15 Totally Flawless Movie Monologues

Ingmar Bergman's challenging psychological drama concerns a stage actress called Elisabet (Liv Ullmann) who one day suddenly stops speaking and has to be looked after by a nurse called Alma (Bibi Andersson).

In order to properly look after her, Alma moves to a cottage with Elisabet, where she spends her days filling in her patient's silence with stories from her life.

One such story comes part-way into the movie, when Alma revels in the joys of finally having someone who listens to her. Opening up without pause, she tells Elisabet about her fiancé, Karl-Hendrick, and a day at the beach where she sunbathed with a woman called Katarina and they initiated an orgy with two passers-by.

It's a deeply haunting, erotic monologue, allowing Alma to confess her biggest sins and confront her guilt for perhaps the first time in her life, and is filmed by Bergman with such restraint that the whole thing might just be the most romantic and intimate scene ever filmed.

Persona is a tough film to watch in parts, but as is the case with this monologue, it's a must-see for any and all movie fans.

CW: Sexual language.