This year, the world of cinema celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the most famous Swedish film and theater directors, writer Ingmar Bergman. Lithuania can also boast of the abundance of events commemorating this occasion. One of them is the series of "Cinema Classics Evenings" organized by the "Skalvija" film center, where I. Bergman's film "Persona" (1966) will be shown on Sundays in August.
According to Sonata Žalneravičiūtė, the organizer of the Skalvija film center program, most film critics single out this film as one of the most important and prominent in I. Bergman's rich work, but, strangely enough, Persona was not shown on Lithuanian cinema screens.
"Today, I feel that I did my best with Persona and then with Cries and Whispers (1973). And in these two cases, with complete freedom, I have reached indescribable secrets that only cinema", the creator himself told about the uniqueness of the film.
According to film critics, he is one of those rare film directors who created his own film world or even started a new film genre. If the director Alfred Hitchcock is the pioneer of the psychological thriller, I. Bergman became one of the first creators of the drama of existential philosophical relationships in the cinema.
I. Bergman started writing the script for this film while he was being treated for pneumonia in the hospital. The director called the upcoming film "Persona", which in Latin means a mask worn by actors in ancient times, and also a term coined by the famous psychologist Carl Jung, which also means a mask used to present oneself to others in order to hide the true self. It is not for nothing that the two heroines in the film - actress Elizabeth, who cannot speak, and her nurse Alma - are often interpreted by film critics as one person.
Finding actresses for the film was not difficult, according to I. Bergman, he knew from the beginning that the role of Alma would be played by actress Bibi Andersson, who became his muse, and actress Liv Ullmann would play Elizabet. Although he had not seen the latter actress, but after noticing the incredible similarity of these women in one photo, he decided to choose her.
The film was shot on the island of Fore off Gotland, where the director shot seven more of his films along with Persona, and later settled there. The poor, rocky landscape of the island surrounded by the Baltic Sea is often interpreted as a reflection of the inner states of the film's characters.
in 1967 "Persona" won the "Golden Scarab" in Sweden as the best film, and B. Andersson was also awarded the prize for the best performance by an actress. in 1968 The National Association of Film Critics presented prizes for the best film, director and actress (B. Andersson).
Bergman's film "Persona" will be shown at the "Skalvija" film center's film classic evenings on August 5. (presented by film critic Izolda Keidošiūtė), 12 (film critic Neringa Kažukauskaitė), 19 (film critic Narius Kairys) and on the 26th (semiotician and film reviewer Dmitry Glushchevskij). The film will also be released on August 16. Klaipėda's "Culture factory" and Kaunas cinema center "Romuva".
