What is the movie The Seventh Seal about?

When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death (Bengt Ekerot) 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 (Nils Poppe) and his wife, Mia (Bibi Andersson), and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.
The Seventh Seal/Film synopsis

What do the characters in The Seventh Seal represent?

Jof, Mia, and Mikael They represent the Holy Family, of which Jof has a vision. They provide a refuge for the weary knight, who later helps all three escape Death by knocking over the chess pieces.

Why is The Seventh Seal important?

For more than forty years, The Seventh Seal has been a benchmark by which all other great foreign films are judged. Bergman’s work proved that essential philosophical and human issues could be explored on film and still reach a wide audience. …

What does the chess game symbolize in The Seventh Seal?

The game of chess is all about outwitting your opponent, so this chess-death allegory speaks to a society’s desperate and futile attempts to prolong life and avoid Death by any means necessary, whether wearing a plague doctor mask for protection or turning survival into an intellectual game of strategy that could be …

What did Ingmar Bergman study?

Bergman attended Stockholm University, where he studied art, history, and literature. Largely as a result of this success, Bergman was, in 1945, given a chance to write and direct a film of his own, Kris (1946; Crisis), and from this point on his career was under way.

What is The Seventh Seal saying about death and religion?

God is Dead; but given the way of men, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown.

How is Death portrayed in The Seventh Seal?

Ingmar Bergman’s film The Seventh Seal is perhaps most famous for the scenes where the disillusioned knight Antonius Block plays chess with Death, traditionally personified in the movie as an eerie pale man often holding a scythe and wearing the typical black robe and cowl.

What does Antonius Block do when death arrives?

Jof tells his wife that he can see the knight playing chess with Death and decides to flee with his family, while Block knowingly keeps Death occupied. As Death states “No one escapes me”, Block knocks the chess pieces over but Death restores them to their place.