Mia (Bibi Andersson) is a beautiful young mother to baby boy Mikael and wife to Jof. He sees religious visions and frequently gets into trouble in bars and towns when he tries to relay his second sight to others. Jof (Nils Poppe) is a “head in the clouds” type and reminiscent of a Jester. We soon encounter a family of traveling performers who turn out to represent something of the purity and innocence of life. He’s a man of faith and authority, so it feels quite natural for him to not accept Death’s advance, but to challenge him to a game. He’s a man of high esteem who has also spent his last several years at war and is desperate to understand and to make meaning before Death claims him. Prone to the singing of bawdy and sacreligious tunes, Jöns is much more a man of the people, one who has seen death and destruction (and caused it) and feels no need to feign righteousness as a result. The Seventh Seal plays out somewhat like The Canterbury Tales (something I also know little about and haven’t studied since high school), with knight and squire on the road and encountering various people in their travels who represent many different ideas and concepts that give depth to Block’s ongoing duel with Death.Įarly on we’re able to observe the significant differences between Block and his Squire. But what I’ve always envisioned as a dire, quiet, cerebral affair turns out to be a remarkably human tale brimming with emotion. Max Von Sydow’s knight of the Crusades Antonius Block, upon returning to his homeland amidst a plague with his Squire Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand) does indeed encounter Death (Bengt Ekerot in the visually iconic role) and challenge him to a game of chess. Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that this renowned classic (while indeed a death-obsessed tale) is rife with bawdy humor, beauty, and innocence to match the direness of is setting.
I also knew this was a film set during the crusades, and during a plague, and I was just in the right temperament to plunge into something that dark and depressing. Why did I jump? Well, I saw this as a perfect opportunity for Criterion to once again “take me to school” as I’m a lifelong film fan who has managed to never see an Ingmar Bergman film and whose biggest cultural connection to The Seventh Seal was knowing that Death from Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey was a reference to this film. I jumped at the chance to review Criterion’s latest 4K UHD release of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. “You know nothing, Ed Travis” Images provided by Criterion
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