Synopsis & Review from Cinebooks' Motion Picture GuideLost faith. Set during a single day in the Middle Ages, the film concerns the philosophical quandary of a knight (Max von Sydow) who is traveling home to his wife and his castle in Sweden after a decade of fighting in the Crusades. The Knight's earthy squire, Jons (Gunnar Bjornstrand), still prays daily, but von Sydow himself has lost his faith in God, having witnessed too much war, superstition, and the ravages of the currently rampant Black Plague.
Playing with Death. While he travels, he is visited by Death (Bengt Ekerot), who has arrived to take both knight and squire to their end. Von Sydow, however, convinces Ekerot to play him a game of chess: if von Sydow loses he'll go with Ekerot; if he wins, Ekerot will leave without him. Ekerot agrees, noting that he never loses, at anything.
As the two play their game, von Sydow quizzes Ekerot on the existence of God, but is met merely with a shrug and silence on this point, frustrating the Crusader, who wishes this knowledge above all else before he dies. Play is interrupted while the Knight continues on his journey and for Ekerot to go about his work, bringing even more virulent plague to decimate the area. Meanwhile, he continues to stymie von Sydow's metaphysical questions.
Traveling players. Also traveling through the country is a group of players who specialize in religious tableaux. These include Jof (popular Swedish stage comedian Nils Poppe, in his dramatic debut), a juggler who has visions of the Virgin Mary; his wife, Mia (Bibi Andersson), with whom he has a small child; and Jonas Skat (Erik Strandmark). Strandmark, a womanizer, seduces the wife of a blacksmith (Ake Fridell) and leaves with her while the smith is watching the players' performance.
Later, Bjornstrand discovers Raval (Bertil Anderberg)—the man who originally convinced von Sydow to fight for Christendom in the Holy Land, now himself an atheist—as he is looting the bodies of plague victims and attempting to rape a young girl (Gunnel Lindblom). Chased away by Bjornstrand, Anderberg goes to a local pub, where he and the cuckholded Fridell threaten the simple-minded Poppe, forcing him at knifepoint to stand on his head, jump on a table, and dance like a bear. Bjornstrand enters, cuts Anderberg's face with his knife, and takes Poppe with him away from the inn. Later von Sydow comes to the actors' campsite, where he is given strawberries to eat by the kind Poppe and Andersson, and briefly forgets his own despair. Journey resumes. Joined by Fridell, Poppe, Andersson, their baby, and Lindblom, von Sydow and the squire continue on their journey. So does Ekerot, strewing sickness across the land. Survivors whip themselves so that God will spare them, hoping to atone for their sins through self-flagellation.
Couple's reunion. When von Sydow and his company meet the rake Strandmark and the smith's wife, the actor and the smith square off, apparently ready to fight to the death over the woman. However, both men back off. Strandmark then fakes his own suicide, reuniting the married couple.
Helpless against death. Afterwards, Ekerot comes and puts an end to Strandmark in earnest. The rest continue on, and come across a woman who is being burned as a witch. They try to save her, but cannot. Traveling on, they find Anderberg dying of the plague and again can do nothing to help.
Ongoing game. Meanwhile, the Knight is losing his ongoing game of chess with Ekerot, so he kicks over the board before his opponent can take his queen. Confused, Ekerot hurries to find the scattered chess pieces. Poppe and Andersson race away. Von Sydow and Bjornstrand travel on to his castle, where von Sydow's wife (Inga Landgre) waits for him. Ekerot follows them, entering the castle as the Knight prays to God for mercy, while his Lady reads from Revelations (from which the film's title quotes).
Death's triumph. In the morning, Poppe, Andersson, and their baby have been spared; the plague has passed them. Poppe looks up to see Ekerot leading von Sydow, Bjornstrand, Fridell and his wife, Anderberg, and Gunnel Lindblom in a dance across the crest of a hill, the figures silhouetted hand-in-hand in a chain against the dawn sky.
Over the years THE SEVENTH SEAL, long hailed as a masterpiece of cinema, has suffered a decline in its reputation (more generally, Bergman's place in the pantheon of great filmmakers is increasingly questioned). However, there can be no doubt that the film's imagery is among the most memorable ever put on screen—even if one questions the profundity of Bergman's speculations on the nature of good and evil, God and the Devil, his image of Death wandering the countryside remains unforgettable. The quality of the acting is very high, especially the performances of Poppe and Bjornstrand.
Spontaneous death dance. The famous, final dance of death was spontaneously created: Bergman had finished the day's shooting when he saw a beautiful cloud in the sky, and, unwilling to let the image go unfilmed, hurriedly got crew members to dress in the costumes of the already-departed actors and form the silhouetted procession. The scene was shot in just a few minutes, without rehearsal.
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Last updated on July 1, 1996.
