God and death: Apocalypse in the seventh seal and in the serpents egg of Ingmar Bergman

This article compares two very different films of Ingmar Bergman in order to identify his vision of the Apocalypse. The Seventh Seal takes place in Sweden during the Middle Ages, while the setting of The Serpent's Egg is the economic crisis of the Weimar Republic. An analysis of the two different universes portrayed by these two films enables us to define Bergman's aesthetics and philosophy of Apocalypse. Keeping in mind Bergman's strict Protestant upbringing, we quickly understand that God in the Christian sense is dead and that the only hope for salvation is love. The Apocalypse is defined in existential terms and is based upon morality. The individual might choose the good and in this manner escape the final cataclysm.