Film of the week #56 - The Seventh Seal

Karl Hungus

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050976/

Sorry guys, I miscounted the votes last night. The real FotW this week was The Seventh Seal, so Alien will have to wait, but the thread is here anyway, if you'd like to discuss it.

Anyway, The Seventh Seal is one incredible film. Ingmar Bergman was a visionary director who is without equal.

BlitzKrieg

meh one good film for another...still fantastic

its good to know good films are racing neck and neck and not being challanged by crap

johnny_ultimate

I don't think I've seen many films which are as wonderful as the Seventh Seal. Any film would be praised for such intelligence, visual flair and direction, but nothing in this film is a misstep. It is a beautifully composed piece of art. It is a film which can be laugh out loud funny, terrifying (see the scene when the travelling freakshow interrupts the central travelling couples' performance in the village - chilling), thought provoking and hypnotic (the final iconic

dancing with death parade

).

Like most Bergman, it isn't exactly light viewing. Yet despite the bleakness

and final body count

it ultimately emerges as a strangely uplifting experience - one which acknowledges the wonder of life (

personified by the knight's noble sacrafice to save the couple and their child

) while still refusing to ignore the ever lingering threat of death, and man's inability to stop the inevitable, perhaps merely to postpone it.

While Persona is still my favourite Bergman, Seventh Seal is a close second, and the first I had seen from the master. It is probably his most accessiable film (although Wild Strawberries could also claim that title), and a good starting point before diving into the unrelenting bleakness of 'The Silence of God' trilogy and others. Typically first-rate performances from a number of Bergman regulars too - including Max Von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstadt and the gorgeous Bibi Anderson.

Easily one of the greatest films ever made.

Karl Hungus

Dissapointed by the lack of discussion on this one, especially considering Bergman recent departure. I think Johnny Ultimate sums up it up well though.

Lyaiera

I saw this tonight, and I was absolutely impressed. Like Johnny said there is not one misstep in this entire film. Everything you hear and see has a purpose and understanding its purpose is what makes this film so great. The narrative thread running throughout is amazingly superb, a literal and figurative fight with death.

I love how it portrays religion as the fear of death, and what it will drive people too. While hope and honesty is given life. I love how it shows that every step and decision we make is ultimately what we will be judged on, not by god, but by death but by our own mortality. It says how we have nothing to live for other than what we do, and that if that brings a fear of mortality maybe it's not a good thing.

Theboinkmaster

Can we bring back film of the week?!

The Strawman Argument

Damn you, Scott Walker! Spoiling films through song...

Sad Professor

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

Can we bring back film of the week?!

It was tried several times. It didn’t work. It arguably never worked. Look at the number of replies in this thread.

If you want to start a thread every week discussing a film of your choosing, fire away. We could do with more discussion of older films on here. But having people vote on what films to discuss is kind of pointless, as they make crap choices, established classics mostly that no one has much to say about except how great they are. And picking one person to choose an interesting film and do a write-up about it is equally pointless because people won’t watch it unless it sounds good to them and the people who have seen it will say stuff like “good shout”, etc.

I get that people want recommendations of films to watch. But starting weekly discussion threads for films that people won’t watch or discuss is not the way to do it.