Set in beautiful 14th century Sweden, it is the sombre, powerful fable of wealthy land-owning parents whose daughter, a young virgin, is brutally raped and murdered by goat herders after her half sister has invoked a pagan curse. By a bizarre twist of fate, the murderers ask for food and shelter from the dead girl’s parents, who, discovering the truth about their erstwhile lodgers, exact a chilling revenge.

Jungfrukällan (1960)
  • Rating: (10,253 votes)
  • Runtime:89 minutes
  • Director: Ingmar Bergman
  • Country:Sweden
  • Actors:
    Töre
    Max von Sydow
    Märeta
    Birgitta Valberg
    Ingeri
    Gunnel Lindblom
    Karin
    Birgitta Pettersson
    Thin Herdsman
    Axel Düberg
    Mute Herdsman
    Tor Isedal
    Beggar
    Allan Edwall
    Boy
    Ove Porath
    Bridge Keeper
    Axel Slangus
    Frida
    Gudrun Brost
  • Genres:Crime, Drama
  • Producers:
    Ingmar Bergman
    producer (uncredited)  
    Allan Ekelund
    producer (uncredited)  
  • Plots: Set in beautiful 14th century Sweden, it is the sombre, powerful fable of wealthy land-owning parents whose daughter, a young virgin, is brutally raped and murdered by goat herders after her half sister has invoked a pagan curse. By a bizarre twist of fate, the murderers ask for food and shelter from the dead girl's parents, who, discovering the truth about their erstwhile lodgers, exact a chilling revenge. Written by L.H. Wong <as9401k56@ntuvax.ntu.ac.sg>
Jungfrukällan
  • User's comment:The Virgin Spring (1960) **** by JoeKarlosi

    Now, this was a true work of art. A quietly designed yet devastating story of a religious Medieval family and how their faith becomes challenged when their young daughter is brutally raped and murdered by three derelict brothers. Max von Sydow plays the father who is a God-fearing believer, yet finds himself overcome by his own sweet desire for revenge against those who wronged his little girl.

    I am happy to say I appreciated Ingmar Bergman's genius just by this movie alone. It's a visually beautiful piece to look at, but also with a story and strong convictions. So much is said without really needing to go overboard. I can see there is a recurring theme in his work where he questions the existence of God, or at least the complicated ways in which God works things out on Earth. I'm not sure whether Bergman was a full-blooded atheist or not at this point but I'd suspect he was at least a questioning agnostic. I'm sure this is partly why Woody Allen is so enamored with the director, as a similar religious thread runs through some of Allen's own movies. For the record, I am a strong believer in God, though these days I too have been faced with personal issues which have had me having difficulties in understanding, much like the father of THE VIRGIN SPRING. So this movie also touches a personal nerve within me. The performances here are all first-rate, with a special nod to Birgitta Petterson as the friendly and generous young woman who we take an instant liking to, but becomes the victim. What more can I say? An exceptional and deeply-moving film.


  • Quotes: Märeta: If you always get your way, you'll please the devil so much that the saints will punish you with boils. Beggar: See the smoke trembling under the roof as if with fright? Yet when it gets out in the air, it has the whole sky to swirl about in. But it doesn't know that, so it huddles and trembles in the soot under the roof. It's the same with people. They quiver like a leaf in the storm, afraid of what they know and what they don't know. Töre: You see it, God, you see it. The innocent child's death and my revenge. You allowed it. I don't understand you. Yet now I beg your forgiveness. I know no other way to be reconciled with my own hands. I know no other way to live.
  • Also known as: El manantial de la doncella (Colombia), El manantial de la doncella (Mexico - imdb display title), El manantial de la doncella (Spain), The Virgin Spring ( - undefined), The Virgin Spring (International - English title), A Fonte da Donzela (Brazil), A Fonte da Virgem (Portugal - imdb display title), De maagdenbron (Netherlands - informal literal title), Devicanski izvor (Serbia - imdb display title), Die Jungfrauenquelle (West Germany - imdb display title), Genç kiz pinari (Turkey - Turkish title), I pigi ton parthenon (Greece - transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title), Jomfrukilden (Denmark), La fontana della vergine (Italy), La fuente de la doncella (Argentina), La source (France), Neidonlähde (Finland), Szűzforrás (Hungary), Zródlo (Poland),

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