Coming in April: a monumental, five-film counterhistory of London’s West Indian community and a rowdy, Palme d’Or–winning satire of wealth, beauty, and privilege. Plus: existential adventures abound in a Manhattan-set fairy tale and a stunning allegory of our search for meaning—now on 4K UHD.

The Criterion Collection April 2023 New Releases

The Seventh Seal

Returning exhausted from the Crusades to find medieval Sweden gripped by the Plague, a knight (Max von Sydow) suddenly comes face-to-face with the hooded figure of Death, and challenges him to a game of chess. As the fateful game progresses, and the knight and his squire encounter a gallery of outcasts from a society in despair, Ingmar Bergman mounts a profound inquiry into the nature of faith and the torment of mortality. One of the most influential films of its time, The Seventh Sealis a stunning allegory of man’s search for meaning and a work of stark visual poetry.

Available April 18, 2023
Spine #11

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack

One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features

Introduction from 2003 by director Ingmar Bergman

Audio commentary and video afterword by Bergman expert Peter Cowie

Bergman Island (2006), a feature-length documentary on Bergman by Marie Nyreröd

Audio interview from 1998 with actor Max von Sydow

Tribute to Bergman from 1989 by filmmaker Woody Allen

Bergman 101, a selected video filmography tracing Bergman’s career, narrated by Cowie

Trailer

Optional English-dubbed soundtrack

PLUS: An essay by critic Gary Giddins

Triangle of Sadness

Master of social discomfort Ruben Östlund trains his unsparing lens on the world of wealth, beauty, and privilege in this audacious, Palme d’Or–winning satire of our status-obsessed culture. A model-influencer couple (Harris Dickinson and Charlbi Dean) get a ticket to the luxe life when they’re invited aboard an all-expenses-paid cruise alongside a coterie of the rich and ghoulish—but an act of fate turns their Insta-perfect world upside down. Pushing each provocative set piece to its outré extreme, Östlund maps the shifting social hierarchies with the irreverence of a modern-day Luis Buñuel and the incisiveness of a cinematic anthropologist.

Available April 25, 2023
Spine #1178

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

New 4K digital master, approved by director Ruben Östlund, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack

One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features

New interview with Östlund and filmmaker and actor Johan Jonason

Two new programs: one about the film’s special effects and one about a challenging day on set

Trailer

English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

Small Axe

With the five films that make up his Small Axe anthology (Mangrove; Lovers Rock; Red, White and Blue; Alex Wheatle; and Education), director Steve McQueen offers a richly evocative panorama of West Indian life in London from the 1960s through the ’80s—a time defined for the community by the terror of police violence, the empowering awakening of political consciousness, and the ecstatic escape of a vibrant reggae scene. Ranging in tone from the tenderly impressionistic to the devastatingly clear-eyed, these powerfully performed portraits of Black resistance, joy, creativity, and collective action—all sumptuously shot by Shabier Kirchner—form a revolutionary counterhistory of mid-twentieth-century Britain at a transformational moment.

Available April 25, 2023
Spine #1177

DIRECTOR-APPROVED THREE-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

New high-definition masters of all five films, approved by director Steve McQueen, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks

New conversation between McQueen and writer and professor Paul Gilroy

Behind-the-scenes featurettes including interviews with McQueen, executive producer Tracey Scoffield, writing consultant Alex Wheatle, and members of the Small Axe cast

Uprising (2021), a three-part documentary codirected by McQueen and James Rogan about the tragic 1981 New Cross house fire

Audio conversation among McQueen, music producer Dennis Bovell, and Beastie Boys member Mike D

Trailers

English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

PLUS: An essay by film programmer and critic Ashley Clark

The Fisher King

A fairy tale grounded in poignant reality, Terry Gilliam’s magnificent, Manhattan-set The Fisher King features Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams in two of their most brilliant roles. Bridges plays a former radio shock jock reconstructing his life after a scandal, and Williams a homeless man on a quest for the Holy Grail—which he believes to be hidden somewhere on the Upper East Side. Unknowingly linked by their pasts, the two men aid each other on a fanciful journey toward their own humanity. This singular American odyssey features a witty script by Richard LaGravenese, evocative cinematography by Roger Pratt, and superb supporting performances by Amanda Plummer and an Oscar-winning Mercedes Ruehl, all harnessed by Gilliam into a compassionate, funny modern-day myth.

Available April 11, 2023
Spine #764