Earlier this evening I watched Persona, a remarkable Ingmar Bergman film from 1966.
The film stars Liv Ullmann as an actress who suffers some form of breakdown, and becomes unable (or unwilling) to speak as a result. A nurse, played by Bibi Andersson, is detailed to look after and care for her.
The pair eventually decamp to a secluded seaside retreat, which is where the most intriguing sequences in the movie unfold. The nurse Alma bares her soul to the actress Elisabet, in some gripping scenes. The dialogue here is quite explicit and frank, considering that it was 1966.
As their time together progressed, it seemed that in some respects Alma absorbed aspects of Elisabet's personality, and that some general merging of personalities took place. What happened is open to several interpretations, but Alma was ill-equipped to cope with assuming facets of the actress's persona, including her demons and insecurities.
One of the cleverest parts of the film occurs where Alma recounts some details of Elisbet's personal and family life to her. First of all, we see an image only of Elisabet's reaction to the revelations, and then the same dialogue is played again, but this time we just see Alma speaking the words. My guess is that this effect was designed to convey the idea of "transference".
A quite disturbing, complex but nonetheless riveting film, with some trademarks of other Bergman movies, such as solitude, astute use of black and white, a secluded location, and images of rocks, beaches and waves.
I was highly impressed with the performance of the beautiful Bibi Andersson, as the nurse Alma, and Liv Ullmann is never less than fascinating to watch.
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