*07-12-2025*

-> The film starts with a kid lying in the bed, they look quite, you know.. i don't know. I've absolutely NO idea why the director kept a kid lying, accommodating themselves in the bed, and then looking at some sort of blurry footage being unfolded as the introductory part. I've got absolutely no ideas.
Regardless, right nwo i'm at around 22 minutes into the film, and what i can say is that - every single frame is truly a painting.
It just looks so freakin' good!!
At the moment there's this scene, when Vogler & Alma leave the hospital and are now in some sort of green-y environment. The tracking shot, the mise en scene, the flowers.. even though the film is in black & white, it surpasses the quality of many coloured new films. This specific scene feels SOO vibrant, as if i can literally smell the ethereal feel of the trees and flowers. not gonna lie, when this scene unrolled, i literally took a long ahh sniff, and tried to smell the petrichor or fougere scent, lol.

EVERY. SINGLE. FRAME. IS. A. PAINTING.

-> Oh, i remember one thing - when Vogler is watching the Television, but then she gets frightened up by the harrowing visuals of the Vietnam War(the famous self immolation of thích quảng Đức).
And mind you, the film was LITERALLY made during the heights of Vietnam War, meaning it's almost as if an auteur like Bergman showed the horrifying visuals of the Gaza war, right now!
That's not happening now, i guess. the bourgeoisie has pretty much got the media, and anyone who tries to go against these reactionaries, they're met with a lot of controversy, or most of the times getting suppressed.
Moreover, it sounds very unique to me, that someone used this in their film, they didn't include a distant past, like including visuals of 50 year old war or something, something which was actually happening in real time.
It's also more about something i've not experienced with current media, like imagine as the audience, you're literally watching harrowing visuals unfold in real time, and they're not some "old war orchestrated by an imperialist state 30 years ago" - IT'S LITERALLY SOMETHING HAPPENING AT THE MOMENT!!
It may sound "Oh, it's not that deep".. but to me.. i don't know, it kind of intrigues me in a way nothing ever has.

-> An excerpt/snippet -
"All the anxiety we carry within us,
all our thrwarted dreams, the unexplicable cruelty
our fear of extinction,
the painful insight into our earthy condition
have slowly crystallized our hope for an other worldly salvation.
The tremendous cry of our faith and hope against darkness and silence is the most terrifying proof of our abandonment and our unuttered knowledge"

-> Now, Sister Alma here starts talking about how she adores the idea of devoting one's life to something. To give meaning in your life. I think I would kind of agree with this, but won't someone just exhausted with it? isn't it kind of a never ending thing which will be mostly filled with struggles, fatigue, exhaustion and existential crisis, i mean- atleast for me.
She talks about seeing nurses being nurses their entire life, but isn't it a bit or atleast for me.. VERY boring?? I'm not sure though, it's kind a naive.

-> Dude, the shot at 43:34 is just SOOO freakin' visually breathtaking. the trees, the reflection of Alma on the pond, the way she's standing, the mise en scene, the feel of that frame... It's absolutely a painting!!

-> Ok, so the film takes a steep turn at around 46-47 minutes. Some crazy ahh effects start unfurling, I'm not aware how Bergman's editor did this back in '66, Yesterday I saw a video on how a few seconds of film is trimmed from the film and dude i was sooo glad that I've got a computer, lol.
Regardless, we see a resurgence of the somewhat the same visuals which were present in the beginning of the film, we see the same hand which is struck by hammer multiple times, and what intrigues me is that it happens after showcasing Alma's face, and i'm clueless because how she goes from an extroverted, talkative person, to a more reserved, introverted person..??
I'm also very confused because she broke a glass, but when Vogler walks past it, she says nothing even when she gets hurt.
And that's where the scen goes from stability to absurdity.
Are we seeing a sudden shift in the "Persona" of Alma?? Well, I'm not very certain about this, let's see how the film goes on...

-> Well, guess what? It was just a gimmick?? They're now reading books in the beach.. or is there something deeper I've to dig in..??

-> Oh damn, dude!! I loved this scene, FUCK Vogler for spilling Alma's personal feelings. I guess, she must have trusted Elisabeth truly, since she never got the chance to speak up and when Alma did speak up, this imbecile spilled her confession while disrespecting her. I don't like these people.
But the thing is Alma's character is very relatable, you know??

Alma's words -

"Can a person really live without bubbling away,
without lying and making up excuses and evading things?
Isn't it better to let yourself be silly and sloppy and dishonest?
Maybe a person gets better by just letting herself be who she is."

SOOO FREAKIN' TRVE, ALMA!!!
I genuinely love the character of Alma soo much, lol. I love how vulnerable she is, how she wants to express herself in this filthy cruel world, how she wants to life the way she wants..
I strongly resonate with her character

-> Ok, so i completed the film, didn't write anything between because i couldn't even fathom what happened in the film after that part.
Regardless, the same kid from the beginning can be seen at the very last part of the film.
Seems like i will have to go scour up forums, check out Youtube videos regarding its analysis & interpretation. So, that my cornball arse unfathomable brain gets it.

*It was about 2:33 AM, i just went to bed, used phone for a bit, played Boards of Canada and slept*

-> It's exactly 02:30 PM, and Ok, let's talk about the film.

Ok, so i understood almost nothing about the film, lol.
I'm not sure but it could be a blending of "persona" kind of thing, like how it happens very surreal-y in Mulholland Drive.. but i'm not fully into this interpretation, but again, there are tons of scenes & shots where they blend into each other.. especially the last part where different POVs are shown one after another.
Maybe the real person has split themselves into two persona of Vogler - a reserved, silent, dark personality while Alma - an expressive, open, brighter personality..??
and the stark contrast between them is very strikingly evident/apparent.
Personally, I resonate with both of the characters, like parts of them, especially Alma.

I would also like to revisit the part, the scenes at the very beginning of the film, they boy, who comes again at the last. I read some theories regarding how this boy could allegedly be the son of Vogler or Alma or whoever. But the thing is, what i can see is, what i see the boy is.. a some of a viewer, like me, like us, who is looking at how these stories, history, art is being unfurled and me, the body, the boy can't really do much to sort of "get inside it".
Sure, I may do a character/story analysis, go in-depth, read history extensively, but I won't exactly become the person, the figure, the people itself.

As I'm writing this, anyone reading this gets no more than 3-5% of what I'm going through or feeling like. You have to actually become ME in order to actually understand it. I think it's also quite evidence in the film itself, like Alma repeatedly saying Vogler how she doesn't understands her.

This film has a very dense, profound, deeper meaning to it and it will have thousands of different interpretation considering how rich it is philosophically.
I will surely rewatch this film as I grow up, I will rewatch this multiple times. It's one of the films which is absolutely worthy of multiple rewatches.