The Plot Outline of The Virgin Spring

Directed by ingmar bergman, the film tells the story that Karin, the only daughter of Fu Nong Teli, went to church with their adopted daughter Ingley in the spring morning in a remote Swedish village in the 6th century. On the way, I met three shepherds. At first, they chatted happily. Later, they raped Karin and killed her. Ingley, hiding in the dark, was too scared to speak. At dusk that day, three shepherds came to Karin's house and sold Karin's bloody clothes at dinner. Ingley just returned home, and when asked, the truth came out. Terry was angry and killed three shepherds. The next morning, the Terry couple found their daughter's body and vowed to build a temple here. Just as they picked up Karin, a spring came out from under Karin's head. The Turleys think it's a favor from God. This film is a religious film with sacred significance. Implicit genre, touching story, rigorous performance, and unique audio-visual effects of black-and-white films make this film an immortal classic in film history.

Spring of the Virgin is one of ingmar bergman's representative works, and its plot is very simple. But Bergman is not satisfied with telling the story at all, but carves the whole work vividly, which is full of Bergman's unique philosophical color and leaves a great aftertaste for the audience, which is convincing.

A simple story about violence and revenge, such a story outline has appeared countless times in third-rate TV series, but after Bergman's polishing, it shines with the glory of God. Another story about God. Three poor shepherds raped and killed them after accepting a food gift from the lovely rich woman Lin Kai. Inglin, the maid who accompanied her, witnessed the whole process, because she hated Lin Kai, even though she wanted to save her. The shepherd unexpectedly fled to Lin Kai's home, was taken in by the kind Lin Kai's father, and got accommodation and care. As a result, the father learned the truth about his daughter's disappearance from the regretful Yinglin, and killed three murderers in revenge. Later, a clear spring flowed from Lin Kai. Yinglin washed his sinful soul with spring water ... This story is based on Swedish songs of13rd century. It tells the story of a spring morning in a remote village in Sweden in the16th century. Farmer Trijean and his daughter Karin send candles to the church for mass, which only a chaste virgin can do. So Karin and the maid ingrid set off.

On the way, they came to a forest and met an eccentric old man. Ingrid is afraid to continue because of the temptation of the old man and her own fear. Determined Karin decided to go on alone. On the way, Karin met three shepherds. At first, they chatted happily, but later they raped Karin, killed her and took her clothes. And ingrid, who was behind, hid in the dark, too scared to make any noise.

At dusk, three shepherds came to Karin's house. As it was getting late, the host family agreed to take them for the night and entertain them. However, before going to bed, the shepherd sold Karin's shawl to Terry's wife. Terry's wife recognized her daughter's things. She choked back her grief, pretended to discuss with her husband, and then locked the shepherd in the house. Then she woke Terry up. Terry knew at once that he was determined to get revenge. At this time, Ingrid also came back. She confirmed all this, so Terry held a pagan ceremony in the early morning and killed three shepherds. After dawn, ingrid found Karin's body with Mr. and Mrs. Terry. Terry vowed to build a church for God next to her daughter's body, but just as they picked up Karin, a spring emerged from the ground above her head. Mr. and Mrs. Terry thought it was a favor from God.

From the Seventh Seal to the Spring of the Virgin to the Silent Trilogy (still in the mirror, light and silence in winter), ingmar bergman has been thinking about the same question-does God exist? And this movie is Bergman's question about the existence of God. The film is based on Swedish songs from the13rd century, which in itself casts a legend on the story. The film tells a story about revenge and redemption with a structure similar to a fairy tale. The existence of God is the theme of this story. From this film, we can see Bergman's questioning of God. This is manifested in the fact that God has always played the role of a bystander in the whole incident, and it only exists at the end of the miracle, and this miracle is only considered by the Terry couple as a manifestation of God. At this time, Bergman felt contradictory. On the one hand, he questioned why God condoned evil, let innocent girls die, and made the girl's father guilty for revenge. But on the other hand, he didn't blame God for this behavior (all these were expressed through Terry), but begged God's forgiveness with an atonement attitude. And the last spring water also has the meaning of washing away all evil, thus reaching an internal balance with God. Here Bergman still believes in the existence of God, but he questioned it.

Different from other famous Bergman films, this film is full of complex metaphors and strange dreams in structure and form, but it is as simple as a poem. Perhaps because it is a myth in itself, Bergman calmly told us this fairy tale. Bergman once said: "There is nothing closer to the art of film than music. Both directly affect our feelings, not through reason. " He added: "The primary feature of movies should be musicality." This is also reflected in the fact that his films almost never use music, but only put a piece of music at the beginning of the film (mostly Bach's, Bach became his eternal spiritual collaborator and savior, soothing his painful soul). In most of his films, natural sounds are directly used. He believes that real music lies in nature, and any troubles, the chirping of insects and cicadas are all music. Just like this, his films always give people a simple and natural feeling. Spring of the Virgin Mary is probably the quietest of all his films, which gives people a sense of solemnity, simplicity and tranquility, no matter from the use of pictures or sounds. Bergman told us a fairy tale in this way, and all the ideas were conveyed to the audience through the story.

Structurally, the film can be divided into four parts: the cause of the initial event-being killed on the way-seeking truth and revenge-miracle. Although the film is not complicated, Bergman still uses many metaphors. Fortunately, these metaphors are not very complicated and difficult to understand. If there is a fire at first, then the next scene is that ingrid, the maid, curses Karin and expects Odin to punish her. Odin is a pagan god in Norse mythology (relative to Christianity), and then almost every time ingrid is jealous of Karin, there is a fire. Here, fire became a symbol of Ingrid's jealousy of Karin's chastity, beauty and happiness relative to her own meanness and disloyalty. And the toad Ingrid caught in Karin's food also showed her jealousy. When three shepherds tried to rape Karin, the toad jumped out of the food to face them, which showed the ugliness of human nature better than the ugly toad. Interestingly, this toad was also facing Ingrid at that time. She put the toad in the food, which showed that Ingrid didn't dare to face her ugly heart. The old man who seduced ingrid in the forest seemed to be Odin's incarnation. Karin, who also believed in God, was not seduced, but walked alone. The road to the church can be regarded as the road to God, and Odin and the Woods symbolize the seductive devil on this road. Obviously, ingrid was tempted, which also shows the vacillation and uncertainty of her faith, which is also reflected in Three Shepherds. When Karin finished eating and prepared to pray, except the youngest shepherd, the other two couldn't wait to eat, which reflected their lack of faith and belief. "God" has been watching in the film, and the long way from Karin to the church can show how far God is from human beings. When Terry takes revenge, it seems that he is exercising the power of God, and the will of man and God are interchangeable. But on the other hand, it can also be regarded as God's test of mankind, and the road to God is arduous, even bumpy. So we can see that Bergman's attitude towards God is contradictory, and he is still thinking hard on this road.

Of all the people in the film, only Karin is really worthy of praise. She is the only one who has not been punished by God. Although she lost her virginity and life, it is also a kind of redemption through self-sacrifice and spiritual harmony with God. Although she was in trouble on this road to God, we can see the significance of her sacrifice from last spring. She washed away her sins for the world and was forgiven by God. The significance of her being killed by a shepherd seems to be consistent with the fate of Jesus, the "born lamb". Bergman reflected on the sacrifice of Jesus through the role of Karin. On the other hand, let's look at others. Terry was guilty of revenge. From the pagan ceremony before his murder, we can see his strong anger and pain, as well as his doubt about God, so that he can rely on pagan ceremonies to summon up the courage to take revenge, but at the same time he can't face God. Terry's wife was jealous of her daughter's love for her father because of her doting on her daughter. She was punished for losing the most precious thing. Ingrid's behavior caused by jealousy, as well as her painful confession later, blamed Karin's death on her own curse, and she has received the greatest spiritual punishment. The older two of the three shepherds used death to repay their disrespect for God, and the youngest one almost collapsed because of fear afterwards, and could not escape the fate of death. Bergman ended the relationship between man and God with his unique indifference. But then a new question was raised: "If self-sacrifice can wash away the sins that have been committed, how can the original sin of mankind be washed away?" Although he apparently atoned for others with Karin's sacrifice and achieved harmony with God, doubts kept coming.

The photographer of this film is a person who has to be mentioned. He's Sven Nikvester from Switzerland. From this film, he also started a long-term cooperation with Bergman and became Bergman's royal photographer. His superb photography skills are perfectly combined with Bergman's theme. For example, the use of multiple panoramic and panoramic lenses in Karin and ingrid's On the Way to the Church reflects Sven's superb level of mirror transport. The movement of the lens is light and elegant, which makes the picture as quiet and solemn as an idyllic poem. When Terry kills three shepherds, the picture seems to have a sense of judgment. Finally, when Terry questioned God, the camera shot from behind the actor, giving people a strong emotional impact. At the same time, this film inherits the shooting style of Nordic naturalism initiated by the Swedish School in the 1920s (especially The Wind by yost Roma, Bergman's teacher). The environment is endowed with the same significance as the characters in the film. The most common things, such as wind, water and trees, have become the external reactions of the characters' inner state. For example, in the most typical passage when Terry used pagan rituals, Wind and Tree successfully visualized Terry's inner tension and contradiction, organically combined the relationship between man and environment, and endowed the environment with special significance.

The great thinker Bergman has been thinking about several relations that accompany modern people's life, "the relationship between man and God. Does God exist? Is it possible to communicate with people? The relationship between love and hate, does love and hate coexist? The relationship between life and death. Is life meaningful? " And his films are also devoted to finding the answer to the biggest psychological disease "loneliness" of modern people.

Virgin Spring 1960 won the Best Foreign Language Film Award at the American Academy Awards.

(The comment comes from "The Desire of Life" by Dou You)