These two startling images, photographed by Gunnar Fischer, open up Bergman's very accessible film; considering it deals with the Black Death and medieval fear and superstition, it's actually quite a lot of fun (and, with coronavirus doing the rounds, very topical). Max Von Sydow - continuing our little memorial retrospective - is charismatic playing chess with Death (Bengt Ekerot), but Gunnar Björnstrand as the squire is the pragmatic hero of the piece, adding earthy humour; and Nils Poppe is also winning as the vision-seeing actor. All the acting's good, actually; in addition we have Bibi Andersson (actor's wife), Inga Gill, Maud Hansson and Inga Landgré.
"It's too late to take a laxative for eternity troubles." Bergman used to be fun. And of course, you can't help watching the ending without thinking of The Meaning of Life.
It's a most impressive film. Need to watch Smiles of a Summer Night and Wild Strawberries next.
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