MOVIE · 1960

The Virgin Spring

Drama90 min

In medieval Sweden, devout farmers Töre and Märeta send their daughter Karin and foster daughter Ingeri through the woods to deliver church candles, a simple errand that turns brutal. Max von Sydow is Töre, Karin’s father, while Birgitta Valberg’s Märeta waits at home unaware of what has happened on the road. After Karin is raped and murdered by a group of goat herders as Ingeri hides nearby, the men later arrive at the family’s farmhouse asking for shelter. Ingmar Bergman frames the story around the collision of Christian faith, private guilt, and a father’s turn toward revenge.