The Seventh Seal (1957) by Ingmar Bergman, Clip: The Danse Macabre - dancing silhouettes on the hill

The Image: The dancing dead...(and still they dance?)
(Images here:creativewritingpriory.wordpre...)
So it's very famous and I did not intend to upload it for that reason as there must be hundreds of copies on youtube lying about - but I did want to juxtapose this gorgeous scene with one from a very early Bollywood (!) film it always reminded me of! (Awaara aka The Vagabond)
And, anyway - this scene is on the front cover of the recent Criterion DVD Blu-ray release* of all Bergman's films in a huge 'de-luxe' package so that has given me added fortitude to publish my version here!)
* I own it!
Ingmar Bergman looked like this: variety.com/wp-content/upload...
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[@LAK_770]

This might be apocryphal, but legend has it Bergman and cast/crew were in a bus traversing the countryside when Bergman saw the light on this hilltop and immediately ordered everyone out to film the dance right then and there

[@jarnodatema]

All are equal in death. Brilliant shot.

[@internetkurator9256]

I am Death, I bear the crown. I break the king's staff, and order the beggar to join

[@gurrenmed5319]

Best scene in cinema history

[@MikeEgypte]

Great scene. Powerful for sure. I will have to look for the movie.

[@robbiedrake2138]

In context, that simple shot is immensely beautiful and disturbing. If I stare at a still of it for long enough I get a knot in my stomach.

[@omg9261]

Iconic

[@rickardedman8836]

So beautiful, death and life, du med dina drömmar, we will all make this dance this in the end

[@Pheardom]

I get the absolute resolution that death always wins...
That being said, what is the mundane reason why they all died that night in the same room? Did the wife use the wrong mushrooms in the supper or what?

[@dukeford]

I wondered about that, too. Apparently it was the plague.

[@patricksquinlan1]

The movie is set during the Black Plague. The Knight comes back from the Crusades only to find everyone at home is dying. Death makes no distinction between the high-born and the low-born. Everybody has to go.

[@MsSarahJosephine]

But Squire didn't even have the salmon mousse!

[@Mordekaiser_Theironrevenant]

I think that everyone died because Block changed the fate of those people. Think for example of all the people who joined him and his squire, the fate of these people was probably one and also simple: that is to stay in that village and die from the plague. They escaped this fate by following Block and we must remember that Block was supposed to die from the beginning of the film. Death gives him the chance to live, but with Block's defeat in the game of chess, the latter not only says that its next appearance will mean the death of our protagonist, but also of his friends. That's my theory, and that's why I think Block's wife isn't dead. A film like this is like a beautiful painting, each viewer experiences different emotions and sensations and interprets the work in their own way.
(I apologize for my English in case I made any mistakes)

[@robertagren9360]

I come to collect what you owe me. Your life. The debt is too high that the only thing you can pay me with is death.
The knight. I already made the mortgage with you. My time with the wife and children as the payment for the lives I taken in service of death. I have no life to pay with.

[@MajSolo]

Just as all dreams it was just a dream with no logic. To be an artist you need to describe feelings when you are awake. But this here was just a dream. If I use my tiny scientific brain then the death wanting them to hold hands describes they share their fate the black death. I want movie contortionist critics to come her an enlighten me. I can sense this scene but have trouble describing it and its potential value.

[@whatever9274]

are they dancing? they look like theyre just walking forward while holding hands

[@atlas4698]

I think that counts as dance

[@user-mx6od7ug9v]

:)