Persona

Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1966, 95 minutes

Few films by Bergman can match the aesthetic qualities and the psychological depth of Persona. It remains one of the most classic examples of his work but at the same time one of the most difficult, both in terms of form and content. There's very little to be said about the plot which is again a vehicle for Bergman's inquiry into the human psyche.

The film is about the symbiotic relationship between an actress (Liv Ullman) who descends into schizophrenia and her nurse (Bibi Andersson). One gets the impression that the actress' breakdown is due to the horrors of our world - some documentary footage is used to convey this possibility - a frustration enhanced by the fact that the nurse troubles her with a confession of her petty problems...

Bergman tackles here several themes - sexuality and madness among others - but in essence, the film explores the difficulty of true communication between people as well as the self-contained world of the artist. He films in luminous, elegant shots, moving his camera voluptuously over the beautiful faces of both actresses capturing splendidly the emotional anguish and turmoil of the characters. There is an extraordinarily intense moment where both women switch identities or merge into one person which may be taken as a statement as to the possibility of interpersonal communication through empathy. But nothing is as enigmatic as the sequences of the child staring in front of a screen - Bergman sees himself and a reference to art? Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson are exquisite in their roles and the whole film has more the qualities of a dream (or a nightmare) rather than of reality.

Review by Spiros Gangas
Taken from EUFS Programme 1993-94