SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Antonius Block Full disclosure - I tend to like movies with the devil in them. I also love brooding characters, and weighty questions about life and love, and this film has all of the above.The premise is that in keeping with an Irish proverb, the Devil has a stye on his eye because a woman is about to be married, but is still a virgin. In this case, she's the daughter of a vicar. He sends Don Juan and his sidekick back to earth along with a demon to oversee them, with the mission of deflowering her before the wedding. Things get complicated when Don Juan quickly develops real feelings for her, and his sidekick falls for and begins seducing her mother.Don Juan is brooding, hating both God and the Devil equally for the morality game they play. On the one hand he boldly says "the lack of principles is my principle, vice my virtue, debauchery my asceticism, godlessness my religion." On the other hand, he betrays real sadness when he says "Those capable of love are very few. Their suffering has no limit. I am told they are mirrors which reflect God, and make life easier for us wretches in the dark." Such brilliant dialog is Bergman at his best.The vicar's wife is a complicated character as well – wondering about her husband's love, whether he would be sorry if she died, and telling him that life "is like a comedy – you see me in one part, others see me in another. No one sees my real self", as she seriously ponders whether to sleep with the sidekick. Such a poignant scene, especially as the vicar is a paragon of virtue, desperately wanting to understand her, saying he'll still love her if she sleeps with another, and later overcoming the demon's temptation to try to catch her in the act.So both women, mother and daughter, are faced with the temptation of adultery – one just before her marriage, and the other in middle-age. Both are swayed by pent-up passion, sweet words, and pity – but their feelings and actions are far from simple. Will love be enough to shield them from temptation, even when it truly touches their hearts? I won't spoil it.In addition to all of that, I loved the little touches in the movie, including the ministers in hell advising Don Juan on the art of seduction, the demon morphing into a black cat, and the punishment of Don Juan in hell which consisted of nightly dreams of rendezvous with sensuous women, only to be woken up before he could get his satisfaction ("the performance is over, Don Juan"). One of his later punishments is somewhat shocking given the movie was made in 1960 – he's forced to listen to a demon gives a play by play description of the sounds the one woman he cares about is making while having sex, starting with her panting and ending in an orgasm so violent she's weeping tears of joy. My goodness.Playful, weighty, sacrilegious, creative, well cast, and well filmed – 'The Devil's Eye' may not be Bergman's best movie but it's quite good. I think it's unfair to knock it down based on his other classics – imagine if it was made by someone else! But no, with all of the elements we see here, this is distinctive Bergman.

TheLittleSongbird I admire Ingmar Bergman, Sweden's greatest director, hugely. His films are incredibly well made and thought-provoking, as well as on the most part superbly directed and acted complete with memorable images. The Devil's Eye is not one of his best, it does get off to a slow start, the ending does feel rather weak and there are a few scenes that feel a little too talky. However, it is still worth watching, even if not up to the standards set by The Seventh Seal, Fanny and Alexander, Wild Strawberries, Cries and Whispers, Persona and The Virgin Spring a "lesser" from one of cinema's most influential directors is still better than some directors when at their best. The Devil's Eye is not the most stunning visually of Bergman's films, but it is still skillfully made and has nothing that comes across as cheap. The music is simple, but hauntingly beautiful at the same time. The story is atypical Bergman, with a structure that is very like it was set out as a play but it is also wonderfully ironic, while the script on the most part is funny with a couple of thoughtful moments. Bergman's direction may not show him on his best form but still shows a director who knows what he's doing and what he wants. The performances are fine, Bibbi Andersson does give a strong performance, Nils Poppe is very funny and Jarl Kulle displays a lot of verve as the playboy released from Hell sort of character. Gunner Bjornstrand is good to see, though he has been better. Overall, worth watching, funny and interesting. Just not one of Bergman's crowning jewels. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Tim Kidner For a long time unavailable on DVD, this 2007 Tartan release finally addresses that, but is it worth it?Like most, I love classic Bergman and find anything else by him interesting, at the very least. Coming just after the heavy and emotionally draining making of his The Virgin Spring, in 1960, the DVD blurb tells us that the director needed to 'tell a joke' - this resulting oddity revealing a waspish comedic streak from someone known as a deep, complex and often depressive writer and director.It launched Bibbi Anderson, who would become Bergman's famous face in his massive hits Persona and Wild Strawberries. In The Devil's Eye, she plays the virgin Britt-Marie, daughter of a cleric. At age 20, the Devil has decided she's ripe for de-flowering, but she's promised to a boring but reliable older man. Taking the form of Don Juan, the infamous Lothario of legend, the devil attempts to seduce her. Who will win? Heaven, or Hell, or indeed, both?From the very outset, with its odd introduction and even odder harpsichord note, this one is set to be a comedy. It's very theatrical; caricatures and grotesques mix with the ordinary, mirrors and imaginative sets convey hell. Period detail rubs shoulders with 20th century Scandinavian domesticity. One can see many possible influences, all moulded in a vast cooking pot and quite a strange mixture is the result.I'm sure one could look into it all a lot deeper than I did - one of the greatest things about Bergman is that most of his films can be watched at a differing angle and a whole new aspect is highlighted, helped enormously by his intelligent and often poetic dialogue. Watching late at night when concentration levels were ebbing, I took it as it was presented - amusing, satirical, with sexual references, a wit and with a big sparkle in this Devil's Eye.To answer my question - yes, it is good, but oddly, so un-Bergman like (though some scenes in Fanny & Alexander, for example, share this mischief) I wouldn't say that this film is essential Bergman. For those who want all he did, then yes, obviously and maybe those who want to know more about his inner psyche. Those expecting a more formal classic, might be well put-off, it's the sort of 'what the hell is this?' that may well result in the 'stop' button on the remote being pressed.The transfer quality is excellent though the subtitles appear slightly smaller and more 'European' than on other Tartan Bergman's I have.

marymorrissey this film gets off to a very slow start and some aspects of the production are pretty cheesy... the period costumes and some of the sets and the manner of conveying that we are in "hell" when we are there, are not exactly stunning.... also Bibi's husband to be is said to be 25 and he looks about 40.but do stick with it because it does become really really funny and there are a lot of great lines I have to have at least 10 lines in my comment so I'll praise Bibi's acting... also the other woman, who plays her mother... and I"ll say the film is also very sweet.Bergman fans will not be disappointed in the lightness cause there is plenty of heaviness too in the scenes between the maiden and DJAfter thinking about this film awhile it hit me a lot harder what's seems to be being said. In a sense some people seem to have grace such that even sin can't touch them, even sinning can't touch them, because of how they do it, somehow skirting the devil, while they don't by any means have to become angels themselves. wow!