This Ingmar Bergman masterpiece still works, and its profundity is only part of the bargain. Max von Sydow is the returning knight who discovers that ‘you can’t go home again,’ especially not when the Plague is loose. Existense is chaotic on all levels in this corner of the medieval world; our knight must play a high-stakes chess game with Death itself . . . an iconic visual that has remained indelible. It’s an Art Movie that really delivers.

The Seventh Seal 4K
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 11
1957 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 97 min. / Det sjunde inseglet / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 18, 2023 / 39.95
Starring: Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe, Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom, Inga Gill, Maud Hansson, Inga Landgré.
Cinematography: Gunnar Fischer
Production Designer: P.A. Lundgren
Film Editor: Lennart Wallén
Costume Design: Manne Lindholm
Original Music: Erik Nordgren
Produced by Allan Ekelund
Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman

Quick: what title holds the place of #1 in the now 11 hundred-title Criterion Collection?  The answer is below. ^*  Of the first ten Criterions, only that number one title and two John Woo action pictures are not yet available on Criterion Blu-ray.

The 11th Criterion title The Seventh Seal was the collection’s first Ingmar Bergman offering; the second was Autumn Sonata, way down at number 60. Now Bergman’s Det sjunde inseglet is the first of the director’s titles to break through to 4K Ultra HD. What with the theater-quality projection capability of 4K, could there be tiny art house theaters cropping up in the corners of the world, showing classic movies off the grid, on the sly?

Bergman’s film would play well to most any audience. Despite being tapped as ‘intellectual,’ it’s actually light on Bergmanesque introspection and navel-gazing. Unlike some art cinema, enjoyment doesn’t depend on prior knowledge of some critic’s opinion. The show even has a sense of humor.

The popular view in the 1950s saw art movie theaters as beatnik hangouts serving espresso instead of popcorn. The foreign-film experience involved reading subtitles while pretending that one was sufficiently cultured so as not to need them. A boost to the appeal came when bored American audiences discovered that some films from abroad took a more adult approach to sex. Theaters filled with cigarette smoke when pictures like Federico Fellini’s La Strada and Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima mon amour came to town, but also hot-to-trot ‘art fare’ with Brigitte Bardot.

Sitting a high roost among ‘star’ foreign film directors was Sweden’s Ingmar Bergman, whose early social dramas and comedies gave way to intensely personal, introspective ruminations about the meaning of life and death. A Bergman picture could be counted on for stunningly beautiful imagery: haunting close-ups, strange dream sequences. Nostalgic memories might be expressed by showing the past and present co-existing in the same film frame. Many filmgoers discovered how great B&W images could be through the stunning cinematography in these pictures.

Ingmar Bergman’s most iconic feature is the story of the medieval knight Antonius Block (Max von Sydow), who returns from the Crusades to find his homeland in the grip of The Plague. Religious fanatics wander the roads and the peasants cower in fear. Millions of people that haven’t seen The Seventh Seal are familiar with its darker imagery, thanks to a half century’s worth of references and parodies — Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey is just one elaborate spoof among many. In the key image, Max von Sydow’s weary knight plays chess on a gloomy beach with a black-robed Death (Bengt Ekerot). The scene is now synonymous with the concept of ‘Foreign Art Film.’ The visual depicts a thinking man locked in a philosophical debate with the unknowable; Block’s goal is to delay Death’s errand long enough to come to terms with his own mortality.

The metaphysical game with death is only one part of The Seventh Seal. By day the moody knight is but one of a score of characters fleeing the Plague. Top-billed Gunnar Björnstrand is Block’s squire Jöns, a talkative and lusty man of action. Jöns saves a maid (Gunnel Lindblom of The Virgin Spring) from rape and offers her his protection. The knight and his squire also offer to escort a little family through the dark forest. Entertainer Jof (Nils Poppe) and his wife Mia (Bibi Andersson) feel especially vulnerable because they’re traveling with their beautiful baby. Occupied by his ongoing duel with Death, Antonius Block doesn’t seem in a hurry to return to his castle. When he went to fight in the Holy Land, he left behind a young bride. What are the chances that she is still waiting for him?

The prospects for survival in The Seventh Seal are not good. The locals kneel and pray as a group of penitents passes by, dragging crosses and whipping themselves. Squire Jöns is unmoved by the Christian pageantry, and questions an artist about his religious paintings. The painter acknowledges that his work is intended to scare people into attending church services. Yet a positive human outlook persists in the face of adversity. The comedian and his family are fearful but never lose hope. While Antonius mulls over the meaning of existence, an actor sneaks off with the unfaithful wife of a blacksmith. Times may be bad, but some things never change.

Ingmar Bergman imbues his drama with earthy humor and universal sentiments, and some audiences discover that much of The Seventh Seal plays like a comedy. Jöns offers cynical remarks about the pointlessness of the crusade. The cuckolded blacksmith makes a complete fool of himself. Even Death has a sense of humor. The pompous actor climbs a tree to be safe from the forest’s dangers. He looks down to see Death standing below — carrying a handy saw.

The knight’s crisis of faith eventually distances him from the others. Block is noble and therefore should be above the common fray, but he’s as perplexed as anyone. He’s too obsessed with death to properly greet his wife, a regular Penelope who has faithfully waited for him for over ten years. We instead invest our hopes in the little family of performers. Mia and Jof play with their baby and give thanks for the warmth of springtime. Their blind optimism may serve as a shield against the growing darkness. While the learned Antonius Block wallows in despair and doubt, the innocent Jof is granted a vision of the Virgin Mary. Despite the apocalyptic context, The Seventh Seal is an endorsement of simple faith.

How irreplaceable Max von Sydow was . . . The Seventh Seal was only his fifth feature, at only 28 years of age. He looks impossibly young and strong. Inseparably associated with Ingmar Bergman, Von Sydow worked for the director in eleven films and is often paired with Liv Ullmann. He made a rather severe Jesus Christ in his first Hollywood movie The Greatest Story Ever Told but eventually broke through to a full range of pop cinema characters, culminating in The Exorcist. The Seventh Seal is the kind of picture that was constantly interpreted and re-interpreted, especially by academics that could relate its conflict to historical concepts of man’s place in the world. But none of that is necessary to feel the film’s power; all one must do is fall in with Max von Sydow’s compelling performance.

The Criterion Collection’s 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray of The Seventh Seal bumps Ingmar Bergman’s film to a higher level. The 4K digital restoration is on one 4K Ultra HD disc, and second standard Blu-ray carries an HD feature encoding and the special features. The Aspect Ratio is 1:37 full frame, which looks splendid. I’m pretty sure that American release prints were often projected wide screen, with the subtitles high in the frame . . . but that could be a fuzzy memory at work.

The 4K contrast range is of course what stands out on a B&W film as beautifully shot as this. The chess scene was filmed on a real beach with perfect lighting for the overcast rocks and the bright sky beyond. You couldn’t find anything as beautiful in a classic painting.

All of the extras are repeats, even the entire documentary Bergman Island. Interviewed at his final home on Faro island, the director discusses his personal life as well as his film, theater and television work. He’s quite lucid about his failings as a husband and father; his artistic ambitions came first at all times.

Director Bergman also appears in a 2003 introduction. Max von Sydow’s viewpoint is represented in an older audio interview. Peter Cowie’s audio commentary has also been retained, along with Bergman 101, Cowie’s video essay that fills in career details not covered in the interview feature. A nice touch is the inclusion of Woody Allen’s Turner Classic Movies filler salute to Bergman, his favorite director. Allen’s presence at this time is a welcome rejection of cancellation culture.

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The Seventh Seal 4K
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent + optional English-language soundtrack
Supplements:
Introduction from 2003 by director Ingmar Bergman
Audio commentary and video afterword by Bergman expert Peter Cowie
Bergman Island, a feature-length documentary on Bergman by Marie Nyreröd (2006)
Audio interview from 1998 with actor Max von Sydow (1998)
Tribute to Bergman from 1989 by filmmaker Woody Allen (1989)
Bergman 101, a selected video filmography tracing Bergman’s career, narrated by Peter Cowie
Trailer
Insert essay by critic Gary Giddins.
Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? YES; Subtitles: English (feature only)
Packaging: One Blu-ray in Keep case
Reviewed: April 9, 2023
(6914seal)

^*  Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion.

Visit CineSavant’s Main Column Page
Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: cinesavant@gmail.com

Text © Copyright 2023 Glenn Erickson