Review of Persona (2000) by Kenneth L — 09 Oct 2010

I will admit right away that I do not fully understand this movie. I should watch it again in a couple of years to see what I think of it then. For now, I can tell that this is the work of a very smart director (Ingmar Bergman) who does exactly what he wants to do.

It's also one of the most exemplary modernist movies I can think of. I don't think I've ever seen another movie where the lighting was so fraught with meaning. The story, such as it is, is about an actress who refuses to speak and the nurse who is assigned to take care of her.

You could write a really interesting essay about the way the movie uses light to show or hide parts of their faces in different shots. Bibi Andersson has pretty much all the talking as the nurse, and delivers some very long and intense monologues.

Liv Ullmann doesn't talk as the actress, but she does look and react (or not). I'll give $5 to anyone who can satisfactorily explain the opening sequence and the presence of the little boy at the beginning of the movie.

This isn't a fun movie, and I'm not even 100% sure I really know what it is about, but it is extremely well-made and a great example of film as modernist art.