A Celebration of Life

When the characters seem to say, « Pity the living », it feels like Bergman wants to say, « Don't pity anyone; live, laugh, and smile; and when Death comes at you, embrace and follow. »
When Antonius is looking for a meaning in life or in death, he doesn't realize until the last 20 minutes that what he is looking for is right in front of his eyes. It's death that gives meaning to life. Death allows us to live until we don't anymore. Death allows us to feel, cherish, and live life to the fullest.
This movie is, for me, a celebration of life. The poetry behind it is nearly perfect. This poetry finds itself not only in the small and beautiful moments of life that our characters live and share as a small community but also in the most obvious figure of speech in the film: the allegory of Death.
The greatness of this film lies not only in what it doesn't show us but also in what it implies. Berman doesn't need to film or picture everything; we understand thanks to the context and the acting. The characters are simple, human, flawed, joyful, or tormented. The movie is split between those who live their lives and those who try to understand what it means.
In my humble opinion, one quote sums up the general idea of the movie quite well.
"If everything is imperfect in this imperfect world, love is most perfect in its perfect imperfection."