210 - Winter Light (1963)

We've been dancing around this subject long enough.  And how could we not when the Criterion Collection is our subject of inquiry? But we've finally hit the nail on the head.  We've got ourselves a 100% genuine mid-century Scandinavian crisis-of-faith movie.  And by director Ingmar Bergman no less.  A pastor named Tomas (played by perfect-pastor-haircut Gunnar Björnstrand) quietly and with tremendous reserve, runs amok through a small Swedish town, strewing existential crises in his wake.  The local schoolmistress Märta (played by bespectacled and cardiganed Ingrid Thulin) dotes with pointless abandon on Tomas' black hole of despair and nihilism.  Hurray!

But the film is gorgeous and bleak. The acting is moving and muted.  And the subject matter is all-important and boring.  A fascinatingly true study in ambiguity. 

If you'd like to join us for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Alfred Hitchcock's Young And Innocent (1937).