Through a Glass Darkly - Almeida Theatre

Bergman was influenced by the work of Strindberg, his favourite playwright. He described Through aGlass Darkly as a ‘chamber film,’ possibly as an allusion both to the Strindberg’s chamber plays, butarguably also to the close intricacy of chamber music in general. Adhering to the ‘chamber play’ ideathe film takes place in a single 24 hour period, features only four characters and takes place entirelyin the location of one island. It represents a stage in Bergman’s career where his interest inpsychology and religion were playing out in his work, a debate that was to continue through the nexttwo films in his ‘faith trilogy’.In the second of the trilogy, Winter Light, a susceptible and disillusioned fisherman is urged by hiswife to seek solace from his local priest. However, the priest is struggling to regain his own belief.Bergman's pressed further the idea of defining man's personal relationship to God and in WinterLight is again beautifully played out in the film with intricately portrayed psychologies of thecharacters and symbolic cinematography.The third of the trilogy, The Silence, deals with the close relationship of two sisters, whose intimacythreatens to destroy them both mentally and physically. Travelling to a foreign city on the brink ofwar and whose language they do not understand, the setting becomes a metaphor for the strainedrelationship between the women. Te film represents a shattering vision of emotional isolation anddespair in a claustrophobic spiritual void, and explores how we navigate our relationships in acomplete absence of faith.The following is taken from the introduction to the documentary filmImages – My Life in Film by Ingmar Bergman, where he talks aboutmaking Through a Glass Darkly.[Through a Glass Darkly] is my first real ensemble drama…I had made the decision tocompress the drama…It is mainly connected to my marriage to Kabi Lareti and our lifetogether…Between the two of us, we had developed a complicated, staged relationship. Wewere confused, at the same time exceptionally fond of each other. Moreover, we spoke abouteverything and anything that occurred to us. But in reality we had no common language. Wecouldn’t communicate.My workbook (Middle of March):“A god speaks to her. She is humble and submissive toward this god whom she worships. God isboth dark and light. Sometimes he gives her incomprehensible instructions, to drink saltwater, killanimals and so on. But sometimes he is full of love and gives her vital experiences even on a sexualplane… She pulls Minus (Max) into her world. He follows willingly and eagerly since he exists onthe border of puberty. The god throws suspicion on Martin and David and creates the wrongimpression of them in order to warn her.”What I wanted, most deeply, was to depict a case of religious hysteria or, if you will, aschizophrenic individual with heavy religious tendencies. Martin, the husband, struggles withthis god in order to win Karin back to his world. But since he is the type of person who needsthat which is tangible, his efforts are in vain.Then I find this in my workbook:“A god descends into a human being…First he is just an inner voice, certain knowledge, or acommandment. Threatening or pleading. Repulsive yet stimulating. Then he lets himself be moreknown to her, and the human being gets to test the strength of god, learns to love him, sacrificesfor him, and finds herself forced into the utmost devotion…the god takes possession of this humanbeing and accomplishes his work through her hands. Then he leaves her burned out, without anypossibility of continuing to live in this world. That is what happens to Karin.”Bergman’s ‘Faith’ TrilogyResource Pack: Through A Glass Darkly by Ingmar Bergman 22