Persona

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Country:Sweden

Director:Ingmar Bergman

Program:Parallel Pathways

Year: 
1966

Summary:

Bergman’s masterwork is one of those raw movies that reaches a profoundly metaphysical level. The film confines itself exclusively to the relationship between an actress who has refused to speak after having a breakdown during a stage performance and the nurse who is assigned to take care of her. As they spend time together, Alma, the nurse, speaks to Elisabeth, the actress, constantly, never receiving any answer. Alma eventually confesses her deepest secrets to a seemingly sympathetic Elisabeth and finds that her own personality is being submerged into Elisabeth’s all encompassing capacity to absorb another person. Liv Ullmann does an outstanding job in playing a character that hardly utters a line of dialogue.