The Seventh Seal

Ingmar Bergman

 
The Seventh Seal (Criterion Blu-Ray)

Blu-Ray

1 Disc

SRP: $39.95

Criterion Store price:$31.96

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  • Sweden
  • 1957
  • 96 minutes
  • 1.33:1
  • Swedish
  •  
  • Spine #11

SYNOPSIS: Disillusioned and exhausted after a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight (Max von Sydow) encounters Death on a desolate beach and challenges him to a fateful game of chess. Much studied, imitated, even parodied, but never outdone, Bergman’s stunning allegory of man’s search for meaning, The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet), was one of the benchmark foreign imports of America’s 1950s art-house heyday, pushing cinema’s boundaries and ushering in a new era of moviegoing.

Cast & CreditsOpen

Cast

Antonius Block, the knightMax von Sydow
Karin, the knight's wifeInga Landgre
Jöns, the squireGunnar Björnstrand
Jof (Joseph)Nils Poppe
Mia (Mary)Bibi Andersson
DeathBengt Ekerot
Plog, the smithAke Fridell
Lisa, Plog's wifeInga Gill

Credits

Disc Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
  • Introduction by Ingmar Bergman, recorded in 2003
  • Audio commentary by Bergman expert Peter Cowie, with a new afterword
  • Bergman Island (2006), an 83-minute documentary on Bergman by Marie Nyreröd, featuring in-depth and revealing interviews with the director
  • Archival audio interview with Max von Sydow
  • A 1989 tribute to Bergman by filmmaker Woody Allen
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Bergman 101, a selected video filmography tracing Bergman’s career, narrated by Cowie
  • Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Gary Giddins

From the CurrentView the Current »

Film Essays

The Seventh Seal: There Go the Clowns

By Gary GiddinsJune 15, 2009

In recent years, The Seventh Seal has often been honored more for its historical stature than its prevailing vitality. Those who attended its first international rollout and were Read more »

Bergman and I

By Marie NyrerödJune 08, 2009

As I write this, it has been a year and a half since Ingmar Bergman passed away—and I miss him daily. I miss his imagination and the comfort he gave, both personally and through his films. I got to know Read more »

The Seventh Seal

By Peter CowieOctober 12, 1987

For more than forty years, The Seventh Seal has been a benchmark by which all other great foreign films are judged. It launched the international career of its director, Ingmar Bergman, and made a star of Read more »


News

Bergman Goes Hollywood

September 08, 2010

Soon, American Bergman-ophiles will be granted a special peek into the process of one of cinema’s great artists. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will host the Los Angeles world premiere Read more »

Ingmar Bergman’s Belongings Sold at Auction

September 29, 2009

In Stockholm, an auction of personal belongings from the estate of the great director Ingmar Bergman has just ended. The items ranged from parts of his daily life—his writing Read more »


Dispatches

Salute to Max von Sydow at Eighty

By Peter CowieApril 09, 2009

The first time I “met” Max was in May of 1959, when Bergman’s stunning production of Urfaust came to London for just one week in the World Theatre Season. Groupie of all things Swedish Read more »


Clippings

CHECKMATE

July 13, 2009

Like Gary Giddins in his recent Criterion essay, Andrew O’Hehir, in an engaging and sharp new DVD review for Salon, sets out to refute the long-held misconception that Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal is a humorless Read more »