Persona [DVD]

I saw persona the first time about 10 years ago, and then I was very impressed by the montage style, the dark existentialism and the enigmatic ending. After re-watching I'm not as convinced as before. But still: this is an interesting movie with excellent actors and beautiful images that anyone interested in Bergman must see. Anyway, Bergman himself was apparently very satisfied with 'Persona'.The basic story is simple, but what actually happens in the movie is not. The famous actress Elisabeth Vogler (Liv Ullman) is going through some kind of existential angst/crisis, and refuses to talk. A young nurse (Bibi Andersson) gets the assignment of treating her, and they (implausible as it may seem) end up together in a house by the sea. There the treatment consists in the nurse taking care of Elisabeth and telling her more about herself. (btw: I think the house by the sea is Bergman's house on Fårö, it looks like it.) In the process the nurse identifies with Elisabeth and strange psychological phenomena follow.What I find less interesting today is the use of montage techniques with a fast flow of images and sounds, it feels very 60s. Also, I think the story descends into too much of a blur between inner and outer states for its own good. The acting is good, and Bibi Andersson has to do a lot of monologue as her counterpart is mute. The film opens itself to several interpretations: what is actually happening, and why? As I see it, Elisabeth and the nurse (whose name in the film I can't remember right now) represent different persoonalities and attitudes to life. Elisabeth is an intellectual type, and while she easily feels angst and terror when watching horrible images (a burning monk protesting the Vietnam war, jews threatened by nazi soldiers), she can't connect with human beings close to her (her son, her husband, the nurse) and can't cope with life. The nurse is on the contrary a more conventional person who submits to the general life pattern and believes in the importance of doing her job right. (Maybe there are some parallells to 'The Seventh Seal' and the relation between the brooding knight Antonius Block and the theater group or the servant.) The meeting between these two characters evolves into a conflict as the nurse both admires Elisabeth, and realises that she doesn't want to become like her. She wants to keep her person or persona, while Elisabeth wants to be free from hers by going mute and withdraw.The DVD from Tartan has very good transfer, I watched it on a projector without any problem. There are a few extras, like some notes (text on a DVD track) about the film, and a censored version of the opening montage.

Originally some the earlier Bergman films harder for me to get into,because most of the Bergman I saw first were from late in his careerand far more 'naturalistic' - 'Fanny and Alexander', 'Autumn Sonata','Scenes From a Marriage' etc. I don't think I understood that for muchof his great career he was as much an experimentalist (at times) asDavid Lynch, or Fellini, or Kubrick or Godard. Now that I understandthat, it's easier for me to get excited by the earlier experimentalwork.Also, with 'Persona' the experiment seems more subtle and complex thanin some of Bergman's other early work. The themes are right out in theopen but there's much less literalness in the questions. The whole FILMis a series of questions, but posed in a poetic way - what is identity?What is acting? What is film? What are the boundaries between people?What is reality and what is a dream, both in this film, and in our ownexperiences?This is a haunting deeply disturbing work, and part of it's veryeffectiveness is it's 'unexplainability', ala '2001' or a Magrittepainting. Like a Koan, it forces you to try and make sense of somethingthat has no simple answer.On first viewing there were a few times when things felt a little onthe nose, or my feeling of 'huh?' was the bad kind, not the good one.But this is a fascinating film, that combines some of the most trulydreamlike sequences I've ever seen with what seems a conventionalnarrative, only to curve in on itself into obscurity yet again. It isultimately the kind of puzzle that art does best - it makes you ponderthings both consciously and subconsciously at the same time.The two lead performances by Bibi Anderson and Liv Ullmann areextraordinary, and Sven Nykvist again creates a series of unforgettableimages (now with the wider palate that Bergman started towards in 'TheSilence' - more camera moves, more 'cinematic' angles.).But the nexus of this film, isn't the acting or the photography (thoughthe film would fail miserably without both being great), this is a filmabout the inside of the filmmaker's mind, and by extension the insideof all of our minds as we fight to make sense of the lives we lead.It also has the single most erotic scene where nothing physical happensI've ever encountered. And it's that kind of paradox that 'Persona' isall about. I know I will get more from repeated viewings. The film begsfor it.It's also impossible to note how many films since have borrowed itstechniques and images. Indeed, after the rare moments I feltdismissively 'we've seen this idea before', I'd realize 'no we HADN'Tseen it before Bergman made this film'.

One of Ingmar Bergman's most radical films, 'Persona' can be viewed as a journey in which personality, meaning and individuality blur between fantasy and reality. The tale of a famous actress Elizabet Vogler (Liv Ullman), who inexplicably stops talking, and the young nurse Alma (the astonishing Bibi Andersson) who cares for her at an isolated seaside cottage, this 1966 offering is for many, Bergman's finest film.Pouring her troubles onto her charge, Alma appears to be strong willed and level-headed, slowly taking charge over her silent counterpart. But faced with this enigmatic patient, her cool facade slowly starts to crumble and she realises that nurse and patient aren't so very different.The thing with Persona, is that it may baffle film fans who are new to Bergman's work. Recurring motifs like the image of the spider (God), lamb to the slaughter (Christian legacy), and the young boy in a cold room (the boy from 'the silence' 1963) may not mean much to people who haven't seen much of Bergman's work. So as a starting point to Bergman's films this may be too much (and for those who haven't seen any Bergman films, why?), but for any serious film fan, this is essential.This was the film that cemented Bergman's reputation as not only a film maker, but as an artist. For many, the late, great nordic master comes across as too despairing, too bleak. No argument here. But viewed as a visual poem, this ranks high in the running with the world's best. Bergman's use of isolated location, taboo breaking content and technical wizardry (the two women's faces merge in one extraordinary shot), mean this is baffling, brilliant and at times, beyond words.