IMDb plot summary: A small-town priest struggles with his faith.
Directed by Ingmar Burgman. Starring Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, and Gunnel Lindblom.
Winter Light follows a disillusioned priest of a tiny village church throughout his day, seeing him do things like counseling a man who has lost his faith and interacting with the unbelieving woman he's been having a secret affair with. His own faith is clearly barely alive at this point and yet we watch him going through the motions to fulfill his priestly duties. There's a deep devastating hopelessness to this movie that could easily be taken as a statement on the futility of religious beliefs, although as a religious person myself I see it as being more about how ritual and tradition cannot alone keep someone's spirit alive, nor can it prevent someone from being an awful person (as this priest is). Director Ingmar Bergman's stark visual choices really showcase the deadness of this man's inner self. Sometimes black and white cinematography looks pristine and beautiful and fully alive, but here it is cold and wintry and lifeless, and that ends up being very haunting. While I admire this film as a portrait of a particular person, I'm definitely unsatisfied by the ending. Of course, maybe that's the point, maybe the ending needs to be as unsatisfactory as the rest of this character's life. Regardless, it's one I'll keep thinking about for awhile.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Winter Light > Spellbound (1945)
Winter Light < Woman in the Dunes
Winter Light > Battle Royale
Winter Light < L'atalante
Winter Light > Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Winter Light > The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Winter Light < Child's Play (1972)
Winter Light > The Song of Lunch
Winter Light > Trick 'r Treat
Winter Light > Under the Skin
Winter Light > The Happening
Final spot: #1169 out of 3645, or 68%.
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