The Seventh Seal DVD Review - Page Two

I find the scene of the Knight's attempted confession to be both visually stunning and deeply moving. Particularly effective is the way the cinematography and the actors' performances form a dynamic synergy. Bathed in a black and white chiaroscuro, the grating of the confessional frames the actors' faces and encloses the Knight in an oppressively claustrophobic space. It makes me share the Knight's feeling that with time running out, he is imprisoned within himself with no hope of escape.

As a lighthearted counterpoint to the solemnity of the Knight's attempted confession, we see the Squire in another part of the church, bantering with a man who is painting murals. As the painter and the Squire share an alcoholic beverage, the irreverent Squire paints a picture of himself, which he holds up and says, "Here's Squire Jons. He grins at Death, chuckles at the Lord, laughs at himself, and smiles at the girls. His world exists only for himself. Absurd to all, even to himself. Meaningless in heaven, indifferent in hell."

Before long we catch up with the entertainers, who are putting on a show just outside an inn. As Joseph and Mary perform a lively musical number, the show is abruptly ended by the arrival of a dreary procession. Dominican monks swinging smoky censers lead the procession, followed by flagellants who whip themselves and each other. One of the monks harangues the spectators with a fire-and-brimstone speech, shouting at them, "You are all doomed, do you hear? Doomed! Doomed! Doomed!"

A pair of incidents at about this point in the film reveal that while the Squire may not believe in God, he sometimes helps people who are in trouble. The first incident occurs when the Squire goes into a cluster of peasant cottages to get drinking water. There he saves a young woman from being killed by a man stealing jewelry from the corpses of plague victims. The second incident takes place later at the inn, where a crowd takes great delight in watching a man cruelly torment Joseph for no good reason. But just as it looks as though Joseph is about to be seriously injured, the Squire rescues him.

In the evening Joseph, the Knight, the Squire, and the young woman whose life the Squire saved converge on the covered wagon, where Mary has been waiting with her infant son. There, in a mellow mood, they all share a meal of wild strawberries and milk in a scene that Bergman commentators often refer to as the "secular communion." His spirits buoyed by the presence of the life-affirming "holy family," a great serenity seems to come over the Knight, and he tells the little group, "I shall remember this hour of peace, the strawberries, the bowl of milk, your faces in the dusk ... I shall remember our words and shall bear this memory between my hands as carefully as a bowl of fresh milk. And this will be a sign, and a great content."

I think the "secular communion" scene is a splendid example of Bergman's genius. It is filled with the kind of sweetness, beauty, and simple joy that life can sometimes offer, even in a medieval world replete with horrors. When I see how the existence of people like Joseph, Mary, and their son brings contentment to the Knight, I am able to understand his motivation for carrying on.

After sundown, the Knight and the Squire resume their journey home, now joined by the "holy family" and others. Along the way they encounter a party of clergymen and soldiers preparing to burn a young woman who is accused of being a witch. The young woman herself believes she is in league with the Devil, but when the Knight and the Squire talk with her, both realize that she is not a witch at all -- she is merely emotionally troubled.

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