Kristiina and The Seventh Seal (spoilers)

Spent an evening with Kristiina, and a fine pair we were: Kristiina sleepy from waking up way too early, and me unnaturally hyper from all the pseudoephedrine. We had a good time though, and watched The Seventh Seal. The Tartan version that I have is a bit fucked up, the lower line of subtitles runs partially under the edge of the screen, but Kristiina understands enough Swedish and I know the movie by heart, so it was no problem.

It's a complicated movie with a lot of Christian symbolism, most of which (the symbolism, not the movie) goes right over my head, but Kristiina explained some things that I didn't know. I've seen it a hundred times (possibly literally a hundred) but still so many questions remain (I am sure some serious students of movie art have already written dissertations on them): what to make of the silent woman? Does everyone in the castle in the end, except Jöns, see Death? Is Mia just as inherently uncapable of seeing Death or anything supernatural as Jöns? What is Antonius Block's crisis of faith all about? Is Raval having a crisis of faith too, and what does he have against Jof? How come not everyone who died is led away by Death in the end (Karin, the witch and the silent woman are not there; Antonius Block, Jöns, Skat, Raval, Plog and Lisa are)?

Gotta see it again.

BTW, the first words I had ever learned to say in Swedish were "jag, Antonius Block, spelar schack med Döden". I was 17 then, and had never been to any Nordic country.