Det sjunde inseglet
Directed by	Ingmar Bergman
Produced by	Allan Ekelund
Written by	Ingmar Bergman
Starring	Max von Sydow Gunnar Björnstrand Bengt Ekerot Nils Poppe
Cinematography	Gunnar Fischer
Editing by	Lennart Wallén
Distributed by	Svensk Filmindustri Palador Pictures Pvt. Ltd. (India)
Release date(s)	16 February 1957 13 August 1958
Running time	96 min.
Language	Swedish
Budget	$150,000 (estimated)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Seventh Seal (Swedish: Det sjunde inseglet) is an existential 1957 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman about the journey of a medieval knight (Max von Sydow) across a plague-ridden landscape. Its best-known scene features the knight playing chess with the personification of Death, his life resting on the outcome of the game. The film has long been regarded a masterpiece of cinema. ^[1] Image File history File links The_Seventh_Seal. ...   (IPA: in Swedish, but usually IPA: in English) (July 14, 1918 – July 30, 2007) was a Swedish film, stage, and opera director. ...  , (born April 10, 1929) is an Academy-Award nominated Swedish actor, known in particular for his collaboration with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. ... Gunnar Björnstrand, (13 November 1909 - 26 May 1986) was a Swedish character actor known for his frequent work with writer/director Ingmar Bergman. ... Bengt Ekerot (February 8, 1920 – November 26, 1971) was a Swedish actor. ... Poppe (The dog) was a Swedish actor born in Kungsbacka on 11 juli 2006. ... AB Svensk Filmindutri or Svensk Filmindustri (SF) is Swedens most well-known company for film production and distribution of cinema, both Swedish and international. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Sweden. ... is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The year 1957 in film involved some significant events. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... is the 225th day of the year (226th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Indian Ocean Territory,[1] the British Virgin Islands, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 2. ... Existentialism is a philosophical movement emphasizing individualism, individual freedom, and subjectivity. ... The year 1957 in film involved some significant events. ... This article is about motion pictures. ...   (IPA: in Swedish, but usually IPA: in English) (July 14, 1918 – July 30, 2007) was a Swedish film, stage, and opera director. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... The silver Anglia knight, commissioned as a trophy in 1850, intended to represent the Black Prince. ...  , (born April 10, 1929) is an Academy-Award nominated Swedish actor, known in particular for his collaboration with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. ... Look up pestilence in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Chess (disambiguation). ... Phillipp Veits Germania (1877), a personification of Germany. ... “Grim Reaper” redirects here. ...

The title refers to a passage about the end of the world 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 he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour" (Revelation 8:1). Bergman developed the film from his own play Painting on Wood. Visions of John of Patmos, as depicted in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. ... Seven Seals is the newest album by the german Powermetal-Band Primal Fear, released in November 2005. ... Visions of John of Patmos, as depicted in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. ...

Synopsis

Antonius Block (Max von Sydow), a knight, returns with his squire Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand) from the Crusades and finds that his home country is ravaged by the plague. To his dismay, he discovers that Death (Bengt Ekerot) has come for him too. In order to buy time he challenges Death to a chess match, which allows him to reach his home and be reunited with his wife after ten years away. According to film historian Gerald Mast, “Blok challenges Death to a game of chess, knowing the inevitable result but obviously playing for time.”^[2] The knight's faith is war-weathered, and this theme is stressed in one of the scenes in the movie: the knight gives confession to a priest about his doubts whether God actually exists, he tells the priest how he challenged death to a game of chess and reveals his strategy, only to find that the "priest" is actually Death. In another powerful scene of a witch burning, the knight is asked by his squire whether he sees in the victim's eyes God or a vacancy. The disquieted knight refuses to acknowledge the victim's emptiness (and, in a way, his own) despite his doubts about God. The knight realizes that he would rather be broken in faith, constantly suffering doubt, than recognize a life without meaning. Gerald Mast writes,  , (born April 10, 1929) is an Academy-Award nominated Swedish actor, known in particular for his collaboration with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. ... For other uses, see Squire (disambiguation). ... Gunnar Björnstrand, (13 November 1909 - 26 May 1986) was a Swedish character actor known for his frequent work with writer/director Ingmar Bergman. ... This article is about the medieval crusades. ... This article concerns the mid fourteenth century pandemic. ... Bengt Ekerot (February 8, 1920 – November 26, 1971) was a Swedish actor. ... For other uses, see Chess (disambiguation). ...

“Like the gravedigger in “Hamlet”, the Squire [...] treats death as a bitter and hopeless joke. Since we all play chess with death, and since we all must suffer through that hopeless joke, the only question about the game is how long it will last and how well we will play it. To play it well, to live, is to love and not to hate the body and the mortal as the Church urges in Bergman's metaphor.”^[3] Hamlet and Horatio in the cemetery by Eugène Delacroix For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ... For the architectural structure, see Church (building). ...   (IPA: in Swedish, but usually IPA: in English) (July 14, 1918 – July 30, 2007) was a Swedish film, stage, and opera director. ...

During the fateful journey, Block and the squire encounter several features of medieval society and the way it dealt with the fear of death: penitence of flagellants, the burning of a witch and traveling actors. Bergman is particularly critical in his depiction of the clergymen, who profit from the atmosphere of terror engendered by the plague. They offer no spiritual comfort to their people, and are represented as little better than thieves. The 'witch' is burnt at the stake for 'having caused' the plague, in the community's “grotesque effort to put an end to the contagion” (Livingston 1982: 61). The witch-burning and the painful ritual that Jof is subjected to at the inn can be viewed as archaic rituals which aim at the purification of the community through sacrifice; violence is used to stabilize the order.^[4] Flagellants, from a fifteenth century woodcut Flagellants are practitioners of an extreme form of mortification of their own flesh by whipping it with various instruments. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Look up plague in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Bergman contrasts the despairing unbelief of the knight and the bitterness of his squire with the simple spiritual faith of the acrobat player Jof (Nils Poppe) and his young wife Mia (Bibi Andersson), who, together with their infant son Mikael, may be symbolic of the Holy family. The squire (Gunnar Björnstrand), while forcefully atheistic and cynical, displays a sensitivity which drives him to protect and aid those he can, and sympathize with those (like the witch) he cannot. Bergman has been suggested to identify most closely with this character. Poppe (The dog) was a Swedish actor born in Kungsbacka on 11 juli 2006. ... Bibi Andersson (born 11 November 1935 in Stockholm) is a Swedish actress. ... For other uses, see Squire (disambiguation). ... Gunnar Björnstrand, (13 November 1909 - 26 May 1986) was a Swedish character actor known for his frequent work with writer/director Ingmar Bergman. ... For information about the band, see Atheist (band). ... Cynicism was originally the philosophy of a group of ancient Greeks called the Cynics (main article), founded by Antisthenes. ...

Although the knight tells a priest (Death in disguise) that he is going to defeat Death by “a combination of the knight and the bishop”, he will eventually still lose. But the knight achieves the significant act which gives his life meaning, by enabling the escape of the young couple and their child. While the knight and his followers are led away over the hills in a medieval dance of death, the young family live to continue their journey. The silver Anglia knight, commissioned as a trophy in 1850, intended to represent the Black Prince. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      This article is about a title... The Dance of Death (1493) by Michael Wolgemut, from the Liber chronicarum by Hartmann Schedel. ...

Historical accuracy

The illustration of Death playing chess from Täby kyrka

The medieval Sweden portrayed in this movie is not totally accurate. It is unlikely that a knight returning from the Crusades would arrive home in the middle of the Black Death, for the last crusade (the Ninth) ended in 1271, and the bubonic plague hit Europe in 1348. In addition, the flagellant movement was foreign to Sweden, large-scale witch persecutions only began in the 1400s, and the theme of life and death as portrayed in the movie is more typical of existentialism in the 1950s than of the beliefs of medieval Swedes.^[5] A key turning point in the film is when Death captures the Queen in the chess game between Antonius and himself. But the Queen was not a superpowerful piece until centuries later when a recent chess-variant initially called "chess of the mad queen" became more popular than the classic game. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1920x2560, 2321 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): The Seventh Seal Death (personification) Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1920x2560, 2321 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): The Seventh Seal Death (personification) Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or... This article concerns the mid fourteenth century pandemic. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Existentialism is a philosophical movement which claims that individual human beings create the meanings of their own lives. ... For other uses, see Chess (disambiguation). ...

However, some of the film's images are derived from medieval art. For example, Bergman has stated that the image of a man playing chess with a skeletal Death was inspired by a medieval church painting from the 1480s in Täby kyrka, Täby, north of Stockholm, painted by Albertus Pictor.^[6] Events March 6 - Treaty of Toledo - Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain recognize African conquests of Afonso of Portugal and he cedes the Canary Islands to Spain Great standing on the Ugra river - Muscovy becomes independent from the Golden Horde. ... The ceiling in Täby kyrka with paintings by Albertus Pictor Man playing chess with death Täby kyrka (Täby Church) is a medieval church in the municipality of the same name (Täby Municipality), in the province of Uppland and the northern part of Stockholm County. ... Täby Municipality is a Municipality in central Sweden where the town of Täby (pop. ... For other uses, see Stockholm (disambiguation). ... Death playing chess by Albertus Pictor. ...

Production

In interviews and in his autobiography, The Magic Lantern, Bergman has said that The Seventh Seal was a low-budget affair. Bergman had been given the go-ahead for the project from Carl-Anders Dymling at Svensk Filmindustri only after the success at Cannes of Smiles of a Summer Night, and was given a schedule of only thirty-five days, a short time for a film of this nature. AB Svensk Filmindutri or Svensk Filmindustri (SF) is Swedens most well-known company for film production and distribution of cinema, both Swedish and international. ... Sommarnattens leende (Smiles of a Summer Night) is a 1955 film directed by Ingmar Bergman. ...

The famous opening scenes with Death and the Knight were shot at Hovs Hallar, a rocky, precipitous beach area in north-western Scania. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Scania (SkÃ¥ne in Swedish  ) is a geographical region of Sweden on the southernmost tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, a historical province (landskap)[1] of the Kingdom of Sweden, since 1997 a county (Län) of Sweden, before 1658 part of the Kingdom of Denmark. ...

Impact

Death

The Seventh Seal was Bergman's breakthrough film. When the film won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1957, the attention generated by it (along with the previous year's Smiles of a Summer Night) made Bergman and his stars Max von Sydow and Bibi Andersson well-known to the European film community, and the critics and readers of Cahiers du Cinéma, among others, discovered him with this movie. Within five years of this, he had established himself as the first real auteur of Swedish cinema.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links DeathSeventhSeal. ... Image File history File links DeathSeventhSeal. ... The Jury Prize (French: Prix du Jury) is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. ... The Cannes Film Festival (French: le Festival de Cannes), founded in 1939, is one of the worlds oldest, most influential and prestigious film festivals. ... Sommarnattens leende (Smiles of a Summer Night) is a 1955 film directed by Ingmar Bergman. ... Bibi Andersson (born 11 November 1935 in Stockholm) is a Swedish actress. ... Cahiers du cinéma is an influential French film magazine founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca. ... The term auteur (French for author) is used to describe film directors (or, more rarely, producers or writers) who are considered to have a distinctive, recognizable vision, because they (a) repeatedly return to the same subject matter, (b) habitually address a particular psychological or moral theme, (c) employ a recurring...

With its reflections upon death and the meaning of life, The Seventh Seal became something of a figurehead for "serious" European films and, as such, has often been parodied in film and television. The representation of Death as a white-faced man in a dark cape has been the most popular object of parody, most notably in Woody Allen's Love and Death, and in the film Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, in which the protagonists beat Death at Battleship, Clue, electric football and Twister. Love and Death is a 1975 comedy by Woody Allen. ... Bill & Teds Bogus Journey is a 1991 American comedy science fiction film, the sequel to Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure. ... pencil and paper game version The game Battleship is a game played by two people. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Electric Football Figurines, circa 1982 Electric football is a tabletop American football game played on a metal vibrating field. ... Twister is a game of physical skill produced by Hasbro Games. ...

Cast

• Gunnar Björnstrand - Jöns, squire
• Bengt Ekerot - Death
• Nils Poppe - Jof
• Max von Sydow - Antonius Block
• Bibi Andersson - Mia, Jof's wife
• Inga Gill - Lisa, blacksmith's wife
• Maud Hansson - Witch
• Inga Landgré - Karin, Block's Wife
• Gunnel Lindblom - Girl
• Bertil Anderberg - Raval
• Anders Ek - The Monk
• Åke Fridell - Blacksmith Plog
• Gunnar Olsson - Albertus Pictor, Church Painter
• Erik Strandmark - Jonas Skat

Gunnar Björnstrand, (13 November 1909 - 26 May 1986) was a Swedish character actor known for his frequent work with writer/director Ingmar Bergman. ... Bengt Ekerot (February 8, 1920 – November 26, 1971) was a Swedish actor. ... Poppe (The dog) was a Swedish actor born in Kungsbacka on 11 juli 2006. ...  , (born April 10, 1929) is an Academy-Award nominated Swedish actor, known in particular for his collaboration with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. ... Bibi Andersson (born 11 November 1935 in Stockholm) is a Swedish actress. ... Inga Gill (2 May 1925 – 18 October 2000), was a Swedish film actor. ... Inga Landgré (6 August 1927 – ), is a Swedish film actor. ... Gunnel Lindblom (18 December 1931 – ), is a Swedish film actor and director. ... Bertil Anderberg (13 February 1913 – 11 September 1991), was a Swedish film actor. ... Anders Ek (7 April 1916 – 17 November 1979), was a Swedish film actor. ... Ã…ke Fridell (23 June 1919 – 26 August 1985), was a Swedish film actor. ... Gunnar Olsson (10 July 1904 – 16 September 1983), was a Swedish film actor and director. ... Erik Strandmark (14 September 1919 – 5 January 1963), was a Swedish film actor. ...

See also

• Middle Ages in film

El Cid (1961) starring Charlton Heston, a movie with direct heritage to the Romantics, it helped mold popular perceptions of the Middle Ages in the middle 20th century. ...

References

Roger Joseph Ebert (born June 18, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American film critic. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Sveriges Television (SVT) is a national publicly-funded television broadcaster based in Sweden. ... Sveriges Television (SVT) is a national publicly-funded television broadcaster based in Sweden. ...

Bibliography

• Ingmar Bergman and the Rituals of Art by Paisley Livingston. Cornell University Press, 1982.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

The Seventh Seal

• Det Sjunde inseglet at the Internet Movie Database
• The Seventh Seal at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Seventh Seal at the Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films list
• Criterion Collection essay by Peter Cowie
• Analysis of film
• Dennis DeNitto's analysis of the film