The Seventh Seal story
The Seventh Seal (Swedish: Det sjunde inseglet) is a 1957 Swedish historical fantasy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in Sweden during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight (Max von Sydow) and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death (Bengt Ekerot), who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play Wood Painting. The title refers to a passage from the Book of Revelation, used both at the very start of the film, and again towards the end, beginning with the words "And when the Lamb had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour". Here, the motif of silence refers to the "silence of God", which is a major theme of the film.
14 total · 2 choice · 10 major · 2 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coming to terms with one's own death | choice | Antonius Block played chess with death to give himself more time but knew that he would soon die. |
| is there a purpose to life | choice | central to the story was metaphysical questions of life, death, faith, and meaning |
| Christianity | major | the story incessantly invoked Christian mythology |
| contagious disease in society | major | The viewer is shown a medieval Swedish society ravaged by the plague. |
| coping with a crisis of faith | major | Antonius Block lamented that it was so hard to maintain faith what with all the evils in the world. |
| death incarnate | major | Antonius Block played chess and debated philosophy with the grim reaper |
| husband and wife | major | Mia and Jof; Antonius and Karin; Lisa and Plog; Jons and mentioned wife |
| life in medieval Europe | major | we saw an idea of what medieval Sweden might have been like - various incongruities notwithstanding |
| romantic infidelity | major | Lisa ran off with Skat from her husband Plog. |
| the afterlife | major | protagonists wanted to know what awaited them after death: heaven, hell, or nothing at all |