The Seventh Seal

I find it a little bit daunting whenever I sit down to write up a review of a revered classic like The Seventh Seal. It's a film that's considered one of the key cornerstones of film history and is perhaps Ingmar Bergman's most celebrated and influential work. Rife with symbolism, it bucked the American and British conceptions of what a film could be by focusing less on plot or characterisation and more on ideas of death and christian faith. Most astonishingly, it didn't disguise it's intellectualism as a subtext. Instead it meets it's themes head-on by making the personification of death an actual character in the film (he's more or less the Grim Reaper, but is never referred to as anything other than 'Death'). It's the kind of boldness that has since characterised The Seventh Seal as the very definition of an 'art film'. Modern or more mainstream-attuned viewers may find the resulting style a little odd, but the film never becomes boring, static or overly complex - it's actually quite full of incident and not without a somewhat sly sense of humour, and the way it uses micro-narratives from scene to scene builds a satisfying larger picture.

Antonious Block (Max Von Sydow in a star-making role) is a medieval knight who returns home to Sweden from the Crusades. Accompanied by his cynical and blackhumoured squire, Jons (Gunnar Bjornstrand), he arrives on the beach to be met by Death (Bengt Ekerot). Block is not ready to die yet, his experiences in the Crusades have weakened his faith in God, so he challenges Death to a game of chess with his life as the wager. Using the time gained by this, Block travels his plague-ravaged homeland in an effort to better understand the meaning of life. He comes across religious fanatics, a small company of actors, and soldiers who plan to burn a young woman at the stake for carousing with the devil - all the while collecting an eclectic gathering of medieval folk around him. They travel to his castle with Death at their backs, the black-shrouded figure patiently waiting for Block's game of chess to end.

One of the first things you'll notice about The Seventh Seal is the wonderfully crisp and evocative black and white imagery. The scene where Block and Death first sit down to play chess has become an oft-parodied part of pop culture. Much of the film was crafted around actual pieces of medieval art, with Bergman using both this historical influence and the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa as a template to build his film on. The medieval setting is a big part of what makes The Seventh Seal so memorable, as an era of ignorance and superstition it's an ideal backdrop for a dissertation on the role of death and the ways in which people cope with it. In this case, the onset of the devastating black plague and the all-pervading influence of the Christian Church are a perfect environment for a character who sees faith as a curse... Block's journey from shore to castle seems to demonstrate that heaven and hell are both right here on Earth, and perhaps also enitrely in our mind. The knight and his squire are very much voices of reason in an insane world, questioning the order of things in the name of rationality as the black plague creeps across the land. Block comes to represent the paradox of the unbeliever - asking how someone can be convinced of God's existence if they simply can't or don't believe.


As I mentioned earlier, for a film about death and tragedy it's also quite funny in parts. The medieval setting (and some of the colourful supporting characters) often makes for accurately ribald humour. The script is also chock-full of double meanings, such as when Block tells a priest (who is really Death in disguise), "I plan to outwit Death with a combination of bishop and knight". I also love the way that Death is casually reintroduced at certain points, the camera pulling out suddenly to reveal him standing over someone, or the way he just wanders into the edges of a scene. The way the humour plays into the film also seems to highlight the bitter aspects of death - it's a hollow laughter that hints at the senselessness of death's unpredictable cannon (such as the scene where the character of Skat fakes his death to avoid the wrath of a cuckolded blacksmith). Bengt Ekerot's unassuming portrayal of Death has become an immortal part of film history. Von Sydow and Bjornstrand are also memorable as the knight and squire... Von Sydow is suitably belak and drained as the questioning protagonist, and Bjornstrand makes a nice contrast as the sarcastic but honourable right-hand man.

My only criticism (and I hesitate to say anything, given how highly regarded this film is) is the ending, where the actor Jof describes the Dance of Death and the way that rain pours onto their faces, mixing with their salty tears... it seems like such a low-key way to end such a big film. The climactic scenes before this point build to a certain weight, and then we just have a character describing something from afar. Would it not be better if we had seen this powerful image rather than just had it described to us? I understand that Bergman filmed this scene after some of the actors had left the production, so I guess there's a reason why it takes place in long-shot, but still... if it was purely borne of practical reasons rather than creative ones then it's damn shame. Anyway, there's not much else I can say without further viewings. It certainly deserves it's hallowed status, and I'm sure it would stand up to a lot of re-watches. If you haven't seen it, it's a magnificent film that will stay with you long after you finish watching it.

DIRECTOR: Ingmar Bergman
WRITER/SOURCE: Ingmar Bergman, based on his own play.
KEY ACTORS: Max Von Sydow, Bengt Ekerot, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bibi Anderson, Nils Poppe, Inga Landgre

RELATED TEXTS:
- Bergman adapted the film from a student-play he had previously written called Wood Painting.
- Bergman later made a loose trilogy of films that dealt further with faith and doubt in God, these are Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light and The Silence.
- The way Death is characterised and represented in The Seventh Seal has been parodied and ripped off by a wide range of films and TV shows, including: Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, The Young Ones and Woody Allen's film Love and Death.

AWARDS
Cannes Film Festival - won Jury Special Prize. Nominated for Palme d'Or.