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Information
- Year
- 1966
- Runtime
- 85 min.
- Director
- Ingmar Bergman
- Genres
- Drama, Thriller
- Rating *
- 8.1
- Votes *
- 59,773
- Checks
- 14,262
- Favs
- 2,223
- Dislikes
- 138
- Favs/checks
- 15.6% (1:6)
- Favs/dislikes
- 16:1
Top comments
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NourNasreldin
The opinions on this particular film vary from “I didn’t get this at all” to “Stunning Cinematography” and so, just from those two comments, one can begin to understand that persona is not your average film with your typical plot, if anything it’s Anti plot, a kind of plot that resents structure and form and takes the viewer on a journey to a place where time and space do not rule anymore.
One can describe persona as very experimental, it is indeed one of those films that explore the psyche aka the conscience of a human being rather than focusing on what the eye sees. The story is of two women who end up in a beach house together, one is an actress and the other is a nurse and they both figuratively merge into each other right before your eyes.
Persona has a really intriguing script. On one hand we have a normal (not really) character that talks, on the other hand we have the other one that doesn’t, not because she’s mute but because, she just stopped. Bergman wrote the script while in the hospital where he was being treated. He himself states that his own psychological state was poor at the time. This is when he started questioning the role of art in general and his in particular and hence: persona was born.
Here are the very first notes of Persona that Bergman has written:
Dejection and sorrow and tears which change to powerful outburts of joy. Sensitivity in the hands. The broad forehead, severity, eyes survey the [unreadable] childishness.
What is it that I want from this, yes, to start from the beginning. Not to contrive not to incite not to cause a fuss but to start from the beginning with my new if I have one.
So she has been an actress – is that acceptable, perhaps And then she fell silent. Nothing unusual about that.
These notes generally serve as a broad explanation of the psychedelic film and also serve their purpose, as Persona eventually becomes a new start in Bergman’s own career. 7 years 2 months ago -
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Friends
Login to see which of your friends have seen this movie!In 25 official lists
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This movie ranks #4 in Guldbagge Award - Best Swedish Film
Guldbagge Award - Best S…
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This movie ranks #6 in FLM's Best Swedish Films of All Time
FLM's Best Swedish Films…
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This movie ranks #16 in Sight & Sound's The Greatest Films of All Time
Sight & Sound's The Grea…
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This movie ranks #19 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films
TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest F…
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This movie ranks #28 in IMDb's 1960s Top 50
IMDb's 1960s Top 50
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This movie ranks #76 in Empire's The 100 Best Films of World Cinema
Empire's The 100 Best Fi…
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This movie ranks #80 in FOK!'s Film Top 250
FOK!'s Film Top 250
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This movie ranks #84 in iCheckMovies's Most Favorited
iCheckMovies's Most Favo…
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This movie ranks #88 in FilmTotaal Forum's Top 100
FilmTotaal Forum's Top 1…
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This movie ranks #100 in MovieSense 101
MovieSense 101
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This movie ranks #122 in Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Roger Ebert's Great Movi…
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This movie ranks #139 in 366 Weird Movies
366 Weird Movies
139 -
This movie ranks #146 in Reddit Top 250
Reddit Top 250
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This movie ranks #189 in Harvard's Suggested Film Viewing: Narrative Films
Harvard's Suggested Film…
189 -
This movie ranks #192 in IMDb's Top 250
IMDb's Top 250
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This movie ranks #196 in Halliwell's Top 1000: The Ultimate Movie Countdown
Halliwell's Top 1000: Th…
196 -
This movie ranks #280 in Mark Cousins's The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Mark Cousins's The Story…
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This movie ranks #421 in Amos Vogel's Film as a Subversive Art
Amos Vogel's Film as a S…
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This movie ranks #442 in Cahiers du Cinéma's Annual Top 10 Lists
Cahiers du Cinéma's Annu…
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This movie ranks #449 in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
1001 Movies You Must See…
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This movie ranks #542 in Jonathan Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema
Jonathan Rosenbaum's Ess…
542 -
This movie ranks #658 in The New York Times's Book of Movies
The New York Times's Boo…
658 -
This movie ranks #662 in David Thomson's Have You Seen?
David Thomson's Have You…
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This movie ranks #710 in Time Out's 1000 Films to Change Your Life
Time Out's 1000 Films to…
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This movie ranks #831 in The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
831