The title refers to God’s book of secrets in which the greatest gift, the secret of life, will be revealed only after the breaking of the seventh seal. In this film which Bergman calls an oratorio, and The Virgin Spring (1959) he tried to purge the uglier aspects of religious practice as well as confront the silence of God in the face of what he saw an ‘an active evil’. The Seventh Seal is a morality play set in doom-laden 14th century Sweden. Although in some ways the film’s psychological and erotic concerns are modern and the world weary knight who challenges Death to a game of chess is a distinctly modern hero, Bergman chose the medieval period for the way in which thought was then embodied iconographically, providing the basis for the film’s striking imagery. Also available on VHS and LD.
Credits: Director, Ingmar Bergman ; photographer, Gunnar Fischer ; production designer, P.A. Lundgren ; music, Erik Nordgren.
Cast: Gunnar Bjornstrand, Benyt Ekerot, Nils Poppe, Max Von Sydow, Bibi Anderson.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
F000064
Languages
English
Swedish
Subject category
Foreign language films
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)