The Seventh Seal [Swedish]

Starring: Sydow, Max Von and Bjornstrand, Gunnar

Returning from a Crusade with his squire, a weary knight plays chess with Death.

• Format: DVD
• Language: Swedish
• UPC: 715515044516
• Release Date: June 2009
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Publisher: Criterion/ Distribution S
• Director: Bergman, Ingmar
• Starring: Sydow, Max Von, Bjornstrand, Gunnar
• Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes
• Number of Disks: 2
• Other Video Info: DVD
• Weight: 0.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.5" x 5.4"

Customer Reviews

Max von Sydow at his best.

The iconic knight Ridderen Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) returns from years of combat in the Crusades. With Antonius’ squire, Jons (Gunnar Björnstrand). Death in a black robe (Bengt Ekerot) tells Antonius that his time is up. Antonio knows from legends that Death is a chess master. So, Death is challenged to a chess match. If Death loses, Antonio goes free. What can they lose? This is just the beginning of the play. Things get complex from here. Many great questions are asked. There is a part where they eat wild strawberries. Maybe that should be the name of his next film, “Wild Strawberries”. I only watched the Criterion version. This allowed for only English subtitles and Swedish and English audio to listen to the different interpretations. You will want to mix and match, as the wording is different. Filming locations are Hovs Hallar (summer 1956) - Naturreservat, Skåne län, Sweden. Writer Ingmar Bergman (play "Trämålning"). Do not look too closely at the costumes, as many of the men and women have zippers on their backs. They only had a $150,000 budget. Be sure to watch the DVD extras and then the movie again with new eyes. Extras include: Some sort of timeline Chapters Commentary (voice-over) by Peter Cowie, produced for the original Criterion release. Too bad no subtitles for Cowie; you can still play the English subtitles while watching this voice-over. Ingmar Bergman Introduction (2003) 3 minutes and 58 seconds. Berman Island Afterword (2008) 10 minutes and 33 seconds Max Von Sydow Audio Interview (1988), interviewed by Peter Cowie, 20 minutes. Woody Allen on Bergman – Rather distracting Bergman 101 35 minutes – Bergman history through a film trailer.