Stars: Max Von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Gunnel Lindblom, Bertil Anderberg, Anders Ek, Bengt Ekerot, Ake Fridell, Nils Poppe

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Summary: A tale of a man's search for meaning in life. A knight, after returning home from the Crusades, plays a game of chess with Death while the plague ravages medieval Europe.

Antonius Block (Max Von Sydow), a knight, returns from a 10-year crusade with his squire, Jons (Gunnar Bjornstrand), to find his homeland ravaged by the plague. When the black-cloaked figure of Death (Bengt Ekerot) appears to claim them, Block, whose war experiences have left him cynical about the existence of God and the afterlife, challenges Death to a game of chess to stall for time and gain some insight into the meaning of life before passing on. The game is intermittently paused and resumed during the journey home while Block and Jons meet several traveling companions, including a mute girl (Gunnel Lindblom) whom they save from a bandit, and a family of poor traveling players--Jof, a gentle visionary (Nils Poppe); his wife, Mia (Bibi Andersson); and their infant daughter. Block witnesses much suffering and anguish along the way (an encounter with a woman accused of witchcraft who is about to be burned at the stake is especially jarring) but also finds evidence of human kindness and love, prompting him to realize that even a single gesture of goodwill might make the long struggle of his existence worthwhile. The title of Ingmar Bergman's highly acclaimed allegorical film stems from the Book of Revelation.

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Ingmar Bergman's best-known film and deservedly so, 1957's The Seventh Sealis an allegorical study of death, God and the meaning, if any, of human existence. It is a film that every human being should see, addressing as it does our deepest hopes, anxieties, curiosities and fears. Yet it's also a magical and captivating experience, close to the state of a lucid dream. Max Von Sydow plays Antonius Block, the knight who has returned, gaunt, weathered and disillusioned, from the crusades, to find his home country in the grip of the plague. He is met by Death, in the pallid, hooded form of Bengt Ekerot, whom he challenges to a game of chess. The longer he can stave off defeat, the longer he can prolong the existence of himself and his own entourage, whom Block acquires in the form of his cynical squire a young family and a band of travelling players.

Block's oft-expressed doubts and fears about his mortality and what lies beyond (hence the biblical Seventh Seal, which reveals this final secret to mankind) were especially relevant in the late 1950s, when the threat of the Bomb hung over mankind as did the threat of the plague many centuries before. The concluding Dance of Death image is, like the movie as a whole, harrowing, yet strangely enchanting.

On the DVD:Presented in the original academy ratio, this is an excellent restoration, emphasising the cinematic use of light to contrast the carefree young players with the austere shades used to convey Block's anxiety-ridden ruminations. Notes from Bergman's memoirs discuss how the "Dance of Death" image came from wood carvings in a country church he frequented as a child, as well as the influence of Carl Orff's Carmina Buranaon the film. Critic Ronald Bergan's additional notes largely echo Bergman's own. --David Stubbs

Main Language:	Swedish
Region:	Region 0
Special Features:	Star And Director Filmographies, Scene Selection, Film Notes, The Bergman Collection Trailer
Subtitles:	English
Year:	1957
Release Date:	September 24, 2001
Runtime:	92 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	T V D 3327
Keywords:	Swedish, Subtitled, Off, General, Seal, Seventh, Drama, Schedule, Det, Inseglet, Sjunde
Genre:	Drama