I think they were the same person

Persona

Ah, how long it took me to finally watch this film! I started the first 10 minutes of it ages ago, but was never able to watch more, but now I finally did. I didn’t regret it – this is quite a classic.

Matte said he didn’t know about the high suicide rates in Sweden, and now I realize that I really tend to watch depressive swedish movies, I wonder why? It makes me feel like the swedish language also sounds somewhat depressive, ehehe.

My my, this film is so incredibly yuriyuri, at least in the beginning. In fact, to me, even the scenes in which they fight each other make them feel like they are even closer to each other. But this is even better, it’s homoerotic tensions with her second personality?

Now, onto a serious note, the psychologic aspects of the film are so brilliant that I find it impossible to put it into words. Both women are fascinating, or rather, the portrait of their inner thoughts is fascinating as the women themselves are more like models – not stereotypical, but they represent humans in general. How amazing. I am also a fan of the scene that was re-played, but only the other woman was shown. Beautiful. (I am not sure whether there are differences in the dialogues though, I think not.)

I still remember how I have enjoyed the very beginning of the film when I watched it the first time – I had to see it a second time again, and yes, it’s still pretty cool. This is some kind of surrealism that I can live with. However, I do admit that I am completely unable to relate the surrealistic parts of the film with the general topic of the film itself. Why those soldiers? Why the weird visual effects? After watching the film, I surely am going to read a few interpretations on it, as I believe I am unable to grasp everything about the film as I have seen it right now. One thing I have found to be interesting is this Wikipedia quote:

Bergman and Elisabet share the same dilemma: they cannot respond authentically to “large catastrophes” (such as the holocaust or Vietnam). The actress Elisabet responds by stopping speaking: by contrast the filmmaker Bergman emphasizes that “necessary illusions” enable us to live.

Now, some of the surreal scenes make much more sense to me.

Finally, yes, I think this film is quite an insider’s tip, it’s absolutely great. I would have expected something like “Persona” to be the critics’ favorite, instead of the likes of “Tokyo Story”.