-Revisiting Bergman's Persona after 50 years
77 years before Persona was released, August Strindberg, a fellow countryman of the film director Ingmar Bergman, wrote the play Den Starkare (The Stronger). It consists only of one scene and of two characters, "Mrs. X", who speaks; "Miss. Y", does not. In Persona, Bergman uses this same formula. Elisabet Volger, played by Liv Ullmann, is an actress, who, for unknown reasons, becomes mute, we, as the viewer, the decipherer of this film, can come to our own conclusion and come up with our theories of course as the film moseys on. Alma, played by Bibi Anderson, is a nurse who looks after Elisabet’s well-being at a summer retreat to help the great actress recover from whatever malady she is suffering from. In terms of plot and action, there is little more involved in this but of course the film deserves attention and discussion, not for the lack of action, but for everything else.
When one reviews Persona, they must not merely discuss this film as they would most others, it is, to put it mildly, open to interpretation. To begin with there are modernist themes, if a discontented mind rejects this then it is useful to look at the key themes of modernism itself. Ten major issues modernism concerns itself with are self consciousness, Irony, a non-linear theme, destabilisation and fragments of reality, mythic forms, symbolic references, self-conscious textuality, isolation, the Gothic and the breakdown of civilisation in both world war one and two. What then, of these modernist themes are explored in the film? Well, all of them.
Self consciousness. This is one of the strongest themes in the entire film. The clue is in the title of the 1966 classic. One of the biggest questions to be posed in discussing it is who is real and who is not. Are both the women separate entities? Is Alma an invention of Elisabet's creativity or vice versa? It sounds reasonable to propose if indeed if this is case, that the actress has created the persona in Alma. Both the women have unburied truths, we learn, through the nurse, Elisabet, when she fell pregnant, detested her unborn child, utterly despised it and these thoughts remained once the child came into the world. Alma, too had a similar unburied truth here. Both the women look alike and in the one instance in the film when they are together when another character is present Alma takes on the role of Elisabet and she fades into the background. Besides this, the film is very much about imagery, some of the most beautiful images appear in this film, that would compare to the great Tarkovsky. It is, after all “poetry in images”. Of the many images we see, there is a large picture of one the women then a second later it appears to switch, as they look so much alike.
Irony. The irony is striking. Most of the action takes place at a retreat where Alma talks and Elisabet does not speak, she merely listens. It is the nurse that will open her heart, her soul, her darkest secrets to this actress, as the film saunters on, we see the dynamics of power changing, Elisabet, although silent throughout, appears to have complete control over the nurse; the roles have reversed, one would imagine it is Alma who has the disorder, the madness, the illness or whatever it is. She appears to be losing her mind. She lays bear her life. She even delivers a very personal monologue where she explicitly describes an encounter, this monologue, Bergman insisted would be cut out of the film entirely but Bibi Anderson thought otherwise and he was happy for her to write it according to her desires. The story describes Alma’s sexual encounter between two under-age boys and another woman. The irony of course, is indeed the nurse herself is the one who needs help and attention from a…nurse. There can be little doubt the roles have reversed.
A none linear theme. There is a story, even a plot that we follow from beginning to end, there are, however, Buñuelian sequences where the action of the film is fragmented; half way through the film the picture falters as if the film we are watching, breaks out of the conventional linear narrative. There is another scene, the most famous in Persona perhaps. As Alma sleeps, Bergman, who after all is the greatest film director to date, manipulates the lighting, like a gliding apparition, angel even, as we see Elisabet enter, she then slowly drifts away. The nurse does catch a glimpse of her. This dreamlike sequence may or may not be real, we have to make that decision ourselves. In the beginning of the film it is the film reel itself we are introduced to. The first scene in fact bears no resemblance to the rest of the film, here, one of the most beautiful scenes seen in cinematic history, where we see a boy in a hospital, or is he in a morgue, the other episodes in this opening scene can not be described as linear narrative.
Destabilisation and fragments of reality. Right from the outset we see fragmented images, ideas, even faces. The picture opens with what appears to be scenes from cinema. In the first film by the surrealist film director Luis Buñuel with a helping hand from artist Salvador Dali, Un Chien Andalou (The Andalusian Dog), in what is one of the most famous scenes in film history, a razor slashes a woman’s eye. Buñuel, later admitted he used a goat’s eye, that is one of many fragmented images we see in Persona, the goat’s eye. We also see a large, rather scary looking spider, there is slapstick comedy, but it is all fragmented, it is, of course, not part of any linear narrative either. Through the manipulation of light we see apparitions, there are the two women’s faces who become one; this is significant, there is one, literally perhaps.
It would not be too outlandish to argue, at least one of the two women are a mythic form, not distinct from the other; in fact the other does in fact only exist in the mind of the other. We can cite many examples in literature where the mythic form has been prevalent. But in this film we see figures such as Dracula and others. That shows clearly, in this film there are depictions of the Gothic, the textuality is explored, this is evident enough but the most clear of all is the isolation, particularly of Elisabet.
It is, I believe reasonable to argue that Elisabet Volger has created Alma; yes, Alma does not exist, she does of course, but only in the mind of the great actress. Alma is her medicine, her guidance, her mentor, her psychiatrist, her other half, her self consciousness. If we are to take this view forward then it may be concluded the troubled woman is indeed in love with herself, or at the very least admires herself a great deal. She has the power over her invention of course; but what of the resolution, well that is one problem presented, or perhaps it is not a problem, but there is no resolution. Bergman does no tell us a story, he gives us images, some dialogue and characters, and we must assess, break down and analyse and think about this for ourselves.
Early on in the film Elisabet is horrified by the pictures she see on the TV screen; news stories of war. There is the Vietnam War and a monk who is burned alive in that very same country. She shirks back in horror. But what is Bergman's view on these things? He has been criticised for not having a world view, and remaining silent on these sorts of abominable and gratuitous events. Well, he did respond with such things with the following:
My art cannot melt, transform, or forget: the boy in the photo with his hands in the air or the man who set himself on fire to bear witness to his faith. I am unable to grasp the large catastrophes. They leave my heart untouched. At most I can read about such atrocities with a kind of greed and pornography of horror. But I shall never rid myself of those images. Images that turn my art into a bag of tricks, into something indifferent, meaningless.
77 years before Persona was released, August Strindberg, a fellow countryman of the film director Ingmar Bergman, wrote the play Den Starkare (The Stronger). It consists only of one scene and of two characters, "Mrs. X", who speaks; "Miss. Y", does not. In Persona, Bergman uses this same formula. Elisabet Volger, played by Liv Ullmann, is an actress, who, for unknown reasons, becomes mute, we, as the viewer, the decipherer of this film, can come to our own conclusion and come up with our theories of course as the film moseys on. Alma, played by Bibi Anderson, is a nurse who looks after Elisabet’s well-being at a summer retreat to help the great actress recover from whatever malady she is suffering from. In terms of plot and action, there is little more involved in this but of course the film deserves attention and discussion, not for the lack of action, but for everything else.
When one reviews Persona, they must not merely discuss this film as they would most others, it is, to put it mildly, open to interpretation. To begin with there are modernist themes, if a discontented mind rejects this then it is useful to look at the key themes of modernism itself. Ten major issues modernism concerns itself with are self consciousness, Irony, a non-linear theme, destabilisation and fragments of reality, mythic forms, symbolic references, self-conscious textuality, isolation, the Gothic and the breakdown of civilisation in both world war one and two. What then, of these modernist themes are explored in the film? Well, all of them.
Self consciousness. This is one of the strongest themes in the entire film. The clue is in the title of the 1966 classic. One of the biggest questions to be posed in discussing it is who is real and who is not. Are both the women separate entities? Is Alma an invention of Elisabet's creativity or vice versa? It sounds reasonable to propose if indeed if this is case, that the actress has created the persona in Alma. Both the women have unburied truths, we learn, through the nurse, Elisabet, when she fell pregnant, detested her unborn child, utterly despised it and these thoughts remained once the child came into the world. Alma, too had a similar unburied truth here. Both the women look alike and in the one instance in the film when they are together when another character is present Alma takes on the role of Elisabet and she fades into the background. Besides this, the film is very much about imagery, some of the most beautiful images appear in this film, that would compare to the great Tarkovsky. It is, after all “poetry in images”. Of the many images we see, there is a large picture of one the women then a second later it appears to switch, as they look so much alike.
Irony. The irony is striking. Most of the action takes place at a retreat where Alma talks and Elisabet does not speak, she merely listens. It is the nurse that will open her heart, her soul, her darkest secrets to this actress, as the film saunters on, we see the dynamics of power changing, Elisabet, although silent throughout, appears to have complete control over the nurse; the roles have reversed, one would imagine it is Alma who has the disorder, the madness, the illness or whatever it is. She appears to be losing her mind. She lays bear her life. She even delivers a very personal monologue where she explicitly describes an encounter, this monologue, Bergman insisted would be cut out of the film entirely but Bibi Anderson thought otherwise and he was happy for her to write it according to her desires. The story describes Alma’s sexual encounter between two under-age boys and another woman. The irony of course, is indeed the nurse herself is the one who needs help and attention from a…nurse. There can be little doubt the roles have reversed.
A none linear theme. There is a story, even a plot that we follow from beginning to end, there are, however, Buñuelian sequences where the action of the film is fragmented; half way through the film the picture falters as if the film we are watching, breaks out of the conventional linear narrative. There is another scene, the most famous in Persona perhaps. As Alma sleeps, Bergman, who after all is the greatest film director to date, manipulates the lighting, like a gliding apparition, angel even, as we see Elisabet enter, she then slowly drifts away. The nurse does catch a glimpse of her. This dreamlike sequence may or may not be real, we have to make that decision ourselves. In the beginning of the film it is the film reel itself we are introduced to. The first scene in fact bears no resemblance to the rest of the film, here, one of the most beautiful scenes seen in cinematic history, where we see a boy in a hospital, or is he in a morgue, the other episodes in this opening scene can not be described as linear narrative.
Destabilisation and fragments of reality. Right from the outset we see fragmented images, ideas, even faces. The picture opens with what appears to be scenes from cinema. In the first film by the surrealist film director Luis Buñuel with a helping hand from artist Salvador Dali, Un Chien Andalou (The Andalusian Dog), in what is one of the most famous scenes in film history, a razor slashes a woman’s eye. Buñuel, later admitted he used a goat’s eye, that is one of many fragmented images we see in Persona, the goat’s eye. We also see a large, rather scary looking spider, there is slapstick comedy, but it is all fragmented, it is, of course, not part of any linear narrative either. Through the manipulation of light we see apparitions, there are the two women’s faces who become one; this is significant, there is one, literally perhaps.
It would not be too outlandish to argue, at least one of the two women are a mythic form, not distinct from the other; in fact the other does in fact only exist in the mind of the other. We can cite many examples in literature where the mythic form has been prevalent. But in this film we see figures such as Dracula and others. That shows clearly, in this film there are depictions of the Gothic, the textuality is explored, this is evident enough but the most clear of all is the isolation, particularly of Elisabet.
It is, I believe reasonable to argue that Elisabet Volger has created Alma; yes, Alma does not exist, she does of course, but only in the mind of the great actress. Alma is her medicine, her guidance, her mentor, her psychiatrist, her other half, her self consciousness. If we are to take this view forward then it may be concluded the troubled woman is indeed in love with herself, or at the very least admires herself a great deal. She has the power over her invention of course; but what of the resolution, well that is one problem presented, or perhaps it is not a problem, but there is no resolution. Bergman does no tell us a story, he gives us images, some dialogue and characters, and we must assess, break down and analyse and think about this for ourselves.
Early on in the film Elisabet is horrified by the pictures she see on the TV screen; news stories of war. There is the Vietnam War and a monk who is burned alive in that very same country. She shirks back in horror. But what is Bergman's view on these things? He has been criticised for not having a world view, and remaining silent on these sorts of abominable and gratuitous events. Well, he did respond with such things with the following:
My art cannot melt, transform, or forget: the boy in the photo with his hands in the air or the man who set himself on fire to bear witness to his faith. I am unable to grasp the large catastrophes. They leave my heart untouched. At most I can read about such atrocities with a kind of greed and pornography of horror. But I shall never rid myself of those images. Images that turn my art into a bag of tricks, into something indifferent, meaningless.