Bergman and Chess

DEATH (disguised as a priest confessor): How can you outwit Death?

ANTONIUS: By a combination of bishop and knight, I will break his flank.

DEATH (revealing himself): I shall remember that…

I guess the moral of the story is never tell anyone your strategy.

This being its 50th anniversary, a revival of interest in Ingmar Bergman's 1957 classic film The Seventh Seal was under way well before the filmmaker's death at 89 last Monday. It's the story of a knight returned from the Crusades and suffering a crisis of faith. Facing Death himself, he contrives to hold off the Grim Reaper by challenging him to a game of chess. His aim, it seems, is to buy time to satisfy his curiosity about God's existence and perform an act that will give his life meaning.

But I'm no film critic; see it and judge for yourself.

Click twice on the screen to watch he trailer.