Film Summary: The Seventh Seal, a film by Ingmar Bergman

The Seventh Seal, 1957

Directed by Ingmar Bergman

Resources for Teaching Film

ONE * * * * * * * * * *

A knight, returned from the Crusades to Sweden, wakes on a remote beach. Death appears
and the begin to play a game of chess.
The knight and his squire, Jons, leave their camp.
Jof and Mia, wandering minstrels, are shown awakening in their wagon. Other members of the troupe are introduced.
Jof has his first vision. We see the vision from his point of view of a Virgin-like woman with her child. He believes she is the Virgin Mary.
Mia and her daughter out on the grass with Jof; Jof sings for her. A member of the troupe enters--and he is wearing death mask and practicing some lines.

TWO * * * * * * * * * *

The Knight and squire arrive at country church; long discussion with painter, who is working on a mural of the Black Death.
The Knight has private moment with a crucifix. Then he goes to confess to a monk; but it is death he is confessing to. A shot of knight and death in the frame together; Block gives him the secret of how he will beat death in the chess game.
Squire Jons and painter, both drunk after a long conversation.
Outside the church; Block spies a "witch". He talks to her, but she makes no sense.
On the road again with Block and the squire. They come upon an abandoned farm. Everyone has died of the Plague. Inside the barn Squire Jons sees a seminary student taking jewelry off the dead person; a young woman hides in the background.
The squire stops the man from possibly attacking the woman; he warns the man that the next time he sees him he will kill him. He recognizes the seminary student--someone who preached to Knights to send them off to the Crusades, as his Master was sent away--and Squire Jons had to follow him.
The Squire and Knight leave, and they take the woman with them. She is mute.

THREE * * * * * * * * * *

A town nearby; the players are busy with a production for the townspeople. One of the players is primping in the wagon; he is seduced by one of the local women, Plog's wife, a bawdy woman.
Jof and Mia hold forth on the stage.
A religious procession comes through the scene. Everyone stops to watch them. Many of the people are flagellating themselves. One man carries a huge cross. The priest chastises the crowd.
Block and the squire discuss the passing scene. The squire is cynical and bitter.
Plog, the blacksmith, asks if the squire has seen his wife or not. We know his wife has been seducing one of the players.
Jof at the local pub, where he is approached by Plog, still looking for his wife; the same seminary student we saw earlier taunts Jof. Squire Jons comes up and cuts the seminary student across the face with his knife.

FOUR * * * * * * * * * *

A peaceful scene between Block and Mia and her daughter. They sit outside the wagon in the country. Jof, injured, comes back. Mia takes care of him.
Jof and Block discuss the plague. Mia brings out a fresh bowl of strawberries.
Jof sits and plays the lute; we see death mask in the background; Block talks about his wife. The Knight seems relaxed, content, and enjoys the special treat of strawberries and milk.
Death suddenly appears at the encampment. They resume their game, and the balance between them is the fate of Jof and Mia. Block realizes that he is playing with Death so that Jof and Mia can escape. Death knows this.

FIVE * * * * * * * * * *

Jof and Mia prepare to leave their next stop. The squire comes across Plog at the tavern. He has lost his wife. Outside the tavern; Plog apologizes to Jof. They depart.
In the forest. PLog spies his wife and the member of the troupe. He chases them. Plog and the member of the troupe, Skat, confront each other, and argue, with Plog's wife trying to intervene. Finally, Skat pretends to kill himself.
Skat gets up, proud of his ruse. But Death appears and saws down the tree and Skat falls to his death.
In the forest. A storm strikes the wandering band.

A witch is brought through the forest. The Squire and the Knight comes to the scene where the witch is to be burned. Block interviews the witch. But she seems no more than a terrified teenager. The witch is burned at the stake.
Back in the forest, Block waits for Death to resume the game; Jof lights fires. Screams of a dying man; it is the seminary student, now with the plague. He asks for water. They can't help him.
Block still waiting for death; he appears. They resume the game. While they play, the wagon escapes, because Jof has had a vision of death playing the knight.
In the forest, the dark night of the soul.

SIX * * * * * * * * * *

Jof and Mia escaping. They hide later.
Block and the others return to his castle. There he is reunited with his wife.
Mealtime later. Reading of the Book of Apocalypse, reference to the seventh seal. The reading continues, focus on the young woman. Suddenly we realize someone is coming. Young woman finally gets up.
We see death again. The young woman greets him. All fall in behind her. They introduce each other. In the background the knight prays. The squire speaks cynically of his faith. The young woman kneels. "It is finished."
Mia looks out of the wagon at the new day's sun. Jof wakes up and the get out of the wagon. They are at the seashore. Outside the wagon, Jof sees a vision of the dance of death. He looks up a the hillside, and a procession of figures makes their way across the top, silhouetted in the sun. Jof and Mia leave.