"Persona" opens and closes showing projector components and film winding over spools, and roughly at the movie's midpoint the picture looks as though the film is coming apart. Also at the beginning, middle, and end of the movie are brief montages of other images seemingly not directly related to the central story of the two women. Interpretations of these sequences vary, but I suppose they allude to filmmaking as process, and some people who have studied Bergman see the opening montage as a statement from the writer-director about his process in creating "Persona."
Although "Persona" is one of my favorites, I know it's not a film for everyone. The critic John Simon wrote that it was probably "the most difficult film ever made." I think he overstates the case, but I get his point. The movie takes on slippery issues such as reality and identity. But it has a hypnotic power, and each time I watch it, I'm drawn in deeper. Both emotionally and intellectually, "Persona" is challenging, but it is one of the most fascinating films I've ever seen.
Selected Special Features:
- Full-Screen (1.33:1)
- Swedish Monaural
- English Monaural
- English Subtitles
- French Subtitles
- Spanish Subtitles
- Feature-Length Audio Commentary by Marc Gervais
- Featurette: A Poem in Images (26 min.)
- On-Camera Interview With Liv Ullmann (4 min. 30 sec.)
- On-Camera Interview With Bibi Andersson (5 min. 30 sec.)
- Photo Gallery
- Theatrical Trailer
