Unless you are a film student or a fan of all
cinema, when you hear the name Ingmar Bergman odds are you think boring
European films in black and white. Or maybe you have never heard the name at
all. Yet his 1957 classic “The Seventh Seal” is not only filled with profound
ideas about faith, religion and mortality but it also some rather funny scenes
bordering on slapstick. Then of course there is that iconic scene at the
beginning where knight Antonius Block (Max Von Sydow) is playing chess with
Death (Bengt Ekerot) to delay his demise.
Before watching the film I had seen that
particular image parodied plenty of times in pop culture, most notably in an
episode of Animaniacs, only Yako convinced Death to play checkers instead.
Still, before watching it the first time at the University of Sherbrooke’s film
club I didn’t really know what to expect. It was part of a double feature with
“Persona,” another classic, which I found more difficult to follow. On the
other hand, I found “The Seventh Seal” thoroughly engaging from the iconic
chess game to the final shot.
The chess game begins when Antonius Block
and his squire Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand) return to Sweden after a disappointing crusade. Instead of
coming to home sweet home they find the country suffering from the Black
Plague. Even worse for Block, Death is waiting for him in the form of a pale
man wearing a black cloak and sporting a scythe. Accepting the challenge of the
chess game, Death lets Block and his squire leave until their next encounter,
or until the game is over.
During their travel to Block’s castle, the
knight and his squire meet a group of actors, Jof (Nils Poppe), his wife Mia
(Bibi Anderson), their baby son Mikael and their manager Skat (Erik
Strandmark). Jof claims to have visions, much to his wife’s scepticism, but she
eventually changes tunes when Jof sees Block’s chess partner.
Whereas Block is searching for meaning in
his life before Death can claim him, his squire Jöns has become bitter and sarcastic following the crusade. When he
finds Raval (Bertil Anderberg) the theologian who had convinced Block to leave
for the crusade in the first place, he promises to slice his face should they ever
meet again. It doesn’t help that when Jöns finds him, Raval is busy trying to rape a servant girl.
These moments of death and despair are
interrupted by moments of comedy such as when Skat the manager sneaks into the
woods with Lisa (Inga Gill) the blacksmith’s wife. When the time comes for
Skat’s appointment with Death, he is hiding up in a tree. In a scene that feels
like a gag from a Bugs Bunny cartoon, Death saws the base of the tree with his
scythe.
Given the presence of Death throughout the
film, it is understandable Block is searching for meaning in life. His journey
to the Holy Land did not give him any answers he was looking for and back home
he finds people dying from a plague. He asks a poor girl condemned to burn at
the stake to summon Satan so he can ask him about God. She says she has already
done so, but all he can see is her terror.
The only certainty seems to be there is no
escaping Death, even if you try to beat him at chess. I am not good at it
anyway. However, Block does find a silver lining when he shares a picnic with
the actors. He has a meeting with Death, yet nothing can take away his memory
of that good moment in his life. Death can wait.
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