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Ingmar Bergman Trilogy (Through a Glass Darkly / Winter Light / The Silence) (Criterion Collection)

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Perhaps the most amazing thing about Bergman's huge body of work is how his style continued to grow and evolve, even
as he was drawn again and again to the great questions in life; is there a God? How do we face death? What is the
meaning of being here? Can we be happy? Can people be kind to each other, or are we doomed only to cause harm? Is love real?

Yet, while the themes stay consistent, how he approached them varied wildly over 50 years of film-making, from the uber-experimental,
groundbreaking poetic surrealism of "Persona", to the highly symbolic "Seventh Seal", to his later works, more grounded in naturalism and
day-to-day realism, but no less profound for it. Pieces like "Scenes From a Marriage", or "Cries and Whispers".

These three films, which I've heard referred to as "the Faith Trilogy", "The Silence of God" trilogy, or simply "The Trilogy" as Criterion labels
them, represent a paradoxic step forward from his earlier work. On one hand they are more poetic, subtle, works - even the highly surreal
"The Silence" is more fragile and etherial than, say, the earlier "Virgin Spring". The film making is more stylized, from the never moving camera
of "Winter's Light" with it's very self conscious framings, and six minute long monologues, to the almost Fellini-esque "The Silence".

On the other hand, the performances themselves are even more grounded in the kind of understated hyper-realism that was Bergman's ever
growing trademark.

While not my personal favorites of Bergman's work (I am most attached to his later pieces) these are still must-see, if not 'easy' films, for any
fan of grown up thoughtful film-making. The direct depth with which they ponder the meaning of existence, and the depths of despair that
struggle for meaning can bring is breathtaking, if sometimes hard to take. The work of his actors is consistently amazing, and the images are unique
and unforgettable.

These are films that only grow with time, and re-visiting, so owning copies is worth-while. There's no way to get all the levels of these
existential explorations at one go. And the Criterion transfers - as is almost always the case - are first rate.

Some specific notes on the films from my 'film diary':

Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
My personal favorite of Bergman's earlier works, I find this tremendously moving and haunting in equal degree.

Bergman is still dealing with some of the same big issues (Is there a god?, What's the meaning of art?, etc.) but now on a much more human
level. The preachiness is gone, and the characters are no longer archetypes. Just human beings struggling with the difficulties of living.

Phenomenal, understated performances all around, and beautiful cinematography more than compensate for occasional hints of staginess in
this chamber drama with just 4 characters; a father, his son and schizophrenic daughter, and her husband who loves her in spite of her illness.

All the characters are human, identifiable, occasionally ugly, and always true. This film led to me thinking much more deeply about my own
life then the impressive, but more on-the-nose cosmic questioning of 'The Seventh Seal' or even 'Wild Strawberries'.

Winter Light (1962)
I was slightly less affected by this than by `Through a Glass Darkly', which opens the trilogy, though a number of critics rank it higher, and
a couple call it one of the greatest films ever made.

Certainly, once again the acting is terrific, and the cinematography superb. More even than `Through a Glass Darkly' this film mines
the subtle shadings of the human face to an almost supernatural degree.

But this film returns to Bergman's early tendency to be more on-the-nose with his themes. It's the story itself. A pastor has
lost his faith, in the face of God's silence at the dark things of life. But in this story, just about everyone has surrendered to that
sort of hopeless depression, so the film feels more one note, more talky and `heady' than `Through a Glass Darkly', if more quiet
and subtle in its approach than the early Bergman works.

It's not just that the characters don't change that bothers me, its that it feels clear from the outset there is no hope of change, which
made me feel I'd already gotten the power of the film's questioning and aching loss (which is still considerable) long before its final moments.

None-the-less, how rewarding to see any film that is about the big questions, and addresses them in a serious, beautifully made way.
And I do find it haunting me since I've seen it.

The Silence (1963)
My first reaction was the same I've had to many of Bergman's earlier films: deep admiration, but not personal
adoration. In this case, the more extreme, self-conscious surreal style threw me off. This feels more like
something by Bunuel, Fellini, Beckett or Lynch (all of whom I love).

Two sisters, polar opposites - one sensual, emotional, promiscuous, self-centered, representing the body, the id.
The other, intellectual, sickly, sexually isolated stands for mind or super ego. The child of one, perhaps 8 years
old, is accompanying them on a train trip, heading home. We never know where they're coming from or why
they went. They stop in a city clearly preparing for war, or under some sort of military occupation. They stay
in a baroque but almost abandoned hotel, unable to communicate with anyone, since this unknown land has a
language none of them speak.

While one sister picks up lovers, and the other languishes ill in bed, the boy explores the creepy hotel ("The Shining"
was definitely influenced by this), making friends with a circus full of dwarf performers, who, pointedly, are the most
normal people in the film.

All of this is done with very little dialogue (to the point where the effect feels forced and self- conscious at times). I
had a hard time clicking in while watching the film, but images and moments have really stuck with me, and there's
good reason why so many intelligent critics think it's a masterpiece. And certainly the exploration of surrealism here
helped prepared him for the leap to one of his greatest achievements, "Persona".

Of late, I have developed an interest in Bergman movies. I can't seem to get myself away from them, as the "artfullness" of Bergman's movies transcend time and even Bergman's weightly "popularity". When he was allowed to pursue his "art" by being given the "poetic license" of his popularity i.e. he could write, direct, attract stars that he wanted, I feel he produced what one would hope, all he was capable of as an artist.
Yes, this sounds grandiose on my part to give such an uninhibited glowing review of what would seem to be such stark movies. But folks, these DVD's are worth it, because the viewer is given the opportunity to see the behind the scenes making of the movies, and more than a peek at Bergman himself. Bergman appears to be an artist not afraid to look at himself beyond the curse of Narcissus. What he was able to see and show through these movies is remarkable.
I bought these DVD's with some trepidation, thinking that I may be pursuing my interest to nurture my proclivity to wallow in depressive affect or worse to try to in my older middle aged years imbibe as much art as I can tolerate as the trash that is produced and maketed by the media is exponential. I'm afraid to say that much of the "art" sits on my bookshelves or in a pile here or there, gleaned once and put away for another time. I could not do that with these movies, or any other Bergman DVD's that I have watched. I bring up the DVD issue, as the VCR versions are nice, but do not offer the "extras" of the DVD's i.e. interviews with Bergman, etc. I have VCR versions of some of his movies, but will buy DVD as well of some of them i.e. Persona when they are available. Enough said, anyone with an interest in Bergman should own this exceptional Trilogy plus "Ingmar Bergman makes a movie".

As with Beckett's trilogy of novels _Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable_ this trilogy of novels seems to imitate Baroque music in its structure--at the time, through Bergman's marriage with Kabi Laretei (sorry if this is misspelled), Bergman became even more interested in Baroque music, especially the music of Bach. Bach was a master of chamber music--that is, music with few musicians that give the viewer/listener a sense of intimacy. And the trilogy seems to have, in its three films, the three movements of a traditional chamber concerto. And Bach's music figures prominently in at least two of the films--in the first, with the soundtrack lifted from Bach, and in the last, with one of the few moments of communication centered around Bach's music. (I am not sure if the organ music in the second film is also Bach; it seems a reasonable hypothesis.) The trilogy represents a cinematic break for Bergman from the large, intricate productions exemplified by _Wild Strawberries_ and _The Seventh Seal_.

But the trilogy seems to represent a transition for Bergman from problems of theology to those immediate problems people experience. This is the reason for the necessity of cinematic intimacy--to be close to these people's problems, one must first be close to the people represented.

I have attempted, here, to avoid obscurities. The interpretation of such details has gone on apace, as with all Bergman's films. But these obscurities are often not too dificult to understand, as Bergman often uses the same themes of religion and despair in all his films. The point is that these three brilliant films represent a complete change in structure and technique for Bergman--he even began, here, to use more radical cinematic methods (an example is the revolutionary six minute close up on Ingrid Thulin's character in the misnomered _Winter Light_). The importance of these films from an historical standpoint is their evidence of a paradigm shift for Bergman, as discussed above. That, and their thematic genius.

A Film Trilogy by Ingmar Bergman probably considered one of the best cinematic trilogies ever, if not the films alone are considered to be some of the best film ever made. Criterion gives this trilogy an appropriate treatment as they release all three films together with a documentary.

Through a Glass Darkly is the first installment of Bergman's Trilogy that takes place on an island off the coast of Sweden where a family is having a vacation at their summer home. The father, David (Gunnar Björnstrand), has recently returned from one of his many trips and his closest family is present. His family consists of his daughter Karin (Harriet Andersson), who is struggling with a mental illness that is gradually getting worse, his son Fredrik (Lars Passgård) who is in the middle of his scholarly diversion, and Martin (Max von Sydow) who is Karin's husband and a medical doctor. As the siblings rediscover the family home, they recall blissful moments from their childhood, however, the happiness brings back a strong sense of melancholy that threads their memories. These depressing memories of an absent father and his shortcomings as a care-giver have resulted in deep scars in the sibling's psyche. Reminiscence of their agonizing past affects Karin's mental health as it is deteriorating at a much faster pace, which brings the family members regret and grief. This then causes anguish among all the present family members as they are all affected by Karin in one way or another. Through a Glass Darkly is the beginning of a trilogy where grief and pain commence, which will be followed by Winter Light and Silence. Bergman demonstrates a thorough understanding of the human consciousness as he directs Through a Glass Darkly where he dissects the social structure of a family and its affects on its members. This results in an outmost brilliant cinematic experience.

Winter Light is the second film after Through a Glass Darkly. Pastor Ericsson (Gunnar Björnstrand) is suffering an enduring cold and he must hold mass for an ever-shrinking congregation as he is facing a spiritual crisis of his own. After the mass, Pastor Ericsson attempts to withdraw due to his cold, but is confronted by Jonas Persson's wife. It appears that Jonas (Max von Sydow) is suffering from severe anxiety and depression. However, Pastor Ericsson is inept in helping Jonas's emotional distress and instead addresses his own divine doubts about God. The pastor is also pondering his current affair with Märta (Ingrid Thulin) that he is thinking of ending, but Märta insists that they should continue to see each other. As a result, Pastor Ericsson is meditatively squeezed in between God and Märta as he has difficulty deciding on what he wants. He desires Märta's love as he knows it offers him comfort on a daily basis, but it goes against his ideal perspective of how to serve as a minister. Winter Light is not as grandiose as Bergman's earlier films (e.g., Naked Night and Seventh Seal). It is apparent that he has taken a new path as he is directing this film in a much smaller milieu. The setting is a personal place where catharsis is permitted without interruptions as Pastor Ericsson is facing his own demons. Winter Light serves as an enlightening and purgative link between Through a Glass Darkly and Silence. In the end, Winter Light offers an ultimate cinematic experience for self-reflection as it opens doors where questions must be asked.

Silence is the third film after the succession of Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light. The sisters, Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and Anna (Gunnel Lindblom), are stranded in a foreign city with Anna's son, Johan. Ester is a neurotic over-achiever that often attempts to look at the rationality of things and Anna is a careless thrill-seeker that acts on her impulses. The two of them have unresolved issues that reach as far back as their childhood which have left them in an emotional turmoil. These issues cloud their judgment on how to approach each other as if they were lost within the emotional confusion caused by these issues. This confusion is left in a vacuum where their bitterness is growing in silence. Johan is placed in the middle of this silence as a compassionate shadow between the sisters, which encourages them to maintain a civil harmony. The sisters' only hope for healing is the innocence of Johan's curiosity which is untouched by the worldly cynicism that controls most of the sisters beliefs and values. Johan's innocence is full of acceptance, understanding, life, and love, which is something that Ester and Anna have difficulty in sharing. In addition, the silence between them sets their minds and thoughts pessimistically adrift and is elevated through their personal cynicism. Silence uses cinematography that is unmatched as it enhances emotional turmoil that the sisters are experiencing through the use of provoking camera angles, close-ups, and pans. In addition, the frequent play with light and shadows boosts emotional situations of the characters and enhances how they are perceived by the audience. The lack of sound enhances moments when sound is utilized. Overall, Bergman has manipulated elements of cinema in Silence to perfection as he leaves a brilliant cinematic experience for the audience.

These three films are perfectly summed up with the fourth film, which serves as a documentary for the Trilogy, by Vilgot Sjöman (I Am Curious Yellow and I Am Curious Blue) who served as intern during the 50s for Bergman.

In the end, I appreciate these films as they develops an understanding of why Bergman belongs with the cinematic geniuses of all time such as Antonioni, Chaplin, Clouzot, Fassbinder, Fellini, Godard, Kiarostami, Kieslowski, Kurosawa, Lang, Powell, Pressburger, Renoir, Truffaut and many others.

The three films in this box set represent some of the best of Ingmar Bergman's work in the 'chamber drama' format. As the director's interest in classical music grew, the art house scene saw more and more films from Bergman with just a few characters interacting within one location, like the instruments in a string quartet. In __Through a Glass Darkly__, __Winterlight (aka __The Communicants__), and __The Silence__, Bergman exorcises the spiritual demons of his childhood within a very modern, every-day context. The themes that he deals with are the same ones which drove such classics as __The Seventh Seal__ and __Wild Strawberries__; however, while such movies were theatrical and featured archetypical characters, the films in the trilogy (and most of Bergman's subsequent works) are realistic and feature psychologically nuanced and complex characters.

In __Through a Glass Darkly__, a vacationing family is forced to deal with its own disintegration. The daughter, Karin, played masterfully by Harriet Anderson, battles schizophrenia and attempts in vein to stay in touch with consensual reality, while her father David, played by the stoic Gunner Bjornstrand finds himself unable to resist the urge to use her illness as a means to drive his artistic and intellectual work as a novelist. Max von Sydow plays Karin's loving and simple husband, while her brother, Minus, played by Lars Pasgard, comes to represent the anxieties and insecurities of the family's next generation. This is a difficult film to watch. Emotionally, it is overwhelming (though Bergman never strays too far from his characteristic subtlety).

The next offering in the trilogy is __Winterlight__. Here Gunner Bjorstrand plays Tomas, a mid-aged priest, whose own crisis of fate fails to save a parishioner in his church from committing suicide at the thought of nuclear holocaust. Meanwhile, in a superb performance, Ingrid Thulin plays Tomas's mistress, an atheist who attempts to save him from his own spiritual and personal failings.

Finally, __The Silence__ is the controversial third move in the trilogy. While traveling through a mysterious foreign country, two sisters, the intellectual Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and the sensual Anna (Gunnel Lindblom), and Anna's 10-year-old son, are forced to stay in an almost abandoned hotel. Sexual tension rises as Ester and Anna (presumably intimate) cannot come to terms with their own diverging desires. Anna's son Johan, played by Jorgen Lindstrom, must discover the hotel, while attempting to understand the uncertainty of the world around him.

I will not go into the deeper symbolic structures of each film and allow viewers to discover for themselves. __The Silence__, the most bleak AND most optimistic film in the trilogy, is my favorite, though __Winterlight__ will probably compel more viewers.

The era of Bergman's auteurism is gone. Just as Antonioni, Dreyer, and other masters of high modernist cinema have lost their once immense popularity in the American and European art house scene, so have Bergman and the 'Bergmanesque' been long in decline. However, it is definitely a good idea to view these films. Even if the singular existential angst portrayed by Bergman is no longer the anxiety of the postmodern era, Bergman's technical abilities and his skills in drawing incredible perfomances from his troupe of actors are a wonder to behold.

Each DVD contains a short discussion with film scholar Peter Cowie. Also included is __Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie__ on a separate disk. Bergman fans will enjoy more than two hours of interviews and behind-the-scenes footage from the making of __Winterlight__. The box set contains just the right amount of extras. It is packaged elegantly and is a great buy.

Despite the comment of "a viewer", the disc of THE SILENCE in this set is completely uncut and full-length. Criterion's earlier laserdisc featured the shorter US theatrical version, but this new DVD edition is the complete, unedited, original version of THE SILENCE.

The two scenes reinstated for this DVD involve Anna's rendezvous with the waiter. In one scene, we see Anna's son Johan looking through the keyhole of a door behind which are his mother and the waiter. Cut to a full frontal, waist-up, nude shot of Anna who walks towards the camera and over to the bed. This shot, lasting a few seconds, was absent from the laserdisc, but is present on this DVD and has been fully restored.

Later in the film, we return to Anna and the waiter. This time, Anna's sister Ester enters their room to confront Anna. After Ester leaves, Anna now in tears wrestles with the waiter, struggles and eventually leans over the foot of the bed frame with the waiter behind her. The laserdisc also did not include the full length of this particular shot. In the new DVD, you can see the complete shot, lasting 23 seconds longer.

Beautifully packaged, with excellent features, the trilogy is pretty mind blowing in its bleakness and (deferred) promise of salavation. Take a quiet evening (preferrably in the Winter) and watch these three in reverse order (Glass Darkly is the least bleak, and most redemptive) to really get a handle on an important aspect of Bergman's work.

Another triumph for Criterion's work.

I consider Bergman's work from this period (early 60s) to be among his finest, so I pre-ordered this set and have now watched all four (not three) DVDs. And I find that The Silence as presented here restores two of the Gunnel Lindblom-Birger Malmsten scenes, parts of which are absent from the Home Vision Cinema video, in case you were wondering.

For the uninitiated, the trilogy is heavy stuff. If you haven't seen any Bergman, you might want to start with the Criterion DVD of Wild Strawberries and go on from there. As for myself, I'm always amazed at the consistency of Bergman's vision, the depth of the performances here, the beauty of the writing and complete mastery of light and sound. The cinematographic compositions, especially in Through a Glass Darkly and The Silence, are frequently awe-inspiring.

The fourth DVD is entitled Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie. It is a five-part documentary filmed by Vilgot Sjöman for Swedish television and it details the making of Winter Light, from beginning to end. Roughly 50% is made up of interviews with Bergman where he discusses the themes of the film, the challenges of bringing a completed script to the screen, his relationship and working methods with his cast and crew, and his reaction to critics (presumably Swedish) upon the film's premiere. The other 50% of the documentary shows Bergman and crew at work scouting locations, building the sets, selecting costumes for Ingrid Thulin and Gunnar Björnstrand, blocking, rehearsing and shooting an early scene in the film, later editing another scene, mixing the sound, then screening the finished product. It is an invaluable document for Bergman lovers and film students and I'm happy to have it in my collection.

But I'm scratching my head over the lack of extras for the three feature films. If Wild Strawberries deserves one commentary, The Silence alone deserves THREE: one for background and critical exegesis, another for lighting and composition, and a third for camera movement, editing and sound. Peter Cowie gives us 10-minute overviews of the films, and they are helpful, but not really satisfying. There are American theatrical trailers and a mish-mash gallery of posters for the films from several countries (not Sweden or the Nordic countries, however).

And if you're looking for comic relief, there are English-dubbed soundtracks for the films. No serious Bergman admirer will use them, but if your Pee-Wee's Big Adventure DVD is not readily at hand, try switching the soundtrack to the dubbed version, especially during some of the big emotional scenes. It's almost a sacrilege, but their crudeness and ineptitude will provoke laughter.

These three films are not entirely a trilogy. They document the gradual move from Bergman's doubtful Christianity to his even more doubtful secular humanism. With these films, Bergman abandoned the heavy allegorical, morality play approach of films like Wild Strawberries and the Seventh Seal. By contrast, these films utilize a single, sometimes clausterphobic setting, small groups of characters, and sparse production. These are, after Strindberg's so-called chamber plays, chamber films.

Through a Glass Darkly is my favorite of the three. The beautiful photography in Sven Nykvist's opening shots set the scene for the three films -- a group of people arriving on a desert island (Faro), where they're vacationing. The whole film takes place on this island. Gunnar Bjornstrand plays the role of a despondent writer who finds himself morbidy curious with his own daughter's (Harriet Anderson) demise into madness. He notes her "progress" with criminal objectivity in his diary, perhaps for later use in a novel. Max Von Sydow plays Anderson's husband and doctor, who finds himself helpless in helping his wife, and is racked with guilt that, perhaps, he has already begun to lose his feelings for her. The climax of this film, Anderson's striking illusionary encounter with the thematic "Spider God" is one of the greatest moments any actor or actress has ever committed to screen. This bold and powerful film, perhaps Bergman's best, uses only the opening lines of Bach's Saraband from his 2nd cello concerto to pronounce the drama, creating an incredible dynamic. The camera is still, forcing the viewer to stomach the action with the same objectivity of the tortured Bjornstrand.

The ending of this that film, however, was dissatisfying. Bergman was forced to fall back on the notion that God is love and love is God as the salvation for man. He set about to tackle this issue in his next film, Winter Light (Tarkovsky once called this his second favorite film of all time, after Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest). Here a fatigued country priest, again Gunnar Bjornstrand, is confronted by a suicidal man, Max Von Sydow, who needs his help. The man is tortured by a practical issue, nuclear terror and man's hatred, and Bjornstrand finds his answer of God and love being neither convincing to the man or himself. His own inability to express love for his mistress, Ingrid Thulin, counterpoints the plot. Bjornstrand must contend with the spectre of God's silence, and the even more daunting problem of man's loneliness. Shot in almost all natural light, with gritty, sometimes deliberatley ugly shots by Nykvist, the film takes the approach of the first film to an even further extent. The camera hardly moves, and we are meant to see every small detail, like a priest slowly running his hands across a desk, with excrutiating detail.

The last film, The Silence, is a little different than the first two. If man's love, not God's, was the answer given in Winter Light, Bergman meant to take the question a little further: what if man is unable to communicate, unable to love at all? This brought him to his grand finale -- one of the boldest, most daring films ever made. The film is about two sisters (Ingrid Thulin and Gunnel Lindblom), who are also perhaps also lesbian lovers. They are travelling with Lindblom's young son to a strange wartorn country where none of them speak the language. Thulin, an austere, ascetic linguist, is dying, while her lover, the sensual, simple epicurean Lindblom, abandons her to find other sexual liasons. The little boy is caught in the middle of their incredible violence toward one another. The inability to communicate is the theme, and its not just "God's silence" here, but man's silence that causes this coarse and horrible social brutality. Unlike the other two films, Nykvist uses tracks and moving cameras to inject the viewer straight into the crammed hotel room, and the long, mysteriously empty hallways. This film features sexual scenes so daring, its hard to believe a film today would even be as bold. But the sex isn't at all erotic -- its hideous, ugly, and even physically repulsive.

The documentary that accompanies this set, Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie, is by Vilgot Sjoman (I Am Curious), who was an understudy of Bergman's. It follows the making of Winter Light from the writing of the screenplay to the premiere and the critical reception. This incredible 5-part documentary makes this box set well worth the purchase. Other extras include short filmed essays by Peter Cowie which are pretty insightful. Transfer quality here is unassailable.

On another note, Ingrid Thulin, who acted in many of Bergman's films including two of this trilogy and the documentary, died this year (2004) on January 8th at the age of 74. A wonderful actress who Albert Camus once called "the perfect woman." She'll be sorely missed.

This is, according to Criterion, a 4 disc set, not 3. Also included in the set is the documentary "Ingmar Bergman makes a Film". Despite numerous attempts to get Amazon to verify this and update their page they still have not. Verification is found at Criterion's website .......(This was also verified by Criterion via email to me). The Criterion description of this film follows:

The year is 1961 and Ingmar Bergman is making a movie. While planted on the scene as apprentice to Bergman, Vilgot Sjöman (director, I Am Curious-Yellow, 1967), suggests to Swedish Television that they take the opportunity to record with the acclaimed director. In August, Sjöman and the television crew begin to capture what would become a comprehensive five-part documentary on the making of Winter Light, offering views of script development, set construction and lighting, rehearsals and editing, as well as intimate conversations with Bergman and members of his cast and crew. Footage from the film's Swedish premiere delivers immediate audience reactions and the critics' reviews the following day. Originally recorded on 16mm film, the television series Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie is presented here in its entirety for the first time outside of Sweden.

Thought you would want to know.