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Persona (1966)

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Average Rating: 8.7/10
Reviews Counted: 30
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 2

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 1

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Movie Info

Persona is difficult to characterize in simple terms, but it may be helpful to describe this complex film as being an exploration of identity that combines elements of drama, visual poetry, and modern psychology. The central story revolves around a young nurse named Alma (Bibi Andersson) and her patient, a well-known actress named Elisabet Vogler (Liv Ullmann). Elisabet has stopped speaking, and the attending psychiatrist treats the actress by sending her to an isolated seaside cottage under

Unrated, 1 hr. 21 min.

Drama

Directed By: Ingmar Bergman

In Theaters: Oct 18, 1966 Wide

On DVD: Mar 16, 2004

Cast

Bibi Andersson
Nurse Alma
Liv Ullmann
Actress Elisabeth Vogle...
Margareta Krook
doctor
Gunnar Bjornstrand
Mr. Vogler
J�rgen Lindstr�m
Elisabet's Young Son

Critic Reviews for Persona

All Critics (30) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (28) | Rotten (2) | DVD (8)

Ingmar Bergman's best film, I suppose, though it's still fairly tedious and overloaded with avant-garde cliches.

July 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comments (9)

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Bergman has come up with probably one of his most masterful films technically and in conception, but also one of his most difficult ones.

July 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

Miss Ullmann and Miss Andersson just about carry the film -- and exquisitely, too.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

Top Critic

A film we return to over the years, for the beauty of its images and because we hope to understand its mysteries.

February 13, 2001 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comment

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Bergman's clear-eyed artistic study of the rules of interplay between opposite, ill-equipped dominant and submissive characters, expresses universal ideas about human compatibility.

October 20, 2010 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com

| Comment

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

"Persona" is Ingmar Bergman's 1966 postmodern lesbian romantic psychological mystery.

November 4, 2007 Comment

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

A work of many possible readings -- any of which provide deeply disturbing looks into the psyche of the characters or character.

August 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

| Comment

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

An intense, challenging and complex experimental psychological drama.

July 24, 2007 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

One of Bergman's undisputed masterpieces is a seminal work of psychonalayis and metacinema, raising more complex questions about identity and role-playing than it could possibly answer, thus deliberately encouraging ambivalence and ambiguity.

June 30, 2007 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Not a movie, but a Film. And a Great Film it is. As good as any.

July 14, 2006 Full Review Source: Cinemania

| Comment

Dan Jardine

Cinemania

Bergman at his most brilliant.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Derek Adams

Time Out

One of Ingmar Bergman's most beloved films.

July 25, 2005 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com

| Comment

Christopher Null

Filmcritic.com

Corajoso em sua abordagem narrativa, Bergman cria um dos mais densos dramas psicol�gicos do Cinema, quebrando as conven��es da linguagem para expressar id�ias e sentimentos.

May 29, 2005 Comment

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

There are so many stunning monologues and unforgettable set-pieces in Persona that even at a modest 80 minutes, it feels fuller on the surface than most movies twice the length.

August 28, 2004 Comment

Nick Davis

Nick's Flick Picks

...Bergman's penchant for strangeness eventually undercuts the effective elements.

February 7, 2004 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews

| Comment

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

[Persona] is persistently compelling, primarily due to its contemplative thematic structure, partially devoid of language that allows the spectator to inscribe meaning.

September 30, 2003 Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You

| Comment

Moira Sullivan

Not Coming to a Theater Near You

In Persona Bergman explores the cinematic medium and the remote depths of human subconscious, having abandoned the question of faith that had hitherto preoccupied him.

September 9, 2003 Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You

| Comment

Leo Goldsmith

Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Bergman at his most atypically sensual, playful -- even Godardian.

March 25, 2003 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK]

| Comment

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian [UK]

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Audience Reviews for Persona

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Ingmar Bergman, 1918-2007

March 26, 2007

Bob Stinson

Super Reviewer

An intense, well-constructed look on insanity, denial, and femininity at a cabin along a beach, where a nurse (Bibi Andersson) and recently near-catatonic patient (Live Ullmann) struggle to control their emotions. In terms of Bergman films, I feel as though both "Wild Strawberries" and "The Seventh Seal" are better

December 27, 2011

Dan Schultz

Super Reviewer

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