The Virgin Spring and The Seventh Seal: A Girardian Reading

Authors

William Mishler, University of Minnesota

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, the first paragraph of the essay follows:

Of his more than forty films, Ingmar Bergman has set two in the Middle Ages-The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet, 1956) and The Virgin Spring (Jungfrukiillan, 1959), the latter based on an early ballad and utilizing a screenplay that he co-authored with Ulla lsaksson-which together form an instructive pair. The former, of course, represents his breakthrough as a director of international reputation. Though heralded by the powerful Sawdust and Tinsel from 1953, The Seventh Seal was his first unquestionable masterpiece. It was a film that to Bergman's own amazement "swept like a forest fire across the world."¹ Today it continues to maintain its preeminent position with both audiences and critics. The Virgin Spring, however, is a different matter. Compared to his best work as a director, it has been judged a relative failure, first and foremost by Bergman himself. Initially elated by the film,² he later became sharply critical of it. In an interview from 1970, he stated: "Now I want to make it quite plain that The Virgin Spring must be regarded as an aberration. It's touristic, a lousy imitation of Kurosawa."³ And in his autobiography, The Magic Lantern, he neglects even to mention the film⁴ and thus tacitly removes it from among the works by which he evidently wishes to be recognized as a director.

Recommended Citation

Mishler, William (1996) "The Virgin Spring and The Seventh Seal: A Girardian Reading," Comparative Drama: Vol. 30: Iss. 1, Article 6.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/compdr/vol30/iss1/6