Persona

In his essay 'Persona and the 1960s Art Cinema', Wheeler Winston Dixon writes of how, with Persona (1966), Ingmar Bergman "finally breaks free of the proscenium arch tradition" that was so prevalent in his earlier films - The Seventh Seal (1956) et al. - through his use of "elaborate optical effects", which make the audience constantly aware of Bergman's presence behind the camera, and that what they are watching is fictional; "a film, a construct, a world that Bergman has invented solely for cinematic consumption." From its opening shot of a projection lamp igniting, right through until the closing image of the same lamp switching off, Bergman's presence off screen heightens the already overwhelming sense of alienation present not only between the two central characters of Alma (Bibi Andersson) and Elisabet (Liv Ullmann), but also between these characters and the audience; it is difficult for the audience to interact when Bergman creates what Dixon referred to as a "spiritual and material darkness."

Having already influenced a new generation of filmmakers with his earlier works, such as The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries (1957), it is evident that, in Persona, Bergman had himself become influenced by the new generation of auteurs which had emerged accross Europe; particularly the Nouvelle Vague. When watching Persona, one can clearly feel the influence of Jean-Luc Godard on Bergman as he takes his role as an auteur to a new extreme, incorporating Brecht's distancing effect into his editing in order to break down the fourth wall much in the same way Godard had in several of his early films such as À bout de souffle (1959), Une femme est une femme (1961), Le Mépris (1963) and Masculin féminin (1966). In turn, Bergman's Persona has itself gone on to influence numerous directors, such as Woody Allen, and its influence is still present in cinema to this day, with movies such as Fight Club (1999) referencing - practically plagiarising, one could argue - the subliminal shot of an erect penis present in the opening montage of Persona.