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Don't fear the Reaper: Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece centres on a meeting between Antonius Block (Max Von Sydow), a knight returning from the Crusades and Death (Bengt Ekerot). Cowled, pasty-faced and vaguely sardonic, Death is tricked into staying his scythe when Block challenges him to a game of chess. Full of haunting, iconic images and a touch of hopeful humanity, The Seventh Seal is cinema at its most artful, a philosophical meditation on the meaning(lessness) of this mortal coil.

Taking its title from the Book of Revelation, The Seventh Seal could be a horror movie, perhaps even the ultimate horror movie. It's set during the Black Death, a Gothic dark age where women are burned as witches, drunken tavern brawls lead to bloodletting and a lone knight grapples with the slaughter he's seen committed in the Lord's name. Von Sydow excels as the haunted, burdened crusader desperate for a sign: "I want God to stretch out His hand, uncover His face and speak to me," he whispers. In this film, though, there's no God, no Devil... only Death. The indifference of the universe is laid bare.

"ITS ENDING IS INEVITABLE"

Bergman has little interest in moving his camera, long takes and static shots adding to the sense of desolate gravitas, until it feels like a medieval morality play. Yet for all its starkness there's a warm compassion to be found here. Plog the Blacksmith (Åke Fridell), squire Jöns (Gunnar Bjornstrand) and buxom Lisa (Inga Gill) band together, finding comfort in playful arguments, lustful clinches and snatches of song. Even Death has a sense of humour, sawing away at a tree trunk to claim one victim. The film's ending is inevitable, but there's also (bitter) optimism. The Reaper may be grim but life's rich pageant will go on, with or without us.

The Seventh Seal is out in the UK on 20th July 2007.