was strained, due to Bergman's abrasiveness. When Fischer found another project to work on, Bergman replaced him with Sven Nykvist, who became his regular collaborator. In shooting The Virgin Spring, Nykvist favoured more natural lighting than Fischer had. Bergman said that in filming the rape scene: It shows the crime in its naked atrocity, forcing us, in shocked desperation, to leave aesthetic enjoyment of a work of art for passionate involvement in a human drama of crime that breeds new crime, of guilt and grace ... We must not hesitate in our portrayal of human degradation, even if, in our demand for truth, we must violate certain taboos. Release The film premiered in Stockholm on 8 February 1960, where 15 audience members walked out during the screening, and several left weeping. Although SF Studios accountants previously often faulted Bergman films as unprofitable, they acknowledged The Virgin Spring was a success. The film was also screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1960. In the United States, The Virgin Spring opened in New York City on 14 November 1960, censored to remove shots taken of Karin's naked legs around the body of the rapist. In Fort Worth, Texas, the film was banned as obscene, and the Texas Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The Criterion Collection released the film on DVD in Region 1 in January 2006 and re-released the film on Blu-ray in June 2018. Reception Critical reception The film received mixed reviews in Sweden, with Svenska Dagbladet publishing a review stating "It hits home like a fist between the eyes". In contrast, the Stockholms-Tidningen wrote Isaksson was better suited for print than film, where she was weak. Aftonbladet'''s review called it "somewhat loose in execution". There was some controversy among U.S. critics. In a 1960 review, Bosley Crowther wrote, "Mr. Bergman has stocked it with scenes of brutality that, for sheer unrestrained realism, may leave one sickened and stunned. As much as they may contribute to the forcefulness of the theme, they tend to disturb the senses out of proportion to the dramatic good they do". Stanley Kauffmann wrote that "The vengeance scene is so long that it verges on the ridiculous". Dwight Macdonald questioned why God would create a spring instead of resurrecting Karin. The film was included in the San Francisco Chronicle's "Hot 100 Films From the Past" in 1997. In 2011, author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas