Review of Persona (1966) by Tretyachenkoe — 04 Apr 2022

Consider myself to be a film scholar and my favourite film is “Persona” which was released in 1966. “Persona” is a Swedish psychological drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Bibi Andersson and liv Ullman. This film both fascinates and hypnotizes and leaves the viewer with a lot of questions and a lust to watch it again and again. This is not a film, but a real masterpiece.

Bergman called “Persona” the most important film of his career. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma which swallows you completely, with its symbolism in the first shot telling a story in pictures, using the language of associations.

A boy is abandoned by his mother and his mother suffers from her inability to love him. It is pure theatre, where all the action is set in just two locations - a hospital and a house on the coast.

The director examines the personality of the actor in which lies and truth are indistinguishable. Every gesture is false and every smile is a grimace. It is filmed as a monologue with the plot built around two women - one of them is a famous actress patient and other is a nurse taking care of the first: The famous stage actress, Elisabet Volgler who has suddenly stopped speaking and is able to pronounce only two phrases in the entire film and; Alma her nurse, who is in a dialogue with herself.

A static camera. Two characters interacting actively through tantrums. Conflicts and physical contact. Andersson and Ullmann´s acting is impeccable, the camera work superb. Everything has meaning and significance. There is no empty dialogue and no special effects. Raw.

For me, this is a film about the fear of being oneself and the necessity to comply with social conventions. Everybody plays a role, adopting masks and eventually thereby loses their inner selves. Pain, fear, despair and lies occupy human life and the inability to stop, fall silent, live and realize each simple step taken and to allow oneself to be seen by others, is what make us people.

I would highly recommend “Persona”, especially if you are keen on classic cinema.