This question occupies a central place in Bergman's art and life, as indeed it should in the life of every human being. In answer to this question, the pastor in Winter Light says nothing and lowers his eyes, indicating in this way the impotence of faith to supply the answer to this most important question. The insistence on asking such simple, yet disquieting questions, which demand introspection and self-examination, is arguably the most valuable quality of Bergman's filmmaking. This passage seems today even more timely than when Mozart wrote it two hundred years ago.
Persona is a singular film.
All of these questions seem to be condensed into a single close-up of Liv Ullmann's face with the fading light accompanied by the music of J.S. Bach. The Magic Flute, The Silence, Fanny and Alexander. And in this state, he is able to intuit something, which lies far beyond his present comprehension and which is yet of the greatest importance to his spirit. It is in his childhood that Bergman's best as well as his worst memories dwell. The Seventh Seal, Winter Light, Through a Glass Darkly and Virgin Spring.