MovieChat Forums > Nattvardsgästerna (1963) Discussion > Why did they change the title in English...

Why did they change the title in English?

posted 14 years ago by Harlesden_P_Ruffkins
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As all of you no doubt know, it's called Nattvardsgästerna in Sweden which apparently translates as something like 'The Communicants'. If you put it into google translator however it comes out as 'Winter Light'. This is because google translator is useless and gives you answers that other people have suggested, rather than the truth.

Anyway, why was the title changed? Winter Light is practically meaningless and apart from the movie being set in winter, doesn't have a whole lot to do with the movie. The Communicants makes more sense as we see them all taking the communion at the start.

I know this sounds silly, but it couldn't have been because 'communicants' sounds a bit rude and they wanted to avoid anyone saying anything remotely like the word ****?

[–] SherlockVonEinstein 13 years ago

First and foremost, "The Communicants" simply doesn't have a ring to it. "Winter Light" is a bit more lyrical, a bit easier on the ears...

From an interview with Bergman:

BERGMAN: We maintained this very strict form. Which meant that all the light...would be this grayish, shadowless light. November light. Sven and I went up to Dalarna, to a church in Skattungbyn, where we sat from morning till night taking notes. Sven took pictures the whole time of how the light moved through the church. He then invented something that had never existed before, a kind of lamp that could provide a shadowless light.

So "Winter Light" does have meaning, in that its the basic visual motif that Bergman and Nykvist were working toward for this film.