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Prior to Persona I had never seen an Ingmar Bergman film, it had been something I had wanted to do for a while and I had placed Persona at the top of my watch list due to how highly regarded it is in the world of cinema.
Although I had never seen a Bergman film, I had a rough idea of who he was and what his films were like as an experimental, art house director. However I knew nothing about the specific content of his films, I had not heard a word about any of his films or their plots, so I was going in to Persona with an empty mind, ready to be pleasantly surprised.
First impressions for both a film and a director are very important, they can leave long lasting thoughts in your mind and you can immediately get a taste for things to come. Such examples of this include films such as Reservoir Dogs immediately gave me a taste for the stylistic, violent and fantastic dialogue filled Quentin Tarantino films and Mulholland Drive, one of the strangest and most confusing film experiences I have had that had be gripped from the opening 10 minutes and left me curious and eagerly anticipate the viewing of more of David Lynch’s work. Persona’s opening is definitely now the most memorable I have seen, I can not remember something as powerful and impacting as it. We see a bizarre array of ultra violent images such as an erect penis, a lamb being slaughtered, a tarantula and a nail going through a human hand, all these images flashing before our eyes along with a repeating image of a young boy with a deep stare, accompanied by haunting music in the background.
These opening scenes are very much a sign of things to come in terms of the atmosphere throughout the film, equally haunting and as memorable, a truly enthralling experience that really does bring out a mixture of emotions and feelings. The film is as minimalistic as it is artistic, we spend the film watching the lives of two women, one is a actress who has decided to be mute and the other is the nurse appointed with the task of taking care of her, as the two spend time with each other they begin to generate a bond with each other, raising questions over identity, who a person is and what the desire.
Once the film is over you will be long thinking about what you have just seen, less serious film watchers may be disappointed by a non linear and non spoon fed plot that come with the majority of popular films nowadays, but the fact that this film is not a linear story that presents you with a fully explained logical explanation is not important, films do not have to be. In an interview I recently watched with David Lynch (whose Mulholland Drive left me with a similar feeling of awe afterwards) he talked about how films should be used as a platform to convoy the result of something else, thoughts or a theme. Ingmar Bergman’s Wikipedia page says 'His major subjects were death, illness, faith, betrayal, and insanity.' And his presentation of such subjects in Persona is clearly evident as Bergman uses his experimental film as a means of showing us something more than just a story: images, themes, ideas and great meanings. Bergman is quick to remind us that what we are watching is just a film, towards the end we actually see a shot of him and his film crew turning their cameras and in another we see some film burning away.
To summarise what I have already said, watching Persona was a fantastic experience. It's memorable, haunting, unforgettable, enthralling and at times very disturbing, it is impossible to put a single word on the mixture of emotions and thoughts you'll have once you have seen it.
Persona
(1966, Ingmar Bergman)
(1966, Ingmar Bergman)
Prior to Persona I had never seen an Ingmar Bergman film, it had been something I had wanted to do for a while and I had placed Persona at the top of my watch list due to how highly regarded it is in the world of cinema.
Although I had never seen a Bergman film, I had a rough idea of who he was and what his films were like as an experimental, art house director. However I knew nothing about the specific content of his films, I had not heard a word about any of his films or their plots, so I was going in to Persona with an empty mind, ready to be pleasantly surprised.
First impressions for both a film and a director are very important, they can leave long lasting thoughts in your mind and you can immediately get a taste for things to come. Such examples of this include films such as Reservoir Dogs immediately gave me a taste for the stylistic, violent and fantastic dialogue filled Quentin Tarantino films and Mulholland Drive, one of the strangest and most confusing film experiences I have had that had be gripped from the opening 10 minutes and left me curious and eagerly anticipate the viewing of more of David Lynch’s work. Persona’s opening is definitely now the most memorable I have seen, I can not remember something as powerful and impacting as it. We see a bizarre array of ultra violent images such as an erect penis, a lamb being slaughtered, a tarantula and a nail going through a human hand, all these images flashing before our eyes along with a repeating image of a young boy with a deep stare, accompanied by haunting music in the background.
These opening scenes are very much a sign of things to come in terms of the atmosphere throughout the film, equally haunting and as memorable, a truly enthralling experience that really does bring out a mixture of emotions and feelings. The film is as minimalistic as it is artistic, we spend the film watching the lives of two women, one is a actress who has decided to be mute and the other is the nurse appointed with the task of taking care of her, as the two spend time with each other they begin to generate a bond with each other, raising questions over identity, who a person is and what the desire.
Once the film is over you will be long thinking about what you have just seen, less serious film watchers may be disappointed by a non linear and non spoon fed plot that come with the majority of popular films nowadays, but the fact that this film is not a linear story that presents you with a fully explained logical explanation is not important, films do not have to be. In an interview I recently watched with David Lynch (whose Mulholland Drive left me with a similar feeling of awe afterwards) he talked about how films should be used as a platform to convoy the result of something else, thoughts or a theme. Ingmar Bergman’s Wikipedia page says 'His major subjects were death, illness, faith, betrayal, and insanity.' And his presentation of such subjects in Persona is clearly evident as Bergman uses his experimental film as a means of showing us something more than just a story: images, themes, ideas and great meanings. Bergman is quick to remind us that what we are watching is just a film, towards the end we actually see a shot of him and his film crew turning their cameras and in another we see some film burning away.
To summarise what I have already said, watching Persona was a fantastic experience. It's memorable, haunting, unforgettable, enthralling and at times very disturbing, it is impossible to put a single word on the mixture of emotions and thoughts you'll have once you have seen it.
RATING: