This blog entry is part of my "movie year countdown round #2". Read more about that here.
Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring)
(I'm skipping #23, The Intruder right now since it took a long time for Netflix to send it to me, but I'll get to that soon (as if anyone cared what order I post these things))
Bergman's The Seventh Seal is one of my all time favorite films. Knowing that The Virgin Spring was another Bergman picture set within the later Medieval period and featuring a couple of the same actors were many things that made me interested in seeing it. It also had religious themes (but which of Bergman's films don't?).
The film mixes brutality with forgiveness. Anger with God and with total dependence and worship of Him. Contrasts and themes that appear in many of Bergman's works, but the kind of simplicity of story and complexity of themes here is one of the most extreme contrasts.
Although from what I've read Bergman went from thinking this one of his greatest films to one of his worst films later in life, immediately after watching it I would rate it amongst his best. Maybe like him I will dislike it more in my older years after I have seen many more of his films, but it's hard to imagine such a think happening right now.
Rating: 9/10