The Seventh Seal (1957)

Original title

Det sjunde inseglet

Directed by

Ingmar Bergman

Genre

drama film, fantasy film, historical film

Country

Sweden

Runtime

1h 36m

Rated

NR

Rating

8.1 of 10 from 3,381 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A medieval knight returning from the Crusades during the Black Death challenges Death to a chess game to delay his fate. He searches for meaning and proof of God's existence in a world ravaged by plague and despair.

meditativesomberbroodingexistentialstarkdeliberatepoeticbleak

What happens

The Seventh Seal (Swedish: Det sjunde inseglet) is a 1957 Swedish historical fantasy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in Sweden during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight (Max von Sydow) and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death (Bengt Ekerot), who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play Wood Painting. The title refers to a passage from the Book of Revelation, used both at the very start of the film and again towards the end, beginning with the words "And when the Lamb had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." Here, the motif of silence refers to the "silence of God," which is a major theme of the film. The Seventh Seal is considered a classic in the history of cinema, as well as one of the greatest films of all time. It established Bergman as a director, containing scenes which have become iconic through homages, critical analysis, and parodies. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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