In the immediate time after watching Persona, I didn’t know what to make of it. It felt so bizarre, like my mind had just been melted and trickled out of my ear. But now, looking back at it, I understand why I found the movie so mind- boggling. Ingmar Bergman uses the interaction between the artist and the viewer/ audience as a vehicle for examining how we perceive things. He shows how Alma perceives Elisabet, at first and then after the “betrayal”, but more importantly, he shows how Elisabet perceives herself. How she knows herself to be, how she views her role in society as a mother, and how society sees her. Or doesn’t, as the case maybe. Ingmar Bergman ties all of this into the visual look of the film itself, as well. He fills this movie with many layers of meaning, on many different levels.
Alma serves the dual purpose of showing the two views of Elisabet. She has, at first, the view of Elisabet that she believes society has, but then Alma sees Elisabet as she views herself. Elisabet believes that society has expectations of how she should act as a mother. When she can’t meet these, she uses her skills as an actress to hide herself, her hate for her son. The artist quite literally loses her sense of self in the work. She becomes a blank canvas, in a way. Bergman shows this by making her mute, always having her play background to Alma. By this, I mean that in shots of Alma and Elisabet together, Alma is usually in front.
Alma is shown as the dominant character, even though she may seem more assured than Alma at first. We perceive Alma as an innocent, less experienced in the ways of the world. This is shown first in her conversation with the head nurse, when Alma suggests an older person be assigned to Elisabet. Alma perceives herself as less experienced. But we learn that she has had profound life experiences (the orgy and subsequent abortion). This persona makes her shift to vindictive and cruel all the more startling. She accuses Elisabet of being unfeeling, of not being compassionate to people. Yet she loses her compassion. She becomes what she perceives to be Elisabet’s true personality (leaving out the glass on purpose).
One scene in particular, I believe, shows what Bergman is trying to say about persona and our perceptions of people. It is the scene where Elisabet’s husband comes to the cabin, and Alma acts as Elisabet. Because of the way it is filmed, with Elisabet there, but ignored and facing the camera, it could be seen as a dream (or nightmare) of Elisabet’s. However, it could just as easily is an actual event. Either way, the fact that Elisabet’s husband sees Alma as Elisabet illustrates the idea of persona. Is it our outside features that define us, make us recognizable, our persona, or how people perceive us? Alma acts detached, calm, and even clinical. This is how she believes Elisabet’s personality is. Does the husband react to this personality, seeing his wife in the mannerism? Or is this just Elisabet’s fear, that how Alma acts is how people perceive her, to the extent that her loved ones see her as manipulative and cold?
Our fear of how other perceives us guides many of our choices in life. It can be in the basic decisions of what to wear to bigger choices, such as altering our behavior to fit into society. Bergman takes this idea to an extreme in Persona, where fear of perception leads two women to completely deny and reinvent themselves. One woman ends up in the mental hospital as the consequence, and the other carries on the idea of reinventing herself. Ingmar works in a circle. We are left to wonder what fate will befall Alma. I take this as a warning. That perception can rule our lives, and we must avoid this. Not only as people, but also as artists. For an artist who is lost is the perceptions of others will lose their voice, and stagnate. Maybe not in the extreme way that Elisabet did, but stagnation of any kind can be “death” for an artist.
