Review of Persona (2000) by Al M — 11 Aug 2010

Bergman never ceases to amaze me. His films from the 1950s and 60s are strikingly similar in many ways: existential themes, beautiful black and white cinematography, running times of general and hour and half or less-two hours tops--religious critiques, explorations of identity and trauma, etc.

But what makes Bergman such a remarkable dicrector is that, despite the similarities between these films, they all remain coherent, standalone masterpieces in their own way. Persona fits precisely in this category.

A touching, harrowing, and beautiful piece of cinema that could never have been created by anyone other than Bergman. In general, Bergman's films do not revel in overly obscure, "artsy" filmmaking, and instead they present themselves in a simple yet beautifully filmed and meticulously directed fashion.

Persona breaks with this tradition somewhat by opening with a montage of rather disconnected images that, in hindsight later in the film, set of the theme of identity that lies at the core of the film.

Ultimately, Persona is a film about questioing one's sense of identity--am I truly myself or am the persona that project to others. Is my identity, as other people know it, nothing but a lie? Elizabet (Liv Ullmann, painfully beautiful in a ordinary, real kind of way as she always is in Bergman films), an actress, realizes her identity may be nothing more than lie and hence quits talking, quits interacting with others and perpetuating the lie.

Alma, (Bibi Andersson, also radiant a plain and real fashion) is nurse assigned to take care of Elizabet as she moves to a seaside house to recover from her problem. Alma fills the silent void left by Elizabet's muteness by talking constantly about herself, her life, her experiences, etc.

Ultimately, the two women's identities begin to emerge as polar opposites that may in fact be two sides of one personality--the id an superego without an ego to mediate between the two and bring them in concordance.

Beautiful, haunting, and ambiguously mysterious, Persona is Bergman at his absolute finest. He creates truly heartbreaking cinema that will make you question the nature of yourselves and your beliefs, and he demonstrates the true power that art can convey to its audience.