Ingmar Bergman

The face examined until it gives something up. Bergman put God's silence, marital cruelty and the fear of dying into chamber settings with few characters, and let the close-up do what other directors need plot for.

Signature

• Sustained close-ups; faces filling the frame in stillness.
• Chamber structure — few characters, enclosed setting, theatrical rhythm.
• Faith interrogated as absence rather than presence.
• Recurring company of actors used as instruments across decades.