Some years ago, I was incredibly ill and decided that my only option was to stay in bed and watch some films. (The same thing I’d be doing if I wasn’t sick to be honest). I’d only recently discovered Bergman and I was excited to discover another of his works.
Winter Light (1963) has become a frequent Go To film when I’m sick because if I’m already sick, I might as well be sad too. I found some comfort in my first watch to be experiencing the same flu symptoms of Pastor Ericsson, as someone who rarely calls in sick, I could relate to his condition of having a very busy day ahead, when really, he should have been home in bed. It’s the first clue of his current mental state that he would sooner face his heavy duties than be alone with his thoughts.
The overall plot of Winter Light is that of a grieving Pastor who needs find his own peace, while dealing with the many problems of his own parishioners, the numbers of which seem to be dwindling as of late. This in itself would be an adequate plot for a film, with a nice straightforward plot about a man who misses his wife and gets some help from the people he has dedicated his life to helping. It could have even been a feel-good picture about the nice people of a Swedish Congregation.
However, Bergman’s understanding of psychology, and of people goes much further than this! He knows that grief isn’t always straight forward and is often intertwined with guilt and resentment. He also knows that even the most devout Holy Men lose faith and often lack their own support system. Grief, Faith, and The Desperation of Man are all strong motifs in the story.
When looking at memories of a deceased spouse, most media will tend towards the happy memories that are now missed. However this is much too simple for Bergman, who instead focuses on the far more realistic troubles of the Unhappy Memories never resolved.
Pastor Ericsson is troubled by the sickness of his wife that he realises was made worse because of his own coldness towards her, despite being a man of God, he was rarely able to show affection, to the extent that she questioned her own faith as her non-religious family were always far warmer. Despite as a pastor he should have a bed side manner, he had none when it came to dealing with his own wife’s rashes by which he was noticeably repulsed by.
Many people when dealing with a sick relative can at least take comfort in that they did all they could for their partner. Whereas Ericsson is not just dealing with the loss of his wife, but the guilt of having probably made her life a little bit worse. It’s a massive failing as a religious man and as a husband, that you can constantly read on Gunnar Björnstrand’s face. Likewise despite his best attempts at not leading on the besotted local school teacher “Marta”. His attempts to rebuff her advances frequently mirror his described coldness towards his wife, causing him even more turmoil.
His lack of support is also very apparent, as it’s made up only of Marta, who can’t get passed her affection of the pastor, even to the point of him berating her in a very uncomfortable scene that conveys his own internal falling apart. The few people we do see in his congregation that would be a possible support system are also dealing with their own struggles, that he, no longer carrying the faith he claims to have, seems to make infinitely worse, when his own atheistic ramblings seem to be the final straw that causes a troubled parishioner to take his own life. The few people left in his congregation are too reliant on their minister and as a result there is nobody to be a pastor to the pastor. Not to mention the added guilt of his failure to stop a man from taking his own life. A guilt that by the end of the film, he doesn’t seem to have fully yet realised he will have to deal with.
The loss of faith is the main issue of the film. A recurring theme explored in Bergman films. The death of faith in general is something that is very apparent as at both church services in the film, there is next to no attendance and most of those attending seem to be grappling with their own dying faiths.
Ericsson’s own faith was built on vanity “God Loved Humanity, but Tomas most of all”. A doomed foundation of any faith, that would see it die the second things got difficult.
However, his loss of faith is not wholly selfish in nature, but motivated (like most issues of faith) by the cruelty and evil of mankind, shaped largely by his experiences in the Spanish Civil War and the growing tensions of The Cold War.
His state of mind leads him to seemingly renounce faith, glad to be free of it, as the state of the world makes more sense if there is NO God. He also explores the blasphemous theory of God being a “Spider-God” a God of Suffering and not a God of Love. It’s a theory open to interpretation, but preferably not by Christian Ministers who arguably should have a less aggressively negative view of their Boss.
Likewise, Ericsson has not completely reached his conclusion and while he struggles with atheistic thoughts creeping in, he does also consider the Silence of God, something that all Christians need to come to terms with, even Jesus when he was on The Cross. It’s difficult to tell in his debate with Algot, whether he has come to terms with the silent nature of God, or if he simply intends to continue on without faith.
The decision of Ericsson to continue on with a service despite having nobody to worship is open to interpretation. An optimist might look at it and see a spark of faith returning, as he resolves to come to terms with God’s Silence and continue his ministry in the face of adversity. However, a more realistic watcher might conclude that the reasoning to continue the service amounts to nothing more than “Why not at this point”.
Winter Light is a favourite film of mine, because something that could have been a straightforward “Man learns to love life again plot” is instead a multilayered character study of a man in deep turmoil, a turmoil he only adds to throughout the film. Every time I watch the conclusion, however, I can only think “How much longer is this man going to cope for” and every time I watch it, the less time I think it is.
Overall 10/10 Fun for all the family!
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