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hello, i need help!

>>By IN TROUBLE (Monday, 5 May 2003 08:09)

Need help understanding the movie what the nurse and the actress the same person?? Have a paper due and so confused

>>By Dphin26 (Thursday, 8 May 2003 07:07)

Ok ready? Here's my take, although I didn't see the last 10 minutes or so. They are inextricably bound together! But really, it doesn't even matter if they're the same person. Bergman was married to one of the actresses long before he made the movie, and was married or sleeping with the other one while he was making it. So for him, the movie was about finding out what it was that really made them different. Parts of them are the same, parts are different, and that is reflected in the way he made the movie. Obviously their looks are similar as you see in that most marvelous of special effects scenes when the faces merge - the funny thing is that scene really makes the subtle differences stand out.
One of the coolest contrasts of the movie is when Alma yells at Elizabeth for not talking to her. Here it's either really confusing if you're still trying to squeeze a plot out of the movie or really cool as she rails at this person who will not talk back to her. Let us indulge and label Elizabeth as an 'inner demon' of Alma's. Whatever Alma says, Elizabeth responds with silence, and Alma begins to think Elizabeth thinks little of her, especially after the note. Elizabeth is like the conscience of a person with no self-esteem, always telling them they fucked it up. (I have no personal experience in these matters)
I suppose you might break this down in Freudian terms - Alma could be an ego and Elizabeth could be an id or whatever, but that limits the coolness of the movie. Bergman has constructed his own psychological theory here that is equally as good as Freud's.
Yes, I have a bit of time on my hands. No, you can't have any.
Sorry IN TROUBLE and Dphin26 that this response was a year late.

>>By kerryoco (Friday, 23 Apr 2004 00:45)

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