Word: ballads
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Dates: during 1960-1960
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...Virgin Spring (in Swedish). Ingmar Bergman's mythical and violently beautiful miracle play, derived from a medieval ballad about a farm girl's rape-murder and her father's vengeance, is as clear and grave as a Mass...
Virgin Spring (in Swedish). Ingmar Bergman's mythical and violently beautiful miracle play, derived from a medieval ballad about a farm girl's rape-murder and her father's vengeance, is as clear and grave as a Mass...
Simonov then began to describe a film which he felt had been better done, Ballad of a Soldier. As he retold the plot, his hands, which are nearly always active, became powerfully expressive. He would push his fist forward with a twisting motion, suddenly pull a chunk of space toward himself with both hands; sometimes, when he was looking for a word, he would feel the air with his fingers in a "je ne sais quoi" gesture. Then he would explain, "I can't say it. I can just express it like this, with my fingers...
...makes a bet he can "get his foot in the door" before the week is out. He wins the bet, loses the girl, wins her back at the fade. Time and again the scriptwriters run out of ideas, and whenever that happens Elvis just hauls off and belts a ballad. There are ten of them, and every last one is goshawful. The dialogue is not much better. She: "How can I ever repay you?" He: "Oh, I'll think of something...
...Like the ballad that inspired it. The Virgin Spring is a myth, and as a myth it is treated in this film. Bergman's style, usually subtle and allusive, is startlingly simple. The script, written under Bergman's supervision by Novelist Ulla Isaksson, who also did the screenplay for Brink of Life, is as clear and grave as a Mass. The actors, as always finely disciplined by Bergman, behave as formally as acolytes. The photography is as beautiful as it generally is in Bergman's pictures, but if anything more plain-there are very few cute shots...