Bergman understands the language of cinema, that's for sure. Despite its short duration, Persona holds so much substance and breadth of vision it nearly beckons subsequent views. The cinematography is to die for. Bibi Andersson's delivery hit me right upside the head. Persona is a compendium of the purging soul. Ingmar Bergman is a god.

My first Bergman. I feel so special now. Anyways, Persona is very hard to put into words. At times it seems to be weird for weirdness' sake, mostly the bookends. Made me slightly creeped out, mentally drained and partly confused... but I sort of liked it. The acting is great, the cinematography is excellent and it really got under my skin at times. Still, I didn't connect with it as much as I'd hoped. Probably needs a rewatch somewhere down the line.

Bergman deconstructs the unstable and vulnerable emotions of two very different/alike women as he simultaneously deconstructs the unstable and vulnerable film that we are watching.

Im loathe to review a film I haven't watched the whole way but after the 1 minute static close up of a face, I foresaw hell. Some people c that scene & look 4 profound "meaning". Others will call pretentious puzzles w/out answers like this mental masturbation, but that's unfair. Masturbation implies measurable goals: pleasure/orgasm. 4 those who think that something is good as long as it's "avant garde" (i.e. "First! He's got dibs!"), even if its a canvas smeared w/ used diapers, this 1's for u

We are capable of breaking our chosen personalities as easy as we choose to uphold them. Bergman freezes us in the Swedish summer where an actress and a nurse almost physically merge. They express (through one voice) love, disdain, hatred, fear and longing towards their joint persona and the matching forces in their lives. There is little that we can hold as unique Bergman is implying, or is there little that separates us? With reference in the film to the terrors of war this proves poignant.

A singular piece of art that's too theoretical for its own good. Bergman knows how to tug at our emotions; unfortunately he tugs at the wrong ones. In the flurry of self-reflexive nods, we feel terror, but it's not clear why we care. We see what happens and we can analyze it, but there's a diminished investment that comes with the film's Brechtian detachment. This film needs an anchor; its shocking and its images are lasting, but it floats over our heads. Maybe that's the point.

17 temmuz 10 & cumle kurmak istemiyorum.

Here Bergman takes his interest in the human face to whole new levels, to say the least. I didn't expect this to be quite so close to psychological horror, nor quite so emotionally intense and disturbing. I won't pretend to understand it but I haven't seen something quite so fascinating in ages and I absolutely loved it.

Exímio manipulador da luz e da sombra, Nykvist topografa as nuances das faces expressivas de Ullmann e Andersson em close-ups desconcertantes, fazendo com que o processo de gradativa fragmentação seguida de amalgamação psicológica da personalidade/identidade das protagonistas se torne surreal, fantasmagórica, como se o registro em preto e branco dessa trama internalizada carregasse a aura e ilogicidade de um sonho perturbador. Uma obra de arte vanguardista sob a forma de um mistério fascinante.

Each frame is stunning. By equal turns it's deeply philosophical and utterly horrifying. Beautiful movie.

i don't understand this movie

42

A cinematic riddle, extraordinarily enigmatic. Sven Nykvist was a genius.