Interviewer: Ingmar, what was your intention with your latest film, Persona?
Bergman: If I’ve really manged to make a film that has sparked a debate, it would be very tactless of me to barge in on that debate and talk about what I really meant by the film. It would be tactless towards the audience, because I’m sure they all have their own interpretations, and tactless towards those commenting on it in the media, who might feel hurt if they found they misinterpreted the film. Therefore I prefer not to say anything at all. I played my part in this debate when I made the film.

Ingmar Bergman on the set of Persona (1966).

“Is it really important not to lie, to speak so that everything rings true? Can one live without lying and quibbling and making excuses? Isn’t it better to be lazy and lax and deceitful? Perhaps you even improve by staying as you are. My words mean nothing to you. People like you can’t be reached. I wonder whether your madness isn’t the worst kind. You act healthy, act it so well that everyone believes you. Everyone except me, because I know how rotten you are.”

Ingmar Bergman, Persona, 1966.

Ingmar Bergman, Persona, 1966

Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, and Ingmar Bergman during the filming of Persona

Persona (1966)

Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson in Persona

I could live like this forever.
Silent, living a secluded life, reducing my needs,
feeling my battered soul finally starting to smooth itself out.