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Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

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From Time Out Film Guide

Preserving a strict unity of time and place, this stark tale of a young woman's decline into insanity is set in a summer home on a holiday island. It is the first part of the trilogy that comprises Winter Light and The Silence, films which are generally seen as addressing Bergman's increasing disillusionment with the emotional coldness of his inherited Lutheran religion. In particular here, Bergman focuses on the absence of familial love which might perhaps have pulled Karin (Andersson) back from the brink; while Karin's mental disintegration manifests itself in the belief that God is a spider. As she slips inexorably into madness, she is observed with terrifying objectivity by her emotionally paralysed father (Björnstrand) and seemingly helpless husband (von Sydow).

Author: NF

Time Out Film Guide

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Technoguy said...

Posted on Mar 05 2008 15:36 This is the 1st part of the the 1st trilogy Bergman did.The setting is Faro,an island
Off Sweden.The sea is emphasised, the sky,the rocks,the shore,the elements.There are 4 characters.David the father,completing his novel.Karin,recently discharged from an institution and recuperating from schizophrenia.There is her husband,Martin,kindly ,gentle and reassuring.Then
There is Minus,immature,in the throws of puberty,with whom she has an
incestuous relationship.It’s clear this is a holiday homestead and they are all
coming together to celebrate as a family.David,after attempting suicide in Switzerland realizes he loves his children.Up till now he has sacrificed them to his art.Aware Karin’s illness is incurable and reminds him too much of his deceased wife he has worked and travelled up until now.The children satirise
him in their play.The whole film is beautifully framed and shot and we get the sense of a chamberpiece with the Bach music,being isolated by the sea.David feels awkward with his family and full of self-loathing.He goes off fishing in a boat with Martin.Karen gets together with Minus.She has found out her father
has a profound detachment and studies her disintegration like a case history.She also feels God speaks to her through the wallpaper in an upstairs room saying that he will come to her through a door.He gives her instructions.She avoids her husband’s intimacy and pulls Minus through his puberty into her world. Is he God in disguise?She suffers religious hysteria through her psychotic breakdown
after making love to Minus.She is caught between two worlds,she can’t be innocent and she can’t be an adult.She worships God and wants to see him,she thinks he’s a spider:this leaves her empty,burned out,having crossed the border-
line into madness.The Helicopter descending is her visualization of the spidergod.In the epilogue David talks to his son,Minus,about the only proof of God is love.Karin is lost but there is hope:Minus saying “Daddy spoke to me”.

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