The aesthetic interpenetration between film and theatre, the fact that cinema and theatre are used to respond to and comment upon one another, and the additional fact that personnel work together,
compete, and influence one another through these media are pressing reasons to study the two together.
The ties between theatre and film in Through a Glass Darkly are clear in relation to Bergman’s
136 production of The Seagull.327 But another influence lies in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1940-41), bringing again into play the relevance of other directors’ work to Bergman’s practice.
Theatre and cinema are social in nature and, as seen in the development of The Face and Sawdust and Tinsel, the work of collaborators and competitors plays a role in the shaping of an individual work.
Both the text of Long Day’s Journey Into Night as well as its prominent production history in the Swedish context provides insights into the construction of space and character in Through a Glass Darkly.
Both dramas are set in a family’s summer home during August near the sea; both houses face east and have windows looking out on the water and a road between the home and the water; there is a formal symmetry emphasized in the represented design of both houses; and both feature the presence of a foghorn.328 Moreover, the central action in both dramas is based on the female protagonist
undergoing recidivism, slipping into an illness that is at once her own and a product of her relationship to the three men in her life; and both dramas happen within the span of a day. Significantly in both dramas, the female protagonist goes to a separate room upstairs to isolate herself from the others and it is in this space that her “illness” develops its strength.329 Both dramas concern the development of a young artistic son who stands in contrast to the settled success of an artist father. And both dramas are
327 Chekhov’s play, a 19th-century American short story, Strindberg, and a deleted scene from an earlier Bergman film are all recognized as relevant influences. See David F. Holden, “Three Literary Sources for Through a Glass Darkly,”
Literature/Film Quarterly II, no. 1 (Winter) 1974: 22-29. Holden identifies Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman’s short story,
“The Yellow Wallpaper,” and August Strindberg’s play, Easter, along with The Seagull, as evident sources Bergman’s screenplay. Cf. Jörn Donner, The Personal Vision of Ingmar Bergman 211; Donner acknowledges Gilman’s story, Strindberg, and a deleted scene from an earlier Bergman film, Prison [Fängelse] (1949). Cf. Björkman, et al 162-163; in a deleted scene from Bergman’s Prison [Fängelse] (1949), the female protagonist encounters an artist; a similar episode involving wallpaper and hallucinations ensues in his room. Cf. Gado, 272; Gado offers additional details on Gilman, Prison, Strindberg, and another possible autobiographical source.
328 Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey Into Night (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1955) 11-12; 66.
329 Ibid 38-39; 55-57; 123.
137 concerned with faith, particularly the religiosity of the woman. Finally, in both dramas, the artist-son has a privileged bond with the female protagonist, the implication being that she is fundamental to the development of the artist.
There are additional, historical links between the two dramas in the Swedish context. The world premiere of Long Day’s Journey Into Night took place at The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm on 10 February 1956. The production was directed by Bengt Ekerot (1920-1971).330 In an interview for Teaterkonst, Ekerot said that he saw Long Day's Journey Into Night as “the end of the Ibsen-Chekhov line,” and that there was no way to “proceed further within this style” that O’Neill's play had
“consummated.”331 This statement proposes an intertextual tangle that deserves at least cursory
attention here. O’Neill’s debt to Strindberg was self-professed, and the kammerspiel concept may well be applied to his last play. Given the similarities between O’Neill’s family drama and Through a Glass Darkly, and considering Bergman’s later remarks that the film was “a surreptitious stage-play”
attributable to his unrealized desire to be a playwright, perhaps Ekerot’s statement spurred Bergman’s ambitions in writing the script.
Ekerot’s direction of the world premiere of O’Neill’s drama, plus Bergman’s other engagements with Ekerot during the late 50s (discussed in the previous chapter), are therefore part of the creative circumstances surrounding the composition of Through a Glass Darkly.332 Allowing collaboration and
330 Cf. Helander 127; Gustav Molander was to direct the production, but bowed out, and Karl Ragnar Gierow, the head of the theatre, appointed Ekerot. It was therefore a remarkable career opportunity for Ekerot.
331 Ibid.
332 The fact that Ekerot played the title role of Hamlet in 1955, which has the famous play-within of The Mousetrap, is also worth noting. Bergman himself would later direct Long Day's Journey Into Night at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in 1988 (premiered 16 April), directly after staging Hamlet in 1986 (premiered 20 December). Cf. Steene, Reference Guide 824.
The sequence of these two productions recalls that of Ekerot’s performance in Hamlet in Sjöberg’s production, and then his subsequent direction of Long Day’s Journey Into Night; furthermore, Bergman had Hamlet (Peter Stormare, who also would play Edmund in the O’Neill play) dressed like Bergman himself in his typical director's “costume”; see Janet Staiger,
138 competition as factors in an individual’s creative output, not only should the text of O’Neill’s play be considered as an influence on Through a Glass Darkly, but specifically Ekerot’s direction of the world premiere of Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
There is an additional reason to consider the influence of Ekerot and O’Neill on Through a Glass Darkly. Speaking in retrospect some thirty years after the making of the film and twenty years since the death of Ekerot, and with no apparent prompting, Bergman claimed that he had miscast Lars Passgård in the role of Minus and that “it should have been a young version of the actor Bengt
Ekerot.”333 It is also noteworthy, given the similarities in construction between the roles of Minus and Chekhov’s young playwright, that Ekerot played Treplev in The Seagull early in his career.334
Ekerot’s dual role as a competitor and collaborator with Bergman (like Sjöberg and Ekman), once again requires consideration as a potential influence, particularly with respect to the construction of Through a Glass Darkly. These connections arise through careers that straddle theatre and cinema, and illustrate the necessity for an expanded methodology to analyze both media.