Persona

this is what i was most excited for!! and it didn’t disappoint at all. bergman is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors of all time. i thought persona was an absolute masterpiece from start to finish. the characters, the themes, the cinematography, genuinely everything about it. it’s a perfect study of the human psyche. very confusing, so little explanation is given, but the way bergman expresses the themes of identity, loneliness, and isolation visually is just so pleasing. just like the past two films i’ve watched from him, i really enjoyed the bright lighting and the high contrast. in a way, its very anxiety-inducing, even when the environment is calming. i really enjoyed the editing as well, most scenes were simple, but the most memorable ones had unsettling sudden cuts and extreme close-ups. the most disturbing of them all was the shot of the girl’s merged faces. it wasn’t even scary haha but that mixed with the sound effect gave me so much inland empire vibes which i loveddd.  i felt a little on edge the entire film, it’s great that you don’t have to comprehend everything going on to get a feeling like that. i don’t even think it is possible to understand it all anyway, which i consider a sign of a remarkable film. it’s why i love lynch so much. and speaking of, right when the movie ended i immediately had to look up if this inspired mulholland drive. no surprise at all that it did. the complexity of the female relationships in both films is so similar, they have the same exact dynamic. the scene where alma and elizabet look at each other in the mirror reminded me so much of camilla and diane. (also, this same thing happened with tetsuo and eraserhead but vice versa; i love watching a good movie and then realizing it gave or took inspiration to/from lynch my fucking goattt).  alma and elizabet… two characters i’ll never forget. their relationship and how it developed is everything to me. i was so giddy during the first half because it was so sweet to me how happy alma was to have a female friend, and the looks of endearment they always gave each other... if they werent meant to be in love then i think these actresses needed to have a serious discussion.