The Seventh Seal

Det sjunde inseglet 1957

The knight Antonius Block and his squire return home from a crusade. Both are very depressed. Wandering across the country, they encounter traces of the plague. The knight went to the Holy Land as a youth full of faith, but returned tormented by doubt and uncertainty. There is no God? This thought is unacceptable to him. And yet it's about life. When Death suddenly appears before him, the knight offers Death a game of chess to buy time. He doesn't want to believe anymore, he wants to know. During the ritual, the knight discovers that fear is the cornerstone of religion. He witnesses the intolerance that leads to the burning of a young girl accused of witchcraft. He discovers the real solution by chance. A pair of acrobats, Jof and Mia, reminds him that decision is the joy of life. Happiness is in the simple pleasures of life. When they arrive at the knight's castle with a group of people they meet and greet during their journey, his wife invites everyone to dinner. But death finds them here too. A pair of acrobats are the survivors of the apocalypse as the knight and his comrades are defeated. Ingmar Bergman got the idea for the Seventh Seal from medieval Swedish church paintings; traveling actors, plague, misery, witch burning and crusades. But the film was not made to portray medieval Sweden. This is a modern poem. For a small child, Mass was an adult affair. My father preached from the pulpit, the parishioners prayed and sang. I immersed myself in medieval painting on the ceiling and walls of the church. There was everything the human imagination could ask for: angels, saints, dragons, prophets, demons, people ... All this was portrayed by medieval painters with great tenderness, talent and joy. This affected me a lot. The world within these walls has become as real to me as everyday life with my father, mother, brothers and sisters. My intention was to have the same objective interest, the same sensitivity as medieval church painters.