Response to the film Persona

Last week in drawing class I was introduced to the 1966 Swedish film Persona.  As the film began I was unsure of what to expect, distracted by the intense contrast of black against white and the task of reading subtitles.  The movie begans with quickly flashing images that do not seem to have any relation to each other at all.  Next the film shows a young boy in a bed reaching out to an image of a blurred woman's face.  After these scences the film finally movies into its storyline.  Overall, I think that director Ingmar Bergman's use of light and dark was beautiful.  Each camera angle and scence composistion was specific and alluring in it's own way.  Rather than watching a movie it was like looking at stunning artistically made images.  Bergman's intentions with his useage of this contrast may have been to ehance the significance of the theme of art within the film.  Not only do the two protagonists talk about art, but also the film is made in an obivously creative and artistic manner.  I think that another reason for his use of dark and light was to stress another constant theme of death throughout the movie.  Both characters Alma and Elisabet struggle with experiencing life's highs and lows (light and dark) and the film displays this underlying tone of death throughout the lives of the two women.

Along with Bergman's play on light and dark conrasts, the film seems to convey a metaphor through an occurence.  The film's purpose was to show these themes of death, the significance of art, and the happiness and sorrow of life in the form of a story between two women, or an occurence.  I think that Bergman presented this in an interesting way that forced the viewer to really stand back, notice details, and really analyze the film, all while watching something that is still entertaining and beautiful.  He does this by taking this ugly theme of death and displaying it in a beautiful way.  I feel that these themes are again reimbedded in the repettition of Bergman's symbols such as hands and cigarettes, which is another interesting use of imagery.  Even though I think that his use of symbolism is important, I'm not entirely sure what everything (from props to Bergman's choice of simple hair styles and makeup and solid black and white outfits) was intended to convey.  Another thing that was interesting about the film was its characters.  Personally, I think that the casting of Alma and Elisabet was wise because each girl did a convincing job of each character's personality and also it was intriguing that both the girls are so similar in appearence.  While Alma's stories and comments gave her character personality it was Elisabet's actions that showed hers.  For instance, when Alma reads Elisbet a letter from her husband and gives her a picture of her son, Elisbet rips the picture in half, showing so much emotion and feeling in a single motion.
Within this movie, Bergman's view of the artist seems to be of respect.  In one sense, Bergman can be seen as an artist because of the way the film was made overall.  Also, Bergman even has the two main characters talk about art.  Alma, a nurse whom takes care of an actress named Elisabet, tells Elisabet that she has so much respect for artists such as her because she believes they dedicate their lives to helping people, especially those with problems.  This scence is ironic because in fact Alma is also someone who helps others in that she is a nurse.

The only thing about the movie that I disliked was that it was so slow moving.  I appreciated the scenes that were almost "paused" because they were so engaging and facinating but the movie did seem to go long periods of time without much happening or purpose.

Overall, I think that Persona was a well done film because it was so beautifully crafted and the concepts and story lines were interesting all while still being entertaining and enjoyable to watch.  Although it was a slow moving film, Bergman's use of value and composition tantailizing to watch.