“You can hunt about in the history of the cinema and bring up a distant cousin or two for Bergman’s great work. Yet, when all the delving is done, this film remains something quite distinct, a wonderful film which is not quite like any other.”
This week’s ‘Film Club at Home’ selection is Ingmar Bergman’s classic The Seventh Seal, which we’d originally planned to show in tribute to Max Von Sydow who died earlier in March.
If you’ve never seen the film before, we hope Nigel’s introduction here will encourage you to do so. As he says, it’s only 90 minutes long and has more jokes than you might think.
The film is widely available online. More details underneath the video, along with further links about the film.
How can you watch The Seventh Seal?
Someone has uploaded the full movie to YouTube where you can watch it here for free.
It’s available to subscribers of the BFI Player (which is currently offering a 14-day free trial).
It’s also available to rent via Amazon for £2.49.
Related links
Watch Mark Kermode introduce The Seventh Seal (more briefly than Nigel)
Warch Melvyn Bragg interview Bergman in 1978
Roger Ebert’s review of the film from his Great Movies series
The Seventh Seal: There Go the Clowns - article on the film’s ‘prevailing vitality’
The Seventh Seal chess match analysed - a lighthearted piece from Empire
What next?
We’d love to hear what you think of the film. Leave a comment here, send us an email, Tweet us @tpfilmclub or post on our Facebook page. We’ll then gather up some reactions and share them in our weekly email as well as here.
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