Winter Light

Ingmar Bergman, 1963
Simple, economically directed power is of the essence here. We have geometrical framings of the church and faces (Ordet?), which gradually give way to more side on. Bergamn is indeed the artist of the close-up; he often builds his space from these framings, with the camera even creeping forward to get tighter. This is never disorientating though, due to Bergman's static frames and long takes. The lack of show, of frills, in the mis-en-scene also prevents our gaze being overwhelmed.
There is reasonable depth, with the interior scenes allowing a couple of planes of action. Indeed, many of the close-ups use a distorted wide angle with on the other half of the screen a more distant figure.
The cinematography is generally a beautiful dappling, allowing a great range in the band of its contrasts in the method perfected in 'Wild Strawberries'. Into this bursts occasional hard light. Nykvist's work is deeply beautiful, but always delicate and, again, simple.
Bergaman also deploys more specific devices; a reticence in the long takes, with backs of heads. The 'letter', breaking the diagesis with the audience directly confronted, is the most viscerally powerful moment, for me, of the affecting movie.
The sound also deserves a mention; it is remarkably ascetic, with hardly anything except the dialogue and the clock. The clock provides a steady rythm, then breaks into spurts and inconsitencies, marking the stages of the film.
From the establishing church, with its deliberately montomous pace, we have breakdowns and disruptions. Each 'episode', or location, is shot differently (inside close, outside long, letter head-on) that gives the general impression of no space being close to any other; no contiguity.
The spiritual themes of the film are marked out by these formal devices. The simple, ascetic mis-en-scene, stripped of the usual frills, is the home of not dramatic tragedy, but of a suffering that is not even 'important' enough, for each character, to be shown. This is about as downbeat as it gets, but it displays and intelligence and a formal precision that carry it.