![]() ![]() ![]() Through the nihilism of Jöns (Gunnar Bjonstrand), the agnosticism of Antonius Block (Max von Sydow), and the fanaticism of the flagellants, we see a diverse set of highly religious responses to plague and death. The Seventh Seal explores the various characters’ attitudes towards death and religion. ![]() This puts the film somewhere in the years 1347-1353 (Aberth 2010, xii), during the first major European outbreak of the plague. Though no year is given in the film, we can easily situate the film because of what we know about the plague. The film is set in medieval Sweden (Holland, 266) as plague sweeps through the country. Beyond the literal presence of Death himself (Bengt Ekerot), the film is steeped in death – from the constant threat of death through the plague to the implied violence and death of the Crusades. Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957) is, more than anything, a meditation on death. ![]()
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