Persona
To live is to wear a mask. Bergman understands the true nature of relationships. People are hopelessly lonely yet desperately afraid to expose their true selves.
Alma confesses all her weaknesses to Elisabet, her silent, mute patient, whom she treats like a mirror. By refusing to play the social game, Elisabet shows Alma how vulnerable her carefully constructed identity is.
In the moment when their faces blend into one in that famous split-screen image, it seems not only a technical achievement but also a profound existential dilemma that will stay with the viewer long after watching the film; if you take off the masks you wear for your family, your partner, your profession, and society, do you have anything left, or is it just a void?