Persona

So much agency can be untethered when the artifice is cracked … the idealized facade and optimism can only hold frame for so long . The epiphany doesn’t come without its bitter delivery— but certainly carries the hard fought catharsis in the end … *It isn’t until Alma’s confession aloud to Elisabet that she realizes the mask she is wearing is losing its polish … what she doesn’t know is that under Elisabet’s cold & silent restraint , that the actress is— but merely one step ahead in the cycle of dread … or is it just her own projected Persona …* In light of the delivery of the Ingmar Bergman box today … I had to revisit this film , which I understood so very very little of— yet adored on first viewing . It was my first Bergman too ( don’t do that , watch Wild Strawberries first ) yet I could tell it was a masterwork made by a master . That opening still hadn’t left my mind since the first time I saw it … neither had the sound design … or plethora of some of the most powerful shots ever . Much more clicked this time … it’s one of the greatest of all time 100% .