And There Was Silence in Heaven: A M/U Film Chat
Note: This film - Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal - was viewed - REMOTELY - by the M/U Film Soiree on Saturday, April 25. The following is the chat that occurred throughout the film, lightly edited for readability.
Dave: I've seen this before twice I think. But it's been a very long time. I'm glad Chris wrangled people into watching it
Chris: Dave I am pretty sure you introduced me to it at East Concord Street
Dave is my favorite former roommate - we lived together 17 years ago
Dave: Oh boo ya. Well that's when I would have watched it
Chris: Ok let’s begin!
Dave: Ok
There's the title
Chris: With a GONG
Dave: Yeah you don't get any gong opportunities that really work
Oh and it's a plague tale…
Chris: Yeah that’s part of why I picked it
A great passage from Revelation
Kellie: I want to go to the sea
Zoë: I find I get my best rest sleeping on rocks in chain mail holding a sword
Chris: I love the wide shot, praying on the rocks with the ocean in the background
Dave: Bergman is so theatrical
Chris: this is, shamefully, still the only Bergman I have seen
Leah: We need to remedy that, Chris
Dave: Well there are only a few dozen more masterpieces, and after that the rest of his work
Chris: hahaha I know - we should do another one a few movies from now
lol this is a great song
Ali: I saw The Virgin Spring in college
Dave: This film's sister film is Wild Strawberries, which I think would make a great follow up
Virgin Spring would also be great
Leah: Yes, Dave! We should do that!
Either one, actually
Dave: And at some point Persona is absolutely required. So is seems room marriage. So is Fanny and Alexander
Scenes From a Marriage that is. Chris you'd f love that
Leah: Yesssss!
Dave: Chris, you're going to love this guy
Chris: I can't wait!
Ali: I love a man in tights.
Leah: I always wake up with a few forward rolls and a yodel gargle
Chris: If I ever decide to go all-in on a colonial America costume, I may have to give them a try
Zoë: Bicolored tights add a little extra spice, too
Dave: Got to protect yourself from the elements, after all
Chris: Especially when there's a plague on
Dave: Another in the long line of Swedish blondes
Chris: there's that stillness in heaven idea again
Dave: Humans in their natural state
Chris: playful yet longing for a better life
haha this guy's goofiness kind of reminds me of Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful
Dave: Indeed. The dopey optimist
Candide maybe
Zoë: Hahahah same hair, too
Dave: Doesn't get much more idyllic than that scene
Chris: yeah it's lovely
Dave: Chris, this friar fellow is another major Bergman stock actor
Chris: "Why try to cheer them up? Why not scare them a bit?"
Dave: Gunnar Bjornstrand
Chris: ok cool, I'll be looking for him
hahaha "Give me some gin. I've had nothing but water today." I love this guy
I thought it was so weird when Max von Sydow died that so many articles were like "Star Wars and Game of Thrones actor"
Zoë: Who was he in Game of Thrones?!
Chris: the three-eyed raven
Zoë: Ooooooh wow I totally missed that
Chris: looks like he has one last film coming out posthumously but aside from that, the three-eyed raven was his last role
Zoë: Chris, how are you handling all this DEUTSCHE
Chris: aren't they speaking swedish?
Dave: Oh look another blond
She's pulling your leg Chris
Zoë: Is it different enough to matter? lol
Chris: there's something LIGHTER about it
Ali: Maybe that's how COVID-19 started. Some dumb bint screwed the devil and now we can't go to bars.
Chris: better get some bile and dog's blood
Dave: You know, apropos of nothing another great movie about death is called The Gates of Heaven, documentary about pet cemeteries
Chris: that sounds pretty wild
she's blond too
Dave: I guess they're all blond in Sweden.
Kellie: If a man refers to himself as likeable..
Chris: Did you see Midsommar?
Kellie: Ugh. I’m probably the only person who didn’t like that
Dave: I'm another person who didn't see it
Looked like it took itself quite seriously
See The Wicker Man instead
Chris: I wanted to go live in that society
I think i saw the original Wicker Man once
Dave: Ah yes, this song…
Chris: this song is nuts!
Dave: They're traveling performers. More socially acceptable carnies
Chris: nothing says seduction like a chicken drumstick
Dave: If I had a nickel for every time you said that
Chris: hahahaha
Kellie: Well that’s a buzz kill
Chris: I hate it when the flagellants break up a good concert
Dave: That's the problem with taking life and death seriously, you never have any fun
Zoë: I dunno, I think I prefer the flagellants' music, honestly
Dave: Oh this is a good movie
Yes now I remember. Gunnar is the cynic like Martin in Candide
Ali: Poor Plog!
Leah: Ouch
Chris: haha this sounds like dialogue from right now
Dave: Yeah laugh in his face
The Fool
Everything in this movie is such a brilliant allegory
Chris: yeah and it's blatant without being obnoxious
Dave: Why won't he eat the strawberries
It comes down to being unable to enjoy the simple pleasures of life
Ali: Not organic
Dave: Chris, doesn't Max kind of resemble Richard?
The shape and length of his face
Chris: haha I hadn't thought that before but yes he does
it's funny to see him smile after all this time
Dave: Being around other people
For a moment he was able to find enjoyment in life
Bergman is theater
Chris: well played, actor man
Dave: He just told the woman he loved her after 1 minute ago she was begging the other guy to murder him
He's an actor all right
Haha
No exemptions for actors
Chris: nice touch with the squirrel
silence in heaven
Dave: Yeah that's a little existentialism rearing its ugly head
Chris: "Do you ever stop asking questions?"
Dave: That's why this movie is so enduring, right there. Gets really deep into people
Chris: with uncanny ease
Zoë: I'm a little behind y'all, but man, what a great scene that last chess scene was.
Dave: Suddenly it's a horror film
Not blond!
Chris: ha! yeah isn't that odd
Dave: Oh wow. I just realized. He probably gets the plague from coming back to his wife. She stayed and everybody else left
And then inadvertently kills all his companions
Chris: this is why we have to #STAYHOME
and so we come full circle
Dave: And the plague is wormwood
She invites death in
Love him
Chris: I love that ending
Dave: Very interesting that it ended on that extremely uplifting note
Contrary to most of the rest of the film
Chris: it's all hopeless - and yet it all continues on nonetheless
the rose still blooms!
Zoë: "Even in these last moments, I feel the triumph of life!"
Dave: I think Bergman's only recommendation is to be a fool.
Though it doesn't appear it's a choice
Leah: Agreed
Dave: So around ‘57 this movie was part of a lot of emerging foreign films that started to get major recognition in America, and then the 60s were this major golden age. People like Scorsese talk about it all the time, about constantly going to cinemas and seeing all of these best films and their youth
Chris: what a rush that must have been to suddenly have access to things like this
Dave: Was a good time, Chris
Chris: yeah thank you, everyone - we will do another one soon