THE SEVENTH SEAL

Ingmar Bergman 1957 (Sweden)

Set during the Black Death, this tells of the journey of a medieval knight and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death, who has come to take his life.

The title refers to a passage from the Book of Revelation, (8:1), “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 key theme of the film.

A major cinematic classic, the film helped Bergman to establish himself as a world-renowned director and contains scenes which have become iconic through parodies and homages.