Questions about THE SEVENTH SEAL

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Hi, all.

I was first introduced to The Seventh Seal when an undergrad at Covenant College. One of my professors had a movie evening at his home where we discussed the theological and philosophical themes of the film. I have seen it and taught it many times–but I always forget how strange and sobering it is.

I am really looking forward to our discussion of the film this Saturday (April 27th) at 2 pm with theologian, Dr. Cheryl Bridges Johns.

HERE is the Zoom link.

Here are some questions to ponder after watching the film:

1. What role does the family of actors play in the film (consider the English translations of the names Jof and Mia)?

2. Consider the contrasting views of faith that we see in the film in the characters of Antonius, the knight; Jöns, the squire; and Jof, the actor.

3. What are the main theological struggles that Antonius “confesses” unknowingly to death? You can read the scene HERE on pages 11-14.

4. What role does silence play in the film (literal silence, mentions of silence, a silent character, etc.)? How does this contrast with the “stillness” that Jof mentions he experiences when he has a vision of the Virgin and Child?

5. The Danse Macabre is both mentioned and depicted in this film multiple times. In the final scene, why are some characters a part of the dance and others watching?

6. What is so significant about the scene when Anotonius, Jof, and Mia share wild strawberries with milk? Why do you think that Antonius says he will always remember it?

7. How are religious authority figures portrayed in the film (the man from the pub who urged Antonius to go to the Crusades, the monks and flagellants in the procession, the preacher who tells all who will listen that they are “doomed,” etc.)?

8. What role does humor play in the film? How is Jöns’ humor different from the humor associated with Jof?

9. What is the symbolism of the beach setting for the chess game?

10. How do we see Sartre’s concepts of “Anguish,” “Abandonment,” and “Despair” portrayed in the film?

A few more interesting things related to the film:

• An interview with Ingmar Bergman. He talks about The Seventh Seal starting around the 4 minute mark.

• Martin Scorsese on Bergman

• Woody Allen’s homage to Bergman (his favorite director) from Love and Death. The first few minutes parodically allude to Bergman’s Persona, while the last few minutes are a parody of the ending of The Seventh Seal.

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Last of all, I want to share this beautiful introduction to the script of The Seventh Seal. It is fascinating and even puzzling that Bergman wrote this:

         “There is an old story of how the cathedral of Chartres was struck by lightning and burned to the ground.  Then thousands of people came from all points of the compass, like a giant procession of ants, and together they began to rebuild the cathedral on its old site.  They worked until the building was completed -- master builders, artists, laborers, clowns, noblemen, priests, burghers.  But they all remained anonymous, and no one knows to this day who built the cathedral of Chartres.

         Regardless of my own beliefs and my own doubts, which are unimportant in this connection, it is my opinion that art lost its basic creative drive the moment it was separated from worship.  It severed an umbilical cord and now lives its own sterile life, generating and degenerating itself.  In former days the artist remained unknown and his work was to the glory of God.  He lived and died without being more or less important than other artisans; "eternal values," "immortality" and "masterpiece" were terms not applicable in his case.  The ability to create was a gift.  In such a world flourished invulnerable assurance and natural humility.

         Today the individual has become the highest form and the greatest bane of artistic creation.  The smallest wound or pain of the ego is examined under a microscope as if it were of eternal importance.  The artist considers his isolation, his subjectivity, his individualism almost holy.  Thus we finally gather in one large pen, where we stand and bleat about our loneliness without listening to each other and without realizing that we are smothering each other to death.  The individualists stare into each other's eyes and yet deny the existence of each other.  We walk in circles, so limited by our own anxieties that we can no longer distinguish between true and false, between the gangster's whim and the purest ideal.

         Thus if I am asked what I would like the general purpose of my films to be, I would reply that I want to be one of the artists in the cathedral on the great plain.  I want to make a dragon's head, an angel, a devil -- or perhaps a saint -- out of stone.  It does not matter which; it is the sense of satisfaction that counts.  Regardless of whether I believe or not, whether I am a Christian or not, I would play my part in the collective building of the cathedral."

(Richardson, Literature and Film, pp. 10-11, from Bergman, Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1960, pp. xxi-xxii.)

**Thanks to Dr. Joe Kickasola for originally sharing this with me.