rating:
(out of
4 stars)Sweden; 1957
Directed by Ingmar Bergman; produced by Allan Ekelund; written by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe, Bibi Andersson
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
A movie about life, death and the question whether God exists or not. This
is one of Ingmar Bergman's best films, may be the best, and it a very
fascinating piece of cinema.
A knight (Max von Sydow) comes back from the crusades, in a time the Black
Death is controlling the country, and encounters Death (Bengt Ekerot). Death
has followed the knight home and now it is time. The knight suggests that
they play a game of chess and as long as the knight doesn't lose he can keep
on living. The game of chess comes back during the entire movie. The knight
travels with his squire (Gunnar Björnstrand) and one the way they meet some
people.
In the time the knight has left he wants to find out whether there is a God
or not. One great scene where he asks a witch, accused of sleeping with the
Devil himself, if he can also speak to the Devil because he must know
whether God exists, leaves us with a very good possibility that there is no
God. Death exist as a supernatural thing, but a god is not part in that.
This possibility is kept in the movie for a long while.
The knight and his squire also meet actor Jof (Nils Poppe) and his wife Mia
(Bibi Andersson). They have a little boy named Michael. The last good thing
the knight wants to do has something to do with them. To tell more would
spoil things, and it would probably not even help you very much.
This is a strange movie in a way, but it is beautiful as well. It is
something you will not see in any modern movie which makes it even more
fascinating. The great story, acting, direction of Bergman and
cinematography of Gunnar Fischer make this a movie you will not forget very
soon. The images of the knight playing the game of chess with Death belong
to the greatest in the world of cinema.