Persona. Ingmar Bergman. 1966. ⚅
I watched this movie two years ago during the 87 Bergman Things blog series, but I wanted to watch it again, so here you go: Probably a slightly different series of screenshots? You gets what you pays for, dead reader.
[thirty minutes pass]
Looking at the remaining films on the list of Officially The Best movies, I don’t think there’s anything better than this movie left. I mean, this film is in-credibly stunning. Everything about it is pure genius, centred around the shattering performances from Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. Of course, Sven Nykvist could make anything look gripping, but when those two are on the screen…
Dude.
But watching it now is very different from last time (when it had been at least a decade since I saw it last): This time I know the central betrayal that underlies the apparent idyll, and… that makes it somehow even more gripping.
[the end]
Dude.
Dude!
The movie just gets better the more times I see it. It’s not a… timeless? movie: It’s very much a movie made in 1966. It’s the essence of 1966. And that somehow makes it more vital than anything.
But the real reason I’m rewatching this now instead of just punting to the previous blog post about it is this:
Yes! Criterion finally (i.e., last year) released a blu ray set of Bergman movies!
And this 2K restoration of Persona is totes wonderful. The box itself is also very er tactile — it’s very heavy, but it’s got a soft touch thing going on, which I assume is because it’s covered in a phthalate-treated plastic, so that means that an untold number of fishes gonads mutated to give me the pleasure of touching this box set.
I appreciate it!
Oooh. There’s a full moon tonight.
This blog post is part of the Officially The Best series.