edwards drive-in

part two the bergman triliogy of faith is "winter light". it stars gunnar bjornstrand at a parish priest having a crisis of faith. bjornstrand is one of those everyman actors in the mold of jimmy stewart. even when his characters are not acting morally or with kindness you're rooting for them to get back there. maybe that's it, you get the feeling that they were once in that place.

there is a scene in a one-room schoolhouse in this movie that's devasting. two characters are talking about their relationship, or why they aren't successful at having a relationship, and one of the characters finally comes clean and tells the truth. what happens in that moment where one person has to say to another one "I don't want to be with you even though you want to be with me". there's an unavoidable cruelty that can't be helped. sometimes, it's not unavoidable, it's asked for. this scene has that asking for and it delivers so honestly it's hard to watch. and yet it's the scene in the movie that went by the fastest and I'm guessing will stay around the longest afterwards.