The Devil's Eye (1960)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman

Film Review

The Devil's Eye is something of an extreme oddity in the filmography of the legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman - an eccentric comedy affording a rare excursion into the fantasy genre.  Stylistically, the film is a world apart from the kind of film Bergman is generally known for (gloomy meditations on matters metaphysical such as Wild Strawberries (1957) and The Seventh Seal (1957)), eschewing bleak realism for a quirky kind of theatricality.  However, the themes which the film explores are unashamedly characteristic of its author - religion, love and the nature of existence.

The film was certainly not one of Bergman's favourites.  He only agreed to make it as part of a deal with Carl-Anders Dymling, head of Svensk Filmindustri, to back The Virgin Spring (1960).   Dymling was anxious that the latter film would lose money and so insisted that Bergman also made a comedy to offset the losses.   The subject of the comedy was left to Bergman, and he chose to make an adaptation of an old radio play, Don Juan Returns, by the Danish writer Oluf Bang.

Bergman's enthusiasm for the production was lacking almost from the beginning.  Physically and mentally drained by the filming of The Virgin Spring, he suffered from health problems throughout the making of The Devil's Eye.  He fell out with his long-time cinematographer, Gunnar Fischer, leading to a rift which prevented the two men from working together until The Touch a decade later.   As it turned out The Devil's Eye was not a great commercial success and it received some quite scathing reviews on its first release.

The Devil's Eye may not rank among Ingmar Bergman's greatest films, but its distinctive style and unbridled sense of fun give it a charm which will appeal to any aficionado of the great director.  Bergman's exploration of the relationship between God, Satan and Mankind makes for an interesting, albeit very tongue-in-cheek, piece of theo-philosophical conjecture.  Like The Virgin Spring, the film touches on some important theological themes, such as the relationship between sin and redemption.  And there are echoes of Bergman's earlier film, Prison (1949), which also posited the view that the Devil is far more 'hand's on' than God when it came to mucking about with life on Earth.  One of the most fascinating aspects of The Devil's Eye is that Bergman manages to find so much humour in subjects which he treats with deadly seriousness in many of his other films.

Film Synopsis

Few things annoy the Devil more than a woman's chastity - it always brings on a painful stye in his eye.  Irked by this affliction, he summons Don Juan, who is still serving his 300 year sentence in Hell, and sends him back to Earth on a vital mission - to divest a pastor's 20-year old daughter, Britt-Marie, of her virginity.  Accompanied by his trusty servant Pablo, Don Juan has no difficulty inveigling his way into the pastor's household.  However, Britt-Marie proves to be strangely resilient to the great seducer's charms.  She remains faithful to the man she is soon to marry, whilst Don Juan discovers true love for the first time...