The Seventh Seal (1957): Review

Stub • 539 Words • Film • 12/05/2025

⚠️ This post contains a rougher cut of my thoughts on the topic and may be updated in the future. Please forgive any mistakes or lack of polish!

Technique

Pacing-wise it started rather slow and I almost dropped it but I am glad that I stuck it out because I really enjoyed this movie. I think that because of my Catholic background I was able to really resonate with Block and his doubts about religion.

The craft of the movie was of course beautiful.

  • There were a lot of striking shots
  • Because of the black and white there were some beautifully lit scenes that had all the much more impact
  • I liked the dissolves, sometimes multiple in quick succession
  • While it did follow an arc, I wouldn’t say there was much of a story, mostly little moments to inspire emotions
  • good sound design
    • Although I did find it strange that there wasn’t really much foley sound
    • Dramatic orchestral score that seemed very much of the time, but I enjoyed it
  • Good blocking
    • face to camera shots felt dissonant to me, but I did enjoy the monologuing

Themes and Motifs

The parts about faith and religion were very profound. I wouldn’t say that they were entirely novel because they did echo a lot of thoughts I had before so it was cool to see them explored on screen.

Coexistence of tragedy and levity:

  • While I wouldn’t say that this movie was overly funny, there were some lighter comedic moments to balance out a lot of the tragedy that was happening during the film.

Religion:

  • the silence of God
  • the crusades
  • faith and dogma
  • religion as a business (the painter talking about the symbiotic relationship between his art and the church)
  • the spirituality of the fool (can see demons, angels, death, etc.)

Death:

  • fear of death and religion
    • Block praying to God as Death takes him at the end
  • the fear of death as fear of the unknown
  • death as the frustration of projects (the director)
  • everything seems meaningless in front of death (cancelled on account of being dead)
  • death and dignity
    • bargaining (playing chess, begging for life, etc.)
    • the man dying alone with no reassurance from the plague because he was wicked
  • life after death (squirrel on tree after death cuts it down)

Life and Humanity:

  • the kindness of humans (the sharing of the milk and strawberries)
  • life and sex and pleasure (the director running away with the woman)
  • cruelty of humanity and cowardice (the man who convinced the Knight and Squire to go on the Crusade)
  • music, dance, and creation (everyone is writing songs??)
  • milk and strawberries as life and nature

The black plague and the end of times:

  • the self-flagellating doomsday cult
  • the man in the bar saying that it’s the end of times
  • People seemed somewhat casual about it because they were probably ignorant or felt like it wouldn’t reach them

There were a lot of misogynistic bits and I don’t know enough about Bergman to know if it’s just a result of the characters. But even then, not sure what statement is trying to be made.

  • the burning of the witch (they do try to help her though)
  • saving the woman from rape (but then still forces her to labor)
  • a lot of dialogue with the vibe of “can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em”
  • the duplicitous smith’s wife and how it’s played

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