Persona (1966)
94%RT Audience Score: 94%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Arguably Bergman’s finest film, Persona explores the human condition with intense curiosity, immense technical skill, and beguiling warmth.
If you’re looking for a movie that will make you question everything you know about film, Persona is the one for you. It’s like a movie within a movie, but then the inner movie gets thrown away and you’re left wondering what the heck just happened. But don’t worry, it’s worth seeing – even twice, according to some critics. And let’s be real, who doesn’t love a good mind-bending, surreal experience? Just be prepared to feel confused, intrigued, fascinated, and maybe a little sad for the women in the story.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
Lopert Pictures Corp., United Artists, Video Yesteryear, Reel Media International [us], MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
MPAA / Certificate
TV-MA
Year of Release
1966
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Stereo
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Aspect ratio:16:9 HD
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Runtime:1h 21m
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Language(s):
-
Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Mar 6, 1967 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 10, 2004
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
Persona, drama, Swedish, Ingmar Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Margareta Krook, Jörgen Lindström, directed by Ingmar Bergman, written by Ingmar Bergman, produced by Ingmar Bergman, reviewed by David Jenkins, Geoffrey Macnab, Pauline Kael, Derek Malcolm, Scott Tobias, Michael Wilmington, Barbara Grier, Sarah Brinks, Tom Milne, Robert Kotlowitz, CJ Sheu, genre, box office performance, budget, MPAA rating, Elisabeth Vogler, Anna, The Nurse, Mr Vogler, The Doctor, The Boy, The Actress, drama, psychological, surrealism, identity, perception, deception, existential crisis, emotional breakdown, mute patient, emotional convergence, intense curiosity, immense technical skill, beguiling warmth
Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Liv Ullmann – Elisabeth Vogler, The Actress
Gunnar Björnstrand – Mr. Vogler
Margareta Krook – The Doctor
Jörgen Lindström – The Boy, Elisabeth’s Son (uncredited)
Ingmar Bergman – Director
Director(s)
Ingmar Bergman
Writer(s)
Ingmar Bergman
Producer(s)
Ingmar Bergman
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (54) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (5)
Hardcore surrealism is rarely this enjoyable.
January 2, 2018 | Rating: 5/5
David Jenkins
Little White Lies
TOP CRITIC
It remains as mysterious and troubling now as it ever was.
December 27, 2017 | Rating: 5/5
Geoffrey Macnab
Independent (UK)
TOP CRITIC
[Bergman] gives us a movie within a movie, but he seems hardly to have made the enclosing movie, and then he throws away the inner one.
April 7, 2016
Pauline Kael
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
One of the most complicated and radical films even Bergman ever made.
April 23, 2014
Derek Malcolm
London Evening Standard
TOP CRITIC
[…]Persona marks a radical break for Bergman, an acknowledgment up front of the illusion and fundamental artifice of making movies.
April 7, 2014 | Rating: 4.5/5
Scott Tobias
The Dissolve
TOP CRITIC
One of the screen’s supreme works and perhaps Ingmar Bergman’s finest film.
July 23, 2013 | Rating: 4/4
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
The movie is weird, as are all of [Bergman’s], but it is worth seeing — even twice.
June 30, 2021
Barbara Grier
The Ladder
Persona was a challenging film to watch, but I really responded to it. I was confused, intrigued, fascinated, and sad for both the women in the story.
March 29, 2021
Sarah Brinks
Battleship Pretension
There are so many threads… in this extraordinary, tantalising film that it ts impossible to give precise directions: more perhaps than any other film in the history of the cinema, it is a treasure trove in which each must seek his own jewels.
November 20, 2020
Tom Milne
Observer (UK)
This original and individual work acts upon us in its own way; what is finally impossible to escape are the faces of Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann, agonized objects of Bergman’s worship.
August 4, 2020
Robert Kotlowitz
Harper’s Magazine
[T]hose affecting scenes linger still in the mind. Though products of manipulation, the emotions are real. Cinema speaks in spite of itself-and in spite of Bergman.
July 1, 2020
CJ Sheu
Review Film Review
Completely exhausted the medium’s potential in one staggering blaze of monochromatic glory.
July 25, 2019 | Rating: 5/5
Tim Brayton
Alternate Ending…
Plot
A famous stage actress suffers a breakdown and goes to a beach house with only a nurse as company, leading to a strange emotional convergence between the two women in Ingmar Bergman’s acclaimed drama, Persona.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The film features Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson giving towering, absolutely perfect performances.
Ingmar-Bergman.jpg
