"I came out of that movie house reeling like a drunkard, drugged speechless, with the film rushing through my bloodstream, pumping and thudding."

This reaction from a viewer just about sums up the effect the Swedish cinematic masterpiece Persona will have on you. A magnum opus from the goodie-bag of Ingmar Bergman, the celebrated Swedish director of highly acclaimed films as "Cries and Whispers" and "The Seventh Seal". Power-packed performances by Bibi Anderson and Liv Ullman (a familiar face in many of Bergman's creations) make the experience more disturbing than entertaining.

Persona is the story of a famous actress Elisabet (Ullman) who, while shooting for The Electra, suddenly decides to stop conversing. She is sent to hospital, but nothing much is done considering she is mentally and physically fit. A nurse by the name of Alma (Anderson) is assigned to care for her. Alma's attempts to persuade Elisabet to speak fail miserably; the actress refuses to utter a single word. The two women move to a cottage by the sea, and that is where they finally begin to get closer. In the solitude their new home offers, Alma bares her soul to Elisabet, sharing with her all she ever wanted to. She talks about the most hideous skeletons she hides in her closet, her turbulent past and the demons that haunted it. Elisabet's silence was the best thing Alma could have asked for, to pour her heart out to someone who did nothing but listen.

But then, something terrible began to happen. A silent hatred also begins to emerge between the two women, sparked by an incident where Elisabet writes to her doctor all she had heard from Alma's confessions. She writes about having enjoyed 'studying' Alma, and that she was amused by the fact that Alma was so 'in love with herself'. There are striking scene where this hatred is shown in a grotesque manner – when Alma does not tell Elisabet about the shard of glass under her foot, and Elisabet indeed steps on it and is hurt. It is almost as if Alma wanted to see her in pain, to make her realise how much her actions had hurt.

As time moves on, Alma finds her identity being fused with that of Elisabet. She idolizes the actress, holds her in awe, sees her as everything she wanted to be. But in all her admiration for Elisabet, she began to live a false life – that of Elisabet. In a scene where Elisabet's husband comes calling for her, she impersonates the actress. Again, when she narrates to Elisabet the story of her estranged son, she does so as if she were talking of her own son. And somewhere, she fails to draw the line between Elisabet's estranged son and her own aborted child  (a haunting incidence from her past). Bergman's portrayal of Elisabet as a psychological vampire is apt, then; she feeds on Alma's very soul and psyche. The shocking scene dedicated to this portrayal shows Alma opening a vein in her forearm and Elisabet putting her lips to it, as if to drink the blood.

The most striking scene is Alma's monologue when she tells the story of Elisabet's estranged son. This scene is shot twice in quick succession. The first time the camera shows Elisabet's face in a close-up shot, and the emotions flitting across her features. The second time the camera starts with a close-up shot of Alma but ends up showing both faces together. Truly a testimony to Bergman's gift with the art of direction, this scene.

Persona is not an easy film to watch. It leaves you disturbed, ruffles many a feather, and brings out the concept of nihilism. It shows how existing in a facade, living a life that is not your own, and going through an identity crisis for your own self, can torment you beyond measure. Alma's anguish comes alive in the film to put across this very message.

In a nutshell, an experience worthy of accolades, even bordering on reverence.