Persona is a film having been interpreted in various ways depending on what reference system you want to use: An historical, sociological, religious or psychological, perhaps a combination of some of them - or all of them.
One can't add much more to this special and cinematically very interesting film, written during some weeks at the hospital where Ingmar Bergman were recovering from pneumonia. The general impression I (Gunnar) get from Bergman's personality is that he - among other things - was a hypochondriac and during his time in hospital, he probably believed that he would die and it's perhaps this traumatic experience that lead to the writing of Persona.
He has said that succeeding in writing the script to this film, saved his life. This is probably more to be understood in a mental/psychological way than in a physical even though they are more or less connected.
What we can say about the film is that Liv Ullman and Bibi Andersson embarked on a cinematically extremely innovative journey into the 'unknown'. There are, of course, other actors in this film but it's around these two women the story revolves.
The film begins with a multitude of images depicting camera equipments and projectors being lit up. Among the images we can distinguish an erected penis, a crucifixion, some scenes from a comedy, a silent-film reel once seen in Bergman's 'Prison' and finally the slaughter of a lamb. When these images disappear we get to see a young boy - actor Jörgen Lindström (also playing the part of the young boy in 'The Silence') - waking up at a hospital surrounded by corpses and reading Lermontov's 'A Hero of Our Time' (the same book he reads in 'The Silence').
In the background we see some blurry images depicting Elisabet's (Liv Ullman) and Alma's (Bibi Andersson) faces. He caresses them.
In the next phase (from face to phase) we're at the hospital where Alma, a newly graduated nurse is being asked to take care of a patient who doesn't talk.
The patient is Elisabeth Vogler, a famous actress. Alma hesitates but finally accepts 'the mission'.
The superior nurse wants her to continue taking care of Vogler and therefore offers Alma her cottage by the sea where she wants Alma and Elisabeth Vogler to stay for a while, in order to see if leaving the hospital will make Vogler feel better.
Vogler is not regarded as having a psychological disorder, just having decided not to talk anymore (and why shouldn't one have the right to such a decision?).
At the hospital Elisabeth Vogler watches TV and there she is confronted with the horrors of the world making her very upset though she doesn't say anything, just watches with a horrified gaze, seemingly suppressing a scream. Evidentally she is not emotionally shut off but responds as any other human being would or should do, with the exception of not being able to verbalize her agony.
At the island in the cottage, the two women become entangled in each other and not telling all the details about their relationship, one might perhaps interpret their behaviour as follows:
1. Elisabeth Vogler is an intelligent woman, finding that her life at the theater has been superficial, that she doesn't contribute to the improvement of the world. As her only 'persona' is the actress Elisabeth, she can't respond in any other way to the misery in the 'external' world, than by stop talking and communicating with others. Perhaps she has found that she has nothing more to say, neither as an actress nor as a person(a)?
2. Elisabeth Vogler can also be seen as a very calculative person, taking advantage of the perceived naïvity characterising her young protégé or 'nurturer', this in order to heal herself by 'sucking the blood' out of Alma. The 'sucking of blood' is something that physcially occurs in one of the scenes.
In the more psychological sense, she takes advantage of the fact that Alma can't accept the silence without talking, making Elisabeth a very good listener and confessor.
Alma talks, Elisabeth listens and uses the material Alma gives away to tightly bind them together, more and more aiming towards a symbiotic relationship.
3. Concluding that this might be the case one have to ask oneself who is taking care of who and who benefits most of this relationship. Alma gets a chance to talk about the things in life that hurts her. Hereby she, to some extent, is alleviated and at the same time Elisabeth is edified.
4. In this process Alma is taking on the personality of and representing the extrovert and talking Elisabeth when - as in a dream or imaginary sequence - they are visited by Elisabeth's husband (actor Gunnar Björnstrand). Is this a real visit or just one emanating from their collective imagination created by their intimate relationship?
5. When Alma leaves the cottage and take the bus back to town, we imagine that she has become a more mature and experienced woman. This as he has lived through another womans life in a way, at the same time going through a veritable catharsis, an experience the two women share. What about Elisabeth Vogler? Is she 'healed'? Has she started talking or is her behaviour just a mature decision, making it a violation of her personal will trying to change her behaviour.
6. However it's only Alma we see leaving the cottage. Where is Elisabeth or is it Elisabeth who is leaving, taking on another role, namely that of Alma, the nurse, having left the 'real' Alma in the cottage, mute? Is the woman we see the 'vampire', having sucked the blood out of her prey leading the two women to take on the life of the opposite person? The actress has finally found a 'real life'-role to play, being able to go out in the world and face it - without a 'persona'.
This is perhaps the most plausible conclusion.
Bergman pointed out that he had chosen these two actresses as he had seen a photo in a newspaper and there having found a remarkable resemblance between the two.
The film is however a masterpiece in our opinion (and many others too of course).
One can't add much more to this special and cinematically very interesting film, written during some weeks at the hospital where Ingmar Bergman were recovering from pneumonia. The general impression I (Gunnar) get from Bergman's personality is that he - among other things - was a hypochondriac and during his time in hospital, he probably believed that he would die and it's perhaps this traumatic experience that lead to the writing of Persona.
He has said that succeeding in writing the script to this film, saved his life. This is probably more to be understood in a mental/psychological way than in a physical even though they are more or less connected.
What we can say about the film is that Liv Ullman and Bibi Andersson embarked on a cinematically extremely innovative journey into the 'unknown'. There are, of course, other actors in this film but it's around these two women the story revolves.
The film begins with a multitude of images depicting camera equipments and projectors being lit up. Among the images we can distinguish an erected penis, a crucifixion, some scenes from a comedy, a silent-film reel once seen in Bergman's 'Prison' and finally the slaughter of a lamb. When these images disappear we get to see a young boy - actor Jörgen Lindström (also playing the part of the young boy in 'The Silence') - waking up at a hospital surrounded by corpses and reading Lermontov's 'A Hero of Our Time' (the same book he reads in 'The Silence').
In the background we see some blurry images depicting Elisabet's (Liv Ullman) and Alma's (Bibi Andersson) faces. He caresses them.
In the next phase (from face to phase) we're at the hospital where Alma, a newly graduated nurse is being asked to take care of a patient who doesn't talk.
The patient is Elisabeth Vogler, a famous actress. Alma hesitates but finally accepts 'the mission'.
The superior nurse wants her to continue taking care of Vogler and therefore offers Alma her cottage by the sea where she wants Alma and Elisabeth Vogler to stay for a while, in order to see if leaving the hospital will make Vogler feel better.
Vogler is not regarded as having a psychological disorder, just having decided not to talk anymore (and why shouldn't one have the right to such a decision?).
At the hospital Elisabeth Vogler watches TV and there she is confronted with the horrors of the world making her very upset though she doesn't say anything, just watches with a horrified gaze, seemingly suppressing a scream. Evidentally she is not emotionally shut off but responds as any other human being would or should do, with the exception of not being able to verbalize her agony.
At the island in the cottage, the two women become entangled in each other and not telling all the details about their relationship, one might perhaps interpret their behaviour as follows:
1. Elisabeth Vogler is an intelligent woman, finding that her life at the theater has been superficial, that she doesn't contribute to the improvement of the world. As her only 'persona' is the actress Elisabeth, she can't respond in any other way to the misery in the 'external' world, than by stop talking and communicating with others. Perhaps she has found that she has nothing more to say, neither as an actress nor as a person(a)?
2. Elisabeth Vogler can also be seen as a very calculative person, taking advantage of the perceived naïvity characterising her young protégé or 'nurturer', this in order to heal herself by 'sucking the blood' out of Alma. The 'sucking of blood' is something that physcially occurs in one of the scenes.
In the more psychological sense, she takes advantage of the fact that Alma can't accept the silence without talking, making Elisabeth a very good listener and confessor.
Alma talks, Elisabeth listens and uses the material Alma gives away to tightly bind them together, more and more aiming towards a symbiotic relationship.
3. Concluding that this might be the case one have to ask oneself who is taking care of who and who benefits most of this relationship. Alma gets a chance to talk about the things in life that hurts her. Hereby she, to some extent, is alleviated and at the same time Elisabeth is edified.
4. In this process Alma is taking on the personality of and representing the extrovert and talking Elisabeth when - as in a dream or imaginary sequence - they are visited by Elisabeth's husband (actor Gunnar Björnstrand). Is this a real visit or just one emanating from their collective imagination created by their intimate relationship?
5. When Alma leaves the cottage and take the bus back to town, we imagine that she has become a more mature and experienced woman. This as he has lived through another womans life in a way, at the same time going through a veritable catharsis, an experience the two women share. What about Elisabeth Vogler? Is she 'healed'? Has she started talking or is her behaviour just a mature decision, making it a violation of her personal will trying to change her behaviour.
6. However it's only Alma we see leaving the cottage. Where is Elisabeth or is it Elisabeth who is leaving, taking on another role, namely that of Alma, the nurse, having left the 'real' Alma in the cottage, mute? Is the woman we see the 'vampire', having sucked the blood out of her prey leading the two women to take on the life of the opposite person? The actress has finally found a 'real life'-role to play, being able to go out in the world and face it - without a 'persona'.
This is perhaps the most plausible conclusion.
Bergman pointed out that he had chosen these two actresses as he had seen a photo in a newspaper and there having found a remarkable resemblance between the two.
The film is however a masterpiece in our opinion (and many others too of course).
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