Bergman and the Necessary Illusion

Summary

SCENES FROM A MOVIE

1. The darkness of the movie theater is suddenly illuminated on screen by the flash of light from the projector arc, followed by a shot of film leader running through the machine. Images of unrelated figures – an animated cartoon, close-ups of hands, a spider, an eye, animal entrails – alternate with blinding reflections of white light off the empty screen, accompanied by abstract sounds. After the shocking close-up of a human hand with a spike driven through it, the picture dissolves into a montage of wintry scenes and of aged faces, apparently corpses, as we become aware of the sound of dripping water and then a distant ringing. The close-up of an elderly woman viewed upside down suddenly cuts to the same shot with the crone's eyes now wide open. A strange-looking boy lying under a sheet slowly awakens, puts on glasses, and begins reading a book, only to be disturbed by the presence of the camera, which he tentatively reaches out toward to touch. A reverse shot reveals the object of his attention to be a huge, unfocused still of a woman's face; this image gradually shifts to the close-up of what seems to be another woman, one who closely resembles the first. The boy's extended hand traces the elusive figure, separated from him by the screen, as the sound track becomes high pitched and intrusive. The titles begin – PERSONA/EN FILM AVINGMAR BERGMAN – separated by a series of nearly subliminal shots, some of them recognizable, others obscure, while the sound track intensifies the effect through percussive drums and xylophone.