Review of The Virgin Spring (1960) by Paul S — 20 Jun 2007

Bergman is regarded as one of the masters of cinema; I know Woody Allen regards Bergman as one of his biggest influences for his more dramatic works, including Interiors, one of Woody Allen's best flicks, not to mention one of my favorite movies. I feel terribly guilty about dismissing one of the 20th century's best regarded directors without having a completely thorough knowledge of his films, but I've tried to develop an understanding of his works, only to become completely frustrated. Bergman's movies are, to me, completely joyless, and fail to possess anything to convince the viewer to continue watching the movie at all. A lot of the reviews I'm reading on Flixster mention that the viewer's perspective on life completely changed upon watching the movie. I, personally, don't think his movies are executed well enough to have such an effect. They're overwhelmingly bleak and seem to try to point out the darker aspects of the human experience but without actually covering anything that hasn't been covered before. For what it's worth, most shitty quirky indie movies made today at least have one or two interesting ideas, even if they're thinly spread out over the course of a feature length film, and I don't think Bergman's movies even have that going. Bergman seems to be an auteur of despair, and I can't quite understand why anyone would subject themselves to such an experience when there are hundreds, maybe thousands of movies you can watch that at least give you some reason to continue living. Then again, I haven't managed to dig myself into Bresson's works yet, although from what I understand it'd be an even bleaker experience.

Alright, look. I can appreciate a movie that explores the darker side of humanity, and frequently enjoy them. I sometimes have a hard time justifying my love for Antonioni movies, but even though they're absurdly, almost comically slow, he manages to capture some sort of feeling of being alive, and even though he deals with a sense of despair or nihilism frequently, there's always movement, or an examination of culture, or a good performance that engages the viewer and gives him or her a reason not to eject the DVD and throw it at the wall like a frisbee. How about A Clockwork Orange? Almost a cliched examination of corruption of society in a dystopian future, yet still convincing and engaging. Bergman's films are the most pedantic and uninteresting examinations of the trials a human being goes through in his or her life and I can't imagine why anybody thinks they're anything special at all. I realized when the movie began that I had already seen Max von Sydow in several movies, and started to compare him to Marcello Mastroianni. Mastroianni was a genius: capable of expressing a wide range of emotions, yet always managing to stay within his well-defined character. Max von Sydow? Generic, at best. The other performances in The Virgin Spring range from one-note to unintentionally comical. Watching a Bergman film is practically like watching a car wreck, except the car wreck involves two cars moving at 15 mph each and everyone is able to walk away without any serious injuries or insurance squabbles. There aren't any sort of meaningful, lasting conflicts, and even if there were, the performances wouldn't be sufficient enough to explore them.

The contrast is immediately apparent when you compare Through a Glass Darkly to a film like Long Day's Journey Into Night. The two movies were released around the same time, yet while Lumet's film is a powerful examination of a family on the verge of a complete breakdown, Bergman's film seems almost completely bloodless. There is certainly a purpose to his movie, but I don't feel that it's a purpose he is able to share with the viewer; he persistently follows his artistic muse, but off the edge of a cliff. I have never had a harder time watching a movie, not because the movie upset me, but rather because I didn't feel like the movie was worth watching in any way, under any criteria. Personally, if it were some sort of one-off experiment in his body of work I wouldn't mind, but since it seems most of Bergman's movie are slow and passionless mediations on the pointlessness of mortality, it's unlikely I'll be giving any of his other movies a shot anytime soon.

(if you've actually made it this far and want to shoot the shit about movies, feel free to send me a message, I love talking about them).