Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by RedGrant (A) on May 12, 2011 at 07:50:59

In Reply to: RE: Early Bergman vs middle: "To Joy;" "Persona." posted by tinear on May 11, 2011 at 14:53:05

""Persona?" Two very beautiful women upon whom to gaze for an hour and a half as one of them shares her most private secrets."

One of the biggest pleasure of 'Persona' has always been psychological voyerism.


"There are more than a few remarkably splendorous natural scenes (a pristine island) and a creative prologue with several of the most disturbing newsreel videos of the time; the ugliness of the outside world juxtaposed with the deep alienation and withdrawal of the character almost reads as a justification, as a logical explanation."



One reason 'Persona' works so well is because it's B&W. Objectively I don't think it would have worked as good if it had been color.

I mean, can you imagine, 'Persona' in vibrant technicolor?


"If you're not crazed by all this, Bergman may be saying, you're already crazy."


The first time I saw 'Persona', I took to it like a duck on the water.




""Persona" has no plot, no momentum:"


I agree it has no plot in conventional sense, but I do believe it has momentum, in visual poetric sense.




" it is more a poem, a bizarre one, than a drama. I preferred the earlier film, but I can't say I looked away for a moment during "Persona:" Bibi and Liv are far too beautiful. "


For me, 'Persona' is the most compulsively watchable film I have ever seen.