Winter Light is the second film of Ingmar Bergman’s famous Silence of God or Faith trilogy. Bergman portrays reduction and the penetration of certainty through the film. Despite his refusal to categorize the trilogy, Winter Light carries enormous significance in Bergman’s life and repertoire. He referred to it as the most complete film in his filmmaking career. When the beloved almighty abandons humans and remains absent amid enormous suffering, humans become vulnerable, isolated, helpless, and uncommunicative living souls.
Humans keep faith in the almighty and treat God as the savior. But if God remains silent and does not appear as the savior, humans become helpless and vulnerable. They encounter the naked, brutal world. In that heartless, brutal world, humans feel dejected, become isolated, and lose connections. The spiritual crisis in humans results in an existential crisis. They struggle to find the meaning and purpose of their lives. God did not help pastor Tomas Ericsson (Gunnar Bjornstrand) when his wife passed away. He is isolated and suffers from a spiritual and existential crisis. Marta (Ingrid Thulin) loves him deeply as a true partner, but he does not return her love and rebukes her, saying she will never be able to replace his wife’s position. Tomas cannot console the fisherman, Jonas Persson (Max von Sydow), who is paranoid about China’s atomic bomb production prowess, because he himself struggles to keep faith in the beloved almighty. God did not descend upon the world while the atrocities were being committed during World War II. The church services appear to him as a mere religious formality. Bergman did not want to prove that God does not exist through Winter Light. He wanted to show how humans suffer from spiritual and existential crises and lose connections and communication due to God’s silence.
The title of the film, Winter Light, carries deep philosophical meaning. Light in winter is mostly dim and scarce, creating a dark and bleak atmosphere. Similarly, when humans suffer from spiritual and existential crises, their lives are filled with loneliness, frustration, confusion, and pessimism. They lose warmth, connections, and communication. Living life appears to be a mere formality.
A real-life event in Bergman’s life inspired his 1963 film Winter Light. While visiting a rural Swedish church, he met a priest who shared his spiritual crisis with Bergman. Once, a terrified and anguished parishioner came to the priest for consolation. However, he could not console him due to his spiritual crisis. Later, the parishioner committed suicide. In the film, the pastor Tomas Ericsson could not console a parishioner and fisherman, Jonas Persson, because of his spiritual crisis. Later, Jonas commits suicide.
A musical epiphany in Bergman’s life also inspired Winter Light. He was listening to Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms on the radio during an Easter holiday. He was deeply immersed in the music and imagined an isolated pastor in a solitary rural Swedish church. The isolated pastor, Tomas Ericsson, in Winter Light is none other than the replica of that imaginary pastor in the solitary rural Swedish Church.
Bergman portrayed his own fear about the atomic bomb through the fisherman, Jonas Presson. Bergman read an article in the newspaper about China’s nuclear weapon endeavors, which terrified him. In Winter Light, Jonas also read a newspaper article about China’s nuclear weapons, which terrified him. He reached out to pastor Tomas Ericsson. However, he could not console Jonas because of Tomas’s spiritual and existential crises.
Bergman vividly depicted the formal codification of Christianity through the final scene of Winter Light. While scouting for filming locations along with his father, Eric Bergman, a strict and conservative Lutheran Minister, they met a priest at a rural Swedish church. He had to shorten the Church service because of his sickness. But Eric Bergman came forward and continued with the service in the priest’s absence. Bergman realized that the church service had become a mere formality or codification of Christianity, rather than building connection, attachment, and openness. In the last scene of Winter Light, Pastor Tomas Ericsson continues the church service with no parishioner in attendance.
Winter Light marks Gunnar Bjornstrand’s outstanding portrayal of Tomas Ericsson, an isolated pastor in a rural Swedish church, suffering from a spiritual and existential crisis. Ingrid Thulin brilliantly portrayed an unrequited lover and schoolteacher, Marta, and Max von Sydow portrayed the fisherman’s fear about the Chinese nuclear weapons through his incredible facial expressions and body language. Instead of the film noir-style high-contrast black-and-white cinematography, cinematographer Sven Nykvist chose flat gray light in Winter Light, using natural light. He used bounced or reflected artificial light on the characters’ faces to remove shadows. Nykvist meticulously captured the despair, vulnerabilities, and suffering of the characters through piercing close-ups on long lenses. He reduced the light intensity as the scenes progressed, following the natural dimming of the afternoon Sun.