Persona is a 1966 Swedish avant-garde psychological drama film written, directed, and produced by Ingmar Bergman and starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. The story revolves around a young nurse named Alma (Andersson) and her patient, well-known stage actress Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann), who has suddenly stopped speaking. They move to a cottage, where Alma cares for Elisabet, confides in her, and begins having trouble distinguishing herself from her patient.
Theatrical poster
Stroop Report photograph, found by Elisabet, of Polish Jews captured after the Warsaw Ghetto uprising
Edward Dodwell's depiction of an ancient Greek mask
Journalist Malcolm Browne's photograph of Thích Quảng Đức's self-immolation, which Carsten Jensen said is related to Persona's themes.
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoundly personal meditations into the myriad struggles facing the psyche and the soul". Some of his most acclaimed works include The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957), Persona (1966) and Fanny and Alexander (1982), which were included in the 2012 edition of Sight & Sound's Greatest Films of All Time. He was also ranked No. 8 on the magazine's 2002 "Greatest Directors of All Time" list.
Bergman in 1966
Bergman as a young man
Bergman in 1957
Bergman and Victor Sjöström on the set of Wild Strawberries (1957)