Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

Plot Summary

Martin, a respected doctor, his wife Karin, Karin's seventeen year old brother Minus, and widowed father David of Karin and Minus' have convened at the family's summer home on an island off the coast of Sweden to celebrate David's return from the Swiss Alps, where he was substantially completing his latest novel. The family has long lived a fantasy that they are a loving one, with David's extended absences being the cause of many of the family's problems. Without that parental guidance, Minus is at a confused and vulnerable stage of his life where he is a bundle of repressed emotions, most specifically from not feeling loved by his father and concerning the opposite sex. He is attracted to females as a collective but does not know how to handle blatant female sexuality, especially if it is directed his way. A month earlier Karin was released from a mental institution. Her doctor has told Martin that the likelihood that she will fully recover from her illness is low, although she has functioned well since her release. In his love for her, Martin has vowed to himself to see her through whatever she faces. As Karin begins to lose grip on reality, Minus is the one most directly affected, although it does bring out the issues all the men are facing in regard to their interrelationships.