Sasom I En Spegel (aka Through A Glass Darkly) (1961)

On a remote and bleak Swedish island, a young wife (Harriet Andersson) struggles with her mental illness while her husband (Max Von Sydow), father (Gunnar Bjornstrand) and younger brother (Lars Passgard) are powerless to prevent her descent into madness. Directed by Ingmar Bergman (PERSONA) and the winner of the 1962 Academy Award for best foreign language film. Films about mental illness from THE SNAKE PIT through I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN tend to focus on the journey to the cure. This austere masterpiece from the great Bergman does not, which allows for a heartbreaking fully developed bravura performance by Harriet Andersson in a part in which a lesser actress might have chewed up the scenery. Of course, strictly speaking, Bergman's film isn't entirely about mental illness anyway. Bergman is more concerned with what Andersson's character perceives in her madness and God's relevance to an increasingly emotionally sterile society. With only the four characters to work with, Bergman displays his deft hand with actors. The great Sven Nykvist is responsible for the beautiful B&W images but I could have done without the rather pretentious spurts of Bach on the soundtrack.