The Seventh Seal - Criterion Collection
by Ingmar Bergman
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DVD details
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
DVD Reviews of The Seventh Seal - Criterion Collection
DVD 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.
DVD Review: 3 stars out of 4
Summary: 4 Stars
The Bottom Line:
An interesting fable that asks a lot of questions, The Seventh Seal would be a better movie if Bergman knew anything about chess (or if it was a little bit more engaging) but it's worth a watch nonetheless.
DVD Review: Most Popular Swedish Language Film of All Time
Summary: 5 Stars
It is- just look at the rankings above. This movie is pretty much in the dictionary next to "art house cinema," for a certain population group, you saw it in college at the art house theater, for their children- watch the DVD. This movie is, compared to other Bergmann, a rolicking good time- so be ready to laugh- and despair.
Another good Criterion Collection edition- is there any other way to watch the classics of european cinema?
DVD Review: Knight asks questions on our behalf, gets no answers
Summary: 5 Stars
Or maybe he does, but not until after Death leads him and some of his friends away with him.
In stark black and white, the story unfolds of a crusader, just back home in Sweden after ten years overseas, disillusioned and tired. He asks if there is a God or not, how he can believe when he can no longer make himself do it, and why he has to die, among other questions. Death does not answer anything directly but is also not presented as an evil force. The plague is more terrifying than Death is, in this situation.
If you like foreign films, existentialism, and black and white photography, you will enjoy this one.
DVD Review: Death? A Reason to Believe? 14th Century Black Plague? Readon
Summary: 5 Stars
Simple, cutting, to the point; Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" is a movie with a message, yes, a message that tells a story about a man and his chess board. The opponent, a pale man with a simple mission greets the knight Antonius Block in the 14th century Sweden; returning home to a disease ravaged land, yes the Black Plague has eaten its way to his home. Job I mean Block meets his match in this cunning story that was put together one summer with a bunch of friends of Ingmar and his girl friend Mary, the leading lady.
--Ross
Description 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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