Ingmar Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly takes place on a remote island, where a troubled young woman (Harriet Andersson) is trying to work out relationships of differing degrees of healthiness with the three men in her life: her husband (Max von Sydow), her brother (Lass Passgard) and her father (Gunnar Björnstrand). Other than these four, there are no other visible signs of life, and the Biblical title is justified by the way the characters are shot under vast, open, brooding skies, their every flaw and fault exposed to the heavens. This sky is yet another of Bergman's mirrors, a two-way looking glass that will - like the young woman - flip at one pivotal moment in order to allow its principals to see God.
Ostensibly, not a great deal happens. Through a Glass Darkly has one of those "waiting for God" plots in which the majority of screen time is occupied by the characters expressing their inner turmoil in intense monologues. As such, it's a difficult film to warm to - or, indeed, to recommend unreservedly - yet it remains strangely hypnotic to watch: beautifully shot by Sven Nykvist, who finds a whole palette of black and white tones with which to paint each character's myriad ambiguities, and superbly performed by Andersson, the puppyfat cheesecake in this director's Summer with Monika, who here gives a lean, remarkably unmannered portrayal of madness, making very real and affecting a last-reel speech accusing the Creator of assuming the form of a spider in order to rape her. It ends with perhaps the most humdrum of all cinematic miracles - one character simply talks to another - with Bergman, on particularly bleak form, suggesting this is the best we can hope for.
Through a Glass Darkly is available on DVD through Tartan.
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