Winter Light

Released Feb 11, 1963

1h 20m

Drama

List

76%

Tomatometer

25 Reviews

91%

Audience Score

5,000+ Ratings

A Swedish pastor (Gunnar Björnstrand) fails a loving woman (Ingrid Thulin), a suicidal fisherman (Gunnel Lindblom) and God.

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Stanley Kauffmann

The New Republic

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.

Jan 9, 2018

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

[I] was awestruck by its bleak, courageous power.

Rated: 4/4

Dec 13, 2007

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Time Out

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.

Jan 26, 2006

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Penelope Gilliatt

Observer (UK)

Though it is the most explicitly religious film Bergman has made, it is also one of the most accessible to non-religious people; everyone recognises despair.

Mar 6, 2024

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Marshall Shaffer

Vague Visages

Bergman analyzes Christianity from several different angles. The result is a more holistic understanding and reckoning with an artist’s views on God and religion.

Dec 6, 2023

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Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

With “Winter Light” Bergman has made something that has all the exterior markings of a slow, uneventful drama. But underneath its austere finish is a provocative think piece; a movie with the sheer depth of meaning to challenge any thoughtful viewer.

Rated: 5/5

Aug 21, 2022

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dave s

Tomas (Gunnar Bjornstrand), the pastor of a Catholic church in a small Swedish community, is having a crisis of faith, unable to come to terms with the existence of God in the world in which he lives. After failing to provide comfort to Jonas (Max von Sydow), a depressed parishioner worried about the threat of an atomic war, he turns his back on the only person who cares for him, Marta (Ingrid Thulin), a lonely schoolteacher. Winter Light is as somber and stark a film as Ingmar Bergman has ever created…and that's saying something. Beautifully shot by Bergman regular Sven Nykvist, Winter Light is filled with haunting images and insightful dialogue that will surely spark debate after the credits roll. Despite not receiving the critical accolades that other Bergman films have received, it remains one of his most memorable films.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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júlio a

Eu sei que esse filme tem trocentas camadas....mas realmente não consegui me conectar a ele. Atuações perfeitas....muito muito dialogo sobre fé.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

A film that lacks soul and questions a lot. At least it's a good drama. 4/10

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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William L

Winter Light is among the more 'pure' Bergman films. There are no distractions. The plot is cut-down and streamlined to bare essentials in a story that takes on themes critical to the director's total output - the practical balance between life, faith, truth, and order in an imperfect world. A aging priest, having become familiar with cruelty and despair, finds himself in a crisis of faith as he and those around him engage in strained debates on the nature of God and their own existences, particularly in the context of their own lack of influence over their own fates. Religion, long thought infallible, is instead depicted as a mental crutch to stabilize oneself against the crushing randomness and unpredictability of life; this small Swedish hamlet has virtually no faithful in it (which is part of where Bergman draws his greatest power from, the obligatory but insincere attempts by Björnstrand's jaded pastor to console others when he himself has barely a tenuous idea of what faith is anymore). Excessively bleak, almost to the detriment of the film, in that every character is at such a low point at the start of the film that there isn't much farther for them to fall over the course of the runtime. It's all anxious handwringing with stoic faces, but I guess that's the point. It's a classic piece on a universal theme, but it's hard to shake the feeling that if this film were released today it would be very easy to dismiss it as pretentious and simplistic based on its boldfaced nature. However, it's Bergman, and while he's hardly subtle in Winter Light, the final product is the furthest thing from weak. In fact, you should be prepared to get sucked down in an existential mire. (4/5)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/16/21

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scott s

As a film lover and a minister, this film was fantastic! The struggle with your own doubts while trying to inspire hope in one's congregation can be a battle of the mind and soul that anyone can relate too regardless of religious affiliation or position.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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andrey k

Grave movie about God, faith. I think Bergman was in a great confusion himself, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to make this picture so vivid and profound. Acting is on the highest level possible, especially that of the pastor and the woman who loves him. His films are always hard to comment, they are so well made and thoughtful, that there's no need in trying to look at them from the critical point of view, it's better to contemplate upon the things which his movies detail about. Like this one, about God's silence.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Ingmar Bergman

Director

Ingrid Thulin

Märta Lundberg, Schoolteacher

Gunnar Björnstrand

Tomas Ericsson, Pastor

Gunnel Lindblom

Karin Persson

Max von Sydow

Jonas Persson

Allan Edwall

Algot Frövik, Sexton

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Synopsis

A Swedish pastor (Gunnar Björnstrand) fails a loving woman (Ingrid Thulin), a suicidal fisherman (Gunnel Lindblom) and God.

Director: Ingmar Bergman
Screenwriter: Ingmar Bergman
Distributor: Janus Films, Criterion Collection
Production Co: Svensk Filmindustri (SF) AB
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Swedish
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 11, 1963, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 20, 2018
Runtime: 1h 20m
Sound Mix: Mono

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