Directed by:
Ingmar BergmanScreenplay:
Ingmar BergmanCinematography:
Sven NykvistComposer:
Lars Johan WerleVOD (1)
Plots(1)
Actress Elisabet Vogler (Liv Ullmann) has stopped speaking and withdrawn completely. Under doctor's orders, she's taken to a remote seaside cottage by a nurse, Alma (Bibi Andersson). Alma chats to fill the silence and gradually begins to lay bare her entire identity until she discovers it is being coolly sucked away from her. As the women battle for control and sanity, the question becomes not which of them is patient and which is caregiver, but are they two separate women at all? (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (4)
This is a hyper-intellectual fetish for which I’d beat Bergman with an IKEA chair. I really suffered during the mandatory school screening to the point where I wanted to take off my glasses and gouge both my eyes out. I know why I voluntarily avoid this conversational art by a mile.
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Bergman's films lock me into a different world, where no mental experience is deep enough to hide. This also applies to the unsettling Persona, which from the opening shot began spinning depressive circles in my mind. In the introduction, the film is a psychological bullet, suggesting that even the experiences we have gained throughout our lives cannot tell us what we really want. With the urgent camera, the story gains a suggestively built atmosphere and an interesting balance of power, where it seems like the two characters could almost switch roles. However, in the final third, Bergman terribly disappointed me because, given his nature, he allowed the mysteriousness to prevail, causing the storytelling to completely lose its tempo. The plot brings nothing new, it stands still, and the director only plays with his ideas, which complicate all possible understandings of the point and the story as a whole.
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One of those films that make it worthwhile to ignore the world around us for a while and embrace the new aesthetic and intellectual values that one brilliant artist presents to us exclusively and for free. The magic of Persona lies in the fact that we understand what it wants to say, but its statement is made in a way that cannot be interpreted and explained literally. A minimalist but endlessly creative celebration of cinematic language, both silent and conversational, a searing psychological play with two pivotal characters and the audience’s expectations that are shot to the max throughout – though Bergman doesn't need any crazy big twists. A lot of proper filmmaking art for a low price. Thank you.
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Even if you don't like this movie, you will simply understand that this is something created by a remarkably talented filmmaker who knew how to fully utilize the medium and penetrate it in unique ways. The interweaving of images/faces is incredibly splendid, which by the way also demonstrates the director's casting abilities.
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