In the late fifties. lngmar Bergman assaulted and occasionally astonished o ur newlychristened an houses-with The Se venth Seal , Wild Stra wberries. The Magician, and
The virgin Spring , Ever since, he has attra cted the kind of stro ng. part isan responses
that few major directors provoke . He see med an arti st with a singular style and set
of con cern s, Some found these films philosophi cally invigorating , " probing." and
artisticaJly honest; to others they were theolo gical fol-de- rol. pretentious , heavy-handedly literary and tbeatn cat-ceven specio us, But to all he was a recogniza ble phenomenon . one who co uld . for example , be tellin gly parodi ed in The Dove,
Gradually, other-equally distinct-"Bergmans" arrived . T he beac hhead es tablished . a retrospecti ve searc h discove red the "is land" pictures . tales of slimmer lo ver s
mevitably forced to return, co me autumn . to the grisly. inhib iting. dark city . Th en
ca me the religious or chamber films. the tri logy that wonde red whether God was really
a spide r who de scended from a helicopte r and refused to tal k (verbosely); at least this
is how the unco nverted might well have rendered Through A Glass Darkly , Wim er
Light. and The Silen ce ,
After The Silence ( 1963). Bergman became the " Bergman" of psychoanalytic introspection. His form . his style. his thrust all co nspired to pre sent the image (If a latter-day
Dostoev sky . a rele ntless pursuer of psych ic realitie s. For very good reaso n. Ber gman
gai ned the reputation of being part icularly absorbed with the psychological recesses
and underpinnin gs of his characters . Ob viously, none of these " phases" was hermetically isolated from its siblings; characters. motifs. settings, images, and even names
had a way of spi lling across per iods . But in such distinct and unequal films as flour
of the Wolf, Face to Face . Cries and Whispl'rs. Scenes From A Marriage. and even
in the recent (and declaredly " final") Fanny and Alexander, the common preva iling
concern is the perso nal psychol ogies and psycho logical interactions of th e characters.
Sometimes the results are undistingu ished and eas ily enough dismissed as a mixture
of histrioni cs and po p-Freud (Face to Face is . I think . bUI a poor player that struts
and frets in the shado w of its betters). So met imes the tapestry is particularly well and
richly wrought: Scenes and Fanny . In the case of Persona, my especial inte rest here .
the result is a supreme co ntribution to the art of psychological observat ion, dissectio n.
and analysis (or implication ).
Persona , more completely than Cries ami Whispers and Scenes From A MllrriaKeand certain ly more successfully than Face to Face . undertakes to explore and hope fully
to Fathom the nature of a perso n and e ven of hum an ide ntity. Whereas Cries W ill
Whispers and Scenes, with exquisite care and subtlety. anatomize thei r protagon ists
and are satisfied to sto p there. Persona ex tends its inquiry . creating sufficie nt momen tum to quest ion the inq uiry itself. By the end of this felicitous hybrid of cinematic
123
I 241Persona
magic and psychological leger-de-main, we are urged to give up as implausible our
struggles to decode the personalities or psychologies of either Elizabeth or Alma.
Bergman establishes an elaborate system of doubles that discredits any facile distinction
between the two women, one "her" and the other her:' We may at first seem to be
closing in on (understanding) one of them, but in fact we end up with a drama whose
focus is more general and theoretical . Persona docs not so much ferret out an individual
being as use two characters to call into question the existence of discernible individual
human identities.
Persona can be entered as a work of an in a number of apparently diverse ways .
Literally from the first shots to the final one s it is concerned with itself as a film, or ,
as more than a few have commented, it is a film about filmmaking. This involves or
leads to another major subject: the role of art and artists in our society. Elizabeth
Vogler's profession , Alma 's reflections on it, and at least one important denotation
of the title occupy the center spots in such a discussion of the film .
Persona, likewise, could persuasively be viewed as a film where illness is a principal
issue-mental illness. The first realistic sections o f the story take place in a hospital .
When Elizabeth and Alma move to the doctor's island home, Bergman cunningly and
wittily simulates the diode of psychoanalyst and analysand . Tbe touchy boundary
distinguishing dream or illusion from waking reality pervades the film. TIle images
rhernselves-cof personae , of doublings and reflections, of light and dark , of glass,
clothing. of city versus country and private versus social worlds, of seasons , and of
blood and pain are so developed that they also could provide a " full" study of Persona.
But pursuing any of these inviting avenues is likely to be frustrating and unsatisfying .
Concentrating, for example, on the clever way that Bergman replicates the classical
psychoanalytic situation unhappily ignores more than it illuminates. A modernist
disquisition of the setf-reflexivity of the film (as David Vierling orrerS I) slights the
rich drama of character. And so on. . . .
The dangers of one -sided interpretations
are of course familiar; they distort and diminish that which they purport to illuminate.
What makes the issue and the warning pertinent here is that the separate facets of
Persona are particu larly seductive and the totality seems so hazardous to venture .
Let me offer as the most useful and encompassing view of PtrSOM tha t it is a film
about the enigma or "perplex" of human identity. Ostensibly setting out to unravel
an abnormal , "acting-out" individual , Persona soon enough questions our endeavors
to comprehend discrete identities. Many critics. John Simon most notably among the
film 's admirers, have asserted that it is a very difficult film ("indeed. it is probably
the most difficult film ever made" 2). I suggest that surely this is a gross exaggeration,
that it is not really very difficult-neither in the sense that Finnegan's Wake is difficult
because of its intricate, dense texture nor that Don Quixote is troublesome because
of its equivocal tone . What males Persona seem difficult is the tenacious pursuing
of an inadequate perspective or the refusal to accept the film 's inextricable fusion of
the real and the fantastic or subjective. Finding. first, that its protagonist (either one )
is essentially unknowable in any ordinary or classical sense , and , subseq uently, that
the pursuit of an individual's personality (o r persona) makes suspect the very idea of
human identity as a distinct. fathomable quality , only compounds the sense ofdifficulty .
We habitually assume that Oedipus and even Hamlet are comprehensible, that they
(or that Othello and (ago) are distinguishable, and that the quest for such comprehension
is a meaningful and vital undertaking. That these verities might be questioned is not
difficult to grasp so much as it is irksome to accept . (Likewise. we custo mari ly assume
a real and determinable distinction between what is factual o r realistic and what is
subjec tively conceived or fantasy . Bergman's denying or ignoring this is not intellectuall y difficult, just awkwardly disorienting .)
Persona can be usefully imagined as an artistic map or globe of separate blocks.
Each seems an in-tact entity or aspect (so much so that critical expositions can justifiably
unravel it); and the bridges between " islands" are obscure enough to discourage any
com prehe nsive cartography . See n together, thoug h. rhe islands fonn a larger, more
complete and satisfying artistic chain .
It is initial ly tempt ing to see Persona as a distilled comment by Bergman on the
process of filmmaking and on the medium itself. Susan Son tag. for nne, finds the
movie "is not just a representation of transactions betwee n the two charac ters , Alma
and Elizabeth, but a med itatio n o n the film whi ch is ' about' them ." (1 at first co nce ived
of describing Persona as a film about the di fficu lties of dep icting a fully-dimensio nal
figure on film . This prom ised to joi n two of its obvious subjects: itself as a film and
its charact er analysis. ) Bergm an anticipated entitl ing it Kinematograph ) or Film . The
images from film technology and irs se lf-reflexivity co mfortably place it in the comp any
of such other modernist films as 8'1, and Day f or NiKhl (perhaps even with Mall Wi,h
a Movie Camera and Beckett' s F ilm)-all of which allude 10 themselves and portray
the making of a film . Vernon You ng , in his general impatie nce with Persona , deplores
as unnecessary this ca lling attention to itself:
the whole range of the new (in 1972) cos mopoli tan film sernanu cs: the bc pscotch a
la Godard . a disjunctive explosion of thematic images before the introductory titles.
frequently interspersed glimpses of a movie camera and sou nds of the ' silence ' hom
tha t announces a lake . a narrator who abruptly introd uces the single change of selling ,
simulations o f (rayed Of burning celluloid in the projector. and stray fcc -age (rom
films. principally his own ."
Persona almost yells o ut to be noticed ali a film . The very first shot is of the two
carbon arcs of a projec to r's lamp coming together . No doubt this suggests the bringing
to light Bergman's fictional cosmos or the dark underbelly of our emotional ex istences .
Possibly , it even carries the hint of a biblical allusion to a god-l ike cree-o r's bringing
of light 10 the darkness that was originally "upon the face of the deep: ' Specifically,
however , this image insists that we are watching a film, that Persona will have
someth ing to do with film as a medium . In quick succession, we see a reel of film
whining along the sprocket, a spotlight, frames of leader countdown . a came ra lens ,
and the carbon arcs aga in. At the co nclusion of Persona . Alma appe ars upside down
through a view finder. Svcn Nykv ist and Bergman himsel f are on an o ve rhead camera
set- up filming her. The last sho ts are of the film running off of the sprocket, the arcs
separati ng and running do wn, and of the dark do minating . The se o pening and closing
sequences function as a kind of frame for the e nclose d fiction . Midw ay between them ,
the action is interrupted by what seems to be a picture of the film's burning and
breaking apart . Also . Elizabeth. while playing Electra on stage, is be ing fi lmed . Since
the story of Elizabeth and Alma co uld easil y exis t without these " meta-fil mic" inclusions, would in fact probably seem more coherent witho ut them, it is tempting to
decide that Bergman's primary interest is in depicti ng-or at least suggesting-a-the
process of constructing a film . The actual content. the two women and tteir situation ,
would accordingly be the prop or veh icle that make s it possible for him to talk about
film ing a partic ular subject.
A very closely related series of shots further refines this approach: the refere nces
to Bergman himself as a filmmake r. The by-now notorious pre-credit and credit
seq uence , all of which is initially puzzling and much of which is nas h with almost
subliminal abruptness. includ es a number of allu sions to prev ious Bergm an films .
John Simon has catalogued most of these co nnections . .5 The cartoonish seq uence of
a frighten ed man running from a skele ton and a devil comes from the very earl y
Prison . The boy who rises as jf from a morgue slab to wipe a glass and pick. up a
hoo k is played by Jbrgen Lindstrom , who played the son, Joh an . in The Silence. The
space-age spider reca lls Karin ' s image of God in Through A Glass Darkly; the nail
being dri ven thro ugh a palm is at o ne with the images of pain and cruci fixion in The
Seventh Seal and The Virgin Spring (Mereta ' s mort ifying her flesh by dripping hot
wax on her wrist) . Elizabeth Vogler ' s name and muteness, as well as he r black stage
wig , echo traits of Vogler in The Puce (the more accurate British renderi ng of Amibet
I 261Persona
than The Magician ). NOI only does Bergman appear with Sve n Nykvist behind the
camera toward the end , but it is his own voice that delivers the only lines of narration
in Persona , the scene shifts from the hospital to the island . (Other, more spec ulative
paral lels are possible: characteris tic themes and anticipations of subseq uent films-the
fasci nation with drea ms that haunt an artist' s psyche in Hour of the Wolf and the
slaughtered sheep in A Passion.v
No t o nly, then , does Persona seem to be about that mars h-like subject, the nature
o f art , but the ev idence tempts us to acce pt it as a film abo ut Ingmar Bergma n's
creative history , As Simon suggests. in his reco nd itel y winy reworking of Ionesco ' s
"Lesson," "these preliminary shots ontogenetically recapitulate the phyl oge ny o f film.
BUI . .. these shots may also be emblemat ic of Bergm an' s previous ci nematic output,
o f the main themes o f his oc vre.?" Perhaps, to ex tend this argument, the perspective
of the boy who surrounds the story proper is that of Bergman himself (as several have
suggested ), a pers ona rep resenting the artist as a sensitive youth . It is, moreover, the
arti st at work on o ne of his favored themes: the uncovering of a human persona .
But such an approach , thou gh provisionally usefu l. is ultimately unsatisfying . Most
obv iously . its emphasis sits wrong . It gives too much of the actio n and of the drama
subordinate place . A tactful criticism o f Persona , one tha t sits righ t, has to acknowledge
that it is not the framin g seq uences and the ci nematic pyrotechnics Ihal impress us
most, but what occu rs between Alma and Elizabeth . We feel them to be the protago nists-not film , film histo ry, or Bergm an ' s art.
It see ms , therefore , reaso nab le to reverse this emphasis and view it as a film thai
exposes the character, nature, and psychology of irs mai n figures . Bergman, especially
in this " period" o f his work . is, after all, much more in the tradition of Do stoe vsky
than of the avant-garde . Simon , in fact, goes so far as to declare: "Never befo re in
film has the derail ed psyc he bee n examined more penetra tingly, never befo re has the
drama been played so co nsistently beneath the surface, yet witho ut the slightest sacrifice
in palpable excitement."? Much in Persona supports S imo n's co ntention (esc hewing
quibbles over his hyperbolic " Never") . The presenting occasion is a psychiatric malaise ;
the personal tran saction s are designed to be therape utic . Th e "palpab le exc itement"
is that o f a psychological drama , and a great dea l of the imagery and dream-l ike
quality is appropria te 10 such a drama .
Elizabeth is the declared patie nt. Her ass umed muteness and torpor, the hospital
setting, the psychiatrist's presentation of the "case' to the psyc hia tric nurse as well
as her solicitous speec h abo ut the terri ble burden of j ust "being" all imply Ihat the
actress is men tall y ill. She is to be trea ted and the therapy will involve understanding
her and remedi at ing her hurt s .
It sounds plausible; the kicker is that no real trea tment (of Elizabeth) is in evide nce,
nor doe s the re see m to be much prob ing or discoveri ng of her . From the time Alma
engages the case , there are reasons to suspect this surface arra ngement. When she
introd uces hersel f, the nurse is a little too frie ndly, talka tive, and self- revea ling . She
vol untecrs-and the se are her first remarks to Elizabeth-c-" am twent y-five and engaged to be married . I graduated from nursing sc hool two years ago , My parent s have
a fann . My mo ther was also a nurse ," Elizabe th' s silence is soo n ca lled into que st ion
as a sy mptom . Alma wo nders to the doct or if it isn' t a sig n of stre ngth, of a co nscious,
rational deci sion. Alm a even wond ers if she will be able to cope with such mental
and emotional strength . When Alma leaves Elizabe th' s room and we first see the
patient alone, she watches the newscast from Saigon, with the body co unts and the
bon ze inun olat ing himsel f. Her silent horro r see ms psyc hologically appropriate, not
a pathol ogical sy mptom.
Wh at does unfold is an almo st too cl ear parod y o r the class ical psychoanalytic
situatic n-c-but one in which the dec lared patien t and the therap ist exc hange pos itions .
Alma slips into the role o f the analy sand-sometimes ingenuously garrulous, so metimes
moody and reflective or resentful , occasionall y intensely reveal ing of hersel f. Th e
a"
Personal I27
lighti ng. the moods, the tone , and the setti ngs change frequentl y and rapidly-but
throughout, it is Alma, the psych iatric nurse and appoi nted therapi st , who display s
herself. Many of the detail s suggest that Elizabeth is occupying the role of the class ical
Freudian analyst. She is doggedl y, infuri atingly silent, but, as Alma appreciatively
observes . a good listener . In the electri c sce ne where Alma relates (confe sses) her
orgias tic encoun ter on the beach and subsequent abortion, Elizabeth s ts in the background . behind the light , ass uming the position Freud prescribed for un analyst . 'She
diligently resists passin g any j udgment, all the wh ile seeming attenti ve, caring. and
com prehending.
Alma, acco rdingly, perform s the part of the traditional analysand-altem ately sturdy
and engagi ng , angry and hurt . A good deal of her increasi ngly frenetic reactions can
be likened to the stripping aw ay of the patient ' s defens es . characteristic of the earl y
stages of an analysis . Th e crac king throu gh to Alma. her donnin g and shedding of
glasses and hats , her o utbursts and regroupin gs, and the dream-like world she inhabits
all support this co nstruction. Elizabeth 's silence, which at first is congenial to Alma.
soo n becomes irritating and prov ocative , much like the taciturnity of a classical analyst.
Alma beco mes bitter, frant ic to ge t a response from her, to make her say something--to
make the doc tor decla re herself. Like a relativel y insecure and defenseless patient,
Al ma feels very vulnerable and betrayed , especia lly when she discovers that Elizabeth
has been ch atting abo ut her in the letter to the doctor and ev idently taking her less
than seriou sly.
The most effective dynamics that occur in a successful psyc hoanalysis are the
transferences the patient expe riences and the projecti ons he deposits o nto the therapi st.
Surely, o ne of the keys to unlock ing Alm a and much of what she says is to appreciate
how she projects her own feelings . history. and eve n ide ntity onto Elizabeth. This
makes sen se of the confu sion surround ing the hallucinated visit of Mr. Vogler (Alma
is imagi ning herself as Elizabe th). her apparent knowledge of Elizabeth's past and of
her relatio nsh ip to her son. and-mo re dramatically- the joined image of them near
the end . with Alma ' s hysterical asse rtio n, " I' m not you." Th eir persons have merged
in the nurse ' s mind and she feels ove rtake n.
The tona l em phasis of the film . the stress ing of person al psychobgies, and the
psychoanalytic metap hor all argue for the view thai Simon 's comment suggests, that
peeling the hum an o nio n is Bergman 's game here. But this. too. proves to be an
ultimately insufficient view of the movie . It has the obvious liability of igno ring the
frame of Persona, its meta-filmicness , and, as So ntag has cautioned , " Any accou nt
which leave s out o r dismisses as incidental how Persona begi ns and ends hasn ' t been
g
talking about the film that Bergman made ." More important. as the unfoldin g of a
protagonist-c-or of two of them-Pt'rsolla is unclear and unresolved . The figures do n't
gell: we certainly are not left co mfortab le in ou r understanding of chern . Th e therapeuti c
transactio ns, both the literal o ne undertaken and the (reversed) ana lytic one mimicked ,
figure unclear ly in the film. The attitude toward them, their place , and even their
efficacy arc vague. Very likely , as Sontag advises. " to understand PUS £,IIU . the viewer
must go beyo nd the psychologica l point of view."?
So ntag . in fact. offers a useful next gambit here. It is futile, she finds , and even
wrong- headed to try defi nitively 10 separate fantasy from reality or to reco ncile apparently contrad ictory inte rnal relat ions hips; "The viewe r can only move toward , but
neve r achieve. certa inty about the actio n."!" Like so much else in the " new narratives"
(the fictions of Ro bbe-Gri llet . Resnais' Morienbod. Antonioni's L 'Ave~-ura and BlowUp ), Persona systematically thwarts the desire to know . that hallowed pursuit of
plot-followers . He r view. rather, is that. " the co nstruction of Persona is best de scribed
in terms of this (mode rnist] varia tions-o n-a-theme fonn . The theme is th at of doubling;
the varia tions are those that follow from the lead ing possibilities of that theme ...
such as du plication . invers ion, reciprocal exc hange . unity and fission , and repetiti on .,,11
Such a revaluation of the film usefully recogn izes the importan ce of formali stic
I 28IPt'rsolla
conce rns and emphasizes what are surely amo ng Persona '» majo r eleme nt". One can ,
as Sonta g does, draw parallels betwee n differen t types of doubli ng: the divided perso n,
the frame (or art) versus the story contained or reflected , the interior versus the external
worlds. As an attem pt to elucida te the e ntirety of Persona, though, it falls short
'because it smacks more of the critically cleve r than of the huma nistic and co mprehensive. Knowing that reflec tions or do ublings abound does not go very far toward
resolv ing ou r views of the two women, nor does it even help to place the psyc hiatric
dime nsion very persuasively .
Thi s returns me to my initial urging: that Persona is best seen as a film that begins
by seeming to be tbe psychological tale of a disturbed actress, but lbal ends up being
a philo soph ically much larger opus-one that skeptically exa mines the poss ibility of
knowing someone and questions whether it is eve n intellectually tenable to talk of
individual, distinct identities , Such a reading not o nly accom modates all of the major
pieces in the film (those mentioned already as well 3S others), but also explains why
we do not leave really knowi ng Elizabeth-or Alma .
The immediate occasion of the film, Elizabeth's presence in the hospital. suggests
that our job is gradually to come to an understanding of Elizabeth, quite likely as she
and her examiners veer toward that same unders tanding . Her presenting symptoms
are clear and presumably pathological : for some months she has refused to talk and
has remained ncar-cata tonic. surely abnormal behavior. Elizabeth would seem a fine
candidate for diagnosis and therapy-c-except for the early intimations by the doctor
and Alma that perhaps she is not respo nding irrationally ,
Since there is no real point in Elizabe th's remain ing in the hospital, the docto r
suggest s that she and nurse Alma move to her summer place by the sea . She goes on ,
in what stands ou t in the drama as a set piece of expos ition (So ntag is " inclined to
imp ute a privileged status to the speech"). explaining Elizabe th, her situation, her
choices , and eve n her prospects to the pat ient:
I under sta nd you know , The hopeles s dream of 'being,' not seemi ng, hUI being ,
At every waking moment alert , The gulf betwee n what yo u are with others and what
) '00 are alone . The vertigo and the co nstan t hu nger 10 be unmasked . To he see n
throu gh . . . rerhaps even wiped out . Every inflexion and every gesture a lie . .
every smile a grima ce . Suicide " No, 100 vulgar . BUI you can refuse 10 move . Refuse
to talk ... so that )'OU don ', have 10 lie . You can shut you rself in. Then you don't
play any pans or make any wrong gestures. Or so you though t. BUI reality is diabolical .
Your hiding place isn't watertig ht. Life trickles in from the oet side . And you 're forced
10 react . No one asks whether u's genuine or nor. whether you ' re true or false . Such
things rnarter only in the theatre . and hardly there either . I understand why you don't
speak, why you don't ITNJVC . , •• I understand it and adm ire you for It . When you 'v e
played it to the end , you can drop il ali you drop your oeber parts.
Elizabeth as a patient just does n't hold up. In the course of the doctor's speech ,
the malade evanesces and becornes-c-again-c-t he actress . Although ostensibly speakin g
as a psychiatrist. the doctor in fact sounds more like an Existentialist philosop her, a
soc iologist. or a social game theorist. Her understand ing is impersonal, of general
conditions and universal reactions. Moreover . Elizabeth is, it seems, being dism issed
as rational, that is, as having- for reasons that arc not hizarre-c-deci ded not to speak .
You can' t really com mit someone for struggling not to lie ,
The other , only slightly less o vert evidence that we are to witness a psyche being
spread out (intelligibly) before us is the psyc hoana lytic situation Bergm an simulates.
Of all of the branches and vagar ies of psychotherapy. no discipline is as exac tingly.
laboriously, indulgently dedicat ed to the understandi ng of a particular huma n psyche
as is analysis . If anybody is devoted to trac king our inner recesse s and success fully
decodi ng them, it is these arc heologists of humanity . To the extent that Bergm an
constructs a parallel between what transp ires between patien t and analyst and what
goes on between Alma and Elizabeth . the parallel could not be more fitting , How
Pers(I11ll '12Q
right for a story that is going to examine (he derailed psyche with unprecedented
penetration to employ as one of its major structures an analytic hour .
Agai n fine. except that it is the adm itted patient who functions a, the doctor .
and--evcn gliding over this readjustment-c-Alma' s "treatment" is far more truncated
and unresolved eve n than that of Freud 's Dora . She is more fragmented md unknown
(by us and by hersel f) at the e nd than she wax at the beginning. and nOI j ust because
her superficia l images of hersel f have been exploded . More important. the focus or
thrust shifts j ust about the time w hen the film seems to bum and melt .
Alma is no more a patient to be analyzed and understood than Elizabeth is-s-because
Bergman' s real interest is to suggest/or a w hile how difficult it is to know someone
and then to imply that the whole venture may be an absurdity . The rest of the major
elements in Persona all function to suggest that we may be deluding ourselves in
thinking that knowable individual human identities exist. The boundaries between
people are illusory. as are the boundaries separa ting reality from fantasy.
The suspicion that symptoms do not make an illness nor adm ission ttl a hospital a
patient. the parodic deflat ion of that ultimate mode of psychological exploration. the
relationship between the film we are reminded we are watching and the story it unfolds,
the enigmatic and shifting relationship between the two women . the elaborate congeries
of doublingx. mirrors. and reflectors. of splits and fragmenting. the occasio nal glimpses
of external political realities (the Warsaw ghetto and Saigon). and the concern with
an . [heater , and literature all become more cohere nt and intelligible from this perspec·
tive, Each contributes to an essentially philosophical (certai nly "beyond psychology")
discussion of the nebulousness of the human quagmire. the questionable determinacy
of personal boundaries and individual identities.
Psychoanalysis, with its vas..t theory . leisurely pace. and safely insulated theater of
operatio n. is at least a useful image of the most exhaustive of psychotherapies. But
art . too. has its traditional place as a route 10 psychological unders tanding. (Crassly
simplified: you want to understand people. read Oedipus, Alma early tells Elizabeth
how tremend ously important the theater is, "especially for people with problems." )
And among an forms, film is arguably the most wide-ranging and competent reflector
of the human figure. It has the persuasive concreteness and detail of photography.
plus the advantage of motion . It has the capability of literally showing us someone
from every conceivable angle. eve n of altering the time-forw ard or backward-e-at
will. Unlike the novelist. the filmmaker can smoothly incorpora te a variety of point"
of view into his film. alternately switching from one to another. (Here is how our
heroine saw herself a decade ago; here is how she looks to Elizabeth----or to us-c-now;
here is how she will look to omniscience.) What a seem ingly remarkable vehicle for
displaying a character!
Yet. Bergman still finds it lacking. The introduction effectively announces that a
film is being made and shown. (The center portion will define the psychological
content of that film.) But the going is awkward and jerky. barely coherin g. The
controlling artist is both aided and stymied by the experience he brings to this endeavor.
The pre-cred it sequence includes shots from ear lier Bergman films ar d alludes to
familiar themes and even obsessions (the pains and dislocations of existence): previously met char-deters (the boy) slip into the new work-as will o ld names re-ec ho. This
is pan of the accumulated baggage the artist must control and give unlet to. besides .
of course, mastering the techniques of his medium (a the ~hOI of Bergman and Nykvist
at the camera playfully reminds us). The prospects are dizzyingly difficult . By mid-film
it is as if neither the mind of Alma nor the frames of Bergman's making can contain
what I!' being acted out . They split. melt. fragment -with Alma on screen end Bergman
behind the screen simultaneously straining to regruup and return things to a focused
view . When . at the e nd. the reel runs off of the sprocket and the carbo n arcs darken.
the medium itself seems to be confessing its incapacity. The subject, despite all the
urtist can bring to hear (his experiences. his expertise . his conce rns). is too difficult
130iPumlla
and co mplex to be successfully put in the ca n . The camera-no mo re than the ana lyst ca n present us w ith a clear and tidy view of A lma: (I ass ume. by th is lime. Alma is
(he more likel y patient or subject).
But this. in p~.111 . is ((I o utstridc Illy qu arry . It is largely throu gh his imagery that
Bergman first tries to dra w his figures out and then co ncedes the fut ility of the venture.
Th e title co ntai ns, of co urse. the image tha t introduces the li lm . Pressu red by Svensk
Filmindustris di sapproval, Bergm an reco nsidered his o riginal title. Film, and se ttled
upon Persona, ·,It has become customary to include . in each new analysis of Persona,
a d iscussion of the tit le. The cus tom should he hon"red .··I~ "Persona' originally meant
(or means ) the role. part , or mas k o ne assumes-usually in a dramatic context: Elizabeth
was impersonating Electra whe n she called a hah to her "normalcy." It also denotes
the ch arac ter be hind the mask , which immediate ly flO~s the iss ue of whether the role
a charac ter plays is the sa me as o r ant ithe tica l to the player. Arc we, as an Existentialist
line of thou ght might as k, the roles we perform? Do we become them? To thiv Lati n
construing or the term . obvio us ly cognate with o ur "perso n," Carl Jun g add ed a seco nd
meaning . " Persona" was. fur him, an outer mask . worn whe n amo ng others and
reflect ing the role soc iety imposed on us. II is kin to the personali ty we construc t. (he
face we prepare " to meet the faces that we meet." Like any mack. it serves 10 impress
and to conceal .
Eliza bet h . as an actress, i:-. of co urse a co llection of professional personae. She
readil y ass umes and sheds iden tities. Her profc ..sio n is a metaphor for the ro les each
of Us plays. deceptive ly and defe nsively camouflagi ng his or her "rear' self'. Her
..ilencc. then , amounts to J refusal to continue the deception: (Alma asks. desperately,
if it is so impo rta nt not [0 lie ). Th is strategy to act wi th integrity. tho ugh , is judged
ineffe ctual. Th e doc to r sees her ma ne uver as just another pan , o ne that she sho uld
play out -like the o t her~u n t i l she loses interest in it. If. accordina to Jun g . "A
co mplete udandonme nr of our persona wo uld . . . lead to a state (If mute uncon sciou sness : ' Ic ,l\'1I1 g a human bei ng 10 "s ta nd face to face with his nak ed se lf (a nd with the
absolutd : ' 1.l for Ber gman suc h strippi ng aw ay amo unts to an imposs ible delu sion :
there an: only person ae .
Th e do ub les and refl ectors in Persona arc ano ther way
saying thai we arc. at
base , unint egrared frag me nts . l have . with ..uspcct glibness . sc u led on A lma as the
effective focus of the film . Sh e is the image of the analysand be ing treated : we learn
a num ber of details about her past: she evidently cracks up, and-as Sontag righ tfully
argues-many of the surreal goings-on arc bes t seen as occurring in Alma's mind
(E lizabeth's nocturnal visit 10 her. the episode with Mr. Vogler) . B UI this was proffered
tent ati vely and with reservations .
It is more helpful to view Alm a and Elizabeth as doubles. :IS co mpleme ntary aspects
o f consciousness: the outwa rd mask or facade (persona) and the inner so ul (A lma),
the silent. see mi ng ly uncom mun icat ive figure and the talk ati ve guileless one. the
healthy therapi st and the infirm patient (which ever hap pen s to he which). o f-in
Sonta g' s tenus-c-hiding (muteness) and sho wi ng forth , and or co nscio us exis tence
(realistic. tangible ) and subconscious (fa ntasied I exis tence . Such a view lead s In ;10
appreciation o f Ber gman' s imagery. It also reinforces the notion tha t a person, one
and ind ivisible . is an illusion .
Ber gm an has at limes traced the origins of Persona to his de tecting a similarity
between Liv Ullman (in a Norwegian film) and Bibi Anderson . Vernon Young finds
the pattern much more profound ly etched in his art .
From the moment Bergman ~I foot in the theatre. the dopplrgtlnxe,.., the twin. the
fraternal emblem . Inc complemen t and the rival. the porsnnar Imash or person..),
the mutually hos ttle or infatuate ge nders had con-utu tcd hi.. world ... [fnun hi..carl)'
plays th rough Tilt' Srventh Seal and The Ntll..t'd Night tn nil' Sifl"lICt'). Hihl and Liv
is a LOlll i l1~t" I1l'Y in u Ii rc - Ill n~ subject ion to the und islcxlgcahlc illl il~l' . . . or duality.
,I
or
dua litv . dualit v! 1.J
Personal J3 J
The theme of doubling is more exte nsi ve ly de veloped in Persona tt an in any of
Ber g man' s other film!'>. He is conce rned in it to create the image of a d ivided person .
a split identity-s-and then to portray the two halves as ultimately irreconcilable. The
theme i~ launched before the credits. where the boy traces on the glass the co ntours
of a woman that alternate ly suggests the two actresses .
Wi thin the ta lc itself, Alma ge nt ly advances this motif when she wo nders wha t
interest Elizabe th co uld possibly have in her. A lillie embarra ssed. a little stars truc k.
she exclai ms, " 1 ought to be like you:' Th is reminds her o f having see n the actress
on screen and then loo king in a mirror to d iscover: " Why. we loo k alike O h. you're
much prettier but we 1001.,: alike . I co uld change myself into ),ou if I tried hard . I mean
inside me . Yo u could arrange yo urself into me like this [she snaps):' This appare ntly
innocent exchange is rellingty followed by the film's first amb iguous narrat ive seq ur.: nce , A lma rests her head on the table (it is a lmos t morning) and we hear a voice
adv isi ng her ttl go 10 bed-s-pres umably Alma ' s proj ect ion , in her mind . o f Elizabeth' s
vo ice .
In the next episode. Elizabeth 's surrea l vivit to Alm a' s bedroom, the boundaries
between what IS rea l and wha t envisioned arc inde termi nate. Th e ligh ting. has altered
to suggest a much more airy and d iaphonous tone: the ve il-like mate-iuls and the
logistics of the two doors with their effectively parallel halls enha nce this ambiguity .
We have been shifted to a new dramati c or psych o logical level-...o ne tha t would be
di minished by ca lling it a dream or hallu cin ation . thou gh it certa inly conveys some
of 111O ~C cleme nts . Wh at unfolds is an expression istic revel at ion of Alma ' s psych ic
sturc after her long night. Ob viously. she'd like to be visited by Elizabe th and for
Elizabeth to take some initiative to co nti nue the closeness. Si nce a given is tha t
Elizabeth won 't talk. a somnambulant, silent visitation is fitting . C ulmi nating this
encou nter . which i~ almost arranged like a sym pho ny in white and black , is their
embrace; the bounda ries betwee n the two figures become nebul ou s. mer ged . blurred .
When Elizabeth stands beside Alma and fingers her hair bad . show ing a closene ss
o f pe rson and loo k , she is only (in Alma ' s mind . still ) sho wing what Alma earl ier
had descr ibed discovering in the mirror-their liken ess . We no w see that mirror ' s
reflectio n of the ir relatio nsh ip. in an ima ge that will recur several more tim es in the
film when thei r profiles overlap.
The last suc h ins tance . Alma ' s twice-de live red ca tec hism/i ndic tme nt of Elizabeth ,
imrod u,.-es the mos t ex te nsive seq uenc e of doubling in all o f Persona . The e pisode
is, of course. capped by the two- sid ed face that Bergman gradually con stru cts (w hich
rec alls the figure the hoy wiped onto the glass in the preface 10 the fi lm), Alma 's
reco nstruc tio n of Eli zabeth' s lack o f motherl ines s, Elizabeth ' s pregnancy , attem pted
abo rtio n. and unsuccessful mot herin g arc only momentaril y puzzlin g . She "knows"
some of these details bec ause they in fac t apply to her and she is prcject ir g them o nto
Elizabeth. It is Alma. re me mber, who had the abort ion. In the scree nplay . where the
speec h is o nly delivered once, she spea ks in her own person ('T')-for Elizabe th.
Man y of Alma 's charg es are particularizat ion s o f the kind of doubts and misgivin gs
co mmo nly expe rienced by wo men who are pregnant or co ntemplating pre ;~nan cy . Her
cl aim that Eliza beth lacked motherliness and became pre gnant to prove her femininity
wo uld, for examp le, be reco gni zed by Sim one de Beauv oir in The Second Sex as a
consequence of the my th of the mat ern a! instin ct. That she. o nce preg na nt. feared the
responsibility (the being tied do wn). the pai n. and the pos sibilit y o f dyi ng would
hard ly d istingu ish Elizabeth. Al ma acc uses her of having o nly ac ted the pa rt of the
happ y expectan t moth er . and of want ing to abo rt, whi ch so unds very mu ch like the
ord inary misgi vings: " Do I rea lly want this ? I think I'd like to ca nce l." Alma charges
Elizabeth w ith ha vi ng be gun to hate the child and of ha ving hoped for a stillbirth-not
exactly a sta rtling fant asy for an an xiou s prospecti ve mother- sort o f a dramatic way
of sayi ng . " I' dli ke o ut." Alm a conti nues. tapping typi cal en ough parental guilts about
feeling indifferent toward one'v ch ild and wanting to he left alon e .
132,Pa.\fmll
Des pite the intensity of the harangue und the illu ..ion \)1 personal nc... . though.
ne ither wo man is rea lly Ind ividuated . Whal we ;10: let t wi th . rather tha n a re ... elation
of Elizabeth or even of Alma. is a d rama with in the: fihu-c-complctc with ih own
mise-en-scene , ligh ting . c om po s itio n . and ~Ill·l ·j .. l I.·ftel,:t!oo-ahout the two halves PI"
complementary sides of a dubiou!'o l)' joined IlC"Onaill) . Alma ..ecm- 10 be the !'>JX·.tkin)!
hall. verbuhzing for the ... ilcm Elizabeth Running the Illunolng through 1\\ 1(1..' . fiN
from the pe rspective or Alma and then 01 Elizabeth . give.. credence 10 the Ide" Ihal
these are IWO halves of a 'iin!!le human cnlil) So doe!'> the wa y Bergman darken..
reciprocal side of their fuccv prior It) juxtapovmg them . II make.. themat ic en e II I
..ee the IWO lace' JOIned twuh the ..hadowy ide!'> eliminated} ; wc vc seen the indictment
from both view ... . BU! ju ..t a!'> Ihi .. happen!'> . Alma feel .. herself engul fed b)' the trgure
of Elizabeth and protec tx, " Nil. I' m nol you I don't fed .I!'> )OU do . I'm Alma [Hut
ha lf of "her " Iacc I' Ih31 of Hhzabeth .] I'm ouly here III help . I'm nOI Elizabeth
Vog ler : ' The face itself'. in fact. seem... about to break apart trorn il. own internal
tension . It' !,> an eerie. distu rbing. and flickering construcuon-c-Ihc cpposue olhartuoruo us . Its effect, like that of the pvychoanal yt ic metaphor . is I I I suggesl that two halve...
lin not make n Y. hole . "The two women : ' as Nancy Scholar decides , "ran be "CL'n as
mask and shadow respec t!vely. at the same umc a.. they play out the drama 0 1 idcn tifi carion and projection between two ... C'IVC"~ . " BUI, "Fusion within [he ..e lf. resolut ion
o f rbc feeli ngs of division. and unity between the eel vcs , prm c impos sible 10 su ..tain "I Ii
In contrast "" nh an) sense of intcgruuvn Ih;11 a c ha rac te r 'IUd) would ordinarii)
de ..clop . is a welter of Image ... of di vision ami frugmentauon lhe merged shot of
Alma and Elizabeth. with il.. disturbmg -cam . is prefigured h) the photo of her ..on
that Elizabeth almo:..1 ce rc mo nio u..l> tear ...·-u !l\.e. Irorn hlp to tltlllom- .lIld by the
ca es ura in the middle
the movie , \..hich bcgm.. with (he trume of Alma ', c racking
a part tals o vert icully j The famed picture 0 1 the hoy in the Warsaw gbetto round-up
that haunt s Elizabet h is studied III part ia l close-ups . as If',ail1 lyt better to cum pre hend
the ma gnitude of the hor ro r. I Unfortunately ...cell piece meal the res ult is rcnuniwcm
o f the Kuleshov experimen t with context: the isolated fragments fail to convey the
horri fic e nuuion or to ne of the entire compovi tion.t
Gl ass or gfasses is a wo nderfully economic metaphor lor . . cemg , reflect ing. rt.'l.:"ordin,!:! , ;tOd d i"'inlegration . and Persona i~ full 0 1 gla ..... The fir'l ~Ia ...s we ~(; i.. III (h~
n111rgue"-l ike I:hambe-r at the beginn ing . TIle hoy \\ake~ up and wi~.. his h•.tnd o ' e r
the Ird""l ueenl gla.'i!> bc tv.\.-c:n and camera (u!'» and him 10 Iral,.·c Ihe image of Alma!
Eliz abe lh lhat Ihe remainder
Ihe film will presumably nc.h out. Pan of Alma's
\ cry "'pri(!.ht l) o utfn IS a p.lir o f clear reading gla.... ~. gla . seo' tha t ...he ..cry pllinted l~
put s o n 10 read I ctler~ (Mr. Vog ler's 10 Elizabeth and , late r . 1:Ii1.aht:th·!'> 10 Ihe doctorl .
As Alma read s the un!'oea led leller 10 the doclor , Be rgma n make~ il clear thai we :'lrc
watching Ihis Ihro ugh the car's w inds hiel d (the w ipe~ arc ill wor"-) and from assort ed
per spc'<:liv es . 1I !'> ht.' abruplly Cliis fro m o ne a ng le to a nnl hef-eac h o ne sh owi ng A l lIl~
looking IhfllUglt her gla...scs ;11 Ihe paJll:r. The leit er ilsclf is a rencction 0 1 Alma . as
a c han n ing and pleasa nt e noug h co mpanion. fun 10 study. hUI who..~ ang uis heJ c:\pcn e nces arc hardl y 10 be gra nted profundity o r e vc:n confide ntiality . Alma. sha nered .
ge ts ou l of Ihe ca r a nd walks 10 it (ltlnd. obv iously c hecking: hCf'e1f in il~ re llc(' linn :
(a m irror ' s Image . n: me ml'ler, o nce suggested 10 he r thai ..he loo"-ed like Elizaoclh) .
Opposcl1 , Ihlmgh . (0 Ihe clear g lasses Ihal 'hould facililale secm!! are lhe lhlr k nne ..
that Alma onn:.. whe n . afte r read ing Ihe lellef . she is angry . When ElizahC"th refu:ooes
her plea 10 speak, Al ma da ....hcs (he m 10 rhe grounJ , Very ..hurt l)'. in her imag mi ng~.
she will pmvide Mr. Vogler With da rk gla..~s . glassC!'i Ihat h:'lvc led many to assume
he is blind . (Blind or noL hc faib to di sti ngUish hi!> wife from her play c:r-al lea!'>t in
Alma· s choreography. ) Dar"- or clear g lasses see m 10 ma ke lillie differe nce . like wise.
the image Ihe boy unco vers :'11 Ihe be ginning IS a blin d ; the Iilm co ncl udes wilh Ihe
same inlerposed image . with nl) eni gmas d arifil."d .
Gl as s a b o shatters a nd frag m~ nrs . Wh en A lma breaks il glass o n the pat io . she
or
or
PaswUll 133
leaves a shard in Elizabeth's pa th-hoping to pie rce throu gh to he r. Pricked. Elizabeth
does b leed . and even utters an "ouch ," Bu t Alma's ac hievement is empty-as she
watches it through a glass door that then crac ks (in her mind), he ralding the disi ntegration of the film frames and the surrea listic inter lude (fragments from ~I di rec tor) .
Fina lly , we are rem inded that all of this is being seen and recorded thro ug h a glass
lens and imprinted upo n the g lass- like celluloid stock. But spectacles, glass pane .
len s. or film transpa rency-all tran smit obsc urely and are devalued. Seei ng a pe rso n,
plain and straig ht. is as unsure a ventu re as tryin g symbolica lly to cut th rou gh to him
ur he r. (It was only five years before that Ber gm an had d istributed a film und er the
title Through A Glass Darkly.)
Bergman' s ca mera lavishes particular attention upon faces and hands. Both arc shot
repeatedl y in close-up. Som etimes they are e xplicitly linked . as . for exampl e . whe n
the boy's hand (races the woman ' s face on the glass . More ofte n they arc seen alo ne .
Separately or together, thou gh . the possibility that they ca n hel p to fix en ide ntity is
pursued. Des pite the fac t tha t the faces of both act resses are remark ably, almost
lcgcndar ily exp ressi ve and tha t we see a great dea l of them . by the time o f the mer ged
shot they have been hovering in an d around each o ther's orbit. blurri ng the borders
that separate them so effectively tha t a face is no longer a re liable index of either
ide ntity . Physiognomies. like psyc hologies , become: confused. Hand s, si milarly. assume generic rather than individual proportio ns . They can be macabre (the vampirish
shadow of a hand in the morgue). or symbolic of a crucifixion- like agc ty (the mail
hammered into the palm). o r aged and withered (also in the morgue sequence), or
searching -rea ching (the boy's). charmingly beautifu l o r angrily clawi ng . Bu t, despite
Alma's admonition that it is da ngerous to com pare hands (or maybe in line with the
warning). they remain indepen dent of personal charac ter. One observer. surveying a
number of later Berg man films. indicates their impo rta nce : " Ha nd and face. as an
image cl uster , sy mbo lize. when used negat ively . the lac k of and sea rch for ide ntity
and co mm unica tion and, po siti vely , a communion of love ," 16 Th e singular "pos itive"
instance in Per sona occurs as they clean mushroom s: the preponderance suggests a
lack o f ide nti ty and co mmunica tion . Think ing . incid ent all y. of the similarity of Hibi
Anderson and Liv Ullman. Ber gm an recall ed how he " thought it wou ld be wonde rfu l
to write something abou t peo ple who lose their ident ities in eac h othe r. . .. Sudden ly
I got the idea of their sitti ng com paring hands . And that was the first imagc----of the
two women sitting comparing han ds and wearing big ha ts . " 17
In a parallel way. the added-on externals , the clo thing . wor k to subvert the separableness of the protagonists. At one extreme. they appear in the uniforms of their
respective professions . the social roles they have assumed . Alma begins and ends in
her nurse's outfit. She confides to Elizabeth her admiration of the old m rsev . " Who
have always worn uniforms ." She 'ices this as "dev oting yuur whole life to something."
which reasonably translates a... being able successfully 10 identify with a role and
submerge yourself in it. Elizabeth is shown both at the vcry beginning and end of the
film in the costume of Electra. her last thea trical role .
At the summer hoc ...e . each i, wearing "civi lian" clo thing . Rather than representing
individual . distinct choices. though . their dress is a chiaroscuro that al ternately con tras ts
.IOJ con nec ts Alma and Elizabe th. T heir d resses and large-brim med hats t( nd to differ
on ly in shades-c-of black. grey, and white. The shades becom e ever closer. until there
arc tim es (late at n igh! in the kitch en and duri ng Mr. Vog ler's visit) wile 1 their d ark
dresses like their faces-llow indistinguishably into each other. Clothes nrc no 1110re
hel pful Ih.1O faces in mak ing distinction s. Onl y to the ex tent thai the)' artific ially
impose a pro fcsviona l role urc they functional in deter minin g ide ntities . and the idcn lities of " nurse" and Elec tra arc overtly im personal.
Speech and language func tion muc h the same way for Bergman . Like the clothes
which ...hould distinguish people. high lighting the ir singularity . our words should serve
10 reflect and reveal us-c-to " tell" us: to another. to a p...ychcanalyst (with whom
I J~Wa,H m a
vpecch ami vilence are uniquel y and importantly j uxtap osed) . and even to ourselves .
words , like hat-, and g la~~cs . can be put o n and remove d 31 will . or. mo re III the point
in Bergman ", cosmos. silence can be slipped into much like a co- tumc. Lan guage .
:-- fX·C4.,'h. and vilcncc become even more important metaphors in f a w lI/tl than they
were in the earlier The Fan' and Tilt' Silencr ,
Humans are hum an (ind ividuall y and mean ingfull y so) largd ) beca use they use
langua ge 10 co mm unica te . Th is key to c xprcvsion and ide ntity was rejected by Elizabe th
even before the ..tory began. Alma . who starts very no rmall y telling Elizabeth all
abo ut he n-elf. ends up reduced to voc alizing incoher ent hits o f nonsen se . "We are
w itncss ing: ' John Simon rim". "after the qoc-tioning of the value of words. thl' very
breakdo wn o f speech . Silence at one end . gibberis h at the othe r.. , ." Even the radio .
he co ntinues . " a prim e med ium of vcrh ul co mm unica tion. here seems III go berserk
and In be moa n the I:Jd of co mmunica no n .v '"
Alma . who carries the- burden of verbal e xpression. rail, ultimately to use language
10 etch herself. Increasingly pressured by the emotion al need to C' jXN: and ex plain
he rself. rather than politely to fill ~a [h and he rcavsuring , she becomes progressively
more incoherent. Th e bils ( If gibberi sh to whic h «he dc wcndv near the end arc . of
course . cho ice: " Many words and then nau sea." "Hut I ought 10 : ' .. " desperate
perhap.....· " It", ca lled , . , no-no .
no " . we . , . I: ' "I he incredible pain " Much
like the jarringl y proje cted pictorial image at the begtnnln g and in the middle-c-Ior
like :lny other collage of mod ernist imag esl. they offer an effect or impression . in this
ca se the psychic furni shin gs of an anxiou s eg o. o ne that doubt s the co mm unicati ve
capacity or word s.
Elizabeth . of co urse. has rejected the inhe rited eloquen ce o f o ur cultural tradition.
becau se-e-lf we can trust the docto r's analy vis-c-languagc i"l fraudulent. hypocritical .
LTueJ. and inadequate. To speak is inexorably to lie . When Alm a' s great effort s fina lly
coerce speec h fro m Elizabeth . her pyrrhic achi evem ent i, litera lly " Nothing : ' The
uctrcs-, ha:-- noth ing to say. word s com say nothinu . not hing is worth say ing. and . since
she is only echoing (he nurse. the sug ges tion is that both women arc alone here .
Language has failed as a co mmunicator , It has parti cularly failed :1"1 a mean s of definin g
and express ing the self. The hom that s its. like a punctu ation mark . 011 the sound track
is with equal propriety heard
a foghorn or a, a stud io silence horn .
The overwhel ming bulk of Persona conce ntrates on the intrap sychi c , Irugg lc of
Alma -Elizabeth for per sona l c larification. But Bergman doc s not ignore the ext ernal
world and its con tribution . We ea ch obviously inherit an o utside realit y that helps
mold us and that impin ge s upon our image s of o urselves. and we need 10 integrate
Ihi, realit y into our psychic beings . That world is co nveyed through the art ifices of
myth. legend . and poetry and. co mparatively bluntl y. throu gh history-including co ntemporar y events The ident ities we con struct, then. arc in part forged OUI o f an and
cir cum stances . In /' a sOI/(J . the oute r wo rld . like the inner one , proves invufficicnt 10
,I'
confer personal identit y .
Th e politi cal world th;1I Eli zabeth inherit , and occ upies i:"o twice interjected into th is
otherwi se private drama , She carries wit h ber the famed pic ture o f the Jewish boy in
the Warsaw ghetto . and horrified . she watches an American news re port from Vietn am :
a body count dcli\'ert:d a, a Buddhisl monk imm nlales him sel f in protest. Th ese are
not. I "Iugge:--1. mer e hislriunic im po~ili on , . a... man y h'l...t) revie \\en. have <"ornplai ned ,
Vcr} effi cient ly . Bl!rgman has inn)rporateo two indic ting llcca,iuns u f our gro ss
inhumanil)'. fh: has also. Ihrough Ihem . s ug:ge ~ let.l hnw hew i, m i"l no lon ger a prdct icOJI
ftlulc In ide-nt it}'. II was hy Iheir ex ploit:-. Ihal ...uc:h figure, a, Odys"lcus and King
Arthur co uld reli ably a,scrt their he roic na tures. which were funda mental parts of
thL'i r iden lilic:-- . Such is no longer pos sihle . Not n nly i, Eli"la~ t h "IC\'erely ",carred by
the hol (lt: au ~ls : thcy arc abo crises Ihat precl ude heroic actiun and the refore hem ic
identity . To pn )le'l individually either Ihe ihsauh ujXmthe- ghetto or the " pac ifica tion"
ca m paign would have been a futile ge:--ture (1'011411 in Ih~ one ca..I.:) ,
" ('(.\( 1111/1
I J)
Bergman ' s literary references infer the same- con cl usion . At the end of The Silence,
Joh an carri es onto the train with him A Hera of Ou r Time, Th e begi nning and end o f
Persona find the same yo ung acto r, Jorgen Lindstro m . again read ing Lerm ont o v'v
novel. Thi s 1840 Russian fictio n. so co nsc iously influ enced hy the F-rench and by
Byron (thro ugh Fren ch transl ation s) provid es an iro nic comment on Hergruun'v drama .
Implic it in Lerm on tov's story. its sources (the world -weary fig ure" o f Byr on }. hi"
title . and even in his narra tive stru cture: (with its mult iple narr ator s .md disrupted
chronology) is the question of whether and how heroic action is po ssible . To the ex tent
that Pechorin, the hero , is cast larger Ihan Iife-and certainly larger than the inadeq uate
world he was doomed to traverse-s-the issue seems to bejoined sincerely and srraig htforwardly. Romance and broad strokes. a maunderin g self-concern. and a de vil-may-care
posture are apparently end orsed . To the ex te nt, however, that Pechorin in fac t doe s
nothi ng estimable and just fade s away at the end . presumably to Persi a ta r, inconclu sive
e nd , at tha t) . the hero and his ostensible searc h are iro nically prese nted .
Elizabeth is also strongly connec ted with a he roic role . She renou nced speech and
action while bein g filmed play ing the part o f Electra. Twice we sec shor-, o f her in
costume. The cho ice of this rebell ious Greek seems part icularly fittin g The horrors
of her life made Elec tra "awarel O f murders and adulteries ," She is . a~ aconsequence.
distin gu ished by her unw illingness to get alon g. Ho w ca n she (Elec tra berates her
co mpliant sister Chryso themix) not act. that is, reac t. in such a wo rld. Ethica l princi ple
must prevail ove r conv enience. self-in teres t, and secu rity . and over being con ventio nally accepting and acce ptable . She finds no alterna tive for o ne who ...ees the: cvil
growi ng, as she does , no cho ice bUI to stand apa rt in the hope o f exuc un g n j ust
reve nge . As the po ssibi lity o f her being able to act success fully dimini shes. Electra
envisions withdrawing fro m the wo rld . Persona, a" Ro bert Boyer" hus ind icated.
ha.. a great dC;111n on with Hrctru, The actrc ..... in " I' r .\f " 11l ha ... dclrbcrately alienated
herself from the 01;1..... of he r fellow human ht.-ing.. . .. Like Elec tra. the ,ll'trc "s is
be ...c t by thme who wo uld ha ve her adj u..l . .. And like Electra . ..he in...iMs o n her
illnc....... on her sorrow. her differe nce . her 'wound.' a.. it wcrc .!''
A IIn o of Unr Times. Electro . ..uul Persona all question the possi bil ity of heroic
act ion. Ou r time" arc hei rs to the lazi blitz and the Warsaw ghe tto und they have
carried that heritage into Vie tna m. Elizabeth has , by her re fusal to spea k or act . denied
the Ieuvibility of a heroic or eve n of :111 adeq uate indivi d ual respon se . Th e sacr ifice
o f the bon ze may be hero ic . hut it is of another wor ld anti d ubio usly er-e ctive .
Tradi tionally. figu res such a~ Oed ipus and Od ysseus di sco vered that a substa ntia l
part of the ir iden tit ies (and of thei r ab ility to dem on strate tho se identities! was the ir
hero ism . In the world of Elizabeth and Alma . bec ause hero ic action j" not possible ,
the "pe rson as hero " is not posviblc either. That Eliz abeth ex isted. in fact thri ved . by
portraying he roines i" iro nic. makin g it all the more pressing for her III determi ne the
validity and pertinence-if any--of those roles. Her reac tio n to play ing Electra . the
ho} ' " readi ng (If Lermontov. and the even ing new" are at o ne .... ith the main hllt.1~ of
Persona .
Bergm an has , then. packa ged for us in Prrs ona a taunt ingly rich co nfla rion o f
images . modes . pers pec tives. and even theme s . The wra pping s ug. g C~ h a sparkling
mod ernist wor k. a" it teases out of us thought s of se lf-reflex ivity. Th e subject seem"
modern in a very dif ferent sense. in the "e n...e o f the fiction vince G eorge Eliot that
moved the ccuon "in ... ide" and devoted itself to the psyc hologic al d nncnsions of
characte r. Th e images are startli ng but for the mo st part trad ition ally used-ce xccpt .
o f course, for those that break the surface of the narrative . hops co tchingfy referring
to the medium itself und even 10 the auteur , Al the cente r o f t h i ~ cs thcic packa ge .
though. i ~ a sublimely tradit io na l con undrum: what. if anythin g, del inea te " the individual person? Even Bergman' s ske ptica l (I hes itate to ...ay pc...simistic l depi ctio n is
vtccped in precedent . It reca ll". for example. the co nclusion Hume argue d two ce nturies
ea rlier in AI' f ;ntl il iry Co nct'rning fl lIm"" U" dn .\ftll/t/i"g : to a ~"c n that "the "e lf'
136/Persona
meant something identifiable, logical . and consistent was intellectually insupportable
folly .
Alan P. Barr
Indiana University. Northwest
NOTES
I David L. vierting , " Bergman' s Persona: The Metaphysics of Meta-Cinema. " Diacritics,
IV (19741. 48·51.
2
John Simon, tngmar Bergman Oi r(','15 (N .Y .. 1972). p. 215 .
J
Susan Sonrag , "Bergman's Persona, in Styles of Radical Will (N .Y., 1970J, p. 136.
4
Vernon Young. Cinema Bon'ulis: tngma r Hagman IIlId the SWf!diJh Ethus IN . Y,. 19721,
p.228.
Lloyd Michaels . in an article Ihal uninrcrestingly uemizcs the ways in which Persona points 10
itself as a film. more simply decides: "On at least one point. however. there seem .. 10 be general
agreement: me self-reflexivity of the film . Surely , we are safe in saying that whatever else il
may be, Persona is a film about film:' in "The Imaginary Signifier in Bergman's Persona;"
Film Criticism. II (I97H). 72 .
Simon , pp. Vo-39.
Simon. pp. 230-) I.
7 John Simon. " Persona: An Invitation 10 Excellence ," in Film: J967~, Richard Schickel
and John Simon, cd-•. (N . Y., 1968). p. 19-'.
Sontag, p. US .
9
Sontag, p . 130.
10 Son tag . p. 129.
II
Sontag. pp. 135-36
12 Paisley Livingston. Ingmar Bl'rgman and the Rituals af An (Ithaca,
I~X2).
p . 192.
13 Carl Jung , quoted l1y Maria Bcrgom-Larsson. Ingmar Bugman and S(II{:it't)· (London.
197.). p. 87 .
14
Young , Pl' . 225-26 .
15 N:I1lC)' Scholar, "Anai!'! Nin's House uf incest and Ingmar Bergman 's Persona: Two
Variations on a Theme:' Li/ntJlundFilm Quarlt'rly, VII 09791, 50.
16 Fritz R. Sauuncm- Fra nke ncgg. " Learning ' A Few Words in the Foreig n Language ' :
Ingmar Bergman's "Secre t Message' in the Imagery of Hand and Face." Scandinavian Studies,
49 (1977), JOI.
17 Bergman un Bergman : lntrrvie ws (London. 1970). p. 196 .
18 Simon. tngmar Bu/:man Uirects , p . 296 .
19
Robert Boyers. " Bergman ' s Persona: An E.....a)' on Tragedy." Salmagundi. II (19681,7 .