Broken Film: “Crux interpretum” as a Problem of the Theory and Practice of Interpretation (on the Example of Ingmar Bergman’s “Persona”)
Rafał Koschany
koschany@amu.edu.plAdam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9343-9885
Abstract
Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (1966) is considered one of the most mysterious and multidimensional films of all time, which was undoubtedly influenced by the famous moment of tearing and burning of the film reel. Is that moment inherent in the story or external to it? Is it a sign given by the director, narrator, or some other instance? These are just a few examples of questions asked by the interpreters, who then often give detailed, exhaustive, and logical answers, but also report difficulties in formulating them. The paper presents not only the existing interpretations, but above all the theoretically important problem of interpretation which has no chance to be satisfactorily resolved. Crux interpretum is an uninterpretable place in the text, and at the same time a trigger for the theory of interpretation in general.
Keywords:
Ingmar Bergman, interpretation, theory of interpretation, film theoryReferences
Aumont, J. (2021). Analiza filmów (tłum. T. Rutkowska). Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.
Google Scholar
Bellour, R. (1990). The Film Stilled. Camera Obscura, (24), ss. 99-123.
Google Scholar
Bergman, I. (1987). Persona (tłum. S. H. Kaszyński, G. Sadalska). W: I. Bergman, Scenariusze (ss. 215-245). Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe.
Google Scholar
Bergom-Larsson, M. (1987). Od klowna do pasożyta. Artysta i społeczeństwo (tłum. U. Franczyk). W: D. Zielińska (red.), Ingmar Bergman. W opinii krytyki zagranicznej (ss. 88-114). Warszawa: Filmoteka Polska.
Google Scholar
Blackwell, M. J. (1986). „Persona”: The Transcendent Image. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Google Scholar
Brown, N. (1988). „Persona” Bergmana. Aparat / nieświadomość / odbiorca (tłum. E. Wilde). W: W. Godzic (red.), Sztuka filmowej interpretacji. Antologia przekładów (ss. 199-208). Kraków: Uniwersytet Jagielloński.
Google Scholar
Campbell, P. N. (1979). The Reflexive Function of Bergman’s „Persona”. Cinema Journal, 19 (1), ss. 71-85.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1225421
Google Scholar
Chołodowski, W. (1969). „Persona”. Bergman. Tygodnik Kulturalny, (40), s. 12.
Google Scholar
Ebert, R. (2001, 7 stycznia). Persona. RogerEbert.com. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-persona-1966
Google Scholar
Elsaesser, T. (2016, 17 marca). The Persistence of „Persona”. Criterion.com. https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3116-the-persistence-of-persona
Google Scholar
Fredericksen, D. (2005). Bergman’s „Persona”. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM.
Google Scholar
Helman, A. (1987). Problemy interpretacji dzieł filmowych. W: M. Czerwiński (red.), Interpretacja dzieła (ss. 155-165). Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich.
Google Scholar
Hobson, A. (1988). Filmy Bergmana a fizjologia snu. Przedstawienie zawrotu głowy w „Personie” (tłum. A. Helman). Kino, (6), ss. 26-28.
Google Scholar
Hughes, W. (2018, 20 kwietnia). The 10 Most Analyzed Movies of All Time. TasteofCinema.com. http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2018/the-10-most-analyzed-movies-of-all-time/
Google Scholar
Humphrey, D. (2021). „Persona”’s Penis. W: E. Hedling (red.), Ingmar Bergman: An Enduring Legacy (ss. 197-210). Lund: Lund University Press.
Google Scholar
Jackiewicz, A. (1969). Jak rozumieć „Personę”?. Film, (52), ss. 6-7.
Google Scholar
Koschany, R. (2022). Po co i jak interpretować filmy? Propozycja Jacques’a Aumonta. Kwartalnik Filmowy, (117), ss. 217-223. https://doi.org/10.36744/kf.1099
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36744/kf.1099
Google Scholar
Lai, L. (2012). „Persona”: An In-Depth Analysis. Scotts Valley: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. (Wydanie Kindle).
Google Scholar
Lemée, P. (2000). Lettres d’Elisabeth Vogler à son fils – provoquées par „Persona” d’Ingmar Bergman. Limoges: Bruit des Autres.
Google Scholar
Michaels, L. (red.) (2000). Ingmar Bergman’s „Persona”. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511624315
Google Scholar
Młynarz, K. (1969). Persona. Nurt, (12), ss. 44-46.
Google Scholar
Nadgrodkiewicz, G. (2017). Aktorka, archetyp, amnezja. Na marginesie „Persony” Bergmana. Kwartalnik Filmowy, (100), ss. 213-221.
Google Scholar
Ohlin, P. (2011). Wordless Secrets – Ingmar Bergman’s „Persona”: Modernist Crisis and Canonical Status. Montreal: Welsh Academic Press.
Google Scholar
Olszewski, J. (1970). Nauczyć się czy zrozumieć?. Film, (4), ss. 10-11.
Google Scholar
Sitney, P. A. (1986). Kinematography and the Analytic Text: A Reading of „Persona”. October, 38, ss. 112-130.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/778430
Google Scholar
Sontag, S. (2018). „Persona” Bergmana. W: S. Sontag, Style radykalnej woli (tłum. D. Żukowski, ss. 151-176). Kraków: Wydawnictwo Karakter.
Google Scholar
Szczepański, T. (1999). Zwierciadło Bergmana. Gdańsk: słowo/obraz terytoria.
Google Scholar
Szczepański, T. (2006). Tajemnice „Persony”. Kwartalnik Filmowy, (54-55), ss. 355-359.
Google Scholar
Ulicka, D. (2007). Ja czytam moje czytanie. (O podmiocie wypowiedzi literackiej i literaturoznawczej). W: D. Ulicka, Literaturoznawcze dyskursy możliwe. Studia z dziejów nowoczesnej teorii literatury w Europie Środkowej i Wschodniej (ss. 383-420). Kraków: Universitas.
Google Scholar
Werner, A. (1997). Dekada filmu. Warszawa: Instytut Badań Literackich PAN.
Google Scholar
Young, B. (2015). The Persona of Ingmar Bergman: Conquering Demons through Film. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.
Google Scholar
Authors
Rafał Koschanykoschany@amu.edu.pl
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9343-9885
Associate Professor at the Institute of Cultural Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. He specializes in the theory of interpretation, contemporary theories of the interpretation of works of art, the semiotics of culture, as well as research at the crossroads between literary and film studies. Author of the books Przypadek. Kategoria artystyczna i egzystencjalna w literaturze i filmie [Chance: Existential and Artistic Category in Film and Literature] (2006, 2nd ed. 2016) and Zamiast interpretacji. Między doświadczeniem kinematograficznym a rozumieniem filmu [Instead of Interpretation: Between Cinematographic Experience and Understanding of Film] (2017), numerous articles in journals and chapters in books; co-editor of several collective volumes, among others: Musical. Poszerzanie pola gatunku [The Musical: Widening the Genre Field] (2013).
Statistics
Abstract views: 406PDF downloads: 247
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Rafał Koschany
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The author grants the publisher a royalty-free non-exclusive licence (CC BY 4.0) to use the article in Kwartalnik Filmowy, retains full copyright, and agrees to identify the work as first having been published in Kwartalnik Filmowy should it be published or used again (download licence agreement). The journal is published under the CC BY 4.0 licence. By submitting an article, the author agrees to make it available under this licence.
In issues from 105-106 (2019) to 119 (2022) all articles were published under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. During this period the authors granted a royalty-free non-exclusive licence (CC BY-ND 4.0) to use their article in „Kwartalnik Filmowy”, retained full copyright, and agreed to identify the work as first having been published in our journal should it be published or used again.
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Rafał Koschany, Architecture as Plot. „Parasite” by Bong Joon-ho , Kwartalnik Filmowy: No. 109 (2020): Architectural Space in Film
- Rafał Koschany, Why and How to Interpret Movies? Jacques Aumont’s Proposal , Kwartalnik Filmowy: No. 117 (2022): Unknown/Hidden Cinema
- Rafał Koschany, Genealogies of Polish Film Studies: From Juliusz Kleiner to Bolesław W. Lewicki , Kwartalnik Filmowy: No. 124 (2023): Streaming
- Rafał Koschany, Phenomenology and Film Studies: Stefan Morawski’s Commentary on Roman Ingarden’s Theory , Kwartalnik Filmowy: No. 126 (2024): Fantasy and Phantasm
- Rafał Koschany, Phenomenology of Film Images: Video Essay as a Thematic Criticism and Art of Interpretation , Kwartalnik Filmowy: No. 104 (2018): Essay, Found Footage, Compilation Film
- Rafał Koschany, Filming/Telling of Death: Sándor Kardos’ “Gravedigger” as a “Literary-Related” Film , Kwartalnik Filmowy: No. 97-98 (2017): Wandering Motifs
