— Ch. 1 · Origins And Development —
The Seventh Seal.
~5 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
Ingmar Bergman wrote the play Trämålning, known as Wood Painting, in 1953 and 1954 for acting students at Malmö City Theatre. The first public performance aired on radio in 1954 before moving to stage productions in Malmö and Stockholm. Actor Bengt Ekerot directed the autumn staging of the play in Stockholm, later playing Death himself in the film version. Bergman began writing the screenplay while recovering from a stomach complaint at Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm. Carl-Anders Dymling, head of Svensk Filmindustri, initially rejected the script. Dymling only approved the project after Smiles of a Summer Night succeeded at Cannes. Bergman rewrote the script five times under tight constraints. He received a schedule of thirty-five days and a budget of $150,000. This production marked his seventeenth directed film.
Plot And Narrative Structure
Disillusioned knight Antonius Block returns from the Crusades to find Sweden ravaged by the plague. He encounters Death, who challenges him to a chess match to delay his inevitable end. A caravan of actors led by Jof and his wife Mia travels through the countryside with their infant son Mikael. Jof experiences a vision of Mary leading the infant Jesus, which he shares with a smilingly disbelieving Mia. Block visits a church where a fresco of the Danse Macabre is being painted. The squire chides the artist for colluding in the ideological fervor that drove the crusade. In the confessional, Block speaks to a priest about performing one meaningful deed before dying. He reveals the chess tactic that will save his life, only to discover it is Death listening. Block meets a young woman condemned to be burned at the stake for consorting with the Devil. She claims she has summoned Satan, but the knight sees only her terror as she faces execution. Raval, a theologian turned thief, manipulates villagers into intimidating Jof until Jöns slashes his face. The group enjoys a picnic of milk and wild strawberries gathered by Mia. Skat fakes a remorseful suicide while climbing a tree, then falls when Death cuts down the tree. Block knowingly keeps Death occupied so the actors can escape.