When I first saw the film Persona, I got the impression that the director was correct. Elisabet was the sociopath who hated her child, and Alma was terrified of seeing herself in her.
When I saw it again this morning, I had a different impression. Elisabet had fallen silent because she didn’t know how to deal with the violent horrors of the world. Then, the hospital director gives her a speech, offering her theory that she is cold and unfeeling, and remaining silent as a way not to lie to people. Elisabet then adopts this story as a persona, hoping it will be the coping mechanism she is looking for. She plays the part of the manipulative sociopath the director thinks she is.
Alma then catches her playing that character to the director, when she reads her letter implying that she is manipulating Alma into a character study. Then, she starts to see her fears that she’s cold and unfeeling and will hate her child onto Elisabet. She vents her anger at Elisabet, tries to get her to talk and verify that it’s Elisabet she’s seeing and not herself. In trying to lay her fears off onto Elisabet, Alma proves herself the true unfeeling sociopath. She threatens to throw boiling water on her. She sees a shard of broken glass on the ground and keeps quiet, hoping Elisabet will cut herself on it. She’s the cold, unfeeling one, and Elisabet is just playing the part.
What’s your interpretation of Persona? Are there any other movies you re-watched and realized you were completely wrong about the first time?
Jirin
When I first saw the film Persona, I got the impression that the director was correct. Elisabet was the sociopath who hated her child, and Alma was terrified of seeing herself in her.
When I saw it again this morning, I had a different impression. Elisabet had fallen silent because she didn’t know how to deal with the violent horrors of the world. Then, the hospital director gives her a speech, offering her theory that she is cold and unfeeling, and remaining silent as a way not to lie to people. Elisabet then adopts this story as a persona, hoping it will be the coping mechanism she is looking for. She plays the part of the manipulative sociopath the director thinks she is.
Alma then catches her playing that character to the director, when she reads her letter implying that she is manipulating Alma into a character study. Then, she starts to see her fears that she’s cold and unfeeling and will hate her child onto Elisabet. She vents her anger at Elisabet, tries to get her to talk and verify that it’s Elisabet she’s seeing and not herself. In trying to lay her fears off onto Elisabet, Alma proves herself the true unfeeling sociopath. She threatens to throw boiling water on her. She sees a shard of broken glass on the ground and keeps quiet, hoping Elisabet will cut herself on it. She’s the cold, unfeeling one, and Elisabet is just playing the part.
What’s your interpretation of Persona? Are there any other movies you re-watched and realized you were completely wrong about the first time?