Through a Glass, Darkly

Director: Ingmar Bergman
Year Released: 1961
Rating: 3.5

Beautiful melancholy from Bergman - it's an analysis of both mental illness and the desire to 'see' God; it's also about love, and how the lack of love can be detrimental to one's emotional health. Will not play well for the postmodern kids who want to see irony and cynicism in everything; in fact, most will probably find the scenes of heartbreaking agony and hysteria to be intolerable. But those that actually bother asking deep questions, and are willing to intellectually probe every statement for alternate meanings - the makeshift play and the scene in the destroyed boat with the sister and brother both carry enormous metaphorical weight - will be amply rewarded.