Comments on: The Seventh Seal (Bergman, 1957)

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:09:27 +0000

I worship the lens flare! If I’ve learned nothing else from Bertolucci, it’s the magic of shooting into the sun!
(Marxist that he is/was, this may be proof of some instinctive Platonism in Maestro Bernardo after all . . . )

By: mrsemmapeel

mrsemmapeel — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:13:07 +0000

Nifty, I had completely forgotten I wrote this.

I actually think it came out in the New York Times, or else some other major American newspaper power.

I’ve seen a lot more Bergman since I wrote this piece, and his use of b&w is astonishing from film to film, whereas it’s almost flat and monochromatic here, in something like Hour of the Wolf it’s manipulated and exagerrated to really drive up the atmosphere.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen The Virgin Spring, and I have yet to see Summer Interlude, so I can’t quite comment. I do remember in Spring, in the final scenes the use of light being especially memorable though. Again, with some lens flares, or other similar “mistakes” used to grand effect.

Winter Light and the Silence, which I’ve seen since writing this, do seem to depart from the “grey” structure. Winter Light as you said, has those very dark darks, not only the river, but the priest’s outfit seems to be just a mass of darkness. The Silence, as I remember it, is mostly very grey but a lot of the key sequences are played up with incredibly evocative shadows and on location lights. The most incredible sequence has to be the sex scene in the theatre, beautiful stuff. I’m actually not even a big fan of that particular Bergman, but it’s certainly nice to look at.

Thanks, it’s not my favourite either. There are at least a handful I’d rank ahead of it.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:10:21 +0000

I think I saw Rosenbaum’s critique when it came out (in Sight&Sound?)– or some version of it anyway. While I’ll grant him he was being sincere, it’s always treacherous when critics start trying to tackle some supreme artist by poo-pooing some obvious essential feature of their mastery– like William H. Macy calling Hitchcock a sloppy director, to use a particularly vapid example!– they sink themselves to the level of Joseph II and his “too many notes” broadside vis-a-vis Mozart.
In terms of Bergman’s black&white films, I was struck again watching “The Virgin Spring” how very mobile Bergman could be, using dazzling light (even, I think, the occasional lens flare from the sunshine). It’s there too in “Summer Interlude”, which I’ve only seen on a horrible vhs copy. I think Bergman, among his many great feats, actually first mined that kind of lyrical cinema epitomized for me, in modern times, by Cuaron’s “A Little Princess” or Bertolucci’s “Beseiged.” That may be what drew Godard so strongly to ‘early’ Bergman, that kind of lyrical, musical movement that we don’t usually associate with him but is part of his repertoire, just as “Le Mepris” stands as Godard’s great soaring example of a ‘narrative’ film (in full lyrical mode!).
Since I haven’t seen a lot of the b&w Bergmans in their Criterion incarnations, do you find this greyness in, say, the Northern Trilogy? I remember “Winter Light” being crisply dark in its outdoor scenes (the darkly glinting river in that long wordless sequence going to collect Von Sydow’s character) but I may deceive myself.
–But in short, a wise analysis of Seventh Seal’s visual scheme. Not my favorite Bergman, but nice to get wrapped up in.

By: mrsemmapeel

mrsemmapeel — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:14:45 +0000

Yea, I never really understood what he was getting at. He did however garner more Bergman related discussion than anyone else, in terms of appreciating masters you do occasionally need the Devil’s advocate to really provoke meaningful discussion.

By: AR

AR — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:26:53 +0000

I still laugh, thinking about Rosenbaum’s critique. I haven’t seen every one of Bergman’s films, but the visual aspect was what immediately drew me to it. It shows that he understood one had to treat theatre and film differently.

By: mrsemmapeel

mrsemmapeel — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:04:06 +0000

I hope your headache goes away :(

By: Aurelle

Aurelle — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 09:13:02 +0000

Nice catch on the lighting work, Rouge.

I wish I have more to say on the film but I have a blazing headache. :(

By: » Cinefantastique Web Surfing 02/06/08

» Cinefantastique Web Surfing 02/06/08 — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:30:05 +0000

[...] THE SEVENTH SEAL: House of Mirth and Movies offers up an appreciation of Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 meditation on mortality, in which a knight (Max Von Sydow) holds Death at bay for a few extra days by challenging him to a game of chess. [...]