Review of Through A Glass Darkly

Introduction

Through a Glass Darkly is the first film in legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Faith’ trilogy, exploring God and various people’s reaction to religion. In a 24hr period of a family’s life, we see a girl Karin and her descent into schizophrenia, at home by the sea with her father, brother and husband.

Video

The black-and-white picture is presented in its original 4:3 format, and is mostly free from blemishes or specks on screen. A good transfer.

Audio

As with the picture, the original mono soundtrack is presented, along with English subtitles. It will please anyone familiar with Tartan’s previously terrible efforts at subtitling (which were hard to see on a light background) that these subs are much better – white with a black outline, and so are readable on all backgrounds.

Features

Two essays – one by Director Bergman and one by a film critic – are included, and come to around 30 pages of writing. These are an excellent read for any film buff and make a good substitute for interviews. Rounding off this small collection of extras are filmographies.

Conclusion

Through a Glass Darkly won the Best Foreign Film Oscar for 1961, and rightfully so, as it is one of Bergman’s most powerful pieces of works. The acting is superb – especially by Harriet Andersson in a standout performance as the mentally ill Karin - and the cinematography, as ever with Bergman, is beautiful to look at. I personally would personally recommend this DVD to anyone who is unfamiliar with Bergman’s work but has heard much about him, or who have only seen his most famous film The Seventh Seal and want to see more masterpieces.