6. Through the Looking Glass (Through A Glass Darkly, 1961)
Director Ingmar Bergman's chamber play on film is a stark portrait of family, faith and madness mixed together to aid in describing communication between people and their God. As a Family, the patriarch played by Bergman favorite Gunner Bjornstrand, gathers for a get-together on a small private island they seemingly are able to interact with each other; however, it is evident that something else is brewing. The focal point of this family drama is Karin (Played flawlessly by Harriet Andersson), an emotionally and mentally unstable woman recently released from a mental institution. As she starts to have another mental breakdown, we see her act out her hallucinogenic visions. We never see what she sees, we only are observers to the madness, just like her father, brother and husband. As Karin slips deeper and deeper, her family finally decides to take her back to the main land for further help. Karin after a fit of rage hearing the approaching helicopter, describes exactly her terrifying vision, that God is not the kind and loving devine being, it is nothing more than a spider crawling on the floor. Will Karin ever recover from her crisis of faith? It is not certain, what is that her Father, Brother and Husband all will support her unconditionally. We must all remember just how powerful the real is over the unreal.