The DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter May 2023
Knight to 4K
The Criterion Collection two-platter 4K Blu-ray presentation of Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 The Seventh Seal (UPC#715515282819, $50) is stunning. We reviewed Criterion’s initial Blu-ray in Jul 09, but the film has since undergone a newer restoration. Just as the older Blu-ray represented an exciting improvement over what was a reasonably good looking DVD, so too does the 4K presentation represent an even more gripping and remarkable improvement over that earlier Blu-ray. You need look no further than the film’s opening shot, of the morning sun burning its way through dark clouds. On the older BD, and even on the slightly better looking BD included with the 4K platter, there are dark speckles imprinted on the sunshine, as if it were raining or something. On the 4K platter, there are none. Throughout the presentation, even the new BD looks so grainy it is almost unwatchable after viewing the smooth and unblemished 4K presentation. The full screen black-and-white image is razor sharp from beginning to end, without a speckle or a touch of grain to be seen (okay, we did see one microscopic vertical line for a moment or two near the beginning, and a hair hanging from a subtitle later on, but those were the only flaws in the entire presentation). Again and again, the faces of the characters seem to be swarming with grain on the standard BD, but are smooth and precisely replicated on the 4K image.
The monophonic sound is also clearer and stronger, embellishing everything from the noises in the forest to the previously unnoticeable Erik Nordgren musical score. The voices are stronger, and the sound can be amplified to a greater intensity without distortion. The film is in Swedish with optional English subtitles. An English language track is also included, although that sort of spoils much of the film’s allure. Not only do the voices feel more distanced and disconnected from the characters, but the scatological dialog highlighted so gleefully in the previously updated subtitling is blandly glossed over in the dubbing.
Now that the Fifties are about as far away from us as the Middle Ages, at least from a level-of-consciousness point of view, The Seventh Seal is no longer a work of profound spiritual introspection. But it remains an ultra funky depiction of that spiritual introspection and, from a cinematic perspective, is just as entertaining and rewarding in our jaded modern age as it was in its time. Max von Sydow is a Danish knight returning home after fighting in the Crusades, waking up on a metaphysical beach at the film’s beginning and being met by the figure of Death, whom he challenges to a game of chess. He and his aide then begin crossing the countryside, where they meet villagers and a traveling entertainment group. Sometimes the individuals interact, sharing their thoughts about life and day-to-day living, and sometimes they seem oblivious to one another. Periodically, Death shows up again and exchanges a few moves on the chessboard with the knight. The knight also asks Death, and other individuals, about God and the nature of God. Bergman’s heart is clearly with the traveling players, and the 97-minute film’s basic entertainment is derived from the relationship spats among the villagers and the travelers, and the progress of their journey. Everybody eventually ends up back at the beach again, however, the eternal boundary between the known and the unknown.
Visually, the film is a joy, as its exploration of the nastiness of life in the Dark Ages is continually counteracted by the humanistic close-ups of the characters. The more the 4K presentation amplifies the movie’s symbolism, the more it also amplifies the movie’s human narrative, so that as time and perspectives advance, the purity of the film’s beauty is sustained. For a very long time, The Seventh Seal was the very epitome of a ‘foreign film,’ a movie where people talk strangely, live strangely, and have strange but apparently deeply philosophical things happen to them. While that is no longer the case—with streaming, the concept of a foreign film has almost evaporated—the 4K presentation preserves that essence of the film’s place in the history of cinema as much as it allows the film’s dynamics to grow and adjust to the times.
The special features that accompanied Criterion’s previous Blu-ray release have been carried over. The 4K platter is accompanied by Peter Cowie’s definitive commentary track, which provides a basic overview of the original interpretations of the film, as well as backgrounds and an analysis of the skills of the cast and the crew. The standard Blu-ray platter also has the commentary, along with a trailer, a 7-minute Bergman appreciation by Woody Allen, another 10-minute reflection on the film by Cowie, an additional 35-minute summary of Bergman’s filmography by Cowie, a 20-minute audio-only interview with von Sydow, a 3-minute discussion with Bergman, and a comprehensive 2004 interview with Bergman running 83 minutes that Criterion previously released separately on DVD as Bergman Island (Jul 09), which is not to be confused with Mia Hansen-Løve’s 2021 feature with the same title, also released by Criterion (Feb 23).
Isosceles Triangle
The highly lauded 2022 Ruben Östlund feature, Triangle of Sadness, runs 147 minutes and has three parts. The first and the last part have the same value and are outstanding, while the middle part, thankfully much shorter, is also of lesser quality, to the point where the film could probably have gotten from the one part to the other part without it and have been the better for it. But it is what it is. The Criterion Collection has released the film on a superb two-platter 4K Blu-ray set (UPC#715515283113, $50), and the 4K presentation of the film, in particular, is so crisp and precise that it allows the viewer to savor every emotional nuance.
In the first part, Harris Dickinson and Charlbi Dean are fashion models attempting to maintain a romantic relationship in what for them is an exceptionally superficial world. Eventually, they go on a luxury cruise and meet a few filthy rich passengers, who are tended to by an alert and tireless crew. The last part is an inspired variation on James M. Barrie’s reliable The Admirable Crichton, as a few surviving passengers, including the two models, are stranded on a deserted island where only one of the crewmembers, a Hispanic cleaning woman, played by Dolly De Leon, is competent enough in survival skills to save them. She also sets her eyes on Dickinson’s character. These parts of the film are brilliant. The satirical reflections on wealth and consumerism are piercing, and the inner feelings of every character are palpable. The film is staged with such wit and exquisite discovery—all of which are enhanced not just by the gripping 4K image, but the dimensional strength of the DTS sound, as well—that every moment is enormously entertaining.
To get from the one part to the other part, there is a night with a storm and a subsequent morning in which pirates attack. During the storm, many of the passengers become seasick. A couple of films in the Eighties had vomiting scenes that were reasonably funny since, other than The Exorcist, such scenes had never been staged on film before. Their uniqueness was part of their surprise, and fuel for their humor. But in Triangle of Sadness, as in Babylon (see below), it just becomes a tiresome gag that outstays its welcome well before it is over. As for the pirates, you don’t really see them, you just see the boat blowing up. In any case, we have friends that we would love to show the movie to because we know they would adore the first and last parts, but we can’t bring ourselves to share it with them because of the middle, and we suspect other viewers may have the same reaction.
INSIDE! Ernst Lubitsch’s silent films, and much more!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.