Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman – 1961) B+

Three men and one woman who at first glimpse seem content as they spend a few days together on a remote Swedish island. A father and son and daughter plus her husband. What we slowly learn is that she (Karin played by Harriet Andersson) is not well. We learn this through conversations and episodic scenes between the characters. The family has dinner together, put on an impromptu play, the siblings talk, the father and his son in law go on a boat trip… The situation with Karin starts to devolve slowly as her delusions take over impacting everyone around her. Karin seems to think God is visiting her and the way Bergman treats her is not just sympathetically but with a question that is the subtext for the whole film. Maybe she does?

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