Playing chess with death — a memorable string of scenes from a memorable movie. It has been butt of jokes and satire, probably the mark of the impact it has had for decades.

I remember the first time I saw The Seventh Seal (yes, I’ve seen it more than once). I was a junior in high school and my friend Beau Mount, who had the largest foreign film collection of anyone in town, invited me over after play practice to watch the film and have some dinner. I was mesmerized, and not by the dinner. It’s not that I understood everything I saw (I didn’t), but I was in awe of the way it was filmed, the imagery, the tone. And I still am in awe.

The Seventh Seal is firmly in the lineage of my film education. I had watched foreign film before then, but I hadn’t really seen it. From there I went on to try many directors and films I would have never watched, from Almadovar to Jodorowsky. Some were good, some weren’t so good, but my tastes would morph with each encounter.

Ingmar Bergman brought something to film that few others have, and whether you like his work or not, no one can deny that he changed the landscape of the cinema. Rest easy, Mr. Bergman. You will be remembered.