The Seventh Seal

Name: The Seventh Seal
Genre: Fantasy, Drama
Released: 1957-02-16
Duration: 1 h 36 min
Rating: 8.1
Cast: Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe, Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson

The story of a challenge to death

Det sjunde inseglet (1957)

Timing: 1:36 (96 min)

—
no scores

8.1/10
3398

8.1/10
215000

Rate the movie:

Everything about the movie

Video 4

Photo 120

Actors and characters

Video for the film The Seventh Seal — The Seventh Seal (1957) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

2:39

Photo 120

Release date

Country

Production

Genre

Budget

$150 000

Box office

$23 758

Website

Director

Ingmar Bergman

Actors

Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe, Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Inga Gill, Maud Hansson, Inga Landgré, Gunnel Lindblom, Bertil Anderberg
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Allan Ekelund

Camera operator

Gunnar Fischer

Composer

Erik Nordgren

Artist

P.A. Lundgren

Audition

Editing

Lennart Wallén
Whole Team (17)

Short description

When 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.

What's left behind the scenes

In the scene of the witch burning, as the camera slowly pans from the guards breaking firewood to the bonfire, the roof and windows of a multi-story building can be seen in the background.
During the filming of the witch burning scene, the firefighters on set were so zealous that they flooded one of the rooms in a nearby laboratory.
The last two minutes of the film are pure improvisation. The actors had already filmed the entire final scene when Bergman noticed a cloud of unusual shape in the sky. He ordered the troupe to put their costumes back on and filmed a new version of the concluding scene in one take.
The screenplay of the film is based on the one-act play 'Trämålning' ('Wood Painting'), written by Bergman for the first graduation performance of the theatre school in Malmö, where he taught. This play-exercise consisted of monologues, and the number of roles corresponded to the number of graduating students.
The title is taken from the 'Book of Revelation'.
The final two minutes of the film are an improvisation. The actors had already performed the final scene when Bergman noticed a cloud of an unusual shape. He ordered the artists to put their costumes back on and filmed a new version of the closing scene in a single take.