When I think of Bergman’s films it’s always the dour, troubling, magically shot despair engines which come to mind. Films where characters look directly into the camera and harangue the viewer with an uncomfortable scathing monologue about hypocrisy, some blunt sneering assessment of another’s faults, or a damning and unprovoked confession of immense guilt and trauma. Those films are so much fun!
And yet despite his reputation for making punishing and anguished films about tortured relationships and miserable empty interior lives, he could be quite funny. Smiles of a Summer Night, for example, is a delightful and light-hearted little romantic comedy.
And I’ve only recently seen The Devil’s Eye which I highly recommend. The plot: Satan develops a sty in his eye, and quickly he and his advisers realize that there is a young woman who is virtuous and intends to remain so until her wedding night. This fact causes Satan no end of annoyance, and he and his counselors hit upon a plan to divest Bibi Andersson of her virginity. They will send Don Juan from hell on a mission to seduce our heroine and thus remove her virtue and thence the cause of the Devil’s sty eye.
Hilarity ensues. My favorite bits are the scenes of Don Juan being tortured in hell. Knee-slapping!
Mysterium Coniunctionis 