Chess in The Film
The chess game opens with the knight holding out his hands, a white piece hidden in one hand, a black one in the other. Death chooses the black pawn ("You are black", says Block. "It becomes me well." replies Death). The first moves of each use the king's pawn.
In the confessional, the knight says "I use a combination of the bishop and the knight which he hasn't yet discovered. In the next move I'll shatter one of his flanks." Death (in disguise as the priest) replies "I'll remember that." When they play by the beach, the knight says: "Because I revealed my tactics to you I'm in retreat. It's your move." Death captures his opponent's knight. "You did the right thing", states the knight, "you fell right in the trap. Check! Don't worry about my laughter, save your king instead." Death's response is to lean over the chess board and make a psychological move. "Are you going to escort the juggler and his wife through the forest? Those whose names are Jof and Mia and who have a small son." "Why do you ask?" says the knight. "Oh, no reason", replies Death.
Immediately after the death of the robber Raval, Death takes the knight's queen. "I didn't notice that", says the knight.
In one of the last scenes, the knight pretends to knock over the pieces so the young family can escape while Death is reconstructing the game. "You are mated on the next move, Antonius Block" says Death. "That's true", admits the knight. "Did you enjoy your reprieve?" "Yes, I did", Block replies.
Read more about this topic: The Seventh Seal
Famous quotes containing the words chess and/or film:
“Of all my Russian books, The Defense contains and diffuses the greatest “warmth”Mwhich may seem odd seeing how supremely abstract chess is supposed to be.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“All the old supports going, gone, this man reaches out a hand to steady himself on a ledge of rough brick that is warm in the sun: his hand feeds him messages of solidity, but his mind messages of destruction, for this breathing substance, made of earth, will be a dance of atoms, he knows it, his intelligence tells him so: there will soon be war, he is in the middle of war, where he stands will be a waste, mounds of rubble, and this solid earthy substance will be a film of dust on ruins.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)