my favorite movie of 1966:

Persona

[Swedish]

(Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Gunnar Björnstrand. Directed by Ingmar Bergman.)

For most of Bergman’s Persona we see no one other than two women (Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann) … but some of the exceptions seem to disrupt the whole medium of film! One of the women is supposedly mute, but from the beginning we have doubts about her condition, and by the end we’ll have doubts about more than that.

Criterion’s “Three Reasons” to watch Persona:

10 things about how this movie was made.

Wikipedia says:

Characterized by elements of psychological horror, Persona has been the subject of much critical analysis, interpretation and debate. The film’s exploration of duality, insanity and personal identity has been interpreted as reflecting the Jungian theory of persona and dealing with issues related to filmmaking, vampirism, homosexuality, motherhood, abortion and other subjects. …

[T]he filmmakers experimented with effects, using smoke and a mirror to frame one scene and combining the lead characters’ faces in post-production for one shot. Andersson defended a sexually explicit monologue in the screenplay, and rewrote portions of it.

Wikipedia compiles many commentators’ analysis of this notoriously hard-to-interpret movie. And see this video (from Learning About Movies, a YouTube channel by Dr. Josh Matthews):

You know what I thought after I saw a film of yours one night? When I got home and looked in the mirror, I thought: we look alike. … I think I could turn into you if I really tried, I mean inside. You could be me just like that, though your soul would be far too big — it would stick out everywhere!

Stream it on the Criterion Channel (with bonus features) or Max. If you don’t subscribe to the Criterion Channel, try a free 14-day trial. If you want to own it, you could buy Criterion’s set of 39 Bergman movies in the Barnes & Noble 50% off sale on all Criterion movies, which happens every July and November. I have the set — an amazing deal at less than $4 per blu-ray. (Amazon often lowers prices during those sales.)

Click here for the full list of my favorite movie(s) of each year from 1920 to 2020.