Persona: The Original Inception

Ingmar Bergman [trailer]

Two women, one persona... 1 + 1 =...1?

Developing a coherent thought when it comes to Persona has been a trying experience. Needless to say, what it lacks in colour it makes up for with its messy palette of half-dried psychological musings that attempt to tap into the inner workings of the flawed human mind. Honestly, this film puts Inception to shame with its absurdly abstract portrayal of an identity crisis and oddly endearing take on the blurred nature of the reality versus the dream.

The film starts out innocently enough, I found myself in a medical institution trailing a young nurse Alma (played by one of Bergman's leading ladies, Bibi Andersson) as she tended to the mysterious case of an actress, Eisabet Vogler, who had spontaneously lost the will to speak. The pair grew close and, in an attempt to coerce Elisabet back to her 'normal' self, moved to the seaside for a medicinal summer holiday. It was at this point Bergman began to slowly unravel his guise of the conventional drama to reveal, beneath the surface a much more disturbing development. The film took a turn for the bizarre as I witnessed Alma's rapid deterioration from what I had trustingly assumed as the sane and dependable character to an emotional wreck with little regard for pretences and discretion. I bore witness to Miss Vogler's petulantly maintained silence and curse silently when, like a toddler who refuses to wear a hat at the beach, she continuously refused Alma's desperate pleas for a mere muttering. Interestingly, it was around this time I also recognised a shift in who I identified as the stronger character, finding that Vogler's silence appeared, in a sense, powerful and all-consuming of Alma's sunnier, but ultimately less robust disposition. Towards the end, all sense of time and spacial awareness went out the window as I struggled to distinguish just who's conscience I was dealing with as both women appeared to meld into one single being both physically and mentally. And while the resemblance between both lead characters was not, in my opinion, striking, Bergman's fusion of the two women's minds more than compensated, clearly conveying his concept.

"this film puts Inception to shame"

Now, let's talk aesthetics. Persona was the sixth collaboration between Swedish director Ingmar Bergman and cinematographer Sven Nykvist and features some haunting visual interpretations of the film's theme. Perhaps the most recognised is the shot that shows both lead character's faces side by side (as shown above) with Elisabet pulling Alma's hair back from her face to reveal the likenesses in their appearances. The framing of this shot beautifully draws the women together, allowing us to study them closely whilst subtly hinting at the mental connection that lies beneath the obvious physical similarities. Throughout the film Nykvist has explored an avant-garde style that further accentuates the blur between reality and the women's mental connection, creating also, juxtaposition between the changing landscape and the changing of human character and personas (more on aesthetic symbolism).

It's riddled with symbolism and clever dialogue and definitely not what I would prescribe for a light-hearted holiday film, however Persona is an experience that must be had if one wishes to appreciate the true meaning of the Inception complex.

Weekend: A Wave of Weird

Jean-Luc Godard [Trailer]

Don't ask...

Watching the French New Wave 'classic' Weekend could be easily likened to voluntarily subjecting oneself to a charity trek through the Amazon for which you are severely under dressed. You watch it because you feel obligated out of respect for cinema's 'greats' to give it a chance, however ultimately find yourself thoroughly under prepared for the onslaught of half finished themes, casual approach to death and complete digression from any coherent story line.


French New Wave Cinema is a concept coined by critics as an "explosion of vibrant, innovative, and highly self-conscious films by young French directors in the late 1950s and early 1960s" (Full Article).With a description this fluffy they clearly also found themselves scrambling for an understandable explanation for what I can only describe as a cacophony of jumbled concepts shoved into 105 minutes by director Jean-Luc Godard. Quite honestly the only thing I followed was the progression in the lead female's fashion as her and her husband traipsed across the countryside coming across a seemingly endless assortment of random characters each contributing their 10 cents worth on the state of post war France. I sat in utter confusion through the perplexing prose of Emily Brontë, French style, and after they'd burned her to death, dozed off in a barnyard tribute to Mozart before being whisked into the long-winded lectures of two ethnic dump truck drivers. Altogether an exhausting experience and one I won't be repeating. Naturally, the film ends in a regression to a more or less tribal existence concluding in cannibalism, murder and one less lead character.

“To make a film all you need is a girl and a gun.” 

Now, while I concede I can never even begin to make head or tail of this eccentric film, I can still pause my ranting to appreciate some of it's more technical breakthroughs. The editing of this film, though not as revolutionary as when it was first used in Godard's Breathless (more on Breathless editing) is what makes this film bearable for many of us self-confessed obligatory viewers. Fast jump cuts, long pans and not to mention the iconic twelve minute traffic jam scene are all regarded as unique editing decisions made by Godard and other New Wave filmmakers in a time when the industry was virtually dominated by the predictable formula of those classic assembly line Hollywood blockbusters. Films such as Weekend are credited with giving "birth to such ideas as “la politique des auteur,” jump cuts and the unimportance of linear structure" (Full Article) and ultimately providing a much needed wave of unexplored ideas that further inspired the art of cinema to new levels of creative storytelling.

All in all, I would advice anyone wishing to expand their cultural palette with this film to proceed as cautiously as they would with their real one. Rather like anchovies Weekend is an acquired taste, and one that certainly did not resonate with me. To conclude I will leave you in the capable hands of Godard, who once famously stated, “to make a film all you need is a girl and a gun.” It is unfortunate I did not possess a gun whilst watching this film, perhaps then this would be a different story.

For now,
Tilly

An Introduction

Welcome to 'The Cinema Chronicles', a blog created out of necessity and continued (I hope) out of my otherwise unsatiated need to ramble on about the many opinions I have on just a few of the films I have devoured over the years.

Though this blog will probably never actually find itself reflected in the groggy gaze of any other late night blogger or professional procrastinator, I feel introductions are still in order.
So here we go,
1. My name is Tilly, Matilda if you're my manager or extremely frustrated parent
2. I am a young film student, studying and residing in Brisbane, Australia
3. My love of tea is outweighed only by my love of tea with biscuits
4. I dabble in a smorgasbord of interests, consisting of (but not exclusive to) music making/listening, filmmaking/watching, eating, cooking, travelling, reading, writing and, I presume, a virtual novel of undiscovered others.
5. If I had to live in any other era it would be the 1950's because I've spent far too much time watching 'Call the Midwife' with my mum on Sunday nights and thus have developed what some might describe as an 'overly idealised version of the reality' when it comes to anything involving hair rollers, black vintage bicycles and round-toed ballroom shoes.
6. Contrary to a popular misconception formed of the carefree woman, I don't like long walks on the beach, am too young to consume alcoholic beverages and would rather be safely out of the rain then attempting to re-enact a scene from the notebook by myself
7. I find it difficult to watch a movie or read a book more than once, a fact of which I am equally ashamed and proud of, depending on who I'm talking too
8. At the end of last year I vowed to adhere strictly to the concept of "radical honesty", a practice that concluded almost as quickly as it began when I realised that I not only restricted myself from telling a lie but also from exaggerating the truth, alas a habit that I couldn't bring myself to sacrifice. As a result I compromised, deciding instead to continue down the path of honesty with an allowance for creative license

I could go on and on, and as you've probably gathered, I could talk the hind legs off a donkey. To those who have made it this far, enjoy 'The Cinema Chronicles' and if, at any point, you find yourself questioning how you came to be wading through the amateur criticisms and loosely formed opinions of a 17 year old with nothing better to do, I invite you to further explore that notion before going back to what you should have been doing.

For now, goodbye.
Tilly