Remove ads

Information

Year
1966
Runtime
85 min.
Director
Ingmar Bergman
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Rating *
8.1
Votes *
59,773
Checks
14,786
Favs
2,283
Dislikes
146
Favs/checks
15.4% (1:6)
Favs/dislikes
16:1
* View IMDb information

Top comments

  1. NourNasreldin's avatar

    NourNasreldin

    The opinions on this particular film vary from “I didn’t get this at all” to “Stunning Cinematography” and so, just from those two comments, one can begin to understand that persona is not your average film with your typical plot, if anything it’s Anti plot, a kind of plot that resents structure and form and takes the viewer on a journey to a place where time and space do not rule anymore.

    One can describe persona as very experimental, it is indeed one of those films that explore the psyche aka the conscience of a human being rather than focusing on what the eye sees. The story is of two women who end up in a beach house together, one is an actress and the other is a nurse and they both figuratively merge into each other right before your eyes.

    Persona has a really intriguing script. On one hand we have a normal (not really) character that talks, on the other hand we have the other one that doesn’t, not because she’s mute but because, she just stopped. Bergman wrote the script while in the hospital where he was being treated. He himself states that his own psychological state was poor at the time. This is when he started questioning the role of art in general and his in particular and hence: persona was born.

    Here are the very first notes of Persona that Bergman has written:
    Dejection and sorrow and tears – which change to powerful outburts of joy. Sensitivity in the hands. The broad forehead, severity, eyes survey the [unreadable] childishness.

    What is it that I want from this, yes, to start from the beginning. Not to contrive not to incite not to cause a fuss but to start from the beginning with my new – if I have one.

    So she has been an actress – –is that acceptable, perhaps And then she fell silent. Nothing unusual about that.

    These notes generally serve as a broad explanation of the psychedelic film and also serve their purpose, as Persona eventually becomes a new start in Bergman’s own career.
    9 years 4 months ago
  2. lachyas's avatar

    lachyas

    Weirdest vampire movie ever. 9 years 10 months ago
  3. Siskoid's avatar

    Siskoid

    Ingmar Bergman's Persona invites many competing and collaborating interpretations, but given his body of work, what most resonates with me is Elizabet Vogler as God, changing "roles" according to the era, or any given person's faith. In the literal story, she is an actress who one day stops speaking, and absent any real pathology, is sent home with a talkative nurse, Alma. The film is about Alma's personal relationship with God, and because this is Bergman, it's a silent, remote God, one that looks at her creation and finds it shocking and ugly, one that, by her silence, invites confession and introspection. The decoder ring, for me, was the art house intro created with images of the Divine's historical evolution. Even within the film, Elizabet's divinity transforms, especially after Alma comes to think she (and thus her faith) betrayed her. The abstract Christian God of modernity falls to psycho-analysis and the concept of the divine interior (i.e. when you pray, the answers come from some part of you), which in an existential universe, is the source of self-loathing. And so, osmosis between Alma and her God occurs in the third act. It's of course possible to read the film completely from a psychological point of view, or perhaps metatextually (because it sometimes breaks the fourth wall and manifests as film). My single viewing yielded what it did, but the film left a lot of doors open for next time. 4 years 6 months ago
See all comments

Friends

Login to see which of your friends have seen this movie!

Activity

  1. Ramo23 checked this movie 1 hour 28 minutes ago
  2. oligneisti favorited this movie 3 days 7 hours ago
  3. oligneisti checked this movie 3 days 7 hours ago
  4. nasovon tamiru checked this movie 4 days 16 hours ago
  5. haileylane added this movie to their watchlist 5 days 18 hours ago
  6. theaterofhorror and Lisbeth Salander23 checked this movie 5 days 19 hours ago
See more activity

In 25 official lists

  1. This movie ranks #3 in FLM's Best Swedish Films of All Time
    FLM's Best Swedish Films of All Time's icon

    FLM's Best Swedish Films…

    3
  2. This movie ranks #4 in Guldbagge Award - Best Swedish Film
    Guldbagge Award - Best Swedish Film's icon

    Guldbagge Award - Best S…

    4
  3. This movie ranks #7 in iCheckMovies's 1960s Top 100
    iCheckMovies's 1960s Top 100's icon

    iCheckMovies's 1960s Top…

    7
  4. This movie ranks #14 in Sight & Sound's The Greatest Films of All Time
    Sight & Sound's The Greatest Films of All Time's icon

    Sight & Sound's The Grea…

    14
  5. This movie ranks #16 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films
    TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films's icon

    TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest F…

    16
  6. This movie ranks #26 in IMDb's 1960s Top 50
    IMDb's 1960s Top 50's icon

    IMDb's 1960s Top 50

    26
  7. This movie ranks #76 in Empire's The 100 Best Films of World Cinema
    Empire's The 100 Best Films of World Cinema's icon

    Empire's The 100 Best Fi…

    76
  8. This movie ranks #80 in FOK!'s Film Top 250
    FOK!'s Film Top 250's icon

    FOK!'s Film Top 250

    80
  9. This movie ranks #81 in iCheckMovies's Most Favorited
    iCheckMovies's Most Favorited's icon

    iCheckMovies's Most Favo…

    81
  10. This movie ranks #88 in FilmTotaal Forum's Top 100
    FilmTotaal Forum's Top 100's icon

    FilmTotaal Forum's Top 1…

    88
  11. This movie ranks #100 in MovieSense 101
    MovieSense 101's icon

    MovieSense 101

    100
  12. This movie ranks #122 in Roger Ebert's Great Movies
    Roger Ebert's Great Movies's icon

    Roger Ebert's Great Movi…

    122
  13. This movie ranks #132 in Cahiers du Cinéma's Annual Top 10 Lists
    Cahiers du Cinéma's Annual Top 10 Lists's icon

    Cahiers du Cinéma's Annu…

    132
  14. This movie ranks #139 in 366 Weird Movies
    366 Weird Movies's icon

    366 Weird Movies

    139
  15. This movie ranks #146 in Reddit Top 250
    Reddit Top 250's icon

    Reddit Top 250

    146
  16. This movie ranks #189 in Harvard's Suggested Film Viewing: Narrative Films
    Harvard's Suggested Film Viewing: Narrative Films's icon

    Harvard's Suggested Film…

    189
  17. This movie ranks #196 in Halliwell's Top 1000: The Ultimate Movie Countdown
    Halliwell's Top 1000: The Ultimate Movie Countdown's icon

    Halliwell's Top 1000: Th…

    196
  18. This movie ranks #280 in Mark Cousins's The Story of Film: An Odyssey
    Mark Cousins's The Story of Film: An Odyssey's icon

    Mark Cousins's The Story…

    280
  19. This movie ranks #421 in Amos Vogel's Film as a Subversive Art
    Amos Vogel's Film as a Subversive Art's icon

    Amos Vogel's Film as a S…

    421
  20. This movie ranks #449 in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
    1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die's icon

    1001 Movies You Must See…

    449
  21. This movie ranks #542 in Jonathan Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema
    Jonathan Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema's icon

    Jonathan Rosenbaum's Ess…

    542
  22. This movie ranks #658 in The New York Times's Book of Movies
    The New York Times's Book of Movies's icon

    The New York Times's Boo…

    658
  23. This movie ranks #662 in David Thomson's Have You Seen?
    David Thomson's Have You Seen?'s icon

    David Thomson's Have You…

    662
  24. This movie ranks #710 in Time Out's 1000 Films to Change Your Life
    Time Out's 1000 Films to Change Your Life's icon

    Time Out's 1000 Films to…

    710
  25. This movie ranks #848 in The Criterion Collection
    The Criterion Collection's icon

    The Criterion Collection

    848
View all lists this movie is in