I say this with absolute frankness; this movie is pretty boring. It tells the story of a priest coming to a parish in the countryside and being treated with animosity by the villagers. Its almost ascetic filmmaking and "purified" images didn't do anything for me. The dialogue and message could be interesting at times, but for the most part it just dragged on and tried too hard to get a message across while still being subtle about what the message was. I prefer Bergman for my dose of filmic religion and philosophy; also his shot compositions are far superior to those in this movie. So what does this movie really have to offer? I would probably not recommend this movie to anyone.IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0042619/