Virgin Spring [Blu-ray]

Product Description

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. With austere simplicity, the director tells the story of the rape and murder of the virgin Karin, and her father Töre’s ruthless pursuit of vengeance, set in motion after the killers visit the family’s farmhouse. 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.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack

• Audio commentary from 2005 by Ingmar Bergman scholar Birgitta Steene

• New video interviews from 2005 with actors Gunnel Lindblom and Birgitta Pettersson

• Introduction by filmmaker Ang Lee from 2005

• An audio recording of a 1975 American Film Institute seminar by director Ingmar Bergman

• Alternate English-dubbed soundtrack

• PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by film scholar Peter Cowie and screenwriter Ulla Isaksson and the medieval ballad on which the film is based

Top Reviews

One of Ingmar Bergman's finest films
by Scott Lehmann (4 out of 5 stars)
June 30, 2018

The Virgin Spring is a masterful movie, even if the subsequent "revenge for rape" exploitation genre it inspired are mostly lurid film atrocities, the most notable and best being Wes Craven's "Last House on the Left" which is a nearly a remake of "The Virgin Spring", albeit more violent.
"The Virgin Spring" is unrelentingly bleak for a 1960 film, even by today's standards. "Psycho" and "Peeping Tom" gathered more press for pushing the envelope for what is acceptable in film that year, but this film seems to me like it should have been equally disturbing to contemporary audiences.

It may be a difficult watch for some and (apart from "Hour of the Wolf") is the closest Ingmar Bergman has ever come to making a horror movie. Bergman plays up the suspense for all its worth, and even though we know what's going to happen, it is somehow still suspenseful.

Visually and thematically it is one of Bergman's most accomplished and resonant works with great performances from all actors involved. In fact, even though I'm not in love with the subject matter, I prefer it to "The Seventh Seal" and "Persona" (as great as those two films are). I love this film.

Where I am downgrading this edition of "The Virgin Spring" is in the blu-ray we are presented with by Criterion here. While the new 2K digital restoration is the best this film has ever looked, the special features are not nearly as abundant as on other Criterion releases. After having thoroughly enjoyed the numerous special features on "The Seventh Seal" and "Persona", a brief introduction, a pair of brief interviews and an audio recording of Bergman seemed inconsequential to me.

That being said however, the movie is so great and the restoration is so clear, that this Criterion Collection release still deserves to be in the collection of people who love Bergman's movies and other art-house films from that era. I don't regret the purchase. I just wish there was more being offered. Four solid stars.
↭ 🍁 ↭
Virgin Spring virgin no more
by Sean William Menzies (5 out of 5 stars)
September 25, 2018

Not only one of the greatest medieval films, but certainly one of the greatest films ever made. Absolutely shocking for the late 50's, early 60's, and certainly still shocking today, an actual medieval fable, or ballad, is translated to the screen by Bergman in a way that makes it more crystalline than his slightly earlier and fantastical The Seventh Seal. Short, economic, and extremely powerful. I was haunted by it for days. Bergman never talked about this film much after it was released, no one knows why. I personally believe he had disturbed himself by making something so visceral. But it has to be seen to be believed.
↭ 🍁 ↭
One of the greatest films of all time.
by Ly15 (5 out of 5 stars)
January 18, 2019

I don't say that lightly either. This movie leaves a heavy impression upon the viewer, which will stay with you...... After my first viewing, i immediately watched it again... That was a first for me..

The criterion restoration is very nice. The cinematography is awesome as well.
↭ 🍁 ↭
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
by Joseph V (5 out of 5 stars)
June 27, 2018

Watched this last night for the first time ever. this movie is incredible! Brilliant masterpiece. 5 STARS
↭ 🍁 ↭
A good palce to start watching Bergmann
by Mr. Andrew Elphick (5 out of 5 stars)
July 11, 2019

Such a beautifully made film which transports you to anoter time and place. Moments of serenity are shattered by violence. Really is a great film watching expreience.
↭ 🍁 ↭
A Masterpiece
by acj (5 out of 5 stars)
February 28, 2019

A must have for any film enthusiast.
↭ 🍁 ↭
Great movie, Good quality dvd
by Patrick (5 out of 5 stars)
August 28, 2018

Excellent package and version. Less known, yet still as great as The Seventh Seal.
↭ 🍁 ↭
Five Stars
by Ferguson Porter (5 out of 5 stars)
September 22, 2018

another classic
↭ 🍁 ↭
A Gift
by Thomas A. Lajiness (5 out of 5 stars)
January 7, 2019

Just as described...Great!
↭ 🍁 ↭
Pictures and sound
by Jorgen Persson (5 out of 5 stars)
September 4, 2018

I have nothing to complain about.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

*If this is not the "Virgin Spring [Blu-ray]" product you were looking for, you can check the other results by clicking this link.  Details were last updated on Jun 25, 2024 21:35 +08.