The main theme of The Virgin Spring is a conflict between Christianization and Swedish traditional religion. What Pat takes issue with in this week’s episode is that that is a pretty weird argument when Odin is literally a character in your movie and Jesus isn’t. The Virgin Spring is Bergman’s Rashomon, but not the story structure that that normally implies. Instead it’s a medieval tale of rape, murder, revenge, and more murder. And maybe some sort of redemption? Hard to say without Odin coming back at the end.

We talk comparative religion on this week’s Lost in Criterion with The Virgin Spring. Listen at LostInCriterion.com or on iTunes, where you could maybe drop a review of us? While you're at it, maybe like us on Facebook? Or consider supporting us through Patreon. We'd appreciate it.