10 Weird Movies That Purposely Tried To Confuse You
2. Persona (Ingmar Bergman)
Persona rides high on most lists of the greatest films ever, and with good reason: it is stunningly shot, perfectly acted and has a narrative that arguably outdoes every other one on this list in terms of ambiguity, fluidity and openness of interpretation. Ingmar Bergman's Persona is, as its name suggests, a self-conscious exploration of performativity, doubling and womanhood told through two characters whose identities consistently and repeatedly flow into one another. Interestingly, the film's opening clearly inspired that of Holy Motors. It features shots of cinematic apparatus and film reels, and the powerful image of a boy caressing projections of the two women that will be the stars of the film. As noted in relation to Carax's film, this is a self-conscious ploy by Bergman to remind the audience that this a film about performing in front of a camera. The apparatus affects the behaviour and perception of its characters. However, Bergman's deconstruction of identity is far more advanced than that of Carax's film. To describe the full story here would be counter-productive, but its essential narrative premise (and there is a perceivable one) revolves around a nurse named Alma taking care of mute actress Elisabet in an isolated seaside cottage. In order to make up for the silence of her patient, Alma talks constantly and compares herself incessantly to Elisabet, but soon learns (through reading Elisabet's letters) that she is being studied by her charge. She angrily confronts the woman that she compares herself to, and the film splinters - literally. The screen turns white, tearing and screeching noises fill the soundtrack, and once the story returns to the characters their roles have blurred immeasurably. Suddenly the two women look uncomfortably alike. Sequences occur multiple times, with characters relaying one another's stories to each other without realising that they are repeating events. Their faces are superimposed onto each other, with the audience rapidly forgetting who is Elisabet and who is Alma. The characters also begin to forget, with Alma screaming: "I'm not like you. I don't feel like you. I'm not Elisabet Vogler: you are Elisabet Vogler. I'm just here to help you!" Vampiric sequences occur, before another shot of the boy and the projector concludes the film - this time, with the two actresses' faces combined as one. Persona defies explanation, but it is a truly mesmeric watch. Whatever Bergman's intention - and it is probable that he is studying the complexities of identity both in reality and in cinema - there can be no doubt that his film is one of the finest examples of narrative playfulness ever created.
