Via Starwars.com:

FROM ACTORS TO THEMES, THIS INFLUENCE OF THIS 1957 CLASSIC IS PRESENT IN A NEW HOPE, THE FORCE AWAKENS, AND STAR WARS COMICS.

Ingmar Bergman might be one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, and perhaps his most influential film is 1957’s The Seventh Seal. Set in Sweden during the Black Death, it follows a knight of the crusade named Antonius Block on his return home. During his voyage, he wrestles with the questions of his faith and engages in a fateful game of chess with a physical personification of death. Along his journey, battling death all the while, the knight travels far and sees much. Much of what he witnesses is the despair in the world, though he sees bright spots as well.

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