The Virgin Spring (1960)

Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring (Jungfrukällan) is a story based on the Swedish ballad "Töres dotter i Wänge". The film is set in the middle ages. A girl is sent to church to deliver candles. On the way to church she is raped and murdered. The father of the girl seeks revenge. The film isn't action-packed despite what this summary may indicate. The film moves along rather slowly and didn't come off as particularly interesting.

Of the actors in this film, I am most familiar with Max von Sydow who played the girl's father. His role in this film wasn't quite as prominent as his character in The Seventh Seal and I didn't think this performance was as good.

Like every Bergman film I've seen, this film is rather deep and the plot doesn't really do a whole lot. The film addresses myriad of themes such as Christianity, Paganism, vengeance, the occult, questioning of religious faith, sexual innocence, justice, and the nature of evil. The film also poses several moral questions to the audience. While I don't necessarily mind a film that is rather serious in nature, I feel like this film could have been more interesting. I have seen plenty of films that address lots of themes while at the coming off as an interesting film. This film fails in that regard and for that reason I cannot recommend it despite the accolades this film received.

60/100
D-