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WINTER LIGHT
(1962)


The middle part of Bergman's trilogy about God's silence�it is flanked by Through a Glass Darkly and The Silence�and the most austere. Winter Light focuses on a small group of parishioners found at the beginning of the film attending Holy Communion. The village pastor (Björnstrand) is realizing he has become an atheist since his wife's death. His faith is further tested by an offer of marriage from a school-teacher (Thulin) tortured with eczema, and the solace demanded by a man (von Sydow) suicidally depressed by the threat of nuclear war. The pastor fails on both counts, and Bergman gives us an ambiguous ending back in the church service�what he himself called 'certainty unmasked.' Never a comfortable film, it's finely acted by a familiar Bergman ensemble, and the awesomely cold vistas form a perfect counterpoint to the spiritual freeze. (David Thompson, Time Out)



Original title: Nattvardsg�sterna ["The communicants"]
Other title: The Communicants (UK)
Production: Svensk Filmindustri
Distribution: Svensk Filmindustri
Premiere: 11 February 1963 (R�da Kvarn and Font�nen, Stockholm)
Running time: 81 minutes
Language: Swedish
Filmed: on location in Dalarna, Sweden, and at R�sunda Studios; from 4 October 1961 to 14 January 1962.

CAST
Tomas Ericsson: Gunnar Bj�rnstrand
M�rta Lundberg: Ingrid Thulin
Jonas Persson: Max von Sydow
Karin Persson: Gunnel Lindblom
Algot Fr�vik: Allan Edwall
Fredrik Blom: Olof Thunberg
Widow: Elsa Ebbesen
Aronsson: Kolbj�rn Knudsen
Johan �kerblom: Tor Borong
Hanna Appelblad: Bertha S�nnell

CREDITS
Producer: Allan Ekelund
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Screenplay: Ingmar Bergman
Cinematography: Sven Nykvist
Art Direction: P.A. Lundgren
Editor: Ulla Ryghe


AWARDS

1964 David O. Selznick Silver Laurel (U.S.)
1964 Jussi Statue (Finland)



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