Life and art intersect and blend and overlap and intrude in on each other in Ingmar Bergman's challenging masterpiece, PERSONA. This is film as art. Like all artforms, there are pieces that are more accessible than others. It takes a fuller grasp of the artform and sometimes the artist to understand the complete scope of their work. A novice, or even causal, reader doesn't start with Proust, they will start with easier classics from the likes of Twain. The same can be said about film. CITIZEN KANE's accepted place as "the best movie ever made" has as much to do with its accessibility as it does its innovation and quality. From its experimental opening to its elusive ending, this film is what it is on the surface and it's much more at the same time.
Elisabet Vogler (Liv Ullmann, SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE) is a famed stage actor, who has stopped speaking. She has been profoundly struck by the fact that her entire life from her profession to her personal life is based on artifice. So in an effort to find some truth, she stops all verbal communication. A young nurse named Alma (Bibi Andersson, THE SEVENTH SEAL) is assigned to care for the actress. At first she wonders if she is too young to handle such a strong willed woman, but once the two women travel to a seaside vacation home together, they begin to draw closer. Elisabet continues to not speak, only listening to the increasingly frank confessions of Alma, who tells the older woman of a brief sexual encounter that was exhilarating, but resulted in a great deal of regret. Soon the silence becomes too much for Alma, who cannot handle the quiet judgment of Elisabet. The battle of wills will break down and blur their identities and cross the line between reality and fantasy.
A key to understanding what it all means is the opening montage of images from film and religion. Bergman is giving the audience a key for themes he has tackled his whole career, which include the silence of God, life and death and the psychoanalytical breakdown of the personality. In a very Brechtian fashion, Bergman reminds us that we are watching a film. The action of the plot works on several levels with each level dealing with a different theme. German playwright Bertolt Brecht felt theater should be less about trying to recreate life, and more of a comment and debate on life. Bergman does the same in PERSONA, reminding us that this is a film — at one point letting the film break and melt away.
However, this does not mean the film is void of an emotional element. In a very human and engaging way, Bergman questions the cruelty of a silent God. How can He sit back and judge us without giving us clear guidance? Why does He not speak in the wake of epic tragedies? Alma dreams and imagines Elisabet advising her and comforting her, but is it real or the fantasy of someone who wants to believe? Alma's growing frustration with the grinning silent Elisabet is tangible, breathing vitality into the grander theme.
As for the psychoanalytical view of the film, Bergman looks at how all humans put on masks and play roles depending on where they are and whom they are with. Alma plays the role of the good nurse, following in her mother's footsteps. She's going to play the good role of a dedicated wife even though her only passionate interchange with her fiancée was right after her outdoor orgy. When Alma tells Elisabet about the sexual encounter, it's like a patient confessing to their psychiatrist or a practitioner confessing to a priest. In an ironic twist, the patient Elisabet becomes the analyst and the nurse becomes the patient, transferring her feelings of guilt and rage onto the silent observer.
As Alma tries to break the willful Elisabet, the actress is trying to break down the nurse. Elisabet wants to forcefully remove the masks that Alma wears whether the younger woman wants them removed or not. In another touch reminding us that this is a piece of art, Elisabet the actress like a vampire feeds off the life and personality of others. Artists steal aspects from others lives and expose them to the world. If Bergman's portrayal of God seems harsh, his view of the artistic process isn't watered down either. However, a truly bold artist exposes the ugliness of their own life and Bergman does so here. The opening montage again refers to his past work, so he's telling the audience that this is him — his confessional, his thoughts, his beliefs. In the signature shot of the film, half of Ullmann's face is blended seamlessly with Andersson's face. They appear as one woman. There are many readings of the shot. The simplest is that the characters personalities have completely meshed and that they are now the same, a blending of the people they were when they first met. But it can also stand for the blurring of the line between art and life. We are sometimes actors in the real world and sometimes real life can be captured in art.
All of what I have said has been gleaned from carefully thinking about the film and reading others thoughts. I'm sure more will be revealed upon further viewings. I don't say this to prove my "oh, so impressive" film knowledge — I say this because if you go into this film you must be prepared to be challenged. It is a complex film with layers of subtext. But it also can be viewed as a simple story about two women playing mental games against each other to see you screams first. With its haunting music and black & white cinematography, PERSONA captivates the viewer with a gripping uneasiness. In some ways, the film is a psychological horror film.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
