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.