The Seventh Seal

Arguably Bergman´s most famous film, The Seventh Seal deals with the subjects of death and the absence of God. Max von Sydow plays a knight returning to medieval Sweden from the crusades, asking himself why he has been abandoned by the God he travelled so far to serve. Ironically not God, but Death is the one welcoming him home and while the country suffers with plague, the knight plays chess for his life, taking on the hopeless task of defeating Death. Inspired by his father‚s preachings, or more specifically the surroundings young Bergman found himself in during these occasions, The Seventh Seal offers some breath taking imagery that will linger in the viewers mind long after the film has ended. The motive of the knight playing chess with Death has by now been imitated in so many tributes and parodies that it would be easy to think that the original has lost its power. This is not the case. Instead it offers, along with scenes such as Death´s silhouette in a dance macabre far away in the horizon, some of the strongest imagery ever being caught on celluloid. The Seventh Seal proves the pure power that cinema as medium can possess. JONATHAN ROZENKRANTZ

Orig. titel
Det sjunde inseglet: Medverkande
Max von Sydow, Nils Poppe, Bibi Andersson: Producent
Allan Ekelund: Manus
Ingmar Bergman: Foto
Gunnar Fischer: Musik
Erik Nordgren: Talat språk
Swedish