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Persona
R4 - Australia - Accent Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (1st October 2005). |
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The Film
 To be honest I’ve seen very little of the works of Ingmar Bergman, however my limited knowledge of his films it’s hard to deny the fact that this man is a cinematic genius. Throughout his career Bergman has created some of the film world's most treasured and revered foreign language classics, such as Fanny and Alexander (1982), Autumn Sonata (1978), Cries and Whispers (1972) among many others. Throughout his career he’s created films of beauty and complexity, focusing on areas of human condition and incorporating his own life experiences. Over the years his filmic style, vision and direction developed its own uniqueness, which influenced other filmmakers to follow his Bergamasque brand of filmmaking. Even today his film’s still make an impact and are relevant and interesting as always, Persona stands as certainly one of the Bergman’s most creative of films. Persona plays out like a thriller, it tells the story of an actress Elisabeth Vogler (played by the Bergman favourite Liv Ullman), Elisabeth is a person who has, I assume suffered some kind of trauma that has left her silent. When Alma (played by another Bergman favourite Bibi Andersson) a young nurse from the city arrives to look after her, the two spend time together at Elisabeth’s seaside home away from civilisation. Alma, who seems to have a respect and devotion towards the actress, begins to share aspects of her life with her, after all with Elisabeth’s refusal to speak and as time passes Alma confesses her secrets to her. Their relationship eventually falters when Alma discovers Elisabeth’s true feelings towards her. As these two women spend time together alone, it appears as though after each passing day Alma and Elisabeth’s personalities being to submerge into one. Having read the synopsis on the DVD sleeve I was rather intrigued as to the nature of the film and how Bergman was going to tackle merging these two personalities into one. But after having viewed the film nothing was near clear-cut, Persona is a film that challengers the viewer and that most people will likely all have different interpretations of it. It’s very much a film that encourages debate and discussion, which is why this film should be viewed with a group of friends. Having said that and for those interested I present my interpretation of this film, the film’s initial focus seems to be a study of the human condition. What would you do if in the presence of someone who refused to speak? What conversation would you make? Would you be selective in your choice of topics? And how long before you’d begin to divulge your deepest, darkest secrets? Additionally how much of a connection can you make to a person that does respond? Is that even possible? In this case it appears to be so, so much in fact that these two women suddenly feel like one. The two women represent different sides of a single person. Ullman and Andersson both deliver excellent performances, Ullman who is silent for the entire film is able to express an astounding amount of emotion that eats up the screen with what appears to be a precision crafted character, for an actor a silent role that’s also one of the leads is a huge challenge and she comes up to the plate head to head with Andersson in every scene. Andersson brings a vulnerable and touching feel to her character, viewers will find it easy to sympathise with the nurse. Adding to the film’s overall atmosphere is the beautifully stark photography by cinematographer Sven Nykvist. The framing and camerawork appears distant, like an observer peering into someone’s life. A feeling Bergman was tyring to portray with the look of the film. Persona is a rather complex and frustrating film, however it stands as one of Bergman’s most interesting works, it’s a film that seems to work on numerous narrative and visual levels. It’s a film that can be intellectually proactive. The conversations you’ll have with people post-viewing will be as interesting as the viewing process was.
Video
Presented in the film’s original theatrical ratio of 1.33:1, this black and white transfer is very good for a film of it’s age. Film grain is inherent in the print and that’s all part of the look and adds to the moodiness and atmosphere of the film. There was very little print damage and dust or other signs of distress which I was very impressed about. Black levels are bold, and the contrast levels are very well balanced. Accent have provided a strong transfer for a very unique and interesting film.
Audio
The disc comes with one soundtrack option a Swedish Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, dialogue is clear and distortion free, I could not detect any considerable hiss, pops or drop outs which tend to be a problem with films of this age. Although the track is simply a stereo one it is very clean and served the film adequately. Optional subtitles are included in English only, the subtitles appeared on the screen for reasonable amount of time without having to rewind and re-read anything missed. There were no grammatical or spelling errors.
Extras
Unfortunately the excellent extras seen on the US region 1 release were not transferred over for this version. Instead all we get are a series of bonus trailers for Fritz Lang's 'M', F.W. Murnau's 'Sunrise’, Bus 174, Fallen Angel' and The Short Films of Francois Ozon.
Overall
Persona is a complex and intriguing film that will generate many different meanings and interoperations from different viewers. It’s not an easy film to watch, almost often involving and challenging it certainly not for everyone. The Accent DVD provides an excellent image and sound transfer, however the extras department was a major letdown.
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