Episode 223: The Hopeless Dream of Being (Bergman's "Persona")

Very Bad Wizards

David and Tamler dive into Ingmar Bergman’s 1966 masterpiece Persona, a film about two (?) women, Elisabet, a famous stage actress who has stopped speaking, and Alma the chatty young nurse assigned to care for her at an island cottage. What happens when the roles we play as parents, spouses, friends, and colleagues start to feel like dishonest performances, an endless series of desperate lies? Can we escape to an inner sanctum of truth and authenticity? Or is that putting on another mask, playing yet another part, telling a different set of lies? We offer some tentative interpretations of this rich and baffling film. Get that boy a normal sized sheet!

Plus we share some thoughts about the Chappelle special…

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Links:

• The Closer (2021 film) - Wikipedia
• Dave Chappelle’s ‘The Closer’ Is Not a Simple Victim-Bully Story - The Atlantic
• Persona (1966 film) - Wikipedia
• Persona movie review & film summary (1967) | Roger Ebert
• Break Music: You Have Love by peez