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Summary: If you own only one Ingmar Bergman movie...
Review: ...this should be it.The story is a little slow perhaps, but it is beautiful and profound. The symbolism is rich, and the main characters are all very well developed. The cinematography is gentle and beautiful. I have watched this movie many times, and every time I see something new in it. Most times I learn something new from it. I feel that this film is the height of existentialist film. It embodies a moment in European culture, and you do not understand the world you live in unless you appreciate that moment. This is just my opinion; regardless, this is a rich and beautiful film and I hope many more people continue to enjoy it.
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Summary: A question
Review: Obviously one of the GREAT movies, but this is just a question, not a review:
Is the 1.33:1 full screen of this DVD the original one? I'd love to hear from you if you know. Many thanks.
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Summary: "The holiness of the human being"
Review: For those of you looking for other Bergman films on DVD, it's worth travelling to Amazon's UK website, as quite a few have been released in the last months of 2001 - the transfers are not quite of Criterion standard, but they are very good - the prints are either pristine or digitally restored and the sound is immaculate, but there is a slight (very slight) digital graininess that somehow Criterion manage to eliminate.
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Another easy recommendation to make is Bergman's book, 'Images - My Life in Film'. The section on The Seventh Seal tells how the entire film was made in thirty-five days! Here is a quote from the book: 'The Seventh Seal is one of the few films really close to my heart.....in this film I passionately cultivated my theme to the fullest...I placed my two opposing beliefs side by side, allowing each to state its case in its own way. In this way, a virtual cease-fire could exist between my childhood piety and my newfound harsh rationalism...Also, I infused the characters of Jof and Mia with something that was very important to me: the concept of the holiness of the human being. If you peel off the layers of various theologies, the holy always remains.'
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The whole section in the book on The Seventh Seal is really interesting. Carl Orff's 'Carmina Burana' is recounted as part of the inspiration for the film. The screenplay was originally 'given the thumbs down from every imaginable hand' at Svensk Filmindustri. The unexpected success of Smiles of a Summer Night gave Bergman the licence to film his script. Money was nevertheless tight, and the previously mentioned 35 day schedule was only one day less than the maximum granted by the studio. Only three scenes were shot outdoors, at Hovs hallar, and possibly the most famous of all, the Dance of Death almost never got shot at all - an impending storm saw the crew pack up, only for Bergman to spot a 'strange cloud' and have Gunnar Fischer replace his camera - the actors had gone, so 'a few grips and a couple of tourists danced in their place'. Incredible! One of the iconic images in cinema was 'improvised in only a few minutes'!
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Bergman also knew fully the risk he was taking in his stylised depiction of Death. 'An amalgamation of a clown mask and a skull', as he puts it. What a powerful image, chilling, and influential, most notably for me in David Lynch's 'Lost Highway'. Indeed, there are many unforgettable images in The Seventh Seal, and, speaking for myself, repeated viewings only burn these more deeply. Perhaps most frightening is the knight's 'confession' - if you haven't seen the film, I won't spoil it for you.
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The juxtaposition of the gruesomely serious journey of the knight against the lighter world of the minstrels is, in some ways, reminiscent of Shakespeare, where a lower world and a higher world serve to counterpoint each other. The structure of the film is especially satisfying and again stands repeated viewings much like a brilliant work of music stands and gains from repeated listening.
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In the chapter in 'Images', Bergman relates his fear of death and how an overly heavy dose of anaesthetic prior to minor surgery proved revelatory - he suddenly understood 'that one could be tranformed from being to not-being'; as he goes on, 'That which had formerly been so enigmatic and frightening, namely, what might exist beyond this world, does not exist. Everything is of this world. Everything exists and happens inside of us, and we flow into and out of one another(..you can almost hear Woody Allen saying this to Diane Keaton...). It's perfectly fine like that.' Strangely, this quote is oddly akin to something from a surreal interview conducted on a television current affairs show some years ago with the richest man in Australia, Mr.Kerry Packer, shortly after a near-fatal heart attack (suffered while attending a horse race meeting) - on national television, actually on a television network which he himself owned, Mr.Packer confided that in his near-death experience he had found there to be 'nothing' on the other side. I wonder what he thinks of Mr.Bergman's movie.
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Bergman's films are serious, yes, but they are also pay respect to the formal rigors of drama. He structures scenes with care, alert always to holding the interest of his audience. It might be surprising to learn that the Hollywood script doctor and screenwriting guru, Robert McKee, holds Bergman as a model in this regard. Another factor is the talented actors in his troupe, and their almost impossible physical beauty - Bergman was not insensible to this, as his private life attests, and also this quote taken from the preface to the screenplay of 'Face to Face' (Ingmar Bergman, The Marriage Scenarios - Aurum Press Limited): 'Nor in fact is there any harm in simply letting oneself be entertained for a couple of hours. Good-looking and talented actors, who in a credible manner portray sad, dramatic, or amusing situations, are almost always entertaining, however painful the complications happen to be.'
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As is probably already obvious, I love this film. When I obtained a DVD player, this was one of the first three discs ordered. In the personal Top Ten of all time? For sure. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
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Summary: 20th Century Shakespeare
Review: If you watched the Criterion release of "The Seventh Seal" with the English soundtrack on and the subtitles off, you probably think this movie is the Scandinavian equivalent of the spaghetti Western. Good Lord, does the film suffer when you listen to "Iron Chef"-quality actors (in a panoply of American accents and dialects) bring Bergman's text to something less than life. In the original Swedish (with well-translated subtitles) it quickly becomes apparent that "The Seventh Seal" is something special. Max Von Sydow is Antonius Block, the 14th century Crusader who survived a decade in the Holy Lands, only to be visited by Death the very day he returns to his native land. One of the film's first images is the chess set and that's how Block staves off Death for one more day. Isn't it surprising that, in the English-dubbed version, the officially licensed Star Trek: Next Generation chess set wasn't superimposed over the film? "Seventh Seal" is shot in rich black-and-white, with deceptively simple compositions. Repeated viewings will show how many actors Bergman lines up in his shots, and how crowded the screen becomes with such pivotal images as skulls and fire. The dialogue is direct and to the point (but never simple) and Von Sydow anchors the film in every way imaginable -- looks, speech, even the way he just stands till. The movie appears so straightforward that you'd almost think "I could do this myself!" until you realize just how cleverly Bergman has aligned every element. With its questions about God and life, its small cast, pastoral setting, and allegorical nature, this is not the kind of film you'd expect to see from Hollywood (especially beware films that have "Seventh" in the title and Demi Moore in the cast). However for American audiences it brings to mind some of "The Twilight Zone"'s finest hours. Highly recommended is the annotated Bergman filmography (with photos and film clips). Less recommended is the commentary track, leftover from 1987 and probably good of its kind back then, but for today's DVD-hungry audience probably one that talks down to the audience far too often. Be thankful, finally, that you don't need to hear the English dubbing to enjoy the film and that, if you do, that's not Arnold Schwarzenegger voicing Antonius.
Rating: 
Summary: Bergman's Thoughtful Classic
Review: The quote on the video box says "An Ideal Introduction to a Thinking Person's Cinema." This is quite true. Rarely in film will a viewer be posed with such deep questions regarding the meaning of life, suffering, and God's existence. Max von Sydow gives an outstanding performance as the brooding knight who is plagued by doubts concerning God's existence and his own indifference, even while seeking to do one last noble deed during his reprieve from Death. Wonderful cinematography, too. I would say this is one of Bergman's five best.
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Summary: Brilliant examination of human fears
Review: A knight returning from the Crusades makes a deal with Death, that Death will grant a reprieve as long as the knight can last against Death in a chess match. His journey home after ten years during the time it takes for the match to end make up the rest of the film, and along the way he meets up with a varied cast of characters representing different aspects of human nature. Skepticism, innocence, faith, foolish anger and others band together, with Death following them the whole way. As the plague spreads and people die, Death reappears, finally present in his full force only at the moment of the party's death, when the camera does not show him, only the reactions of the party. My personal favorite scenes include sitting on the hillside with the milk and strawberries, the group going through the dark and dangerous forest together, the burning of the "witch", the reading of Revelation at the climax, and the actors watching Death leading them away at the end, in his "dance." Overall it is brilliant film analyzing the many complex reactions within the human being to the questions of faith and death. Mainly it asks the question: when confronted with death, how can a person accept the end without belief in God? It also presents the paradox that the more the Knight searches to prove the existance of God and end his worry over death, the harder it is to find Him. Coldly Death proclaims of God, "I know nothing."
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Summary: Phenom!
Review: Ingmar Bergman is the GREATEST DIRECTOR in cinematic history. His movies have that extra something which puts them out in front of the others. Everything from Wild Strawberries to this film display his incredible ability to turn what seems normal everyday occurrences into moving mental delights. I wish he had not given up filmmaking but his greatest love is the same as mine, theater. That is where he practices his craft now. This movie takes us into death but with a twist. Every one wishes to put off death. Our hero, and he is heroic, manages to cheat death out of an early demise. The game of chess is very appropriate for this film. In what other film can we see the plethora of incredible images we se here? What other has the genius to make the simple into the great? Bergman has done everything very well. If you have never seen this movie then what are you waiting for, put on your tennies and run to get it.
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Summary: Movie: 5 stars , commentary 2 stars
Review: This is one of Bergman's most complex and interesting movies. It tackles all large issues: life vs. death,good vs. evil, innocence vs. experience, etc. I have read some analysis of the movie but nothing worthy of the film so I was keen on more analysis. I rented this movie on laserdisc a number of years ago. The commentary track was also by Peter Cowie so I assume it is the same one as on the DVD. I was serverely disapointed. This is one my short list of worst commentary tracks by a film historian ever! He starts off by telling you the shadowing figure is death. Gee, really?
He goes on to tell you what will happen in the next five minutes of the story. "The knight is going to enter a hut and find this guy . . ." Both things you could figure out for yourself if you are watching the film. No really insight. By the end of the film, Cowie has given up trying to explain anything about it and sticks to facts about the actors or other small details. The movie is a classic that deserves repeated viewing and intense analysis.Surely, Criterion could have found some film historian up to the task.
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Summary: seminal
Review: Need anyone write a review of Bergman's The Seventh Seal? It is one of the seminal works of art on film of the second half of the twentieth century. It was the first Bergman film I saw, as a teenager; it changed my view about what film could be, and as with all great works of art, it deeply affected the rest of my life.
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Summary: Death and a masterpiece
Review: After ten years in the crusades, Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) returns to his homeland with his squire (Gunner Bjornstrand) to find it is blackened with plague. Upon his return he is faced with a meeting with Death and the realization of his ultimate fate. The clever knight prolonges his destiny by challenging Death to a game of chess. Through the film Antonius strives to find the meaning of life and the existence of God. The story is joined by several other intriguing characters played by many of the familier Bergman Actors and Actresses.
Truely a masterpiece by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. This film displays the true soul of man and his ignorance and acceptance of his existance. I was particularly marveled by the contrast between the beliefs of the knight and the squire. Whenever Antonius' search for faith became too ambitous, his squire always levels him with reality. Through the charcters of the film, Bergman shows us the living fabric of man's contradicting natures and ambiguous answers to life. As an avid film viewer I strongly recommend this film to serious movie spectators. This DVD is truely a treat as all the films in the Criterion Collection. The transfers are considerably noteworthy. If you have already seen this film and found that it was enjoyable, check out other Bergman films or look into some of the other Criterion titles.
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