Sven Nykvist was considered by many in the industry to be one of the
world's greatest cinematographers. During his long career that spanned
almost half a century, Nyvist perfected the art of cinematography to
its most simple attributes, and he helped give the films he had worked
on the simplest and most natural look imaginable. Indeed, Mr. Nykvist
prided himself on the simplicity and naturalness of his lighting
schemes. Nykvist used light to create mood and, more significantly, to
bring out the natural flesh tones in the human face so that the emotion
of the scene could be played out on the face without the light becoming
intrusive.
Nykvist entered the Swedish film industry when he was 19 and worked his
way up to becoming a director of photography. He first worked with the
legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman on the film Abend der Gaukler (1953), but his
collaboration with Bergman began in earnest with Die Jungfrauenquelle (1960). From that
point on, Nykvist replaced the great Gunnar Fischer as Bergman's cameraman,
and the two men started a collaboration that would last for a quarter
of a century. The switch from Fischer to Nykvist created a marked
difference in the look of Bergman's films. In many respects, it was
like the difference between Caravaggio and Rembrandt. Fischer's
lighting was a study in light and darkness, while Nykvist preferred a
more naturalistic, more subtle approach that in many ways relied on the
northern light compositions of the many great Scandinavian painters.
Nykvist's work with Bergman is one of the most glorious collaborations
in movie history. Nykvist created a markedly different look for each
installment of Bergman's Faith Trilogy. Wie in einem Spiegel (1961) had an almost
suffocating quality to it, and Das Schweigen (1963) hearkened back to the days of
German Expressionism. Licht im Winter (1963), the middle part of the trilogy, may very
well be the most perfect work of Nykvist's repertoire. Having studied
the light in a real provincial church carefully, he then recreated the
subtle changes in the light as the day went on on a Stockholm sound
stage. Indeed, it's hard to believe that the film was shot on a stage
and not in a real church in Northern Sweden. For Persona (1966), Nykvist
relied heavily on Sweden's famous Midnight Sun. In Passion (1969), Nykvist was
able to capture the chilly, soggy, and melancholy look of Faro, one of
Nykvist's first color films. Both Nykvist and Bergman were both very
reluctant to film in color. He created a fascinating study of white and
red in Schreie und Flüstern (1972), for which Nykvist won an Oscar. He won an Oscar again
for the last feature-length theatrical film that Bergman made, Fanny und Alexander (1982).
During the late 1970s, Nykvist began making films elsewhere in Europe
and in the United States, working for directors such as Louis Malle
(Pretty Baby (1978)), Philip Kaufman (Die unerträgliche Leichtigkeit des Seins (1988)), Bob Fosse (Star 80 - Tod eines Playmates (1983)), Nora Ephron (Schlaflos in Seattle (1993)),
Woody Allen (Eine andere Frau (1988), Verbrechen und andere Kleinigkeiten (1989)), Richard Attenborough (Chaplin - Das Leben der unsterblichen Filmlegende (1992)), and fellow Swede Lasse Hallström
(Gilbert Grape - Irgendwo in Iowa (1993)). The documentary Ljuset håller mig sällskap (2000) paid homage to Nykvist, although it
does not grant us any real secrets about his working methods. Nykvist
died in 2006.
