Through a Glass Darkly (film)

Through a Glass Darkly
The original Swedish poster
Directed by	Ingmar Bergman
Produced by	Allan Ekelund
Written by	Ingmar Bergman
Starring	Harriet Andersson Gunnar Björnstrand Max von Sydow Lars Passgård
Music by	Erik Nordgren Johann Sebastian Bach
Cinematography	Sven Nykvist
Edited by	Ulla Ryghe
Distributed by	Janus Films
Release date	16 October 1961 (1961-10-16)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	Sweden
Language	Swedish

Through a Glass Darkly (Swedish: Såsom i en spegel – "As in a Mirror") is a 1961 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, and starring Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow and Lars Passgård. The film tells the story of a young woman with schizophrenia spending time with her family on a remote island, and having delusions about meeting God, who appears to her in the form of a monstrous spider.

Bergman structured the film as a three-act play, drawing on his personal experiences and relationships. The film was his first of several shot on Fårö. Through a Glass Darkly was released to positive reviews, including for Andersson's performance, and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It is followed by Bergman's thematically related 1963 films Winter Light and The Silence.

The story takes place during a 24-hour period while four family members take their vacation on a remote island, shortly after one of them, Karin, is released from an asylum where she has been treated for schizophrenia. Karin's husband Martin tells her father, David, that Karin's disease is almost incurable. Meanwhile, Minus, Karin's 17-year-old brother, tells Karin that he wishes he could have a real conversation with his father and feels deprived of his father's affection. David is a novelist suffering from "writer's block" who has just returned from a long trip abroad. He announces he will leave again in a month, though he promised he would stay. The others perform a play for him that Minus has written. David, while feigning approval of the play, takes offense since the play can be interpreted as an attack on his character.

That night, after rejecting Martin’s erotic overtures, Karin wakes up and follows the sound of a foghorn to the attic. She faints after an episode in which she hears voices behind the peeling wallpaper. She then enters David's room and looks through his desk and finds his diary, seeing he described her disease as incurable and has a callous desire to record the details of her deterioration. The following morning, David and Martin, while fishing, confront each other over Karin. Martin accuses David of sacrificing his daughter for his art and of being a self-absorbed, callous, cowardly and phony. David is evasive but admits that much of what Martin says is true. David says that he recently tried to kill himself by driving over a cliff but was saved by a faulty transmission. He says that after that, he discovered that he loves Karin, Minus and Martin, and this gives him hope. Meanwhile, Karin tells Minus about her episodes, and that she is waiting for God to appear behind the wallpaper in the attic. Minus is somewhat sexually frustrated, and Karin teases him, even more so after she discovers that he hides a men's magazine. Later, on the beach, when Karin sees that a storm is coming, she runs into a wrecked ship and huddles in fear. Minus goes to her and she seduces her brother.