Whoops, I definitely made a mistake writing the Devil vs. Death- but am entirely in agreement with that conflation being ill-fitting. Total slip on my part.
Sloper wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 8:02 am
I don’t even think they’re dancing over that hill, unlike Woody Allen at the end of
Love and Death. It looks more like they’re being dragged along by Death, each one clinging to the person (or empty space) behind them, reaching out vainly to the tangible world they’re leaving behind. Each one except Death, that is, who looks resolutely ahead towards oblivion.
Jof thinks that Death is forcing the characters to ‘dance’, and perhaps his word-choice here is ironic, recalling the forced ‘dance’ he was made to perform in the tavern. And in the same way that Mia dismisses Jof’s ‘visions’, we can be sceptical about his interpretation of what he sees. We can’t join those people on the hill, we can only watch them from a great distance, and the nature of their experience has to remain a mystery.
I appreciate this ambiguity, which hints at a potentially more pessimistic but appropriate reading, and even one that could be optimistic- or at least self-fulfilling for Bergman. I can interpret this to be a final subtle dig from Bergman to siphon value from Jof's delusional ignorance by presenting a failure in his perceptiveness, as Bergman objectively yet hazily presents a significant event being misinterpreted, or at least oversimplified. We could surmise that, in the end, Jof's carefree way of life didn't do him any favors, and at least someone like Antonius (or Bergman himself) can be sober to what's occurring in real time. Isn't that, in some respect, the optimal existential outcome, to be present and indulge in all of life's moments to their fullest, not only the 'pleasurable' ones? Even if Antonius is also pining for the past, to get away from Death, perhaps he's at least attuned to what's occurring. This might be a defense mechanism-reframe on Bergman's part, but that doesn't make it any less true for him. And that's why I too can co-sign your final line below:
Sloper wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 8:02 am
I do like Bergman’s comments in interviews, though, about the comforting aspect of death-as-oblivion, and there is something of this in
The Seventh Seal, alongside the abject terror. Ultimately, despite what I said above, that image of the dead souls on the hill conveys (to me) a sense of resolution, acceptance, and even serenity. I don’t mean to sound too morbid, but I’d rather be on that hill than back here on earth (at least as it’s portrayed in this film).
