3. The Seventh Seal (1957)
Antonius Bloc is a knight returning to medieval Sweden after taking part in the Crusades. What he finds is a country riven by plague and the figure of Death keeps accosting him. They become embroiled in a game of chess which buys Antonius some time. But does Antonius really want to survive in a hellish world with scavengers stealing stuff from dead people's bodies, children blamed on plague outbreaks and burnt at the stake and religious penitents roving round the country? The Seventh Seal has been much parodied and the scene of Bloc playing chess with Death is one of the 20th century's most iconic moments in film history. Max von Sydow puts in a stunning performance as Antonius Bloc vividly portraying his angst. It is not all doom and gloom. Bloc makes the acquaintance of a group of travelling actors who are the sanest voice in a country riven by madness. Everyone thinks that God has sent the Plague to punish them but the actors are a bit more atheistic. The film is definitely a solemn exercise in existentialism. The message being, we may stall death for a while (like Antonius playing chess with death) but at the end of the day, when your number is up, that's it. And none of us has an idea of when death may strike. The only important thing we can do with our lives is to help people along the way - which is what Antonius does when he returns to Sweden. Learning from other people is also an important theme. The film was an intimate portrait of Bergman's relationship with religion and also his parents - the strict religious dogma they force fed him. He pronounced that he hated the film, most likely because it is so personal a picture. Bergman created a marvellous film, not as austere as many would have you believe but still very solemn in a way that only Bergman could render.