Review: The Seventh Seal (Criterion Collection Spine #11)

Playing for Time

Spine #11 is perhaps the most parodied film in cinema history. The image of the Knight playing chess with Death is iconic, but watching The Seventh Seal (1957) with fresh eyes reveals something surprisingly grounded. I didn’t interpret the famous match as a battle of wits or a spiritual war; I saw it simply as a delay. Chess is a slow game. The Knight, Antonius Block, isn’t playing to win—he knows the outcome is fixed. He is playing to buy time, forcing Death to pause so he can process the inevitable. Death, for his part, has no problem playing along. He knows he will win eventually..

While the Knight searches for God, it is his squire, Jöns, who anchors the film in reality. If I had to align with a philosophy, it would be his. The Squire isn’t spiritual; he lives in the “now,” accepting the absurdity of the world with a cynical grin. But more importantly, while the Knight broods on the beach about the silence of God, the Squire is the one actually solving problems—saving a girl from a rapist, guiding the group, and acting based on what is morally right in front of him. The Knight thinks; the Squire acts.

The film offers a third path through the characters of Jof and Mia (a clear nod to Joseph and Mary). While the rest of the world is whipping themselves in fear of the plague, this family is focused on living. The “meaning of life” the Knight is so desperate to find isn’t in the chess game; it is in the bowl of wild strawberries and milk he shares with them.

Ultimately, Death isn’t the villain of the piece. He is a patient bureaucrat in a “job” that everyone actively avoids, despite everyone eventually having to hire him. He isn’t malicious; he is just waiting for the game to end.

The Verdict: The Seventh Seal is less about the fear of death and more about the procrastination of it. It argues that while we cannot change the checkmate, the moves we make in the meantime—specifically the kindness we show others—are what matter.

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