Ingmar Bergman's world acclaimed 'masterpiece' as a "self written and self directed allegorical film" (Bosley Crowther, New York Times) is among the most discussed movies that provokes controversies. Although more than half a century has passed since its premiere, we can bravely quote Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian) that it is still "an untarnished gold standard of artistic and moral seriousness." THE SEVENTH SEAL turns out to speak to the minds of modern viewers even more powerfully than it did in the late 1950s.
MEDIEVAL? Set in the Middle Ages, it seems that the film has much to do with the spirit of the period. Yet...this "piercing and powerful contemplation of the passage of man" (Crowther), "Bergman's spiritual quest" (Roger Ebert), "a new dramatic idiom of its own" (Bradshaw), "Bergman's medieval drama of the soul" (Steven D Greydanus), "magnificent and compelling, brutal and beautiful examination of mankind's strengths and weaknesses" (Carter B Horsley) is not at all a movie about the Middle Ages but, what remains 'medieval' are two supreme concepts the film is built upon: image and contrast. Let me develop these two aspects before I move to performances because most of its power and charm is, indeed, hidden therein.
Three concepts prevail in the image of the film: people, nature and death. Actually, all of them are embodied in the characters and stand for their feelings, emotions and varieties. However, all of them are made vibrant by unpredictable, surprising depiction. People carry a wide range of psychological sophistication; nature evokes symbols, manifests the interlocked circle, provokes impressions of different kinds; death is, perhaps, the weirdest incarnate. It is not the Christian 'Mors Porta Vitae Aeternae' (Death as a Gate to Eternal Life) nor the hero of medieval danse macabre but "an enigmatic emissary of the unknown" (Greydanus), a gloomy character of certain demonic features, the only real representative of the supernatural world that is, anyway, never made accessible to humanity. Nevertheless, Death in SEVENTH SEAL is the only character personified that leads the movie to the "uncompromising subject" that defines in "Bergman's spiritual quest" (Roger Ebert). But what would it all be without certain contradictions.
Contrast, a basis of medieval thought and reality, seems to be predominantly present in many aspects from the protagonist through the modern vs. medieval (sometimes on the cost of historical accurateness) to the very autobiographical traces of the director, Ingmar Bergman himself. Foremost, however, this contrast is inside of man, outside of man and among men.
CHARACTERS: Bosley Crowther basically called the movie "provocative" and it occurs to reveal itself most in the protagonist, Antonius Block (played marvelously by Max Von Sydow), an excellent, almost model embodiment of a disillusioned, modern character set in the Middle Ages who embodies the contrast inside of man. He asks questions that could practically never be asked, even thought of in a crusader's mind simply because his vision of the world, of faith, of the afterlife was deeply affected by creed. His character addresses the very silence of God developed in the Greydanus' essay; he is on his way to catharsis but also on the way to the state of absolute nothingness that Bergman himself believed in at a later phase of his career. He is a man of seeming decadence searching for meaning. Here lies his curiosity. He is a man losing his religion because he tries to grasp the supernatural with pure intellect. Here lies his vanity. He is a man locked within the four walls of his 'ghosts and dreams' Here lies his selfishness. Reminds me of Marcello in Fellini's LA DOLCE VITA who cannot fully understand the genuine and cannot communicate with the world of innocence and simplicity (note the aspect of an Umbrian girl in Fellini's movie). And where is this world of innocence in Block's life?
BERGMAN'S 'HOLY FAMILY'? Jof (Nils Poppe) and Mia (Bibi Andersson) with their baby son Mikael have inspired a variety of interpretation from many film scholars. Some found the allegories to daring religious manifestations. The meal they are having together as the 'eucharist of natural products' or the family as the Holy Family of Nazareth. I think that the point is elsewhere. Jof and Mia manifest simplicity, common life, austere joys, pure humanity, heart over intellect. That embodies the contrast among men and, along with other characters like a troubadour Skat (Erik Strandmark), contrast outside of man Antonius Block confronts.
THE SEVENTH SEAL with its impressive symbols, outstanding imagery and greatly versatile characters leaves many questions unanswered, many dreams unfulfilled, yet many hopes disillusioned in its doom. Nevertheless...
it is an important movie significant in its appeal and rarely understood. Believers will find it, perhaps, too daring; atheists will find it thought provoking; cinema freaks will love its atmosphere and Bergman fans consider it the essence of the director's world. With the unforgettable finale open for interpretations, THE SEVENTH SEAL provokes modern disillusion and its pessimistic silence confront the medieval reality and its mysterious dance.
MEDIEVAL? Set in the Middle Ages, it seems that the film has much to do with the spirit of the period. Yet...this "piercing and powerful contemplation of the passage of man" (Crowther), "Bergman's spiritual quest" (Roger Ebert), "a new dramatic idiom of its own" (Bradshaw), "Bergman's medieval drama of the soul" (Steven D Greydanus), "magnificent and compelling, brutal and beautiful examination of mankind's strengths and weaknesses" (Carter B Horsley) is not at all a movie about the Middle Ages but, what remains 'medieval' are two supreme concepts the film is built upon: image and contrast. Let me develop these two aspects before I move to performances because most of its power and charm is, indeed, hidden therein.
Three concepts prevail in the image of the film: people, nature and death. Actually, all of them are embodied in the characters and stand for their feelings, emotions and varieties. However, all of them are made vibrant by unpredictable, surprising depiction. People carry a wide range of psychological sophistication; nature evokes symbols, manifests the interlocked circle, provokes impressions of different kinds; death is, perhaps, the weirdest incarnate. It is not the Christian 'Mors Porta Vitae Aeternae' (Death as a Gate to Eternal Life) nor the hero of medieval danse macabre but "an enigmatic emissary of the unknown" (Greydanus), a gloomy character of certain demonic features, the only real representative of the supernatural world that is, anyway, never made accessible to humanity. Nevertheless, Death in SEVENTH SEAL is the only character personified that leads the movie to the "uncompromising subject" that defines in "Bergman's spiritual quest" (Roger Ebert). But what would it all be without certain contradictions.
Contrast, a basis of medieval thought and reality, seems to be predominantly present in many aspects from the protagonist through the modern vs. medieval (sometimes on the cost of historical accurateness) to the very autobiographical traces of the director, Ingmar Bergman himself. Foremost, however, this contrast is inside of man, outside of man and among men.
CHARACTERS: Bosley Crowther basically called the movie "provocative" and it occurs to reveal itself most in the protagonist, Antonius Block (played marvelously by Max Von Sydow), an excellent, almost model embodiment of a disillusioned, modern character set in the Middle Ages who embodies the contrast inside of man. He asks questions that could practically never be asked, even thought of in a crusader's mind simply because his vision of the world, of faith, of the afterlife was deeply affected by creed. His character addresses the very silence of God developed in the Greydanus' essay; he is on his way to catharsis but also on the way to the state of absolute nothingness that Bergman himself believed in at a later phase of his career. He is a man of seeming decadence searching for meaning. Here lies his curiosity. He is a man losing his religion because he tries to grasp the supernatural with pure intellect. Here lies his vanity. He is a man locked within the four walls of his 'ghosts and dreams' Here lies his selfishness. Reminds me of Marcello in Fellini's LA DOLCE VITA who cannot fully understand the genuine and cannot communicate with the world of innocence and simplicity (note the aspect of an Umbrian girl in Fellini's movie). And where is this world of innocence in Block's life?
BERGMAN'S 'HOLY FAMILY'? Jof (Nils Poppe) and Mia (Bibi Andersson) with their baby son Mikael have inspired a variety of interpretation from many film scholars. Some found the allegories to daring religious manifestations. The meal they are having together as the 'eucharist of natural products' or the family as the Holy Family of Nazareth. I think that the point is elsewhere. Jof and Mia manifest simplicity, common life, austere joys, pure humanity, heart over intellect. That embodies the contrast among men and, along with other characters like a troubadour Skat (Erik Strandmark), contrast outside of man Antonius Block confronts.
THE SEVENTH SEAL with its impressive symbols, outstanding imagery and greatly versatile characters leaves many questions unanswered, many dreams unfulfilled, yet many hopes disillusioned in its doom. Nevertheless...
it is an important movie significant in its appeal and rarely understood. Believers will find it, perhaps, too daring; atheists will find it thought provoking; cinema freaks will love its atmosphere and Bergman fans consider it the essence of the director's world. With the unforgettable finale open for interpretations, THE SEVENTH SEAL provokes modern disillusion and its pessimistic silence confront the medieval reality and its mysterious dance.