Classic Foreign Film - The Seventh Seal
European Art Cinema Emerges in Ingmar Bergman's Breakthrough Film
Aug 28, 2008
The Seventh Seal (1957) begins with a vista of a dramatic coastline, waves crashing onto the shore, whilst a voice reads from the seventh seal in the bible. It is an evocative start to a film full of myths and symbols, and the perfect setting for Knight Antonius Block (Max Von Sydow) to meet the hooded personification of Death (Bengt Ekerot). Having returned from the crusades a broken man, Block appears ready for death, but his beliefs have been severely shaken. Desperate for a little longer to live, to search out the answers to his questions, he challenges Death to a game of chess. If he wins, he keeps his life.
Questions of Politics and Religion in The Seventh Seal
Death agrees to the game in the full knowledge that fate cannot be cheated, but whilst play continues Antonius Block and his squire Jons at least have time to examine their precious lives. They discover that they have returned to a Swedish homeland devastated by plague, where people are living in fear and madness. They bear witness to a young girl who is burnt at the stake for witchcraft and a procession of fervent religious flagellation.
Such frightening images only serve to reinforce the Knight's already broken view of politics and religion. But these are not the only encounters the Knight and the Squire have as they journey onwards. There are also places where Antonius discovers simple, life affirming moments. They meet a pair of travelling players with a small child. Antonius is warmed by the love shared by these three, and by the effortless pleasure of eating wild strawberries on a balmy summer's evening.
The Journey Along the Coastal Path
The family join the Knight and the Squire as they journey onwards. For Antonius, the journey is metaphorical as well as literal, each step taking him closer to death. He attempts to cheat Death by overturning the chess board, giving the loving family he has befriended time to escape, but by the time Antonius himself reaches his home, where his wife is waiting for him, the game is over and Death waits to greet him. In one of the most stunning and enduring images of the whole film, Death leads Antonius and his friends on a Danse Macabre, as hand in hand, in silhouette, they are escorted towards the unknown.
Enduring Imagery in The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal is full of images which have transferred to popular culture. The hooded figure of the Grim Reaper is familiar to modern viewers from homages and parodies such as Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. Other more subtle images have also achieved an easy familiarity. Bergman regular Gunnar Fischer's stunning cinematography provided beautiful coastal imagery such as two horses captured standing in the waves. An image now familiar from advertising. There's also the line of flagellants, parodied in Monty Python's Life of Brian and the Danse Macabre, a major influence on Joy Division's Atmosphere video. All these, and many more, keep Ingmar Bergman's philosophical masterpiece alive in contemporary culture, and ensure that The Seventh Seal presents even modern viewers with a sense of familiarity.
Further Reading: 5 Greatest Classic Foreign Films
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