Narrative technique · used in 4 films
Turning death into a character who can be spoken to, argued with and played against. Abstract questions about mortality become a face-to-face dramatic scene.
Examples
Ingmar Bergman · 1957
Bergman's Death is a figure you can see: pale, robed in black and perfectly willing to talk. The chess game means death can be delayed, bargained with and gambled against, so it no longer feels simply inevitable. The film asks whether arguing with death matters if we already know how it ends.
Where to see it: The beach chess game. The knight and Death sit across from each other as if this were completely ordinary, and the game begins.
Woody Allen · 1975
Sonja sees Boris's ghost outside her window, standing with Death. Boris gives a speech about God, death and love, then dances away with Death. Death becomes a character you can speak to, and a big question gets a face.
Where to see it: The ghost and Death: Sonja sees Boris's ghost with Death outside her window, and Boris dances off with Death.
Guillermo del Toro · 2008
Death shows up as a character who can be talked to. Liz can plead with the Angel of Death instead of fighting it. That makes the stakes feel human and personal, as a conversation.
Where to see it: Giant's Causeway: Liz and Abe bring the wounded Hellboy to Northern Ireland, and the Angel of Death removes the spear shard after Liz pleads for his life.
Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson · 2022
Death is a winged character Pinocchio can talk to and argue with. She explains that he is immortal and that each death will keep him dead for longer. A big idea becomes a face-to-face scene.
Where to see it: The afterlife: after the Podestà's truck kills him, Pinocchio meets Death, the Wood Sprite's sister.
Questions