Bergman uses this fanciful pretext to examine the realities of human existence. The chess game becomes a symbol for the importance of the personal struggle to find meaning in the face of death. The outcome of the game is inevitable, for Death will win, but the personal struggle still contains great hope.
In 1960, Time magazine reported: “The Seventh Seal marks the great divide in Bergman’s life and work. With its death and desperation fall away, life and hope appear.”
In one of the film’s most haunting sequences, the knight comes upon the burning of a “witch” who has reportedly had sexual relations with the Devil. The knight asks her to introduce him to the Devil: “I want to question him about God. He, if anyone, must know.”
Another memorable scene is the “solemn dance toward the dark-lands” led by Death at the end of the film.
Max von Sydow’s character was described as a pale, serious Don Quixote character with a face sculpted in wood.
Bibi Andersson appears as if painted in faded watercolors but still can emit glimpses of female warmth.”
Some critics have suggested that it is a horror film suitable for children.
Critical Status:
The international response, which among other awards won the jury’s special prize at Cannes in 1957 reconfirmed the author’s high rank and proved that The Seventh Seal regardless of its degree of historical accuracy in reproducing medieval scenery was considered as a universal timeless allegory.
Much of the film’s imagery is derived from medieval art. The image of a man playing chess with a skeletal Death was inspired by a medieval church painting from the 1480s, painted by Alertus Pictor.
Historians have argued that the late Middle Ages of the 14th century was a period of “doom and gloom” similar to what’s reflected in this film, characterized by a feeling of pessimism, increase in a penitential, masochistic style of piety, aggravated by disasters such as the Black Death, famine, the Hundred Years’ War between France and England, and the Papal schism.
Ingmar Bergman’s Short Bio
Bergman was born in 1918 in Uppsala, Sweden. His father was a pastor, and ingrained in him concepts, which would later surface, in his films: sin, confession, punishment, forgiveness and grace. Bergman became a student of art history and literature at the University of Stockholm, then an errand boy at the Royal Opera House, and finally a filmmaker.
His films include Wild Strawberries (1957), Persona (1966), Cries and Whispers (1972), Scenes from a Marriage (1973), Autumn Sonata (1978) and Fanny and Alexander (1983). He recently wrote Best Intentions (1992).
Running Time: 96 minutes