DVDs:

	Persona Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann MGM (Video & DVD), 2004 average customer review:based on 83 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

They were right, for I was completely blown away by this Bergman masterpiece. 'Persona' is a powerhouse of emotions, and the acting is superb. Liv Ullmann's silence is extremely compelling, for her nonverbal communication conveys a whole lot more than any dialogue could relate! Bibi Andersson's performance is heart-wrenching at times, for her persistance and confusion draws the viewer into her corner like a spider caught in a web.

As far as Ingmar Bergman, I am now a dedicated fan of his films after viewing 'Persona.' There were a few bits during the opening montage that made me wince (beware!), but after seeing the entire film, I can understand why they were there. In addition, the visual look of some of the key scenes are among the most breathtaking I have ever seen in a film, such as the one where Liv almost floats into Bibi's room like a Nordic goddess.

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in Ingmar Bergman, arthouse cinema or films about the psychology of relationships.

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Bergman Penetrates Into the Unconcious

Persona is a great film with great images. Bergman expresses so much - with so much subtlety. Though nobody can give an absolute explanation to everything in the film - its ambiguity -
and its possibilities are what make it so intriguing - almost spiritual (which is a word with its own world of ambiguity)


Among his best

Ingmar Bergman is one of few directors who have won universal acclaim for non-english-spoken features.

His PERSONA 1966 is 1 of his most complex productions and showcases two brilliant performances from Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson - long active in his "reportary company"...

What is stunning with Bergman is that he dares to let us get into the soul of his protagonists, even their duller and boring sides... Their long conversations, inner dialogue and soliliques are a Bergman trademark.

Mr Bergman and the characters of his films are easy to identify yourself with because he deals with the inner strength, turmoils and angst of the human being. "Persona" is no exception:-)

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Beautiful women going mad

Let's give it four stars instead of five, just to tone down the adulation a hair. Face it, although this is a penetrating and powerful film, some people are going to be left completely cold by it. It's not for today's Spider-Man 2 plot compulsive viewers.

I just watched this film again tonight -- we're blessed with a Bergman festival here in Washington, DC just now (July 2004). I watched it as a quasi-double bill with Through a Glass Darkly -- another movie, like this one, in which Bibi Andersson goes mad. Yet two completely different performances, portraying different-seeming women.

In this one, as the other plot summaries state, Andersson nurses an actress played by Liv Ullmann who decides to stop talking. Andersson takes that silence as a cue to start talking herself, opening up about herself and the sins of her past. Like so many other serious sixties movies, this one toys with the idea of who is the sane one.

You should pick your friends carefully and Ullmann proves maybe not Andersson's best bet. Let's not give away too much about what happens, but like so many Bergman pictures this is about whether any two people can truly know each other -- whether you can know the person you're talking to and living with, or whether you only know a mask that person is wearing. Ullmann and Andersson are made up to look very much alike, lending an overt touch to the idea that their personalities are somehow merging or overlapping as they explore themselves through their interactions with each other.

Their interactions are about all you get -- there are only a few other characters in the film. The two actresses do their thing in seclusion in a typical Bergman seaside setting. Don't expect any car chases!

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Persona- A wonderful film

Persona (1966)

Bergman's Persona begins with many seemingly random images, including an eye being removed from its socket, a child crying, an erect penis and an animal being slaughtered. The first three minutes of the film is a jumbled, cluttered and fast-paced sequence that appears to have no continuity whatsoever. The genius of Bergman, as a masterful "auteur," is revealed as many of these same images conclude the film, only now they clearly have a significant meaning to the action of the film. Bergman's ability to symbolize abstract concepts such as loneliness, abortion, rage and sadness in this confusing sequence clearly depicts film as art. Persona, technically, visually and symbolically demonstrates the ability for film to be seen as a form of art.
Throughout the film, Bergman uses many symbols to show the progression of the relationship between Elizabeth and Sister Alma. Twice in the film, Bergman visually shows how Alma and Elizabeth have switched roles. The "overlap" between the two women is first seen when Elizabeth enters Alma's room while she is asleep. As Elizabeth is about to exit the bedroom, Alma jolts out of her bed and embraces Elizabeth. As the two sit side-by-side, they embrace, as Elizabeth physically crosses her head over Alma's far shoulder. The same sequence occurs toward the latter part of the film. From these identical scenes, it is easy for one to conclude that Alma has become Elizabeth. Alma and Elizabeth have switched roles; Alma has become the one needing help and Elizabeth appears to be the silent, yet attentive listener. As we see later, the roles have changed when Elizabeth writes to the doctor that she has been "studying" Alma. The most significant role-reversal between the two occurs when Alma has sex with Elizabeth's blind husband and pretends to be Elizabeth. Yet, it is the image of the two beautiful women intertwined that seem to describe the complexities of their relationship much more appropriately than Alma making love to Elizabeth's husband.
The film visually shows us the emotions and mind-sets of the main characters. In the opening sequence, Elizabeth is seen lying in a room that resembles a morgue. There is no movement or sound (diagetic nor non-diagetic) and everything in the room appears dead. It is quite startling when Elizabeth suddenly opens her eyes, as if she is suddenly awoken from a horrible dream. She appears terrified and at the same time lifeless. She does not make a sound, nor does she utter more than a couple sentences in the entirety of the film. This one scene shows that Elizabeth is terrified as if she is keeping a secret. The secret that is later revealed, not by Elizabeth but by Alma shows that Elizabeth has feared motherhood and it has caused her to become a mute.
The film is largely about identity roles and how we perceive each other. Bergman creates these unbelievable scenes that force us to question reality and how we perceive reality. He also uses misrepresentations to depict false perceptions. Initially, Alma believes that Elizabeth is good-natured and sincerely interested in her difficulties. As the film plays out, we see that Alma's perceptions are wrong and that Elizabeth is in fact using her. It seems as if Bergman is saying that it is truly impossible to really know someone else. Our own projections, however false they may be, are largely the only way we think we know a person. Bergman's most significant message of Persona tragically shows our inability to truly know anyone else from ourselves.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, page 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

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