222 - Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie, 1963, Sweden. Dir. Vilgot Sjoman.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

222 - Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie, 1963, Sweden.  Dir. Vilgot Sjoman.

Two days ago we watched Winter Light (1963), Ingmar Bergman's film about a priest who loses his faith.

While he was making that film, Bergman was being interviewed and documented for Swedish television by his protege, the burgeoning director Vilgot Sjoman.

By this time Sjoman had written four made screenplays and directed one of them, and afterwards he would go on to direct nearly twenty more, including the Criterion-issued I Am Curious--Yellow (1967) and I Am Curious--Blue (1968).

He begins by walking the beach with Bergman and his then-wife Kabi Laretei and then talking to him about the script.

Bergman had met a real pastor who had had a parishioner kill himself one day after speaking to him. He had also read an article in the newspaper about a man who was brooding over nuclear annihilation.  This troubled Bergman as well.

After interviewing Bergman, Sjoman interviews cinematographer Sven Nykvist, and he discusses the particular goals and challenges they had with lighting.

He shows screen tests.

He shows the costumer working with actors to design and adjust costumes.

He shows the construction of the church and Nykvist's comments on the building of the roof and lighting from the ceiling.

He shows K.A. Bergman, the property master, who brings Ingmar Bergman 300-year-old hymn boards between which to choose.  They refer to K.A. as "the Mozart of prop masters."

He shows Gunnar Bjornstrand in the hair and make-up chair, working on the look he will have as the pastor, down to the eyebrows, and talks to him about his acting choices for the character.

He talks to Bergman some more, and Bergman shares with him his journey towards the rejection of faith in God as a father.

He then explains that he writes SDG at the bottom of his scripts in homage of J.S. Bach, who did so, stating in Latin, Soli Deo Gloria, "To God Alone Be the Glory."

"Perhaps it's presumptuous of me to write the same, but I have a feeling that I--in some way, anonymously, objectively--have done this for the glory of God, and would like to give it to Him as it is.  As if we were participating in building a cathedral, you know.  That's how I feel, and that's why I have to add those three letters. . . . It's about calming down and quietly resting in the service of the congregation."

Yes, it is a paradox, and the two men discuss the contradiction.  On the one hand, Bergman has chosen to stop believing in God as a Father.  On the other hand, he marks his script and dedicates his work to the glory of God.  They discuss the contradiction between Bergman's ambition and his desire to be "anonymous," a brick in the building.

This documentary was originally shot on 16mm, and it is grainy and not in great shape.  Criterion has a reputation for doing great things, but they do not always come through.  This work for television has not been given the kind of attention they give to some of the great films but seems to have been dumped on the marketplace as is.

It is also not the greatest Making-Of documentary you will see.  It is pedestrian and leaves a lot on the table.  One is left unsatisfied and wishing Sjoman had been sharper and more thorough.  But we are glad someone did it.

Bergman looks young and fresh and alive, and he comes across as intelligent, thoughtful, open, and likeable.

Nykvist also looks young and speaks intelligently.  One certainly wishes he could ask him more questions and sit with him and learn from him.

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"I'm working much more with silence than with sound."

"Always facial.  The priest's eyes are so important.  This is the alpha and the omega for me, the eyes of the actors."

"What the eyes can yield is for me the essential of all filmed art."

"The story takes place on a cloudy Sunday in November.  Generally one thinks that light on a cloudy day doesn't change, but to see how it does indeed change during, let's say, a high mass, we sat in various churches and studied the light.  Every ten minutes I would take a snapshot to see how the light was changing, and these proved very useful.  I glued them into the script."

"What characterizes that light?  It is completely shadowless."

"In the past we'd have used big effects, big windows, and so on.  This time we tried to achieve a totally shadowless image, and that proved to be much more difficult than using conventional filming technique."

"We didn't achieve it just with lights.  We had to build special reflectors and large screens and work with waxed paper sheets and indirect lighting."