File:Seventhsealposter.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
OverviewAI-generated
The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish black-and-white film directed and written by Ingmar Bergman. The cast includes Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, and Nils Poppe, with cinematography by Gunnar Fischer and music by Erik Nordgren. Distributed by SF Studios, the film is a fantasy, drama, and historical piece set in Sweden. Its original languages are Swedish and Latin, and it is named after the Book of Revelation. The narrative features characters such as Death and Albertus Pictor, with death as the main subject.
The film has a runtime of 96 minutes and was inspired by Carmina Burana. It received a budget of 150,000 and generated revenue of 311,212. Critical reception includes an IMDb rating of 8.1, a Metascore of 88, and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 93%. The film has won 9 awards and received 2 nominations.
Synthesized by Vinony from 47 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, IMDb, OMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
8.2When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.
Cast
- Gunnar Björnstrand as Jöns
- Bengt Ekerot as Death
- Nils Poppe as Jof
- Max von Sydow as Antonius Block
- Bibi Andersson as Mia
- Inga Gill as Lisa
Themes
- witch
- dying and death
- blacksmith
- chess
- countryside
- allegory
- crusade
- artist
- juggler
- witch burning
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Ratings
IMDb
8.1/10
211,758 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
93%
Metacritic
88/100
- Year
- 1957
- Runtime
- 96 min
- Genres
- Drama, Fantasy
- Rated
- Not Rated
- Awards
- 9 wins & 2 nominations total
via OMDb · IMDb
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Part of
- Vatican's list of films
- Named after
- Book of Revelation
- Genre
- historical film
- Country of origin
- Sweden
- Original language
- Latin
- Main subject
- death
- Director
- Ingmar Bergman
- Screenwriter
- Ingmar Bergman
- Cast member
- Georg Skarstedt
- Composer
- Erik Nordgren
- Cinematographer
- Gunnar Fischer
- Narrative location
- Sweden
- Duration
- 96
- FilmAffinity ID
- 723978
- Image
- Sjunde inseglet 1957.jpg
Show 10 more facts
- Commons category
- The Seventh Seal
- title
- Det sjunde inseglet
- color
- black-and-white
- distributed by
- SF Studios
- assessment
- Bechdel test
- different from
- The Seventh Seal
- review score
- 88/100
- inspired by
- Carmina Burana
- characters
- Albertus Pictor
- publication date
- 1963-11-09
Sources (12)
via Wikidata · CC0
~24 min read
Encyclopedic overview
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.
The Seventh Seal is considered a classic in the history of cinema, as well as one of the greatest films of all time. It established Bergman as a director, containing scenes which have become iconic through homages, critical analysis, and parodies.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “The Seventh Seal” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.