Persona is a 1966 film directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. It follows a famed actress who suddenly got mute mid-performance. A nurse is assigned to her and they both move in to a cottage by the sea. Over time however, the two experience a strange mental and emotional convergence, where both the actress and the nurse seemingly become one person. Overall, while this is a highly influential and well made movie, I found it a little too ambiguous personally, and it falls into a similar “pretentiousness trap” alike Stalker, albeit nowhere near to the extent of that film.

Persona follows a young nurse named Alma, who is assigned to take care of a famous stage actress named Elisabet Vogler. Elisabet suddenly went mute in the middle of a performance, and hasn’t spoken since. Soon, the two women start to form into one, and it becomes hard for them to distinguish themselves apart.

It’s said that with Persona, what one person draws from it another person can draw the exact opposite. This is perhaps the most subjective film ever made, and it has many different themes one can draw from it. When discussing this on the podcast, my friends interpreted this film as about insanity, whereas I drew themes of vampirism from it.

However, this lack of concreteness and substance isn’t entirely beneficial. While I don’t mind surreal films (Brazil is one of my favorite movies ever,) Persona has literally nothing to jump off of. No conversation or semblance of rationality to ground the viewer as they stem the tide of surrealism that is this film. It makes it feel slightly pretentious, and hard to watch at times. While some people might like this, I personally was not a huge fan.

Persona is a good, influential film. The more I think of it the more I like it. That being said I don’t think its perfect, and could’ve used something to ground the viewers.