This article is about the film. For the movie on which it is based, see (The Seventh Seal)

 The Seventh Seal

 

The seventh seal is a 1957 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set during the Black Death,it tells of the journey of a medieval knight and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death, who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play Wood Painting. The title refers to a passage from the  Book of Revelation, used both at the very start of the film, and again towards the end, beginning with the words "And when the Lamb had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour" (Revelation 8:1). Here the motif of silence refers to the "silence of God" which is a major theme of the film.


The film is considered a major classic of world cinema. It helped Bergman to establish himself as a world-renowned director and contains scenes which have become iconic through parodies and homages. The Jesuit publication America identifies it as having begun "a series of seven films that explored the possibility of faith in a post-Holocaust, nuclear age". Likewise, film historians Thomas W. Bohn and Richard L. Stromgren identify this film as beginning "his cycle of films dealing with the conundrum of religious faith".

Directed by Ingmar Bergman Written by Ingmar Bergman Starring Max von Sydow Bibi Andersson Gunnar Björnstrand Nils Poppe Bengt Ekerot Inga Landgré Music by Erik Nordgren Cinematography Gunnar Fischer Editing by Lennart Wallén Distributed by AB Svensk Filmindustri Release date(s) Sweden: 16 February 1957 United States: 13 August 1958 Running time 96 min. Country Sweden Language Swedish Latin Budget US$150,000 (estimated)