Persona (1966)

Director: Ingmar Bergman; Screenplay: Ingmar Berman; Cinematography: Sven Nykvist

Cast: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann

    Persona… a movie I guess I’m too young or too radical to understand. It tells a story of two women. An actress and a nurse - both women with their own demons to handle. To me Persona represents crushed dreams. Settling with what you have. Then eventually regretting it.

     I honestly have no idea why I chose Persona. Nor do I have recollection of the moment I chose it. Just did. Which in this case the film fits quite well as it is a movie of confusion and a great source of confusion to the viewer. There have been many debates on the topic of why the actress, Elisabeth didn’t speak. Many theories indicate that because she was an actress and had so many different roles thus personalities, she didn’t know who she was anymore. And because she didn’t know who she was she had nothing to say. I don’t tend to agree with this. I believe she was in deep confusion, not understanding the world she was living in anymore. Not understanding desperation, cruelty and maybe love.

    The real nutcase in this was the nurse – Alma. Alma was the woman who wanted more but took less. In the end Alma was the one who seemed to be losing her own sanity. She started out as an innocent well wishing future wife but somewhere in the middle let herself feel suppressed of the whole idea. And then betrayed. In the end she was somewhat of a ruthless ideal of the nightmare nurse.

     I loved the originality of the approach to the camera angles. At times it felt like a documentary. Like it was something of a X-Files and History Channel’s nighttime show crossover with Fox Mulder popping up any second.

    What was stunning about Persona was the simplicity of it all. The complexity of the situations and the characters were carried out with drastic simplicity. Most of the movie was carried on two main actresses with two additional characters. Total of four characters to the whole movie. Everything was cut down to nothing. Nothing was what the movie ultimately stood for. We are nothing.

    This was art. No other word to describe it. Though art is one of the most inaccurate words in the world I see no other to define the essence of Persona. Art is not available for facts. There are as many ways to interpret the meaning behind art as there are different opinions. 

written by Benni

links: IMDb