The Devil's Eye

The devil has a sty in his eye. The cause is a girl on earth: Britt-Marie is a vicar's daughter and about to marry a virgin. The devil counts it an insult. He knows the remedy: he will bring Don Juan up from hell and send him to earth to seduce her. Don Juan goes, with his servant Pablo. The two are taken in as guests at the vicarage. Don Juan knows his business and has always succeeded. But Britt-Marie is nothing like he expected; the girl is not afraid, she sees the game and makes her own decision. Pablo, meanwhile, takes an interest in the vicar's wife. Ingmar Bergman writes and directs. Jarl Kulle, Bibi Andersson, Stig Järrel and Nils Poppe are in the cast. It is a Swedish production. At the opening a narrator addresses the audience and says the story rests on an old Irish proverb; there is no such proverb and Bergman invented it. The film is counted among the productions Bergman made under contract to the studio and he kept his distance from it. Its form is close to the stage; the sections are called acts and the narrator cuts in. Its humour is dry; the comedy comes out of the characters' own seriousness. The matter it treats is not seduction but who deceives whom; Don Juan is the losing side this time. Bibi Andersson's performance is its strongest side. Its limit is scale; the narrative is light and thin beside the director's other work. Who it is for: viewers who like Bergman and classic Swedish comedy. Who it is not for: it is light, theatrical, and a disappointment for anyone expecting his heavy work.