Virgin Spring -- Bergman, 1960

I first saw The Virgin Spring about twenty years ago, so it was a big gap between viewings. Both times through I was blown away by how daring the the rape, murder, and revenge scenes are. I was also impressed by the classic Bergman symbolic shots, such as the scene where von Synow is attacking the willow tree in his anguish.

Second time through, I was watching it with my wife, on her first viewing. She liked it a lot but hated the ending, where the spring miraculously pops up where the daughter was murdered and the father vows to build a church there. I thought about this for a bit, and decided that I agreed with her. It does seem to be a dishonest ending to such a brutally honest movie.

Curious to see what I'd thought about it the first time I saw it, I looked up my rating and saw that I'd given it an 8. That's very high for me, so obviously I either wasn't that bothered by the ending or I thought the rest of the movie carries it above a 7. Now, I'm clearly thinking the latter. So, I leave it an 8, but I don't like that ending. And, I believe Bergman once said that he didn't like it either. It definitely doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the film.