Sightlines · reception
How The Devil's Eye was received
1960 · Ingmar Bergman · The Devil's Eye on Sightlines
The arc
Landed with a shrug in 1960 — sandwiched between The Virgin Spring and Through a Glass Darkly, it was instantly filed under 'minor Bergman,' and Bergman himself later spoke of it dismissively. It's never really been rehabilitated, though completists periodically insist it's funnier than its reputation.
What’s debated
The perennial Bergman-fan debate: could the maestro of anguish actually do comedy, or does this prove Smiles of a Summer Night was the fluke exception?
Its footprint
Its most-quoted element is its own epigraph — 'A woman's chastity is a stye in the Devil's eye,' presented as an old Irish proverb — which circulates far more than the film does.
Where it stands
Deep-cut completist territory: the film you reach near the end of a Bergman filmography run, logged with a 'minor Bergman, but…' review.
Did you know? Bergman made it as a trade with Svensk Filmindustri: studio head Carl Anders Dymling wanted a commercial comedy, and Bergman agreed to direct this one in exchange for getting The Virgin Spring green-lit.