Persona (1966)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Ingmar Bergman

Writer:

Ingmar Bergman (story)

Release Date:

16 March 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

Previously unseen Director's Cut

Plot:

A nurse is put in charge of an actress who can't talk and finds that the actress's persona is melding with hers.

Plot Keywords:

Nurse | Actress | Lesbian Interest | Confession | Monologue

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 5 wins

Cast

Bibi Andersson	...	Alma, The Nurse
Liv Ullmann	...	Elisabeth Vogler, The Actress
Margaretha Krook	...	The Doctor
Gunnar Björnstrand	...	Mr. Vogler
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jörgen Lindström	...	The Boy, Elisabeth's Son (uncredited)

Directed by
Ingmar Bergman

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ingmar Bergman		story and screenplay

Produced by
Ingmar Bergman	....	producer

Original Music by
Lars Johan Werle

Cinematography by
Sven Nykvist

Film Editing by
Ulla Ryghe

Production Design by
Bibi Lindström

Costume Design by
Mago

Makeup Department
Tina Johansson	....	assistant makeup artist
Börje Lundh	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Lars-Owe Carlberg	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lenn Hjortzberg	....	assistant director
Bo Arne Vibenius	....	assistant director (as Bo Vibenius)

Art Department
Karl-Arne Bergman	....	property master (as Karl Arne Bergman)

Sound Department
Evald Andersson	....	special sound effects
Lennart Engholm	....	sound
Olle Jacobsson	....	sound mixer
Per-Olof Pettersson	....	sound (as P.O. Pettersson)

Camera and Electrical Department
Anders Bodin	....	assistant camera
Lars Johnsson	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Eivor Kullberg	....	costume assistant

Other crew
Kerstin Berg	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Distributors

• Accent Film Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Continental Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• Gutek Film (2006) (Poland) (all media)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Les Artistes Associés S.A.B. (1966) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Lopert Pictures Corporation (1967) (USA) (subtitled)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (USA) (video)
• Metro Tartan Distribution Ltd. (UK)
• Reel Media International (2004) (USA) (video)
• Reel Media International (2007) (USA) (all media)
• Video Yesteryear

Also Known As:

Kinematografi (Sweden) (working title)
A Máscara (Portugal) [pt]
Naisen naamio - Persona (Finland) [fi]
Quando Duas Mulheres Pecam (Brazil) [pt]

Runtime:

85 min | Argentina:80 min | USA:83 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

AGA Sound System

Certification:

Finland:K-15 (2004) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1967) | France:Unrated | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (re-rating) (2002) | UK:X (original rating) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Fårö, Gotlands län, Sweden

Company:

Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Trivia:

The name of Bibi Andersson's character "Alma" is Spanish for "soul".

Quotes:

Sister Alma: Is it really important not to lie, to speak so that everything rings true? Can one live without lying and quibbling and making excuses? Isn't it better to be lazy and lax and deceitful? Perhaps you even improve by staying as you are. (No response) My words mean nothing to you. People like you can't be reached. I wonder whether your madness isn't the worst kind. You act healthy, act it so well that everyone believes you--everyone except me, because I know how rotten you are.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Yamim Kfuim (2005)

Liv Ulmann's smile

Profound studie of the human psyche. Honest story about nooks of existence and vain hopes. Anatomy of helplessness and deep solitude. Life as convention, mask for feelings and expectations.

Another room of Bergman's universe. Same cruel instruments, game of flash-backs and dream sequences, visions and memories. Fight between two women as screen for interior struggle. Impact of consciences and lights of sin. Illness like armour against fake images and empty future. Confesions like way to be yourself. Like cries suffocates by silence of the other.

Story about refuse and cages. About dreams and disillusions. About chaotic values and flavour of extinction. People as rabbits for experiments. The other like sign of salvation. And the question of soul.

"Persona" is an act of confrontation between Ingmar Bergman and God. The silence, the cruelty of letters, the cries and the confessions of Alma are only guns in a strange and ambiguous war. So, any film of this great director is a religious personal answer to permanent subtle fear. In this case, the shadow of divine presence is the Liv Ulmann smile.