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Winter Light Photos
Movie Info
Cast & Crew
Märta Lundberg, Schoolteacher
Tomas Ericsson, Pastor
Karin Persson
Jonas Persson
Algot Frövik, Sexton
Knut Aronsson, Warden
News & Interviews for Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light)
Critic Reviews for Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light)
All Critics (22) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (6)
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Winter Light reduces, in essence, to listening for verbal revelations, for explorations of self in words. This is doubly disadvantageous in a sub-titled film (or a dubbed one), but it cannot be prime cinema even for Swedes.
January 9, 2018 | Full Review… -
[I] was awestruck by its bleak, courageous power.
December 13, 2007 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review… -
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.
January 26, 2006 | Full Review… -
Mr. Bergman may not be praised for it, but he has made a thoughtful, engrossing, shocking film.
May 9, 2005 | Rating: 4.5/5 | Full Review… -
One of cinema's great comedies.
February 28, 2005 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review… -
Much suffering, none of it very illuminating.
February 13, 2001 | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light)
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Oct 08, 2015Winter Light is a short but well-made and well-acted film, but difficult to characterize. It strangely exercises intellect more than emotion, as compared with Through a Glass Darkly or Persona or The Silence. Winter's Light is more detached, like watching someone paint a portrait of someone and another.Robert B Super Reviewer
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Jan 12, 2012Loss of faith and the silence of god - subject matter that makes this movie, in a word, fascinating.Dillon L Super Reviewer
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Nov 28, 2011The entire film takes place over a three hour period one afternoon in a cold and lonely swedish village. Tomas is the preacher at a church where attendance has dwindled so much it can be counted on one hand. But it's difficult to expect people to come hear someone preach when his own faith lacks conviction. Pastor Tomas has the "old schoolmarm" (played by Ingrid Thulin- who was 37 at the time) looking after him... well, actually the two are having an affair, albeit a rather passionless one. Even though she loves Tomas deeply, he refuses to return her love, as he's still mourning the loss of his wife. In one scene, Tomas tells a suicidal parishioner about his time spent on the battlefield during the war, where he witnessed brutality that contradicted everything God represented to him until his God became a compartmentalized, secret thing that only his wife could really help him to understand. It's his mistress who wants to fill that void in his life, but Tomas can only mire himself in what he calls "God's silence". With Winter Light, writer/director Ingmar Bergman tells a very basic, straightforward story that is wrought with painful and very real emotions. Like characters from many other Bergman films, pastor Tomas is so wrapped up in his own pain, so self-absorbed, he fails to have any empathy whatsoever to his fellow man. It's not so much his beliefs (or God) have failed him so much as he's failed his beliefs. There is much weakness in these characters, but also much strength. What does one do when they think they've uncovered some unalterable truth that everything they've believed in is a lie? How does a mind recover from unbearably naked revelations? Tomas tries so hard to maintain the lie he lives that the only logical result is the resentment of existence itself.Devon B Super Reviewer
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Oct 02, 2011<i>"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."</i> (John 15:5) Second part of the auteur's trilogy dealing with man's relationship with God. It is literally impossible to relate with this masterpiece's protagonist unless you are a son of God. <i>"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."</i> (John 1:12) What is so absolutely accurate and brilliant about the movie is the fact that it states how agnostics, atheists, etc. lose their credibility in God based on the actions of humans, not even considering that humans are not perfect, but God is. If a pastor or so-called Christian has a weakness in faith or "indifference towards Jesus Christ", the God does not exist and their own, objective judgment is immediately blinded. Also: + The main mistake of the pastor was to compare the earthly conditions of his existence and the disaster surrounding his life with God; hence, he tried to create an image of God according to his own troubles. He put his eyes in the circumstances (the storm and the waves) instead of Christ (Matthew 14: 15-22). + In his egoism, he forgot the responsabilities of the pastor: to guide his flock to God and to a heart of Christ. The result? Zechariah 10:2; Matthew 9:36. + His actions, naturally, will have consequences in his life directly derived from God's discipline (Zachariah 34: 1-31). God is mentioned as a spider again; the sickness continues; the landscape still speaks mysteries... 99/100Edgar C Super Reviewer
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