如果要推介一生十大必看電影，我一定會選瑞典導演英瑪褒曼《第七封印》(The Seventh Seal)。雖然已經是50年前的黑白作品，但也不感到過時，因為英瑪褒曼所探討的是生命的「fundamentals」─ 生存的意義、對死亡的恐懼和神的存在，啟發觀眾思考之餘，又絕不悶藝，這就是真正的大師作品。
故事講述一個騎士戰事完畢與隨從回鄉，正值瘟疫蔓延，路上遇到死神和各式各樣的人物。騎士覺得人生毫無意義，對身邊的人「indifferent」，他不知道人生的盡頭會是什麼，雖然心裡有神，但神卻從來沒有回應他。他感覺不到心中的神，卻遇見了死神。為了「buy time」盡最後努力尋找答案，他邀請死神下棋，這個人與死亡對奕的場面成為電影史上的經典:
騎士:Who are you?
死神:I am Death.
騎士:Have you come for me?
死神:I have been walking by your side for a long time.
死神:Are you prepared?
騎士:My body is frightened, but I am not.
死神:Well, there is no shame in that.
騎士:Wait a moment.
死神:That's what they all say. I grant no reprieves.
騎士:You play chess, don't you?
死神:How did you know that?
騎士:I have seen it in paintings and heard it sung in ballads.
死神:Yes, in fact I'm quite a good chess player.
騎士:You drew black!
死神:Very appropriate. Don't you think so?
片中的死神很具體地以人的形象出現，言辭帶些黑色幽默。他很狡猾地扮作神父聽騎士告解:
騎士:I want to talk to you as openly as I can, but my heart is empty.
死神:(沉默)
騎士:The emptiness is a mirror turned towards my own face. I see myself in it, and I am filled with fear and disgust.
死神:(沉默)
騎士:Through my indifference to my fellow men, I have isolated myself from their company. Now I live in a world of phantoms. I am imprisioned in my dreams and fantasies.
死神:And yet you don't want to die.
騎士:Yes, I do.
死神:What are you waiting for?
騎士:I want knowledge.
死神:You want guarantees?
騎士:Call it whatever you like. Is it so cruelly inconceivable to grasp God with the senses? Why should He hide himself in a mist of half-spoken promises and unseen miracles?
騎士:I call out to Him in the dark but no one seems to be there.
死神:Perhaps no one is there.
騎士:In our fear, we make an image, and that image we call God.
死神:You are worrying ...
騎士:He is a clever opponent, but up to now I haven't lost a single man.
死神:How will you outwit Death in your game?
騎士:I use a combination of the bishop and the knight which he hasn't yet discovered. In the next move I'll shatter one of his flanks.
死神:I'll remember that.
被死神討命的還有與有夫之婦偷情的流浪藝人，不過死神用了很原始的索命方法:
死神:I'm sawing down your tree because your time is up.
藝人:It won't do. I haven't got time.
死神:So you haven't got time.
藝人:No, I have my performance.
死神:Then it's canceled because of death.
藝人:My contract.
死神:Your contract is terminated.
藝人:Isn't there any way to get off? Aren't there any special rules for actors?
死神:No, not in this case.
藝人:No loopholes, no exceptions? Perhaps you'll take a bribe.
棋沒有下完，騎士成功「buy time」，令流浪藝人一家逃出死神的魔掌，生存終於有了一點意義，可是，他自己與隨行的幾個人卻不能幸免。死神臨門時，騎士最終還是尋求神的憐憫:
“From our darkness, we call out to Thee, Lord. Have mercy on us because we are small and frightened and ignorant. God, You who are somewhere, who must be somewhere, have mercy upon us.”
