World Cinema Classics

Rivertown Film and Riverspace present World Cinema Classics, five films from the Janus Film Collection.

Tuesday, July 24, 8pm
The Seventh Seal, 1954, 96 min.
Dir. Ingmar Bergman
With Gunnar Bjornstrand, Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson
In Swedish with English Subtitles

A knight, who has recently returned from the Crusades and a plague ravaged Europe, tries to discover the meaning of life while procrastinating over a chess game with Death, who has offered him a short reprieve. A one-of-a-kind statement of enduring optimism in the face of the unknown future, and an investigation into the mystery of life, told with unforgettable images. For fifty years it has remained essential viewing for anyone seriously interested in the art of film.

“A piercing and powerful contemplation of the passage of man upon this earth. Essentially intellectual, yet emotionally stimulating, too, it is as tough — and rewarding — a screen challenge as the moviegoer has had to face this year.”
— Bowsley Crowther, The New York Times

“a magically powerful film — the story seems to be playing itself out in a medieval present […] The images and the omens are medieval, but the modern erotic and psychological insights add tension, and in some cases, as in the burning of the child-witch excruciation, the actors’ faces, the aura of magic, the ambiguities, and the riddle at the heart of the film all contribute to its stature.”
— Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies