Through a Glass Darkly / Såsom i en spegel, Sweden 1961

Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman Assistant Director Lenn Hjortzberg Photography Sven Nykvist Assistant Photographers Rolf Holmqvist, Peter Wester Production Manager Lars-Owe Carlberg Editor Ulla Ryghe Sound Stig Flodin Assistant Sound Staffan Dalin Sound Effects Evald Andersson Music Johann Sebastian Bach Music Performed by Erling Blöndal Bengtsson Sets P. A. Lundgren Costumes Mago Makeup Börje Lundh Props Karl-Arne Bergman Continuity Ulla Furås With Harriet Andersson Karin Gunnar Björnstrand David Max von Sydow Martin Lars Passgård Minus Produced by Allan Ekelund Production Company AB Svensk Filmindustri Details 89 minutes, Black & White, Monaural, Swedish

DVD, USA 2003: Distributed by The Criterion Collection (region 1) Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Extras New high-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound. Exploring the film: Video discussion with Ingmar Bergman biographer, Peter Cowie. Essay by film scholar, Peter Matthews. Original U. S. theatrical trailer. Optional English-dubbed soundtrack. New and improved English subtitle translation. RSDL dual-layer edition.

Winter Light / Nattvardsgästerna, Sweden 1963

Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman Assistant Director Lenn Hjortzberg Photography Sven Nykvist Assistant Photographers Rolf Holmqvist, Peter Wester Production Manager Lars-Owe Carlberg Editor Ulla Ryghe Sound Stig Flodin, Brian Wikström Sound Effects Evald Andersson Sets P. A. Lundgren Costumes Mago Makeup Börje Lundh Props Karl-Arne Bergman ContinuityWith Gunnar Björnstrand Tomas Ericsson Ingrid Thulin Märta Lundberg Gunnel Lindblom Karin Persson Max von Sydow Jonas Persson Allan Edwall Algot Frövik Kolbjörn Knudsen Knut Aronsson Olof Thunberg Fredrik Blom, organist Elsa Ebbesen Magdalena Ledfors Eddie Axberg Johan Strand Produced by Allan Ekelund Production Company AB Svensk Filmindustri Details 80 minutes, Black & White, Monaural, Swedish Katherina Faragó

DVD, USA 2003: Distributed by The Criterion Collection (region 1) Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Extras New high-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound. Exploring the film: Video discussion with Ingmar Bergman biographer, Peter Cowie. Essay by Peter Cowie. Original U. S. theatrical trailer. Optional English-dubbed soundtrack. New and improved English subtitle translation.

The Silence / Tystnaden, Sweden 1963

Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman Assistant Directors Lenn Hjortzberg, Lars-Erik Liedholm Photography Sven Nykvist Assistant Photographers Rolf Holmqvist, Peter Wester Production Manager Lars-Owe Carlberg Editor Ulla Ryghe Sound Stig Flodin, Bo Leverén, Tage Sjöborg Sound Effects Evald Andersson Music Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Mersey, Ivan Renliden Mixing Olle Jakobsson Sets P. A. Lundgren Costumes Bertha Sånnell, Marik Vos-Lundh Makeup Börje Lundh Assistant Makeup Gullan Westfelt Props Karl-Arne Bergman Continuity Katherina Faragó Still Photography Harry Kampf With Ingrid Thulin Ester Gunnel Lindblom Anna Jörgen Lindström Johan Håkan Jahnberg Hotel Waiter Birger Malmsten Bartender Eduardo Gutierrez and The Eduardinis The Little People Produced by Allan Ekelund Production Company AB Svensk Filmindustri Details 95 minutes, Black & White, Monaural, Swedish

DVD, USA 2003: Distributed by The Criterion Collection (region 1) Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Extras New high-definition digital transfer of the original, uncensored Swedish version, with restored image and sound. Exploring the film: Video discussion with Ingmar Bergman biographer, Peter Cowie. Essay by film scholar, Leo Braudy. Original U. S. theatrical trailer. Optional English-dubbed soundtrack. New and improved English subtitle translation. RSDL dual-layer edition.

Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie / Ingmar Bergman gör en film, Sweden 1963

Interviews and Narration by Vilgot Sjöman Photography Mac Ahlberg, Ralph Evers Editor Bo Bjelfvenstam Producer Bo Bjelfvenstam Production Company Sveriges Television AB Details 146 minutes, Black & White, Monaural, Swedish

DVD, USA 2003: Distributed by The Criterion Collection (region 1) Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Extras Digital transfer from the original 16mm edited master. Introduction by filmmaker Vilgot Sjöman. New English subtitle translation. RSDL dual-layer edition.

In this DVD age, it is hard to find fault with any DVD product, regardless of quality, simply because there are so many films that are worthy of release, and relatively few companies working to insure their release; indeed, beggars cannot be choosers – particularly if those beggars are cineastes. This having been said, the mere thought of A Film Trilogy by Ingmar Bergman DVD set is a happy one. However, when that thought is manifested in yet another fine box set from the Criterion Company, the viewing of the films is an assured pleasure, and not only a cinematic imperative.

A Film Trilogy by Ingmar Bergman consists of four films on four separate discs: Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light (1962), The Silence (1963), and Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie (1963). The set is predicated on Bergman’s early personal belief that the three films composed a trilogy; Bergman would codify this belief when he published, in 1963, the three screenplays of the films together in one volume, citing what he took to be the unifying theme of the three films: “reduction.” This idea of the trilogy filtered through to critics and scholars – thanks in large part to Robin Wood – who would continue to think of the three films as connected, even after Bergman reconsidered his 1963 claim in 1990, after revisiting his body of films with the critic Lasse Bergström. The result of this joint investigation was the book Images, in which Bergman rather sheepishly acknowledges that the “trilogy has neither rhyme nor reason.” Despite Bergman’s ultimate repudiation of the trilogy concept, the release of the three works together as a set by Criterion indicates that, while their lineage is now uncertain, the union of these films is not easily ignored, and the tendency to view them as a whole quite illuminating.

Perhaps the three films are better described as a triptych, with each film varying on the same general theme of spirituality and alienation. The ever-present tension between Bergman the film director and Bergman the theater director is felt in these works – although this conflict did not achieve so intense articulation until Persona (1966). Indeed, Bergman’s talent rests in his ability to situate intimate and condensed narrative events within distinctly cinematic landscapes, like the sea or snow-covered villages: a disturbing and sometimes disorienting fusion of theater and film. Peter Cowie, in his commentary of Through a Glass Darkly, speaks of Bergman’s “chamber cinema,” a phrase very appropriate and adept in its summation of his style. Only Bergman can render the sea in Through a Glass Darkly at once liberating and confining.

The three films suggest a trilogy, even without the circumstantial evidence provided by Bergman in 1963. Bergman’s primary actors of the time circulate within and among the three films: Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindbolm. Two of the films are heavily reliant upon the music of Johann Sebastian Bach – especially The Silence, which uses Bach as a successful means of communication between Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and the Hotel Waiter (Håkan Jahnberg), more touching and effective than any of the exchanges between the Swedish-speaking characters. The menacing mental image of god as a dispassionate, yet determined spider, intent on penetrating his/her human creations is shared by two films, Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light. And each of the films is characterized by a blunt, lonely, and despairing portrayal of sex, often leaving the major figures of the films unsatisfied and frustrated – or, in the case of Karin (Harriet Andersson) and Minus (Lars Passgård) in Through a Glass Darkly, ashamed and tainted.

Certainly the style of these three films also helps to unify them, easily affirming their identity as a trilogy. Bergman is an underappreciated film stylist in the history and study of film. This is perhaps due to his passion for dense psychological plots, which tend to distract from an appreciation of his groundbreaking style and discourage a full engagement with his unique narrative approaches. But across the oeuvre of his work, Bergman distinguishes himself in many areas of cinematic artistry. The lighting in his films is sophisticated: note the bold use of darkness in the interiors of Through a Glass Darkly (most striking in the scene when David (Gunnar Björnstrand) assumes the crucifixion pose) and the bleak exteriors of Winter Light that locate us in the Swedish climate. Indeed, Cowie remarks how this new collaboration with Sven Nykvist during the trilogy radicalized Bergman’s use and depiction of light. Bergman, however, is a master of composition, as well. Many of the more stunning shots – like the long take of Märta (Ingrid Thulin) reading her letter to Tomas (Gunnar Björnstrand) unflinchingly at the camera; the abstract, pre-apocalyptic opening sequence of The Silence; or the comparative, intersecting planar shots of Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and Anna’s (Gunnel Lindbolm) faces, again in The Silence – prefigure the more famous shots in Persona.

Technically, the DVDs are resplendent. The transfers of the films are quite impressive, and will not disappoint. The contrast of black and white, dark and light, so vital to a Bergman film, is represented beautifully on the discs. Even the opening credits and titles are to be admired, so crisp and clean do they look. The extras are welcome additions, as well – particularly the sessions with Peter Cowie, a noted Bergman biographer. His brief comments – available for each film – offer valuable insights, and are best watched in the aftermath of viewing, when one is struggling to attain equilibrium. Not everything Cowie says is accurate, to my mind, but listening to his thoughts does help to orient and order your own. Of course, the definitive extra is the fourth disc, which features the documentary Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie (1963). This work, made originally for Swedish television, follows the making of Winter Light from the production to the premiere of Bergman’s film. Equally, the essays in the liner notes are useful, although the communication from Peter Matthews is overwrought and trivial. And the poster gallery for the trilogy, available on the third disc, is intriguing, and indicative of how European art cinema was marketed so varyingly across the world at that time.

The Criterion Company has yet to release a DVD that is entirely without merit. While the quality does differ from title to title, most Criterion discs are considerate and researched entries into the expanding terrain of DVDs. To be sure, the only impediment of Criterion discs is the cost, which can be quite prohibitive – particularly for a box set. And, at a suggested retail price of $79.95, A Film Trilogy by Ingmar Bergman is not a bargain by any means. But for fans of Bergman, the set is a wise investment. However, for those of us who recognize only two types of Bergman films – those that came before Persona and those that came after Persona – it is an essential purchase.

Liza Palmer, independent scholar & Film Studies Librarian, Randall Library, University of North Carolina at Wilmington: MA, Film Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison; BA, Film, Bard College.