Bergman's movie "The Seventh Seal"--could someone please explain?

I've wanted to see this movie for a while, so I recently got a copy of the Criterion BR from Amazon Warehouse Deals. The disc had a few scuff marks, but it seemed to play fine...until the last 15 minutes, when it froze up and wouldn't respond to any commands. For some reason, even though Amazon Warehouse isn't really a third-party seller, the only available option seems to be a refund, not a replacement, and the reason I provide this long-winded, seemingly irrelevant introduction is because, frankly, I'm not really sure if I want to contact Amazon about getting a replacement or whether I should just go for the refund, because I really just did not get this movie.

Let me make it clear--I have no issues with black and white, or non-English movies, or art films, or anything like that. Usually when I dislike an older, 'classic' film, it's because it moves too slowly to keep me invested. But I can't fault the pacing of The Seventh Seal at all; it kept my attention the entire time. The problem is, I wasn't really sure what the point of 90% of it was.

I really, really wanted to like this movie. It sounded incredibly intriguing. Here's the IMDB description:

That sounds awesome! I love stories like this, and the imagery of Bengt Ekerot as Death is iconic. In fact, any time he was on screen, I was completely captivated. Ditto for Antonius Block. Those two characters and their portrayals were compelling. And if you read the synopsis, you'd expect that they would be the primary focus of this movie. But they're probably only featured in about a quarter of the movie.

Now, reasonably, I knew that it was never going to be 97 minutes of Death and Antonius sitting at a chess board. But I really didn't expect that we would be following the exploits of several other, barely-connected, significantly less interesting characters. Nor did I expect a lengthy, boring scene of 2-3 actors performing at a festival that randomly ends when a group of flagellants arrive.

Now, granted, I didn't see the last few minutes, although I went ahead and read the plot synopsis on Wikipedia. So I guess my question is...why are we supposed to care about the festival performers? Why are we supposed to care about the other actor, who runs off with a random bimbo? Why are we supposed to care about said bimbo's husband? Why are we supposed to care about the other soldier and the woman he essentially kidnaps? For the most part, they all have completely separate storylines that clumsily intertwine towards the end of the movie.

Like I said, I really did want to like this movie. And if it had all been the way the synopsis describes it, I would have absolutely loved it. But I just couldn't get past all the extraneous characters that took up the bulk of the screentime. I know it's a highly-acclaimed film, and I want to at the very least appreciate it for what it is...so can someone provide a more accurate synopsis that will help me rewatch it with the 'correct' mentality? Because coming into it with the impression that it was the story of Antonius's inner struggles and conflict with Death, I feel like I watched a fantastic short film that was broken up with a bunch of random segments that didn't make a whole lot of sense and detracted from the overall work.

 

Try other essays to see if that helps. The Criterion site has a couple, for a start.

 

Don’t worry, you’re not alone: Exactly the same can be said about almost the complete œuvre of Ingmar Bergman.

 

Here's the key to understanding "Seventh Seal": Rosebud is his sled!

 

I read the essay in the booklet, which did point out one aspect that helps provide a bit of context for the Jöns character and his contrast to Antonius. But to expand a little bit on what I was saying in the OP, I think my confusion really stems from the fact that it feels like there are four separate, interspersed short films combined to make one feature-length film: the juggler and his wife (incidentally--is it an intentional character choice that he...doesn't actually juggle but simply tosses the balls from one hand to the other?!); the other actor who runs off with a married woman and is confronted by her husband; Jöns and the would-be rapist he happened to know from ten years earlier (and the mute woman he forces to go along with him); and the soul-searching Antonius vs. Death. Individually, they weren't difficult to follow, although the last one is the only one I found interesting. At some point these storylines intertwine but in a rather forced, clunky manner IMO.

And that's sort of the problem...I can't really think of an accurate logline that encompasses every part of the story, let alone would make me want to see it. "A man seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague"--that's compelling. That intrigues me. Unfortunately, that describes a mere 25% of the movie.

If only it were that easy...

 

Not to be snide, but I would suggest that you watch the entire movie, rather than rely on a Wikipedia summary if you want to begin to make sense of it. The various plotlines do indeed come together at the end, as nearly all the characters are confronted by Death, and for me, that conclusion complicates the distinction between central and"extraneous" characters that you make above. For me, Bergman offers us a panorama of a medieval society living in the shadow of death (just as we are in the modern world). The film includes saints and sinners, innocents and fools, and watching the way these people deal with the violence, absurdity, and unfairness of their world may hold up a mirror to our own existential dilemma. This and the absolutely stunning cinematography make this a film I never get tired of. I always find its closing minutes absolutely haunting and transcendent.

 

The Seventh Seal is one of the greatest movies ever committed to celluloid. Watch it again, all the way through to the end.

 

spoiler alert: the movie is about the meaning of life, and how we are tricked into believing that we will go skipping into the afterlife holding hands joyfully when we die, but the reality is you think you are seeking a priest to confess your sins, but you are actually confessing to death, and in the end death leads us to complete nothingness...

 

I agree that you may have missed the point because you didn't see the entire film. The final sequence is particularly revealing. Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of Bergman's films.

 

I went to see The Usual Suspects and walked out fifteen minutes before the ending. What a pointless movie.

 

I lost a lot of respect for Death after watching this film; he really compromised his integrity with endemic cheating. And as I stink at chess, the grim reaper better be limbered up for a hardcore Twister showdown when it comes time for mortality game night at my house!/K

 

Nor did I expect a lengthy, boring scene of 2-3 actors performing at a festival that randomly ends when a group of flagellants arrive.

Egads. That one of the films most stunning moments.

 

As much as I like "The Seventh Seal", I think it can be a little overwhelming for those not converted to the genius of Ingmar Bergman. I would suggest watching some of his "chamber" films, such as "Through a Glass Darkly", "Winter Light", "The Silence" or for a great color film try "Cries and Whispers". All these films address matters of life and death and in the case of the first three I mentioned, they all deal with God's silence at a time when He is needed most. These films are all incredibly depressing so correct frame of mind is probably in order.

 

Don't worry about not liking The Seventh Seal or liking it for that matter. It's a movie, not a theology or philosophy or scientific theory. It's well photographed in my view. I think you understand it well enough actually . Transcendental ideas are not explained or confirmed by showing prosaic reality. Bergman shows prosaic reality and contrasts that with the crusading knight's transcendental ideas and imagination (as well as the flagellants' transcendental ideas). You are free to choose what you find more compelling.

 

Fair point that I needed to see the ending--I went ahead and finished it on YouTube. It was a fairly satisfying ending, and brought some cohesion to the characters. I'll admit, things do add up a lot better having seen it. I'm still not entirely convinced on how Lisa and her husband figure into Antonius's world (or the other actor, but he's disposed of at this point), but at least the purpose of Jöf and Mia is crystal-clear, and even the woman with Jöns makes an impact in the end.

I suppose the still-itching question for me is why each character is given equal weight throughout the film, which was pretty much the question I had all along but didn't realize. I still maintain that following Antonius consistently would have made the map of the story easier to follow, but maybe it's not meant to be easy to follow on a first viewing, so I'll give it another shot.

 

As am I. But I'll be the first to admit his films are not to everyone's tastes. The Seventh Seal is a masterpiece, pure and simple. It does have to be watched in its entirety to be appreciated. Incredibly most of it was shot in the suburbs of Stockholm.

 

Bergman is contrasting prosaic reality with the ideas on reality that the Knight and the flagellants (and many others not in the film) impose. You (like almost everyone else) are asking for artistry in depicting prosaic reality, not prosaic reality. There are no such distinctions of relative worth and importance except what is imposed by human (or transcendental) conceptual distinctions. Even Bergman can't resist this conceptualizing entirely since it is the caring family that survives, perhaps through the self sacrifice of the Knight. I suppose that is "the point" of the Seventh Seal if there is one.

 

I went into the Seventh Seal expecting this crazy dense hard to understand movie that's the rep that people lay on it.

I found it to be the total opposite and I'm not sure how people have trouble getting it.

 

You should've started out with something light and cheery, like Scenes from a Marriage.

 

I know, I know...it was originally a 'The DVD crapped out, is it worth finishing?' kind of question, but 24 hours later, I'm sort of kicking myself for that because not only had I made it more than 80 minutes into a 97-minute movie (so even if it wasn't my cup of tea, there's no reason not to finish), but as the post about The Usual Suspects kind of made clear, it's impossible to determine the worth of a film without seeing it all the way through. I'm especially ashamed because I was a film major in college, so it kind of goes against everything I feel in even entertaining that notion. But I guess that's also why I was convinced I didn't just want to like this movie, I needed to like it, because it's considered such an cinematic high point. The cinematography was outstanding and it managed to hold my attention throughout, but it just wasn't the movie I was expecting.

That's all true. I think it ultimately boils down to my expectation that it was the story of the knight vs. Death. I don't like to read detailed descriptions of films before I see them, and I've never heard anyone talk about any other aspect of it, so I was taken aback by how much of the film is not about those two. And I'm not saying I can think of a one-to-two-sentence summary that accurately describes what the film consists of myself. I guess if one were more familiar with Bergman's work, they'd know to expect all the additional layers, but otherwise I don't know how someone is supposed to realize that, yes, it is about a knight playing a game of chess against Death, but that's just one of several separate and essentially equally-weighted stories that eventually link up.

The philosophy was pretty easy to grasp. It was the storytelling technique that I had trouble with.

 

Yeah, but he already saw the sequel:

 

Jerry Lewis is EXCELLENT in it!

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/b6...riage-from-sctv-from-greatest-comedy-sketches

 

I agree. I expected to be totally put-off by it when I first saw it years ago but I thought it was surprisingly accessible:

http://www.dvdmg.com/seventhsealbr.shtml