The Devil’s Eye (1960)

☆ ☆ ☆

The Devil’s Eye (1960) – I. Bergman

Bergman’s follow-up to The Virgin Spring had all the makings of a really wicked comedy:  the Devil sends Don Juan up from Hell to seduce a virgin before her wedding day in order to cure a sty in his eye (virgins apparently cause this condition).  But something has gone wrong. If you are thinking that the concept is dated and sexist, well, yes there is that -- although Bergman’s noted sensitivity to women’s perspectives does show through in Bibi Andersson’s character (she plays the virgin as open-minded and modern).  However, the real problem is with Don Juan – too stilted, too uninteresting – and with Bergman’s screenplay – too unfocused.  Nevertheless, there are some excellent bits – an old demon gets locked in the cupboard after being tricked into looking for booze; and Don Juan’s sidekick (an elfish Tom Waits/Walter Huston as Ol’ Scratch creation) does well putting the moves on the preacher’s wife. A bit more bite might have helped but Bergman may have had other aims in addition to comedy (at the expense of comedy, perhaps).  

Addendum 16 August 2020:  Rewatched in the context of the Bergman Blu-ray boxset, the film seems to capture Bergman's preoccupation with love as a justification for existence (also seen in Through a Glass Darkly, 1961, the next year).  Andersson's character defeats Don Juan by encouraging him to love her rather than coldly exploit her for his own (or the Devil's) purpose. Bergman seems also to be proposing a deeper understanding of love and relationships that his characters have achieved by the end of the picture, beyond the pettiness of jealousy and selfishness perhaps? Does it matter that the actor playing Don Juan bears a physical resemblance to Bergman himself, given the director's many marriages and infidelities?