THESEVENTHSEAL
DIRECTED BY: INGMAR BERMAN - WRITTEN BY: ALLAN EKLUND
STARRING MAX VON SYDOW, GUNNAR BJORNSTRAND, BENGT EKEROT, NILS POPPE, BIBI ANDERSON
RELEASED: I957

This is the film that put Ingmar Bergman on the map, and into the minds the world's youth as a serious cinema artist. The film is in the form of a crucifixion, but it’s mankind on the cross, the terrible threat of nuclear catastrophe has put him there, and as in the Bible, the question of the meaning of life needs to be answered.

The Seventh Seal is set in the mid thirteenth century, the time of the Black Death in Europe, which swept away one-third of the population. Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) a knight, and his squire have returned to Sweden from ten years of fighting in the Crusades. As in many Bergman films we first see them by the ocean, emerging as it were onto dry land.

The first man they find is “most eloquent”, in fact he’s dead. Next we see a group of players putting on a little mock play for themselves. It’s a play within a play, making fun and warning us not to take anything, including this film, too seriously; a needed scene, because what is to come is grim. The film is almost a Scandinavian Western; most scenes are outdoors, there are lots of horses and a covered wagon, but the people are gripped with terror. The plague is raging and the priests are preaching hellfire and searching for witches in an atavistic return to pre-Christian beliefs. The knight is looking for answers too. His Death has appeared to him and given him a slight reprieve while they play chess for his life, Pascal’s wager.

The squire, Jons, sees things clearly, but with a limited perspective. He doesn’t deal in concepts; therefore Death is not by his side, but only a dim presence. He spouts the philosophy of the fifties (and beyond), existentialism. When he sees wrongs, he reacts fiercely or not at all, depending on his mood. If the knight is the mind, the squire is body, and the actor, Jof, is heart.

Jons comes across a girl (Gunnel Lindblom), her family wiped out in the plague, unable to speak of the horrors she’s witnessed and been victim of. As the knight and squire journey towards his castle, they pick up more stragglers and lost souls, including the acting troop.

As anyone knows who’s looked into the meaning of life, the question can only be walked around, not answered. For Bergman, who took his title from the last chapters of the Bible (made famous in the Waco debacle), the priests who talk of salvation are usually unworthy of the name. Only the girl, whose suffered the most, seems to know something, but she’s not talking. When the knight again meets Death again in the chess match, he inquires what’s beyond the grave. Death's response, “I have no secrets”.

Max von Sydow, who plays the knight, was surprisingly only 26 years old at the time of the filming. That he looks and acts like a man of 50 is a remarkable performance; he looks thin and haggard, tired and careworn. The squire, Jons (Gunnar Bjornstrand) is as forceful as the knight is ethereal. The actor, Jof (Nils Poppe) is just an ordinary knave, but it is he and his wife who bear the child who will be mankind’s future.

The Seventh Seal was later downplayed by Bergman as a youthful exercise done when he was under the influence of Kurosawa. He was criticized later for his medieval films as not attending to the problems and lives that people live everyday. And indeed, he later switched styles to modern dress and broader psychological issues.

But that doesn’t take anything away from The Seventh Seal, which is a mightily effecting film if you’ve been raised on American pap. The photography, dialogue, costuming, and look of the film are all excellent for a film done on a miniscule budget. When one considers the Hollywood behemoths that were being produced at the time to practically no effect, it’s an incredible work of art.

Scenes from the film: Opening on the Beach --- Original Trailer --- The Knight confesses to Death

Ingmar Bergman

A Review of The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman
The Seventh Seal. Ingmar Bergman, Max von Sydow, Gunnel Lindblom, Death, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Nils Poppe.