Bergman’s film The Seventh Seal (l957) takes its title from The Book of Revelations. In The Revelation to John, God the Father, seated on a throne in heaven, holds in his right hand a scroll sealed with seven seals, and the angels proclaim that it is the Lamb of God who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals. Thus, Bergman’s film is a religious allegory.

In the film, the main character is the knight Antonius Block (played by Max von Sydow), who with his squire (portrayed by Gunnar Bjornstrand) has returned from the Crusades. The setting is Sweden in the middle of the fourteenth century, at the height of the Plague.

The knight plays a game of chess with Death (portrayed by Bengt Ekerot), who allows him to live until the game is ended. The knight meets the juggler Jof (Nils Poppe) and his wife Mia (Bibi Andersson), who have a small child, and who represent Joseph and Mary. The knight cannot find faith in God, but he engages Death’s attention in the game of chess, thus allowing Jof and Mia to escape Death, and thus achieving meaning in a world marked by metaphysical uncertainty.

Human cruelty is portrayed in the torture of a young girl by the townspeople because she is suspected of being a witch, and punishment is portrayed by the overwhelming presence of plague, fear, and death.

But the film ends on a hopeful note, after Death leads away the knight and others in a parade across a hill. Jof and Mia and the child resume their journey in a covered wagon, representing humankind’s journey to salvation.