#through a glass darkly 1961

[nigesakis]

Through A Glass Darkly (1961), dir. Ingmar Bergman

[bikinibar]

Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

[everythingilearned]

Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

[spellboundcinema]

[toiich]

Through a Glass Darkly (1961), dir. Ingmar Bergman

[normalbrothershow]

karin, through a glass darkly (1961) + sam, houses of the holy [p2/?]

[aliusfrater]

i saw god. that would make so much sense, if it was god doing the talking.

through a glass darkly (1961) + supernatural (2005 - 2020)

[junglejim4322]

Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

1 Corinthians 13:12 King James Version (KJV) For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

[caviarsonoro]

Luke Howard: In Metaphor, Solace / Ingmar Bergman: The Silence (1963)

The Silence (Tystnaden), directed by Ingmar Bergman in 1963, is the third and final installment of his trilogy on the crisis of faith, following Through a Glass Darkly (1961) and Winter Light (1963). However, unlike its predecessors, this film moves away from explicit theology and delves into a more abstract and unsettling territory: human isolation and the impossibility of communication. The film follows two sisters, Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and Anna (Gunnel Lindblom), along with Anna’s son, Johan (Jörgen Lindström), as they become stranded in a foreign country with an incomprehensible language. The dilapidated hotel they stay in becomes a microcosm of their emotional and psychological tensions, where desire, illness, and disconnection emerge as dominant forces.

Bergman constructs a suffocating narrative through a minimalist and symbolic staging. Sven Nykvist's black-and-white cinematography intensifies the feeling of oppression and emptiness, with tight framing that reinforces the characters' solitude. The lack of communication is not only literal (with a language that is unintelligible to the protagonists) but also emotional: the sisters, despite their blood ties, are trapped in a dynamic of resentment and dependence. Ester, the ailing sister, represents intellectualism and emotional repression, while Anna embodies instinct and carnal desire, as seen in her encounter with an anonymous man in the hotel. Between them, Johan witnesses this fragmented universe, symbolizing innocence in contrast to the adults' decay.

The silence referenced in the title is not only that of God (a recurring theme in Bergman's work) but also that of language as a failed tool for connecting with others. The film relies on gestures, glances, and loaded silences to portray the growing distance between the protagonists. The rarefied, almost dreamlike atmosphere and moral ambiguity make The Silence a hypnotic and disturbing experience. It is a masterpiece of existentialist cinema, where Bergman, with surgical precision, dissects human anguish in its purest form, without concessions or explanations.

[wetgeliscasualinterval]

Through a Glass Darkly (1961) by Ingmar Bergman

[nigesakis]

through a glass darkly (1961) dir. ingmar bergman

[gacougnol]

Through a Glass Darkly, Ingmar Bergman 1961

[romanceyourdemons]

through a glass darkly (1961) is, like every ingmar bergman film i have seen, a beautiful and masterful meditation on divinity and identity. the element of the film that is the most fascinating to me is the camera and narrative’s insistence on keeping the film as small and realist as possible in direct contrast with its characters’ desires. most of its small cast of characters are Romanticists at heart, yearning for the sublime and the true spirit of art. as expressed in the fanciful play-within-a-play near the beginning, the choice to sacrifice one’s life for apotheosis with true art is a no-brainer, not even worth questioning, only tripped up by the unfortunate intrusion of reality. and the unfortunate intrusion of reality is the heart of the film. with tight, character-centered framings and cinematography that absolutely refuses to admire the landscape and the grandeur of nature, the film keeps the audience firmly tethered to the characters’ actions rather than to their experiences. its central figure, karin, is nominally the closest to the sublimity of true, invisible art as she drifts further from reality—making her theoretically the embodiment of the muse most worth sacrificing everything for—but the film refuses to admit her schizophrenic delusions to the realm of perceptible reality, prompting the audience to see her not as a supernatural muse but as an ordinary, struggling woman who is sacrificed for the sake of her family’s art. these tensions are carefully balanced in the script and vividly illustrated in the acting, to great effect. as of this point, through a glass darkly (1961) may well be my favorite bergman film yet, and i would highly recommend it

[fatecolossal]

THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY (1961, Ingmar Bergman) x THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS... (1871, John Tenniel for Lewis Carroll). While Bergman's title is very close to Carroll's, it has an independent, Biblical origin—and yet the similarity of these sequences is striking, suggesting clear influence...

PERSONA (1966, Bergman) x THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, & WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE (1871, Tenniel's original illustration for Carroll of Alice facing her reverse image & moving thru the mirror). This iconic image from PERSONA likewise seems to be clearly influenced by Carroll & Tenniel's ALICE works...

It seems fitting Carroll should inspire Bergman; both shared an interest in what lies beneath individual & social veneers, exploring it w/ elliptical, fantastical art. In the case of PERSONA, the exploration includes ALICE-esque touches of mirrors, mushrooms, madness, tea, & more...

Carroll's works have cast a long cultural shadow, & it's common to see their influence in classic films—including, seemingly, in works by Hitchcock, Rivette, Polanski, & more. Below, echoes in Kubrick's THE SHINING (whose source book by King expressly references ALICE, fwiw).

Given that TWIN PEAKS begins with rabbit references & ends with an enigmatic Alice, it's natural to impute to it an influence by Carroll's works. (But a further exploration of that topic will have to wait for another day.)

[toiich]

Through a Glass Darkly (1961), dir. Ingmar Bergman

[mattydemise]

Through A Glass Darkly, 1961.