Whilst holidaying on a remote island, four members of the same family have to confront the reality that one of them has schizophrenia. Karin has recently been released from an asylum after electric shock treatment. Karin’s husband is coming to terms with the fact that she may be incurable and informs her father. Her brother, meanwhile, is having problems of his own. Unable to deal with Karin’s sexual teasing, and his own fears about his relationship with his father, he admits that he has tried to kill himself...

Through a Glass Darkly (1961) was directed and written by Ingmar Bergman. The film won the 1963 Oscar for best foreign film and an OCIC award at the Berlin Film festival in 1962; it was nominated for a further four.

Like most of Bergman’s films, it is a study about mans relationship with God and his fellow man. Karin, and their relationship with her illness, is the catalysts for the characters to break through their social constraints and for a brief moment interact with each other in a real way. The results are not particularly pleasant. 

Karin, played by Harriet Andersson, acts her part well, even if her portrayal of someone with Schizophrenia is less than convincing. There are a number of times when the audience is let into Karin’s world, to experience her auditory and visual hallucination. There is also evidence of thought disorder in her belief that God wants to penetrate her, but overall her performance would not lead you to believe that she was particularly ill.

Her husband, played by Max von Sydow, comes across as the most sympathetic character, having to deal with her father David, played by Gunnar Bjornstrad, a hack writer whose own obsession leads him to document his daughter's decline in a note book - a book that Karin find which reveals to her the real condition of her mind.

Her brother is the least sympathetic character. Minus, played by Lars Passgard, is a self obsessed young man who reveals that he has engaged in pseudo suicide, only deciding not to do it when he realises that he loves his family - including the father he feels he cannot talk to.

This tense situation is only resolved when Karin sleeps with her brother, who then confesses this to his father. The film ends with Karin deciding to keep her madness and move back to the asylum.

As you can imagine, this is quite a heavy film as the characters snipe at each other. That said, the acting in this drama is excellent, it’s a lot like watching a slow car crash. Ultimately it’s another Bergman film about the nature of faith.

The disc has no extras, but the film does come with an introduction by Marie Nyrerod, which is short and a little informative. At least you get to know what the films title means. The film is presented in its original 4:3 black and white, language is Swedish with optional English subtitles. The movie has been remastered so the print looks pretty good.

Tomas is a troubled man, a man of God who preaches to an almost empty church. As he prepares to leave, in order to conduct a service elsewhere, a series of encounters reaffirm for Tomas that he has in fact lost his faith, as God does not reply and remains silent...

Winter Light (1962, 1 hr 17 min) was written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and is another examination of life and mans relationship with God . This time the film is seen through the eyes of Tomas, who because of his own lack of faith is unable to love the woman that loves him or help someone in need, to the tragic end that the man commits suicide.

Bergman stalwarts Max von Sydow (Jonas Peerson), Ginnar Bjornstrand (Tomas) and Ingrid Thulin (Marta) are all superb in their parts. For such a short film the pace remains very slow. There are a lot of nice little character moments which highlight that pretty much everyone has lost their faith: the organist watching his pocket watch whilst playing a hymn, obviously desperate to get out of the church; the congregations exceptionally lacklustre rendition of said hymn all lead to the feeling of depression and isolation from God. Even the stone wall of the church, where most of the action takes place exudes an unfeeling coldness.

Tomas is unable to help anyone. He rejects the love that his mistress offers and cannot even put aside his own doubts to help Jonas when he comes to him with his fears. Worst still his inability to offer any hope to Jonas leads Jonas to take his life. The film ends with Tomas preaching to an almost empty church whose only inhabitants are his atheistic mistress, the drunken organist and the church's caretaker.

Once again the film has been restored so has a great 4:3, black and white picture. Like the previous film it is Swedish with optional English subtitles and a short introduction has been added.

Ester and Anna, two sisters who used to be close but are no longer so, travel to a distant city with Anna’s ten year old son, Johan. But Anna’s sexual encounter drives a further wedge in the sisters' relationship...

The Silence (1963) has only between 34 and 38 line of dialogue. Directed and written by Ingmar Bergman the film attempts to provide a purely cinematic experience, striped away of all the unnecessary talk.

Given that there is so little dialogue in the film it remains a powerful statement about the silence which actually says so much. Of course, being a Bergman film, the subtext is that God does not exit, as he remains obstinately silent, and so in a world without God humans must turn to each other for love and comfort.

The restored 4:3 print is a delight to watch as is the central performances of Ingrid Thulin (Ester) and Gunnel Lindblom (Anna), Anna exudes vivaciousness from almost the first scene and at the time of the film's release, her on-screen sexual antics nearly got the film in trouble with the censors. Of course today it’s all tame stuff.

So there you have Bergman’s Faith trilogy of films together for the first time. I’m not going to lie and say that watching the films is going to be a barrel of laughs, but they are worth watching - if nothing else for their studies in character and the nature of God or, in Bergman’s, case the lack of nature.

A nice box set shame about the lack of extras. However, the blurb on the press release states that that the finished set will come with an exclusive booklet of collected essays by the late Bergman expert, Philip Strick.

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Charles Packer