The Virgin Spring Film Still

The Virgin Spring

Ingmar Bergman

Sweden

1960

89 minutes

Black and White

1.33:1

Swedish

Watch Film for $5

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Synopsis

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring is a harrowing tale of faith, revenge, and savagery in medieval Sweden. Starring frequent Bergman collaborator and screen icon Max von Sydow, the film is both beautiful and cruel in its depiction of a world teetering between paganism and Christianity, and of one father’s need to avenge the death of a child.

Cast

TöreMax von Sydow
MäretaBirgitta Valberg
IngeriGunnel Lindblom
KarinBirgitta Pettersson
The boyOve Porath
The herdsmenAxel Düberg
The herdsmenTor Isedal

Credits

DirectorIngmar Bergman
ScreenplayUlla Isaksson
CinematographySven Nykvist
EditingOscar Rosander
ProducerIngmar Bergman
MusicErik Nordgren
Production DesignP.A. Lundgren
Costume designMarik Vos

Disc Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer
  • Audio commentary by Ingmar Bergman scholar Birgitta Steene
  • New video interviews with actresses Gunnel Lindblom and Birgitta Pettersson
  • Introduction by filmmaker Ang Lee
  • An audio recording of a 1975 American Film Institute seminar by Bergman
  • Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • A 28-page booklet featuring essays by film scholar Peter Cowie and screenwriter Ulla Isaksson, the medieval ballad on which the film is based, and a letter from Bergman on the film’s controversial rape scene

From the Current

The Virgin Spring: Bergman in Transition

by Peter Cowie Jan 23, 2006

Ingmar Bergman was enjoying one of the happiest spells of his life while making The Virgin Spring (1960). On a personal level, he was felicitously ensconced . . .

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'The Last House on the Left' inspired by Bergman's 'Virgin Spring'

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Available Editions

The Virgin Spring Criterion DVD Add to Cart

DVD

1 Disc

SRP: $39.95

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$31.96

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