Analysis Of Persona By Ingmar Bergman

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Persona is one of Ingmar Bergman’s most acclaimed film, it also is one of his most experimental. The film follows two women who are strangers but are incredibly alike in a strange way. Elizabet Vogler is a famous stage actress who experiences a mental breakdown of sorts during the middle of a performance of Elektra, afterwards she no longer speaks or responds to anyone. She is cared for by Sister Alma, a woman of a similar age and is asked to care for Elizabet at the beginning of the film. Alma, whose name also means “soul” in spanish, is almost reluctant on taking the job as she feels as though she is not mature enough to be able to help Elizabet. Alma sees someone who is youthful or childlike at first glance, but has hard and intimidating eyes.
Alma quickly learns that Elizabet has nothing wrong with her physically or mentally, but it made to go take care of Elizabet at her doctor’s …show more content…

This is initiated when the two have a fight between themselves, which is initiated by Alma trying to force Elizabet to talk. The intimacy between the two of them which has had sexual undertones, hits its breaking point with actual physical violence between the two. The stress of this fight between the two almost comes to a peak when Alma almost throws a pot of boiling water onto Elizabet which causes Elizabet to actually say something which is not in a dreamlike scene. The following scenes it is unsure whether or not they happen, and if not, whose consciousness they are taking place in. Alma becomes Elizabet to Elizabet’s husband and has sex with him while Elizabet is close by in pain. Then there is a repeated monologue by Alma that tells the story of Elizabet which is also her horrible secret, that she hates being a mother. This peaks with a cinematic morphing of the two half of the women’s faces to become one

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