Author: SOFIA MONIQUE CATAJAN

The Persona and The Audience

By definition, a persona is the aspect of someone’s character that is presented to or perceived by others. In literature, on the other hand, the persona is usually the person who is understood to be speaking to the reader. Given this, as the title of Ingmar Bergman’s 1988 film, Persona revolves arounda round the persona of Nurse Alma and an actress named Elizabeth. The film, unlike most movies which areproduced and designed to appeal to its viewers through hollywood-isk plots and cinematography, toys with the persona of the two main characters.

In the film. Elizabeth had portrayed at least three personas. First, as an actress, Elizabeth was used to creating illusionary personas of herself, and with her acting skills, she played the persona of a speech-impared, harmless patient. Second, as a friend to Nurse Alma. And third, as a successful actress and mother. What intrigued me, however, was, when she and Nurse Alma moved to the doctor’s beach house for a vacation, how Nurse Alma was always talking to her–telling her random stories of her (Nurse Alma’s) life. In this viewpoint, the persona would be Nurse Alma, and Elizabeth may be seen as the audience. It’s intriguing, because given that she is an actress and had played various personas throughout her acting career, it occured to me that she may be observing Nurse Alma. Furthermore, her not-being-able-to-talk act made me think that, by not being able to comment or discuss with Nurse Alma, she is portraying herself as the persona’s audience. Subsequently, Elizabeth did not want to create a persona for herself, as she wanted to be the audience or the reader–which cannot reply to the persona. In this scenario, the actress has become the audience.This, however, was concluded when Nurse Alma found her letter to her friend, which shattered Elizabeth’s persona of a psychologically speech-empared and loving friend.

On the other hand, Nurse Alma presented herself as a talkative and trusting character. However, she was also able to create a smart, violent, and untrusting persona. What’s interesting about Nurse Alma, however, is how the film distorts her persona with Elizabeth’s. There were two scenes where Elizabeth was confronted by Nurse Alma of her reservations for her child. The two scenes, however unchanged the dialogues are in both of them, portray different moods–depending on which character the camera is focusing on. When focused on Elizabeth’s face, there was a sense of dramatics as the aura of the scene. However, given the same dialogue, the scene which focuses on Nurse Alma’s face creates an interrogative and intimidating atmosphere. With this, it can be said that the mood of the scenes ultimately depend on the persona/s being presented.

The film also made me confused, for some its parts. As complex the film’s plot is, the start of the film was confusing. The start exhibits foreshadowing for the dramatics at the end of the film, which would not make sense at the start and would cause the audience to ponder over it until the latter part of the movie. Moreover, as artistic it may be through its black and white cinematography and they way Elizabeth’s child was wissfully looking at the screen, trying to touch the face of the woman it was projecting, and disturbing images such as a sheep being chopped off, the start immediately set a mood of mysteriousness and amibuity, which may make the audience uncomfortable, a bit disturbed, and confused. It also proved to set the mood for the whole film. Furthermore, the latter part of the film, starting with when Elizabeth’s husband mistook Nurse Alma as his wife was really confusing for me. My confusion continued until the last scene when Elizabeth’s child was exhibited again.

Conclusively, Persona is very artistic as it is dramatic, complex, and confusing. Its appeal stems from its dramatic plot and complex videography, and rather than following mainstream methods of cinematography with hollywood-isk plots and videographics to appeal to its viewers, its theatrical subjectivity, especially with its characters and cinematical viewpoints, tries to convey its disregard to pleasing film characteristics.

A Woman is a Woman: A Portrayal of Adolescent Relationships

I have never been to a film class before, and although I have only watched a few European films, Jean-Luc Godard’s 1961 avant-garde masterpiece, Une Femme est Une Femme, portrayed the most playful acting from all the French films I have watched. It is important to consider, though, that I am not completely knowledgeable of the culture in 1960’s France (when the film was produced). Thus, some of the factors that I may point out may be wrong.

Revolving around a stripper named Angela, her boyfriend, Emile, and their friend, Alfred, A Woman is a Woman conspicuously showcases a whimsical rendition of how men and women are stereotyped when it comes to relationships. However, deeply embedded into the film, and is what we will be focusing on, is a portrayal of a not-yet-matured relationship of two individuals who do not yet know the repercussions of their actions as well as what they really want.

From the title of the film itself, “A Woman is a Woman” suggests the stereotypical notion that women’s wants are absolute. That is, as portrayed in the film, women want babies, and when women want something, they would do anything to get it — no matter how they would get it. It also portrays women as emotionally-driven, dramatic, always pouting, and pabebe. This was showcased throughout the film, when Angela kept pouting in front of Emile when he keeps rejecting her request for a baby. Her being emotionally-driven is also conveyed in a scene where the camera focuses on her while tears were rolling down her cheeks. Furthermore, Angela’s non-admittance of missing Emile when they were talking on the phone and, then, covering the phone and wistfully admitting to herself that she does miss him showcases the childishness of individuals like her during the early stages of a relationship.

The same can be said for Emile. The film portrays him as a guy who is not yet ready to marry nor have a child. Although this may not pose a problem in his character, there are scenes where, while arguing with Angela regarding her request, Emile can be seen riding his bicycle in circles inside their apartment. This may either suggest his thought that the two of them are merely going in circles, his lack of maturity, or both. Furthermore, his inability (or, maybe, unwillingness) to admit his jealousy towards Alfred and, contradictingly, further irritating (rather intentionally) Angela may seem a bit immature in their relationship.

There are also scenes that, although amusing, showcase the adolescence of their relationship. In the scene where the two did not want to talk to each other, they kept going to bookshelves and pulling out books in their attempts to concoct words and literally arguing without talking to each other. This can also be seen when the two of them keep trying to sass each other and, humorously, settling the argument with a demonstration of the proper technique of pronouncing “r.” More importantly, the adolescence in their relationship was conspicuosly showcased with a text telling the audience that Angela and Emile are so deeply inlove with each other that would go far beyond what they can go through, which would lead to reprecussions — that is, Emile’s “approval” that Angela can have Alfred’s child and Angela’s “compliance” just to spite Emile.

The film also portrays other factors in the film, such as when Angela was shown a picture of Emile with another woman — suggesting that Emile cheated on her. The scene kept going back and forth to the picture and to a close up from Angela’s somber face. For this, it seems to portray how Angela may be obsessing (and maybe overthinking) about Emile and the woman he is with in the picture, which is usually a typical reaction in inidividuals in seemingly committed relationship.

Conclusively, Une Femme est Une Femme sets a mostly-realistic portrayal of adolescent relationships, showcasing flaws that two imperfect individuals may have even though they truly are in love with one another and exhibiting it through colorful and entertainment dramatics.