Winter Light (1963)

Original title

Nattvardsgästerna

Directed by

Ingmar Bergman

Genre

drama film

Country

Sweden

Runtime

1h 21m

Rated

16

Rating

7.9 of 10 from 506 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A rural Swedish pastor struggles with a crisis of faith after his wife's death. As he gives a sparse service, a parishioner confesses his fear of nuclear war, while a schoolteacher tries to connect with the pastor emotionally.

austereintrospectivesomberquietbleakcerebralmeditativeemotionally starkslow-paced

What happens

Winter Light (Swedish: Nattvardsgästerna, lit. 'The Communicants') is a 1963 Swedish tragedy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring his regulars, Gunnar Björnstrand, Ingrid Thulin and Max von Sydow. It follows Tomas Ericsson (Björnstrand), pastor of a small rural Swedish church, as he deals with an existential crisis and his Christianity. The film is the second in a series of thematically related films, following Through a Glass Darkly (1961) and followed by The Silence (1963); this is sometimes considered a trilogy. In it, Bergman reconsiders Through a Glass Darkly's argument that God is love, and repeated the prior film's reference to God as a monstrous spider. Bergman formed the story after speaking to a clergyman whose parishioner committed suicide. The film was shot in different locations in Sweden in 1962. Vilgot Sjöman's film Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie was made simultaneously with Winter Light and documents its production. The feature received positive reviews for its cinematography and themes. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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