The seventh seal - (Tartan Collection) (1957)

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Vividly recreating a medieval world tormented by plague and superstition, Bergman’s allegorical drama – centred on a knight (Max von Sydow), returned from the Crusades, who challenges Death to a game of chess in order to postpone his demise – remains fascinating (and finally rather touching) as a study of faith in crisis. Packed with powerful images, it punctuates its bleakness with moments of wry humour. A Jury Prize winner at Cannes upon its release, the film remains one of the must-see masterworks of world Cinema.

As the Black Death continues to wipe out the population of Europe, knight Antonius Block returns from the Crusades, disillusioned and worn. When suddenly Death appears before him, he asks for the chance to live, proposing a game of chess to decide his fate.

The knight takes his squire, a troupe of traveling players and a deaf and dumb girl under his protection as the game is played out. One by one Death exacts his toll, and it is up to Block to stall his opponent for as long as possible if he is to help save the lives of those he is trying to protect.

All the while, the villages and towns about them fall further into ruin and religion takes a stranglehold on those desperate for a means of survival.