The Lustful Vicar (1970) User Reviews

Harmless fun

[paaskynen · 6/10 · 7 July 2007]

Den Ståndaktiga Kyrkoherden is a harmless sex-comedy (unless you consider some full frontal nudity in women harmful) that is told in the way of a naughty, tongue-in-cheek folk ballad with a troubadour (minstrel) commenting in rhyme on the events as they unfold.

The prologue shows the burning of a witch (pretty explicit considering this is a comedy) who curses the descendants of her judge and prosecutor while at the stake.

The main story is set in the early 1800s. Sweden is at war with Russia and most men are under arms, leaving their buxom warm blooded women at home yearning for some male company. The descendant of the witch-burning reverend arrives in a small village as the new priest. All women are exited by his arrival, except one, the daughter of the witch from the prologue. She seeks vengeance for her mother and puts a spell on the priest that causes priapism (a continuous erection). In response to this the women of the village see themselves called upon to try and cure the affliction in the best way they know… This is a product of the sixties. At the time it was a huge success in Sweden. Nowadays, the humour seems a bit dated, but teenagers may still giggle at it.

Seeing Cornelis Vreeswijk as the troubadour is a nice extra.

Mildly Amusing Swedish Sex Comedy

[jrd_73 · 6/10 · 22 June 2022]

The Lustful Vicar is an enjoyable enough rural period sex comedy from Sweden. It is certainly not essential cinema, but it is amusing enough if one is in the right mind.

The plot has a new vicar (Jarl Borssen) arriving at a rural village to take over the spiritual duties of the community ("assuming the position" is how the somewhat inexperienced vicar puts it). Most of men in the village are gone, having been conscripted into wartime service. The vicar is one of the few men in the village, a rather precarious position for a man of the cloth.

Unfortunately for the hero, also living in the village is Barbro (Annegrethe Nissen), the daughter of a woman the vicar's father had burnt as a witch. Determined to get revenge for her mother, Barbro first uses two experienced lasses in the village to try and seduce the vicar. When this doesn't work, she puts a curse on the vicar causing his penis to remain erect. She places this curse the day before the vicar is to meet with the local bishop. What follows is somewhat predictable but also amusing. Most every lonely woman in the village wants to help the vicar with his problem, all in the name of charity of course (nod nod wink wink).

The Lustful Vicar is a breezy sex comedy. It's not overly funny, but it is light, the Nordic actresses are attractive, and there is some mild - very mild - social satire. The vicar is far from the fire and brimstone type that was his father, so he is not a villain (a bit of a dolt, perhaps, but not a villain). One hates to praise the film too much, since it is a modest sex farce, but a viewer could do much worse.