Good movie but grossly overrated

Brilliant and touching

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Det sjunde inseglet/The Seventh Seal with Max von Sydow is my most favorite movie by Ingmar Bergman, Jungrukällan/The Virgin Spring the 2nd.Bergman did some movies, who I dare to say, are ageless classics because they are deep and profound meditations of human life and its relations to god and/or to the creation and of all wonderful and terrible things that are part of life (and death) and how the individual tries to cope and deal with all those challenges and questions.Again with Max von Sydow, this is a great story set in the medieval times in rural Sweden. Rape, murder, superstition, belief, revenge, are the ingredients to this outstanding dish. As far as I know the movie is based on an old legend and Bergman again tells us the story in a very reduced manner and in pictures with a quiet, poetic and meditative character.

for me, for long time, it was adaptation of a story from Balkans. Haunting, tragic, an admirable proof of high art of detail. one of films who need to see for a special form of beauty of image and great performance, for the introduction status in the vision of a great director. a story about innocence and Medieval flavor and cruelty and justice. almost a poem in image. about murder and about implacable justice. about sin and about the truth. about a father and his daughter. and nothing more. because this film is real remarkable. or brilliant . or precious experience. so, see it !

I saw "The Virgin Spring" 54 years ago in 1960 when it first came out. At the time it seemed like the most realistic movie I had ever seen, and I still feel that way today, although I have not seen it since that time. (Another movie that has a comparable level of realism is "Das Boot", but that is based on a true story.) My memories of the movie are still vivid, especially the scenes of people eating at a crude table without modern utensils and von Sydow preparing himself by whipping his own body in a sauna. 14th century rural Sweden was portrayed so convincingly that I felt I was *in* the movie. To pull off the realism the acting and cinematography had to be outstanding and it was. Also, the plot was very carefully crafted, and for the time era and location it was a perfect fit.

I watched 'The Virgin Spring' (1960) on TCM today. It's a Swedish film with English subtitles directed by Ingmar Bergman. If the definition of a horror film is one that scares you by what you see and hear in even just a few of the scenes, then this is a horror movie IMO. For instance there is one scene where the sweet and innocent victim realizes what is about to happen to her. That scene for me was spine chilling. Chilling because these horrors really happen, unlike monsters from space or whatever. It was mesmerizing to watch beginning to end, subtitles and all. I was never a big Bergman fan in years past, probably because I didn't devote the time to his films. I'm only now starting to appreciate his vast talent for story telling and imagery. This is one of those times I wish I was a decent writer so I could put into words what I want to express about this story. I''ll put it simply in my words. The story is about a well to do very religious small family in what I took to be the middle ages. The two parents have farmhands, servants and one young, maybe 17 year old, daughter who is their pride and joy. They send their daughter on a short sort of pilgrimage to bring candles to their church. She is expected back that same day. During the course of her short journey she meets with disaster because she is naive about strangers. Later by a strange turn of events, the parents get their revenge for what happens to her. And do that get even ! I don't want to say much more about the plot. I will say it's obvious that the 1972 horror film 'The Last House on the Left' was roughly based on this much superior story. 'TVS' can be taken as a straight plot of loss and revenge or it can be analyzed much deeper. With this story Mr. Bergman makes us think hard about the nature of God, jealousy, vanity, revenge, regret and even forgiveness. It's the kind of film that will stay with you long after it ends. I do my best to keep these comments short, this is getting long, so I'll end by saying 'The Virgin Spring' was an amazing example of film making at its best.