10:15 am, Regal 3
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Writer: Ingmar Bergman
Cinematographer: Gunnar Fischer
Cast: Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe, Max von Sydow, Bibi Anderson
Running Time: 92 min

“No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.” — Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman’s classic, The Seventh Seal, is one of cinema’s most compelling explorations of life, death and God. Max von Sydow stars as Antonius Block, a world-weary knight who returns from the Crusades to a homeland ravaged by the Black Plague and its terrors. The thought that there might not be a God is unbearable to him. When Death suddenly stands before him, he wants proof and challenges the grim reaper to a game of chess. The great warrior wants to do one last meaningful thing, and a final game with Death enables him to prolonge his life and grants him some time to make peace with this world. In his search for answers, the knight and his sardonic squire meet an assemblage of characters that represents all of the human condition: a troupe of traveling actors, a young child, a man tormented by his unfaithful wife, a thieving theologian, a self-flagellating parade of ascetics.

The knight’s journey could be viewed as a parallel to Bergman’s own quest for understanding. The son of a priest, Bergman wrote and directed an extensive body of work that delves into the deepest psychological and spiritual recesses of its characters. Alternately gloomy and celebratory, Bergman never fails to embrace the universal elements of humanity and the beauty of life itself, including love and lust.

The film’s stark black and white images richly convey these contrasts of good and evil. The graphic impact and symbolism of each frame unfolds like the cards of a Tarot deck in the hands of an unseen master. Many of The Seventh Seal’s iconic scenes have been referenced in homage or parody, most notably in Woody Allen’s hilarious Love and Death.

While confronted by the horrors of disease, desperation and organized religion, Bergman affirms a small measure of hope through Block’s compassion and courage. Although the knight never fully apprehends the clarity he seeks concerning God, he finds sanctity in the simple pleasures of a shared meal, a couple’s love and his service to others.