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Movies / On DVD / The Virgin Spring
The Virgin Spring

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The Virgin Spring (1960)

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Reviews Counted:16

Fresh:15

Rotten:1

Average Rating:8.1/10

Runtime: 89 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Synopsis: Derived from a medieval ballad, THE VIRGIN SPRING was director Ingmar Bergman's first film to win an Academy Award. The movie represents a return to simpler themes for Bergman after the... Derived from a medieval ballad, THE VIRGIN SPRING was director Ingmar Bergman's first film to win an Academy Award. The movie represents a return to simpler themes for Bergman after the philosophical complexity of THE SEVENTH SEAL and WILD STRAWBERRIES. On its most basic level, it's the story of violent crime violently avenged, but it can also be interpreted as a religious allegory on Christian forgiveness. A young girl, Karin (Birgitta Pettersson), is raped and killed by two herdsman on her way to church. Her foster sister, played by Gunnel Lindblom, witnesses the crime and reports back to Karin's parents (Max von Sydow and Birgitta Valberg) shortly after the perpetrators arrive at the couple's home seeking shelter for the night, unaware of their hosts' identity. Karin's grief-stricken father decides to take brutal revenge on his daughter's murderers. THE VIRGIN SPRING represents Bergman's first full collaboration with director of photography Sven Nykvist, who had previously worked as a co-director of photography on SAWDUST AND TINSEL. [More]

Starring: Max Von Sydow, Brigitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom, Brigitta Pattersson

Starring: Max Von Sydow, Brigitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom, Brigitta Pattersson

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Director: Ingmar Bergman

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Release:

Jan 24, 2006

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for The Virgin Spring

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1 - 16 (sorted by date)
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Easily lost amid a brilliant career, The Virgin Spring once again shows Bergman's control in capturing the furthest ranges of emotion.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
06/07/08
Matthew Sorrento
Matthew Sorrento
Film Threat

Bergman's instinctive approach to filmmaking %u2013 like his gripping use of long wordless moments filled with pictures of great power, is in evidence, with some unforgettable scenes that even today, almost 50 years later, have fresh impact.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
02/14/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

Masterfully directed by Sweden's Ingmar Bergman.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
12/22/06
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Winner of the Foreign-Language Oscar Picture, the film represents the first peak of Ingmar Bergman's creativity, released right after The Seventh Seal and before Through a Glass Darkly, all three masterpieces.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
10/21/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

[Auds] will be rewarded by the depth of the director's moral and religious questioning, the emotional power of the story and acting, the haunting and symbolic imagery, and the excellent black-and-white photography of Sven Nykvist.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
08/29/06
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Although the 'jiggery-pokery' does mute the 'actual, horrible story,' Bergman still poses worthy questions, offering no answers, a key difference between art and baloney, or spirituality and dogmatism.

Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | comment Comment
04/05/06
Mark Bourne
Mark Bourne
DVDJournal.com

It is also a crucial film because it was the first to be shot entirely by Sven Nykvist, who would become Bergman's longtime cinematographer and would be largely responsible for shaping the visual aesthetic of his later works.

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
03/18/06
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

The master guides us through this heartbreaking tale with a delicate hand and a gorgeous, poetic touch. It's actually one of his simplest and most moving works -- a film to be savored and pondered.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
02/16/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Sven Nykvist's luminous black-and-white photography conspiring with the austerity of Bergman's imagery to create an extraordinary metaphysical charge.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out

Represents the primary nexus between Bergman's austere but accessibly recherché works of the 1950s and his downright ascetic 1960s cinema.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
01/23/06
Eric Henderson
Eric Henderson
Slant Magazine

It is far from an easy picture to watch or entirely commend. For Mr. Bergman has stocked it with scenes of brutality that, for sheer unrestrained realism, may leave one sickened and stunned.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment 1 Comment
05/09/05
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Brutal and miraculous.

comment Comment
06/09/04
Leo Goldsmith
Leo Goldsmith
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

No review available.

comment Comment
12/05/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Troubled, dark ambitious and highly intelligent film from the great Swedish director.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
05/27/03
Channel 4 Film

Although the story plays straightforwardly, greater enjoyment comes through pondering the meanings behind Bergman's symbolic tapestry.

Full Review Source: Old School Reviews | comment Comment
12/26/02
John A. Nesbit
John A. Nesbit
Old School Reviews

The period details are magnificently worked into the narrative, and the pace and economy of the tortured Swede's storytelling make his metaphysics infinitely easier to take.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
01/01/00
Don Druker
Don Druker
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 16 (sorted by date)
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Latest News for The Virgin Spring

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July 30, 2007: Legendary Director Ingmar Bergman dies at 89
Ingmar Bergman, the "poet with a camera," died in his sleep at his home in Faro, Sweden Monday at the age of 89. The director of such influential films as The Seventh Seal,... More...

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