chamber plays became a very popular type of theater at the early 20th century in Europe, popularized by Max Reinhardt and other theater directors. The popularity coincided with the rise of German Expressionism, and one can easily connect the dots of this towards Strindberg’s artistic tendency in his late plays. For a number of Bergman’s films, such as ‘Through a Glass Darkly’, ‘The Silence’, ‘Cries and Whispers’, ‘Autumn Sonata’, and ‘Persona’, can be categorized as cinematic ‘chamber plays’. If one watches a televised version of Ibsen’s ‘Ghosts’ from UK (1987, directed by Elijah Moshinsky and starring Judi Dench), one will not find it to be too different from a typical Bergman film.  

    Many critics have noted that Strindberg’s plays, with their apparent naturalism, cannot be accepted at face value. A common technique adopted by both Strindberg and Bergman was to use characters in a non-realistic way, where they symbolized conflicting psychological drives from the same ego. From Strindberg’s ‘Miss Julie’ to the aforementioned Bergman films, they also served as nice examples. One can rationalize why chamber play is a great candidate to portray this kind of theme : because the ‘chamber’, usually a manor or a house, can symbolize a mental landscape, like the psyche as a totality; and the characters represented the differing psychic drives that battle for control and dominance. The 4 female characters in ‘Cries and Whispers’ symbolized 4 types of human sentiments, conflicting with each other in the red mental chamber until the end of one’s existence.   An example in American cinema, likely influenced by ‘Persona’, is Robert Altman’s ‘3 Women’. The film possesses an allegorical style and it certainly attracts a lot of different perspectives about its ‘meaning’ from the audience.  

(Ibsen x Bergman) x Strindberg

    Bergman has also been influenced a lot by Ibsen, and ‘Persona’ shared a number of themes from the Norwegian playwright. Elisabet Volger, the mute actress in ‘Persona’, can be seen as a continuation of Ibsen’s heroine. Ibsen, similar to Antonioni in cinema, has created some of the most iconic female characters in theater – From Hedda Gabler, Nora Helmer to Mrs. Alving, while his perspective could not be labelled as ‘feminist’, these female characters were instrumental because they reflected the problems of the society and culture they found themselves in.  

    Elisabet ceased to talk, not only as a pathological condition, but that served as a revolt. That represented Bergman’s modernist critique of language and the quest for stable meanings in the world. Alma, who was responsible for caring Elisabet, kept on asking ‘why’: Why are you not talking to me? Why don’t you response to anything? What is really on your mind? Alma tried to make sense of things and looked for reason. Yet from the start, Bergman has already taken sides. Much like Ibsen, who was critical of Romanticism and Platonic Idealism, Bergman has to defeat Alma – that represented the symbolic defeat of Idealism by Modernism. Ibsenism would prevail.

    It is the realization that Alma (Idealism) and Elisabet (Modernism) are really the Yin and Yang of a unity, and they represented the 2 fundamental drives of the psyche. As a reversal of fortune, Alma the nurse turned into the patient herself. Reminiscent of a psychoanalytic therapy, Alma observed that she has told everything to Elisabet, which she has never told anyone before. She understood that Elisabet would not have the slightest indication of response, yet this was a therapeutic experience for her. She developed a self-knowledge for herself after all these confessions. This again reconciled with Ibsen’s belief, that you can only gain full understanding when you look into the psychological makeup of the individual, not deceived by the persona by culture and society at large. 

  

by Ed Law

1 Feb 2020

Film Analysis