****Can't emphasize enough how wonderful use of black and white film Bergman and his crew
were able to produce. Little rural church becomes majestetic with winter light hitting the
altar and in the middle of that, small priest struggling, once again, with the absence of god.
This is the second part of the trilogy, among Through A Glass Darkly and Silence, all
dealing with faith.
First I was bothered with the director always using the same actors (can't seem to get
away of the idea "yeah, thats the one who played that in that, he cant be a priest) but
after seeing this I see the point, the cast is just way too good and you get totally sucked
in with every character they play. Uncompromising, tough, cruel and beautiful but also
slow-paced narration gives this film it's charisma.
This is so perfect in every aspect, acting, script and especially cinematography-wise.
Four stars only for because, in my opinion, of the quite abrupt ending.
Sounds great - I'll definitely try to track it down
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Bergman's actors, ha. The only reason I've postponed seeing this one (although I'm extremely interested in the theme of the trilogy and Through a Glass... is one of my favourite films) is my antipathy for Gunnar Björnstrand, lol. I'm not disputing his acting abilities, it's the character type he's cast as that I've been finding slightly repelling. And pretty much the same goes for Erland Josephson. I guess Max von Sydow is the only reccurring Bergman male actor I'm fond of. On the other hand, I either like or love pretty much every one of his actresses. With particular soft spots for Harriet and Liv.
ReplyDeleteto clarify: the type of characters GB is cast as in other films, as I haven't seen this one yet :).
ReplyDeleteand i absolutely agree with you on Bergman's b&w. my favourite use of b&w outside German Expressionism :).
ReplyDeleteYes, I can see Bergman had a soft spot, on and off work for beautiful women actresses who were intelligent and he had the ability to get the best out of them too.
ReplyDeleteI'm now wondering who Erland Josephson was and what kind of roles was he typecasted.. I think it wasn't a problem of typecasting, or maybe it was, but I was referring more to the problem that he was a main character in almost every early major IB movie and he wasn't the most chameleon-like actor, when it comes to appearances. But the wonderful thing is that he had the ability to make you get past that, atleast I was totally in the comprehension that he was a tormented priest, a court jester or a know-it-all sarcastic narrator of the movie to name a few.
I dont know, I've always found using same actors as something related to lazyness or favoring friends but in Bergman's case I'm leaning towards the thought that it's purely using one's talent as much as possible :)