The Seventh Seal - Criterion Collection

Amazon.com essential video

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

Description

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.

Customer Reviews:

Seventh Seal.......2007-09-02

Once you have seen the Seventh Seal, you will never forget it as long as you live... and perhaps you will even think about it a lot towards the end of your life. Ingmar Bergman... Enough Said.

The Seventh Seal.......2007-08-27

I love ALL works by Ingmar Bergman. This film has been a favorite of mine for over 30 years!!! TTD

A Bergman Masterpiece!.......2007-08-14

The "Seventh Seal" is a masterpiece of cinema and film-making, because of the richness of the symbolism it contains as well as the impeccable acting of its actors. The pathos of feeling exhibited by Max von Sydow and the other players is palpable, as is the depth of emotion, symbolism, and ultimate optimism that Bergman imbues every part of the film with, from the opening sequence, in which von Sydow plays chess with Death, until the last chess sequence (which von Sydow engages in to gain time for a young family to save itself), to the Dance of Death which concludes the film.

To be sure, the "Seventh Seal" is early Bergman, and Bergman got better with each additional film. So, although the "Seventh Seal" is well acted and overflows with rich symbolism, it doesn't have the absolutely searing, heart-wrenching pathos, and horror, of, let's say, "Cries and Whispers." Yet, inasmuch as the "Seventh Seal" documents an early work by one of our greatest film makers, every serious film collection should contain a copy of it.

"Silence In Heaven" ~ The Signature Film Of A Legendary Filmmaker.......2007-08-02

Note: Swedish with English subtitles.

Synopsis: The sound of one long, sustained note from a gong drones through the opening credits announcing the journey is about to begin. Human voices sing out in an ethereal dirge as a cloudy, threatening sky appears on the screen. A lone bird sails above the earth, wings spread wide and motionless as though all of existence has temporarily come to a standstill. There is silence in heaven.

The camera descends to the earth, to a rocky beach where Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) a disillusioned knight returning from the Crusades catches a brief moment of rest before continuing his journey home. As he rides through the stark, unforgiving Swedish countryside accompanied by his squire he becomes further disheartened by the circumstances surrounding him in 14th century Sweden. His homeland is ravished by the black plague and impending doom can be seen and felt at every turn. He is also aware of the fact that he is being stalked by Death (Bengt Ekerot) along the way. Unbeknown by those around him, he is actually playing a game of chess with this otherworldly spectre and remains alive only as long as the game continues.

However one ray of hope for a meaningful future appears, found in the guise of a diminutive, naïve traveling performer. His love for life, his wife and child are the only thing that stands between the impending plague, Death and the meaninglessness of existence. Is there a reason for living, or is Death the only viable solution?

Critique: Ingmar Bergman's '58 film `The Seventh Seal' stands alone in a category of its own making. There was nothing before, nor will there be anything after that can match Bergman's existential intensity, ferocious imagery, symbolic content and thanks to the brilliant cinematography of Sven Nykvist, cinematic artistry.

Bergman's uncompromising vision of existence as translated to the movie screen deserves to be studied, dissected and discussed by intelligent, cutting edge filmmakers of the future. As for the viewing audience like you and I, `The Seventh Seal' belongs on every serious film collectors top ten list. I know it's on mine.

Ingmar Bergman ~ 1918 - 2007
RIP

Seven Stars for this Film!.......2007-08-01

It's hard to put my intense feelings about this film into words, a film where almost every frame is so imbued with symbolism and of existential dread. When we first saw this film in the late 1960s, the Vietnam War was raging and now of course the equally foolish American invasion of Iraq is destroying so many people's lives.

Bergman supposedly made "The Seventh Seal" (released 50 years ago) because of the fear of nuclear annihilation in the 1950s. Today we have leaders who are as frightening and horrifying as any of the savage charcters in "The Seventh Seal" and who play on primitive fears, just like the religious zealots in the movie do.

Alas, we have no artists of Bergman's stature who can illuminate our despair, our grief, our sense of futility about the world's current state.

I have always thought Gunnar Bjornstrand to be the most accomplished and insightful of all of Bergman's repertory actors. His portrayal of the cynical, but very humane squire in "The Seventh Seal" again confirms my sense that he taps the very deepest corners of his psyche in his characterizations in a way few other film actors have ever done.

DVD:

DVD

DVD