A Film Trilogy by Ingmar Bergman
Between 1961 and 1963 Ingmar Bergman made three films which are some times referred to as his Faith Trilogy. This films form an odd collection for the simple reason that they were not originally intended as a trilogy by the director. They have come to be grouped together over time because of their thematic similarities and as a definitive resolution of Bergman's own battles with belief. Bergman's struggle to believe seems largely due to the experience of his austere pastor father and the paradoxical message of love that he preached. Throughout his early films, belief was held onto tenuously with the harsh realities of the world seeming to be a contradiction to a doctrine of love and forgiveness. Often this contradiction was externalised in his characters through which the director had an ongoing dialogue about belief and unbelief, this discourse became resolved with the three films included in this collection.

Each film begins with a prototypically existential situation: Karin (Harriet Andersson) suffers from schizophrenia in Through a Glass Darkly; Tomas (Gunner Bjornstrand) is absorbed by self-hatred and lack of faith in Winter Light; and Ester (Ingrid Thulin) endures illness and a love-hate relationship with her sister Anna (Gunnel Lindblum) in The Silence.


3 x BD50 | 1080p AVC | 268 min | 112 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Swedish, English
Subtitles: English
Genre: Drama

Extras:

Disc 1 - Through a Glass Darkly (01:30:14)

• Introduction to the film by director Ingmar Bergman, recorded in 2003
• Interview from 2003 with film scholar Peter Cowie
• Interview from 2012 with actor Harriet Andersson
• Audio interview from 1962 with actor Gunnar Bjornstrand
• Illustrated audio interview with cinematographer Sven Nykvist, recorded in 1981
• Original U.S. theatrical trailer
• Alternate English-dubbed soundtrack

Disc 2 - Winter Light (01:21:35)

• Introduction to the film by director Ingmar Bergman, recorded in 2003
• Interview from 2003 with film scholar Peter Cowie
• Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie, a five-part documentary by Vilgot Sjoman made for Swedish television during the production of Winter Light
• Original U.S. theatrical trailer
• Alternate English-dubbed soundtrack

Disc 3 - The Silence (01:35:57)

• Introduction to the film by director Ingmar Bergman, recorded in 2003
• Interview from 2003 with film scholar Peter Cowie
• Poster gallery for the films of the trilogy
• Original U.S. theatrical trailer
• Alternate English-dubbed soundtrack