• Bergman’s first masterpiece—and a landmark film in 1950’s cinema
  • The title is from the Book of Revelations.
  • This is a period film (complete with the plague, omens and judgment day) and Bergman made relatively few of these (Virgin Spring and he did not actually write that one- one of the few). So this is a bit out of the norm. Not saying he could not break it- but the mold is 1973’s Scenes from a Marriage for Bergman.
  • A gray film- severe in pictorial tint and mood—Bergman sets the tone with the choir reigning down during the opening as we set out with the young Max von Sydow (just 28 years old here) and Gunnar Björnstrand back from the crusades as Death, incarnate, shows up on the rocks on the beach.

A gray film- severe in pictorial tint and mood—Bergman sets the tone with the choir reigning down during the opening as we set out with the young Max von Sydow (just 28 years old here) and Gunnar Björnstrand back from the crusades as Death, incarnate, shows up on the rocks on the beach

  • I forget how tight the film is- 96 minutes and I always forget the humor (pitch black–certainly) —it is heavy stuff- and von Sydow’s confessional soliloquy, the group of flagellants, the witch burning— medieval darkness- but it is not without its breaks for levity.

it is heavy stuff- and von Sydow’s confessional soliloquy, the group of flagellants, the witch burning— medieval darkness- but it is not without its breaks for levity

  • Bergman tells his story through really three characters, von Sydow’s Antonius Block—the man in the middle, and he is juxtaposed with Gunnar’s skeptic on one shoulder and the defenseless naïve (but devout) actor– Nils Poppe, on the other. Poppe’s character is Joseph and he sees visions of the Virgin Mary. Bibi Andersson’s character (his wife) is Mary- though they do have a child in the film. Gunnar Bjornstrand’s skill is crucial to the film as well. He plays the squire- and it is clear that the squire (and Bjornstrand) see themselves, not Block (von Sydow) as the central character in this film.
  • Bergman’s screenplay—both in the ingenuity of the fable, and the dialogue– are among cinema’s finest. The “I want knowledge… but he is silent” monologue by von Sydow is prenominal writing- a  screenplay that should be on any cinephiles short list.
    And the performances, von Sydow in particular—are transcendent—but it is wrong to believe Bergman did not excel as a visual auteur until the 1960s when he and Sven Nykvist hooked up more permanently. It is all here in abundance with most of the jaw-dropping sequences occurring in the back half of the film– a standout at 19 minutes as von Sydow approaches the cross to pray.

a standout at 19 minutes as von Sydow approaches the cross to pray in a medium long shot– symmetrical– beautiful

  • Like much of Bergman’s work- the topic is really the deafening silence of God—he would go at it different ways over the years or decades.
  • Max von Sydow’s Block wants to do some good before he is gone after wasting ten years in the Crusades—he is stalling death at first but when the opportunity comes to save the Joseph, Mary and baby traveling actors group—that becomes his mission.
  • at 37 minutes we have one of the best scenes in the film—the group of flagellants—Bergman places the camera on the ground and lets the group almost walk over the camera. Then he cuts to the three (von Sydow, Björnstrand, and Björnstrand’s “housekeeper”- Gunnel Lindblom) in a great depth of field shot three-person shot, then he tracks along the kneeing townspeople, and then each of three individually in closeup looking at the camera—a sublime two minutes off cinema.

at 37 minutes we have one of the best scenes in the film—the group of flagellants– a sublime two minutes of cinema

  • overcast, shadowed, muddled – not the accentuated monochrome difference between black and white—this is Gunnar Fischer as director of photography- I am not trying to take away from Sven Nykvist but this is certainly proof that Bergman could make one of the most beautiful films of the decade without the famous (justifiably) cinematographer he would go on to work with.
  • foreground/background shot of the traveling wagon on the hill in the background with the chess match in the foreground

foreground/background shot of the traveling wagon on the hill in the background with the chess match in the foreground

at the 70-minute mark yet another superior cinematic painting—foreground/background work again with Björnstrand and his housekeeper back left

  • 73 mins- depth of field—the soldier is front left, middle right is von Sydow and middle background is the witch girl through the bars

73 mins- depth of field—the soldier is front left, middle right is von Sydow and middle background is the witch girl through the bars

  • Again, the film really picks up in the last half hour—at the 77-minute mark von Sydow and Björnstrand are talking to each other literally standing right behind each other— ingenuity in the blocking- certainly something Bergman would develop into an artform- he already has that Varda La Pointe Courte two-faces blocking each other shot down at this point in 1957 (though it is not deplored here)

ingenuity in the blocking- certainly something Bergman would develop into an artform– at 77 minutes von Sydow and Björnstrand are talking to each other literally standing right behind each other

  • The thief dying an agonizing death with the tree stump in the foreground right- another strong composition

The thief dying an agonizing death with the tree stump in the foreground right- another strong composition

  • The best compositions in the film, and among the best of the decade—are in the last few minutes- at 92 minutes the table of the five brought back to Block’s castle (along with Block’s wife)- they all look back at death from the table in a perfect tableau– wow. Everything at Block’s castle is staged in an absurdly beautiful way.

the table of the five brought back to Block’s castle (along with Block’s wife)- they all look back at death from the table in a perfect tableau– wow

  • Next we get them standing- von Sydow in the background, hands in prayer, the others facing death and the camera— immaculate

Next we get them standing- von Sydow in the background, hands in prayer, the others facing death and the camera— immaculate. The staging the collective- the second half is stronger when the trope is all together.

  • And then the image of the seven interlocked on a hill in silhouette- “a solemn dance”

Next we get them standing- von Sydow in the background, hands in prayer, the others facing death and the camera— immaculate And then the image of the seven interlocked on a hill in silhouette- “a solemn dance”

  • Max von Sydow’s first Bergman collaboration (playing the great character Antonius Block) and first archiveable film. And this is just the second for Bibi Andersson.
  • A stone cold masterpiece – absolutely a film worthy of its spot in the cinematic canon. This is Bergman’s seventeenth (17th) film.