The Seventh Seal
1957 ‘Det sjunde inseglet’ Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis
Ingmar Bergmann’s masterpiece film about confronting death. Death comes to a knight upon his arrival from battle and attempts to take him away. The knight challenges Death to a chess match as the people around them are haunted by the plague. The Seventh Seal comes from a riddle about crusaders who arrive home after a few years to find their people affected by the plague.
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Much like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, The Seventh Seal offers a cross section of Mediaeval life and while doing so it comments on our race, faith and life.
I don't know much about Bergman, but this feels like a personal exploration of an artist trying to figure out how he relates to God, the afterlife and his own mortality. Bergman does this by constructing a deeply philosophical allegory composed of classic iconic imagery and intelligent, contemplative dialogue.
In the Knight we find a man desperately clinging to life. Not because he is afraid to die, but because he needs answers. In a plague infested world he needs to understand why his God is silent. To buy time he challenges Death to…
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It would take a lifetime to deconstruct all complex themes in Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece, The Seventh Seal. A film that deals with religion, life, death and faith. I'm still thinking about it and will still probably think about it tomorrow. It's just that mind-boggling good and beyond thought-provoking.
This film is just filled to the brim with intelligent dialogue, brilliant imagery, and themes that anybody and everybody can relate to. The main character in The Seventh Seal, Antonius Block, a knight who is questioning his faith in God and wants to know if He actually exists. While he arrives from a battle, he meets Death and challenges him to a chess match.
While the film progresses, The Knight meets all…
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After two masterpieces from Ingmar Bergman (Wild Strawberries, Fanny & Alexander), I was really hoping for another masterwork, but I was disappointed in that sense. The Seventh Seal is by no means a bad film, it’s just not emotionally stimulating as I hoped (compared to previous Bergmans). The story focuses on a knight (Sydow) coming back from a crusade and seeing some terrifying things, he comes back in search of Death so that he can find out answers about faith (more or less his faith) because God hides and doesn’t show himself even in times of great prayers. Death arrives and starts to play a game of chess above all else with the knight. The rest of the film captures the…
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The man in black comes
Around. All are pawns—
We humans and our visions. -
It's not you, Mr. Bergman, it's me (maybe).
While this certainly deserves to be watched again before I can grasp the full message Ingmar Bergman is trying to send, I can't say that I feel the same love most people do for The Seventh Seal. It's certainly not a bad film (far from it), but something is just not right. Almost all the puzzle pieces come together, but there seem to be a few missing.
The themes are of interest to me (religion and spirituality always fascinate me, as long as the core message is not propaganda or hateful towards other religions), the direction is great, and there is plenty to be talked about, yet... I can't put my finger on why this let me down.
In the meantime, I'll search for those puzzle pieces. Perhaps with another viewing, my feelings will be stronger, and I can put the rest of it together.
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The Seventh Seal is Ingmar Bergman’s take on religion and death. The film follows the story of Antonius Block, a knight who is returning home after having gone through the crusades. The country is now dominated by the Black Death and he ends up facing the grim reaper himself during his trip. The scenes between both of these characters are often intriguing, chilling and even comical. Block constantly questions the meaning of life and tries to accept his fatal destiny. The scenes with the witch character were very moving and illustrated how merciless and radical people could be at that period. I have one gripe with the film which is basically the acting. While most of the cast provides great…
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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It would take a lifetime to deconstruct all complex themes in Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece, The Seventh Seal. A film that deals with religion, life, death and faith. I'm still thinking about it and will still probably think about it tomorrow. It's just that mind-boggling good and beyond thought-provoking.
This film is just filled to the brim with intelligent dialogue, brilliant imagery, and themes that anybody and everybody can relate to. The main character in The Seventh Seal, Antonius Block, a knight who is questioning his faith in God and wants to know if He actually exists. While he arrives from a battle, he meets Death and challenges him to a chess match.
While the film progresses, The Knight meets all…
-
It's not you, Mr. Bergman, it's me (maybe).
While this certainly deserves to be watched again before I can grasp the full message Ingmar Bergman is trying to send, I can't say that I feel the same love most people do for The Seventh Seal. It's certainly not a bad film (far from it), but something is just not right. Almost all the puzzle pieces come together, but there seem to be a few missing.
The themes are of interest to me (religion and spirituality always fascinate me, as long as the core message is not propaganda or hateful towards other religions), the direction is great, and there is plenty to be talked about, yet... I can't put my finger on why this let me down.
In the meantime, I'll search for those puzzle pieces. Perhaps with another viewing, my feelings will be stronger, and I can put the rest of it together.
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"We must make an idol of our fear, and call it god." - Antonius Block
The Seventh Seal is a great exploration and personal questioning of Ingmar Bergman towards life, religion and faith. At times the film can feel painfully slow and a little hard to follow but ultimately the film is a fantastic study of life and death. We follow Knight Antonius Block (Max Von Sydow) returning from the crusades into a plague ridden world of death and torment leading him to question his faith and feelings towards God. Its a life long question of, If God is all-loving why is there so much death and destruction in the world? and it is portrayed perfectly here through the visuals…
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Bergman at his best can film an excellent bildungsroman (Fanny and Alexander), spiritual exoneration (Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light) and, in this movie, showcase a gothic Death. It's a film known more for what it brought to pop culture than what it's done technically and proficiently - which is tell a story of the fear of Death, and the acceptance of the cycle of Life.
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After two masterpieces from Ingmar Bergman (Wild Strawberries, Fanny & Alexander), I was really hoping for another masterwork, but I was disappointed in that sense. The Seventh Seal is by no means a bad film, it’s just not emotionally stimulating as I hoped (compared to previous Bergmans). The story focuses on a knight (Sydow) coming back from a crusade and seeing some terrifying things, he comes back in search of Death so that he can find out answers about faith (more or less his faith) because God hides and doesn’t show himself even in times of great prayers. Death arrives and starts to play a game of chess above all else with the knight. The rest of the film captures the…
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Fave Foreign film.
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Much like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, The Seventh Seal offers a cross section of Mediaeval life and while doing so it comments on our race, faith and life.
I don't know much about Bergman, but this feels like a personal exploration of an artist trying to figure out how he relates to God, the afterlife and his own mortality. Bergman does this by constructing a deeply philosophical allegory composed of classic iconic imagery and intelligent, contemplative dialogue.
In the Knight we find a man desperately clinging to life. Not because he is afraid to die, but because he needs answers. In a plague infested world he needs to understand why his God is silent. To buy time he challenges Death to…