Review of Persona (1966) by Cj W — 26 Nov 2013

Persona is one of Bergman's most complex and confusing films, but it is one of my favorites of his, and of all time. The film can be desribed as an intricate study of the human identity, our ambiguity, the frailty of our psyches, and also, could be considered with his other film studies of human isolation.

The story begins with an actress, Elizabeth Vogler, being sent to an isolated island by her psychiatrist, because she has quit speaking, and a nurse, Alma, is assigned to take care of her. From the beginning you can tell that these two have some sort of connection, despite their being complete opposites; Elizabeth is cold and dark, she alienates herself from the world, because she sees no need to associate with a meaningless and suffering world.

While Alma is a ray of sunlight, she's an ardent optimist who can't help but see meaning in everything because she loves life. And from there Bergman creates a hypnotic, spiralling psychological thriller that keeps you guessing until the end, while also giving you a beautiful discourse on the human condition.

This is also one of Bergman's more visually artistic and stunning films, which only contributes more to the hypnotic feeling that his marvelous screenplay intiates. Persona could very well be compared to Psycho in terms of themes, however, Persona would be more like a study of what drove Norman Bates to do these things, instead of the horror of his actions.

This is a film everyone should watch.