Persona begins with an assault to the senses of a film reel lighting up to the backdrop of a light bulb coming alive. A spider tortures the screen hinting at the conception that is witnessed in Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly. Images rape the senses as we see hands nailed to a plank of wood in agony. Bergman like no other director knows staging and movement as he was a theatre director before moving to film-making. His films deal with spiritual longing, abandonment, tense relationships between individuals and family dynamics. Most of all he deals with people having the inability to communicate with one another. No other director can so strikingly show the naked soul in his trademark close-ups of the face - something that is also seen in the flawless film The Passion of Joan of Arc by Carl Theodor Dreyer.
Persona begins with two dead people starkly contrasted with white backgrounds and shadowed skin. The story begins as Elisabeth Vogler becomes silent during a play she was performing in. Alma determines she is fine mentally and physically. The nurse introduces herself to Elisabeth smitten by her fame. She tells her she became a nurse two years ago which Elisabeth is indifferent to.
Alma refutes her silence as illness but rather as strength as it takes discipline. Alma plays the radio for Elisabeth trying to cheer her up to no avail. Alma tells the doctor, played by Margaretha Cook, she feels she is not experienced enough to take care of her. Alma turns on the radio to a broadcast of a woman speaking about compassion which brings Elisabeth to laughter. As Elisabeth listens to the new classical station it relieves her because of the association to her job as an actress and the eroticism it evokes.
Elisabeth paces the room listening to a news program on TV about the Vietnam War. She sees the images of the monk burning himself on the street which terrifies her. It is her first notable emotions for the first time. She can hardly breathe. Alma read a personal letter from someone to Elisabeth. She grows more curious about her throughout her stay. Elisabeth takes the photo of her son and tears it apart.
The doctor tells Elisabeth she thinks she and sister Alma should leave the hospital to join her at her house. She tells Elisabeth she understands her constant struggle with being and not seeming. As an actress she plays many roles and starts to question her identity and worth. Her blanking out at the theater performance adds to her anxiety and silence. Is she herself or just words from a script? Are her emotions her own or do they belong to her character? The doctor goes on to tell her, "Every tone of voice a lie, every gesture a falsehood, every smile a grimace." The doctor tells her she falls on silence as to not be a lie - to for once be herself.
One part of the film where Alma talks about her disappointing marriage and its inevitable pain - her identity starts to converge with that of Elisabeth. She takes on a role and becomes a part in her own theater in her mind concerning her life. She speaks constantly and constantly of her husband Karl-Henrik. She tells Elisabeth a story about her and a friend sunbathing nude on the beach. Two young men watch them but they pretend not to notice. They come in closer to watch them. Katarina calls him closer and lets him make love to her. He does the same to Alma. When Karl-Henrik returns she tells Elisabeth it's not as good as before and hasn't since been. She is guilt ridden for cheating.Elisabeth finds Alma's pain and vulnerability attractive and comforts her. When Elisabeth first speaks she tells Alma should go to sleep or else she will fall asleep at the table. Her voice is soft and reassuring. As Alma sleeps Elisabeth enters the room and their identities have seem to have switched. Elisabeth is now the caretaker of Alma's sensitive stories and fragile state of mind. Her talkativeness highlights her loneliness and a need to feel connected to someone.
Alma takes Elisabeth's mail to deliver and sees one addressed to Karl-Henrik. Alma reads it seeing that Elisabeth is enjoying her life in silence. She tells Karl-Henrik private things about Alma such as her infatuation with the actress and her orgy at the beach. She says she is an interesting study for her. Alma is nothing short of shocked. Alma accidentally breaks a glass and leaves it on the ground so that she can step on it. She becomes jealous of Elisabeth and is angry towards her indifference. For an Ingmar Bergman film it is unique that he interjects some surrealistic intercuts in the beginning and middle showing the fractured states of minds both women are having. They begin trading identities of sorts and power is shifting as trust is given away. Illusion and insanity set in in an out of focus shot. It is becoming clear Elisabeth's silence is one of rejection of the outside world. The pressures, stress and unfulfilled life make it that her own little bubble is tolerable. She is in self-induced exile.
Alma's neediness turns Elisabeth off as she constantly needs attention and interaction. Elisabeth begins to play this in her favor. Elisabeth is shocked when Alma tells her she read the letter. Elisabeth's narcissism takes Alma's anger as a compliment - one that stems from admiration and fandom. Her loneliness is terrifying and the motivation to dissipate it are even more haunting. In her dream she sees Karl-Henrik. He mistakes Elisabeth for Alma - showing her sense of low self worth. Elisabeth is also in her dream so she can witness Alma's hardship and hopefully build a connection to her. She wants Elisabeth and her both to have enough hardship to feel similar and therefore bond but this doesn't bode well for Elisabeth. Alma takes on Elisabeth's identity in the dream and asks to be discarded as she is just lies and imitation.
Alma recounts Elisabeth's time when someone says to her, "Elisabeth you virtually have it all in your armory as a woman and artist. But you lack motherliness." Alma tells her she thought about this. Elisabeth regrets being tied down by a son, the responsibility and the burden of leaving the theater.Alma inhabits Elisabeth's soul to understand her and is no longer afraid or mystified. She has come full circle. She subjects herself to unimaginable pain because suffering is weakness leaving the body. Alma makes her say the word, "nothing" to accept her version of reality. The ending shows a boy touching the movie screen trying to know who this mysterious women really is. Can she be anything other than a role?
