The Seventh Seal - Criterion Collection
by Ingmar Bergman
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bengt Ekerot, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Bj?rnstrand, Max von Sydow, Nils PoppeDirector: Ingmar Bergman
Brand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Gunnar Fischer
Writer: Ingmar Bergman
Editor: Lennart Wall?n
Producer: Allan Ekelund
DVD: 2 Layers, Region Code 1
Audio: Swedish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-01-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of The Seventh Seal - Criterion Collection
Movie Review: The Seventh Seal
Summary: 5 Stars
During the Black Death's ravaging of Europe in the 1300's, the noble knight Antonius Block is returning home to his castle in Sweden after a several year long crusade to Palestine. Riding a few steps behind him is his squire J?ns, not quite the idealist that his master is, but still a good man in his own right. A day's ride from home, Death appears, declaring to the weary knight that it is his time and that he will have to follow him to the lands beyond the great veil. Block (played by the amazingly skilled Swedish actor-noble Max von Sydow) knows that Death is fond of chess, so through a little negotiation he manages to make a deal with Death that through a game of chess, they'll decide if the Reaper can take Block with him or if he gets a delay.
We then follow Block and his squire on their road towards their home, en route they meet up with a troupe of travelling jesters whom they eventually extend their protection to. Block is disillusioned by life and so low that he is even unsure of God's existence! He meets up with Death several times to get confirmation that God exists, and once Death asks; "Don't you ever stop asking? To which Block's eternal European Faustian answer is "Never!" with such feeling that it shakes me to the bone. From time to time throughout the film, we return to Block and Death playing their game of chess, but only one of the jesters with the ability to see beyond the veil can see Death seated on the other side of the board, to the others Block appears to be playing a solitary game. The film gives, to me, an excellent view of what life in medieval Sweden might have been like, in addition to being an excellent drama for this twisted age as well.
The film contains a lot of humour despite its existential and deadly serious religious theme. This is pretty much the film version of the European Faust-cycle, and contains such added bonuses as an all-European cast and being made by the hands of a director whose sympathies were squarely in the Axis camp prior to and during WW2. A must-see, in other words, for anyone remotely interested in religion, history or existentialism. 5 stars and beyond.
Summary of The Seventh Seal - Criterion Collection
After a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight challenges Death to a fateful game of chess. More than forty years after its initial release, Ingmar Bergman's stunning allegory of man's apocalyptic search for meaning remains a textbook on the art of filmmaking and an essential building block in any collection. Criterion is proud to present The Seventh Seal in a pristine new transfer.Ingmar Bergman's 1956 film has been parodied by everyone from Woody Allen to Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, but it remains one of the strangest and richest classics of world cinema. Max Von Sydow plays a knight returning from the Crusades to encounter an apocalyptic scenario inspired by the Book of Genesis. He plays chess with Death (Bengt Ekerot), sees a manacled witch, watches a band of flagellants go by--all of it foretelling an inevitable end to life. Unabashedly allegorical and lyrical and existing in a world unto itself, the film is enormously mesmerizing no matter what one thinks of the weighty meanings Bergman has attached to it all. The DVD release has English subtitles, audio commentary by critic Peter Cowie, theatrical trailer, and Bergman's filmography. --Tom Keogh
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