I couldn't find the line in the film where Death says he would take everyone with Block, what does he say and why would he do this? Did they get the plague or was it punishment for prolonging Death with the chess game?
shareduring the game of chess block tricked death into taking his knight and countered him then death asked block if he would be escorting his friends through the forest, and block asked why, then death said no reason and begun to play again. so he probabley did it to spite antonious and he told him to make the game even more tense
Death appears at the house. It doess not mention how they die but assuming they didn't just drop dead without reason other then death forcing them to it indicates to me whatever cause Block and co. to die happened at that location.
Maybe the house collapses or it gets set on fire.
All i know is the people in that location died while the people who separated from the party did not.
If death wanted to spite Block then he would kill them as well. Also death seems very nonchalant about what he does. He does not care one way or another he just does what he must.
So I can not believe he would do it to spite Block as that would also go against the theme of the film. Death is not spiteful it just is.
How do I get these ideas? It's like a gift, you know? It's like I can't control it.
Not everyone at the knight's castle went with Death. The wife and deaf woman did not perish.
It's probable that all that perished had contracted the Black Plague (which doesn't bode well for the family since they shared the milk and strawberries).
Each time I've seen this movie I always think that if Block goes with Death on the beach at the beginning, then only he and (probably) Jöns will die. By getting his respite, he comes into contact with people like the smith and his wife, and the unnamed maiden, and winds up costing them their lives. Yes, he does save Jof, Mia and Mikael, but even then, he never informs them of what's going on; it's only when he sees them make a break for it that he decides to try to divert Death's attention.
I'm not sure if Bergman meant their escape to be Block's pennance for costing the lives of other people who joined him in his journey? Or maybe Jof, Mia and Mikael simply represent the family Block and his wife could have had and become had he not been a knight in the Crusades.
It's probable that all that perished had contracted the Black Plague (which doesn't bode well for the family since they shared the milk and strawberries).
At the end of the chess game Death tells Block "When next we meet, the hour will strike for you and your friends."
The "dance" with death at the end includes Block, the Smith, his wife Lisa, Raval (the Seminarist who originally convinced Block to fight in the Crusades), Jons (the squire) and Skat (the Actor). Jons' "housekeeper" is missing, as is Block's wife. I'm not convinced all the companions died, and not everyone in the "dance" died at the same time.
Yeah, I know what you mean. When Death arrives at the end, you initially assume that everyone there is to die immediately, but they are not all participants in the Dance. Maybe some people didn't die, or perhaps it was just logistical limitations as apparently the actors were pretty much all gone and Bergman filmed the final scene with some production crew and two random people who were on vacation and happened to be in the area as the companions of Death.
I kind of lean towards the latter because when the housekeeper sees Death she speas her only line of dialogue, "It is finished". I think that a couple of the four gospels (but not all) have Jesus say this as his last words before dying. Considering the scriptural references that dot the dialogue, I think that she has to die. Who knows? It's just my guess and Ingmar isn't here any longer to answer that one for us!
MAN! VERY NICE POINT! THE HOUSEKEEPER WHO ACCEPT DEATH AND THE WIFE OF BLOCK (MAYBE SHE WAS ALREADY DEAD) ARE NOT IN THE FINAL SCENE.
I THINK THE HOUSEKEEPER WENT TO ETERNAL LIFE.
Almost right through the film, they have all known they may die the next day or the next week. Even though only Jof and Block notice Death in person (he is invisible to the others until they reach the castle) they know the plague is hanging over them, over their entire world. It mirrors the concept of the end of time, when nearly all humanity will perish and some of it will go to heaven, others to damnation. That image, in turn, was used by Bergman to figurate the threat of nuclear disaster, of extinction in our time, and what it means to us.
Also, the fact that when Death claims the knight he also claims the rest (except for the juggler family) is because these are people that Block has been trying to help. They represent mankind in a way.
If you ask me, wouldn't the others at least notice the Knight is mysteriously playing chess with someone (or on his own) from time to time, and wouldn't they ask even though they might not see Death in person, the answer is I think that the chess game happens on a slightly different plane of reality from the rest of the film. It blends into what we see, but in outward reality, as seen by the theatre troupe, the market people, the squire, etc, there is no chess game to look at.
Mr.Hitler has made life very difficult for Shakespearian companies.
I think the scene where death takes the knight was more or less meant to point out that you cant cheat death. Block was very arrogant in thinking that he had outsmarted death, but death immediately mentions Block taking his friends through the forrest showing, I thought, that he was aware of everything he is doing.
Ive only seen this once though and can be pretty small minded when it comes to this stuff, so take it with a grain of salt
Death intention all along. Jof caught the plague of that chap near the start of the film and he gave it to everybody else, only the couple with the kid escaped.
You can't cheat death.
Only those with no valid argument pick holes in people's spelling and grammar.
OK maybe this might be somehow relevant but did anyone notice...
Death cheats in the chess game, when the pieces fall by mistake by bloc he rearranges them in a slightly different manner(there is space between king & knight)
hence in the very next move he has bloc nearing check mate, and come to his death, defeated..... I did notice this but cant figure how it adds up
OK maybe this might be somehow relevant but did anyone notice...
Death cheats in the chess game, when the pieces fall by mistake by bloc he rearrages them in a slightly diffrent manner(there is space between king & knight)
hence in the very next move he has bloc nearing check mate, and come to his death, defeated..... I did notice this but cant figure how it adds up
i think it means block could have won or at least prolonged the game, but maybe saccrifices himself for the actor and his family
shareMy take is that when Antonius was having the strawberries and milk, that was the source of the Black Plague. Historically, I believe, the Plague was transferred through unpasteurized milk.
But that wouldn't explain why the traveling actors didn't die...
But that's my best guess why everyone died. The milk.
The Plague was spread by flea bites.
Karin said that everyone else at the castle had fled for fear of the plague, so the plague was there. The family did not go to the castle, so they were spared. (I noticed how the scene of the last breakfast is so much like the Passover, only instead of Elijah, it's Death.)
As for Karin and the girl not being in the vision of the dancers, Jof had not met Karin and never seemed to notice the girl, so he wouldn't have had a reference for them. The others he talked to, and Lisa was the reason Skat left the company.
The mute girl not being there wouldn't make sense, since Jof did knew her and, on the other hand, he didn't knew the Seminarist, so him being in the Dance of Death has to mean Jof saw all those who died (or were going to).
My guess is that Jof's family was resistant to the plague, since he was clearly biten by a mosquito and didn't contract the disease apparently, while the Seminarist would have contracted it when robbing the dead woman (who died possibly because of the plague), who was most likely someone close to the Mute girl, who was resistant to the disease as well, thus she didn't die either.
Block's wife was resistant to the disease too, since she lived a long time in the infested castle and didn't die by the time Block get there, that's why she didn't die.
now this is acting: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2458172160/tt1528718
I think you're close, but it wasn't the strawberries and milk, it was the last breakfast. Perhaps with all the servants and people gone from the castle the food up keep was poor and things went bad. So the group died from food poisoning.
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