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From Amazon.co.uk
Made in 1966, Persona is among Ingmar Bergman's greatest, most vital movies, made during a difficult period in his life (Bergman's life is one short on easy times), having been hospitalised following a viral infection. It was while laid up that he conceived the notion of Persona, in which a famous actress, Elisabet (Liv Ullmann) suddenly lapses into a muteness from which, though mentally and physically healthy, she refuses to emerge. She is attended to by a young, naive nurse, Alma (Bibi Andersson) who develops an obsession, bordering on infatuation with her silent charge. She finds herself jabbering all of her innermost secrets to her and, little by little, through dream sequences, repeated dialogue and trick photography, it's as if the consciousnesses of the two women have actually merged.
With its opening sequence of cryptic projected reel images (allusions to Bergman's previous work), jarringly atonal soundtrack and devices such as the audible chatter of camera crew, Persona contains an unusual share of avant-garde trimmings, which haven't necessarily stood the test of time. However, the relationship between Alma and Elisabet dominates the movie. Some confounded critics wondered if theirs was a lesbian relationship.
Actually, Persona is an occasionally cryptic but overwhelmingly powerful meditation on the parasitic interaction between Art and Life, the way the former feeds off the latter (Alma is distraught to discover a letter at one point which suggests Elisabet has been coolly observing her, as if for material). However, as an early scene featuring TV footage of a Vietnamese Buddhist monk torching himself as a protest against the war, it's also about the helpless incapacity of art to "say" anything in the face of grim reality. A small film budget-wise, but a colossal event in world cinema. --David Stubbs
Product Description
Study of womanhood and identity, featuring two of Ingmar Bergman's greatest leading ladies, Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson. Elizabeth (Ullmann) is a famous actress who is taken ill and left without speech. While convalescing on the coast, she is cared for by Nurse Alma (Andersson) and, silenced by the effect of her - possibly psychosomatic - illness, finds that her nurse does the talking for both of them. Gradually, the two women's personalities merge and the boundaries between their identities begin to blur.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:DVD
Quite simply one of the most remarkable and intense films I have seen, with subject matter that is a milion miles from anything Hollywood can offer.
Nurse and patient, that is basically the premise of the story here but it is far more multi-layered and complex through the lens of Ingmar Bergman.
Eerie and somewhat desolate summer locations are mixed in with stark hospital scenes,camera trickery and dialogue. There are surreal episodes that are all essential to this tale of mental disintegration,possibly schizophrenia.
The leading ladies are typically Nordic,graceful,enchanting and attractive, which works as a camoflage for the unsettling subject matter.
Another masterpiece from scriptwriter/director Bergman.
Note: Package wise another great DVD from Tartan. The quality is good throughout and as usual Bergmans astonishing black and white images are faithfully restored.
Nurse and patient, that is basically the premise of the story here but it is far more multi-layered and complex through the lens of Ingmar Bergman.
Eerie and somewhat desolate summer locations are mixed in with stark hospital scenes,camera trickery and dialogue. There are surreal episodes that are all essential to this tale of mental disintegration,possibly schizophrenia.
The leading ladies are typically Nordic,graceful,enchanting and attractive, which works as a camoflage for the unsettling subject matter.
Another masterpiece from scriptwriter/director Bergman.
Note: Package wise another great DVD from Tartan. The quality is good throughout and as usual Bergmans astonishing black and white images are faithfully restored.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:DVD
Although made in the mid-sixties, this film only dates in some of the somewhat jarring cinematic effects chosen by Bergman. However, this is also a mark of his work. The story is at once both simple and complex. Above all, the acting by Bibi Andersson as the young nurse adjacent to the cool and at times menacing silence of Elisabet played by Liv Ullman provides a powerful pair of performances.
Although this is a film for those interested in the work of Bergman, it also provides an interesting revelation of how an individual responds to a constant silence from their charge. The literature of negotiation tactics points to the power of silence to make an opponent uncomfortable and at the same time to seek confirmation of their position. Persona takes this to the extreme, where the nurse finds herself chattering away incessantly, whilst revealing ever deeper secrets about herself. She is as much revealing these to herself as to her charge Elisabet. Yet if you watch the film ask yourself who is really doing the revealing.
Well worth watching - it is understandable why this film stunned the critics at the time.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Mark Hilton
Format:DVD
One of Ingmar Bergman's most radical films, 'Persona' can be viewed as a journey in which personality, meaning and individuality blur between fantasy and reality. The tale of a famous actress Elizabet Vogler (Liv Ullman), who inexplicably stops talking, and the young nurse Alma (the astonishing Bibi Andersson) who cares for her at an isolated seaside cottage, this 1966 offering is for many, Bergman's finest film.
Pouring her troubles onto her charge, Alma appears to be strong willed and level-headed, slowly taking charge over her silent counterpart. But faced with this enigmatic patient, her cool facade slowly starts to crumble and she realises that nurse and patient aren't so very different.
The thing with Persona, is that it may baffle film fans who are new to Bergman's work. Recurring motifs like the image of the spider (God), lamb to the slaughter (Christian legacy), and the young boy in a cold room (the boy from 'the silence' 1963) may not mean much to people who haven't seen much of Bergman's work. So as a starting point to Bergman's films this may be too much (and for those who haven't seen any Bergman films, why?), but for any serious film fan, this is essential.
This was the film that cemented Bergman's reputation as not only a film maker, but as an artist. For many, the late, great nordic master comes across as too despairing, too bleak. No argument here. But viewed as a visual poem, this ranks high in the running with the world's best. Bergman's use of isolated location, taboo breaking content and technical wizardry (the two women's faces merge in one extraordinary shot), mean this is baffling, brilliant and at times, beyond words.
Pouring her troubles onto her charge, Alma appears to be strong willed and level-headed, slowly taking charge over her silent counterpart. But faced with this enigmatic patient, her cool facade slowly starts to crumble and she realises that nurse and patient aren't so very different.
The thing with Persona, is that it may baffle film fans who are new to Bergman's work. Recurring motifs like the image of the spider (God), lamb to the slaughter (Christian legacy), and the young boy in a cold room (the boy from 'the silence' 1963) may not mean much to people who haven't seen much of Bergman's work. So as a starting point to Bergman's films this may be too much (and for those who haven't seen any Bergman films, why?), but for any serious film fan, this is essential.
This was the film that cemented Bergman's reputation as not only a film maker, but as an artist. For many, the late, great nordic master comes across as too despairing, too bleak. No argument here. But viewed as a visual poem, this ranks high in the running with the world's best. Bergman's use of isolated location, taboo breaking content and technical wizardry (the two women's faces merge in one extraordinary shot), mean this is baffling, brilliant and at times, beyond words.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Personal
For me this is the most beautiful Bergman film. Words fail me to describe it. I just wanted to give it 5 stars here. Read more
Published 2 months ago by sunrisespacelab
5.0 out of 5 stars
A remarkable, and remarkably challenging puzzle of a film
Originally some the earlier Bergman films harder for me to get into,
because most of the Bergman I saw first were from late in his career
and far more 'naturalistic' -... Read more
because most of the Bergman I saw first were from late in his career
and far more 'naturalistic' -... Read more
Published 13 months ago by K. Gordon
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bergman's 'Persona' (Tartan DVD)
I saw persona the first time about 10 years ago, and then I was very impressed by the montage style, the dark existentialism and the enigmatic ending. Read more
Published on 23 Dec 2009 by MarkusG
5.0 out of 5 stars
Radical dissonance of the new
Persona,which means originally the mask worn by actors and later transferred to the character represented by the actor. Read more
Published on 22 May 2009 by technoguy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bergman's Dissonance
Because of its incongruous mixture of images, the opening montage of this film brings to mind the adagio introduction at the beginning of the first movement of Mozart's String... Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2007 by Alojz Kajinic
3.0 out of 5 stars
images are the most important
I remember to have read in the memoirs of a real English actress she suffered an episode of temporal loss of memory that remitted with a sedative without more complications. Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2006 by Carlos Vazquez Quintana
5.0 out of 5 stars
A stunning classic
Widely considered to be one of the best films ever made, Persona follows the developing relationship between two women: Elisabet Vogler, an actress who has chosen to stop speaking... Read more
Published on 17 April 2006 by David Welsh
5.0 out of 5 stars
ignore grey plover
The reviewer "greyplover" has written a very funny and direct so-called "review" of Persona. Having just watched it for the fourth time at the cinema and about to watch Woody Allen... Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2004 by degrant
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful
This film is a cinematic tour de force, dominated by the imposing performances of Liv Ulman and Bibi Anderson, whose physical likeness weighs heavily on the film's signification. Read more
Published on 28 Nov 2003 by Petrides Antonis
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dated in some respects, but rescued by its performances
Many of Bergman's stylistic tricks, his alienation effects, and photo-montage techniques, look somewhat self-conscious by now. Read more
Published on 15 May 2003
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