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* SpitefulSpit: When Alma confronts Elisabet over her letters, they struggle for a bit and Elisabet slaps her. Alma responds by spitting at her.
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-->''(Elisabet shakes her head.)''

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-->''(Elisabet ''(Elisabet shakes her head.)''
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'''Elisabet:''' (shakes her head)

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'''Elisabet:''' (shakes -->''(Elisabet shakes her head)head.)''
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* JuxtaposedHalvesShot: Alma and Elisabet in the climax of the film. Their faces are juxtaposed to show that their individual identities have become indistinguishable from each other (or they've melded, or they were each other all along, or something).

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* JuxtaposedHalvesShot: Alma and Elisabet in the climax of the film. Their faces are juxtaposed to show that their individual identities have become indistinguishable from each other (or they've melded, or they were each other all along, or something). When Bergman first showed the shot to his actresses, they both turned to each other and said in unison "But that's an awful photo of you - wait, what?"
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* AbortionFalloutDrama: Alma's darkest secret is getting an abortion after an orgiastic tryst with underage boys. When she recounts this, she burst into tears and talks about how she is haunted that she isn't living according to her values. This sets up the duality between her and Elisabet, who is outwardly a perfect mother but deeply resents her son after failing to abort him.
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Unrelated to the ''{{VideoGame/Persona}}'' video games, although Jungian psychology is a major theme in both.

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Unrelated to the ''{{VideoGame/Persona}}'' ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' video games, although Jungian psychology is a major theme in both.
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Wrong character


At first, it is pretty straightforward: an actress named Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann) [[ElectiveMute suddenly decides not to speak]] and is thus considered mentally ill. She and Alma (Andersson), the nurse who takes care of her, are sent to a Summer cottage in hopes that it will help nurse the actress back to health. Alma talks to her a lot, first about trivial things and then about increasingly personal matters, among them a sexual tryst Alma had with [[NoYay underage boys]]. When Alma happens to read a letter from Elisabet to her husband, which has references to the tryst and other things Alma told her in confidence, plus a comment where Elisabet says she's "studying" Alma, Alma begins to suspect that Elisabet is toying with her. Cold war ensues.

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At first, it is pretty straightforward: an actress named Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann) [[ElectiveMute suddenly decides not to speak]] and is thus considered mentally ill. She and Alma (Andersson), the nurse who takes care of her, are sent to a Summer cottage in hopes that it will help nurse the actress back to health. Alma talks to her a lot, first about trivial things and then about increasingly personal matters, among them a sexual tryst Alma had with [[NoYay underage boys]]. When Alma happens to read a letter from Elisabet to her husband, doctor, which has references to the tryst and other things Alma told her in confidence, plus a comment where Elisabet says she's "studying" Alma, Alma begins to suspect that Elisabet is toying with her. Cold war ensues.

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The Voiceless is someone who presumably does speak but whose voice is never heard onscreen


* ElectiveMute: Elisabet has been sent to recuperate after suddenly deciding to stop speaking; the number of times she speaks during the film can be counted on one hand and all of them may just be imagined by the characters.



* TheVoiceless: Elisabet has been sent to recuperate after suddenly deciding to stop speaking; the number of times she speaks during the film can be counted on one hand and all of them may just be imagined by the characters.

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* SuddenlyVoiced: Elisabet, who spends most of the film in silence, speaks in three instances, though it [[MindScrew may not have happened]]. It's interesting to note that the camera avoids showing Elisabet's mouth moving in the first two instances.

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* SuddenlyVoiced: SuddenlySpeaking: Elisabet, who spends most of the film in silence, speaks in three instances, though it [[MindScrew may not have happened]]. It's interesting to note that the camera avoids showing Elisabet's mouth moving in the first two instances.
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At first, it is pretty straightforward: an actress named Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann) suddenly decides not to speak and is thus considered mentally ill. She and Alma (Andersson), the nurse who takes care of her, are sent to a Summer cottage in hopes that it will help nurse the actress back to health. Alma talks to her a lot, first about trivial things and then about increasingly personal matters, among them a sexual tryst Alma had with [[NoYay underage boys]]. When Alma happens to read a letter from Elisabet to her husband, which has references to the tryst and other things Alma told her in confidence, plus a comment where Elisabet says she's "studying" Alma, Alma begins to suspect that Elisabet is toying with her. Cold war ensues.

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At first, it is pretty straightforward: an actress named Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann) [[ElectiveMute suddenly decides not to speak speak]] and is thus considered mentally ill. She and Alma (Andersson), the nurse who takes care of her, are sent to a Summer cottage in hopes that it will help nurse the actress back to health. Alma talks to her a lot, first about trivial things and then about increasingly personal matters, among them a sexual tryst Alma had with [[NoYay underage boys]]. When Alma happens to read a letter from Elisabet to her husband, which has references to the tryst and other things Alma told her in confidence, plus a comment where Elisabet says she's "studying" Alma, Alma begins to suspect that Elisabet is toying with her. Cold war ensues.
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* PetTheDog: It's a minor thing, but Elisabet gives Alma something to drink after their short fight caused by Alma revealing she knows what Elisabet said about her in her letter.
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* HopsitalHottie: Alma wears her full nurse uniform in the early scenes, and she's played by Creator/BibiAndersson, so she qualifies.

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* HopsitalHottie: HospitalHottie: Alma wears her full nurse uniform in the early scenes, and she's played by Creator/BibiAndersson, so she qualifies.
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* HopsitalHottie: Alma wears her full nurse uniform in the early scenes, and she's played by Creator/BibiAndersson, so she qualifies.
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* WhamLine: A rare example that's shown in print instead of spoken. In Elisabet's letter, "''Det är för övrigt mycket roligt att studera henne''" ("In any case, it's a lot of fun studying her"), which reveals to Alma that Elisabet is messing with her for her own amusement.
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At first, it is pretty straightforward: an actress named Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann) suddenly decides not to speak and is thus considered mentally ill. She and Alma (Andersson), the nurse who takes care of her, are sent to a Summer cottage in hopes that it will help nurse the actress back to health. Alma talks to her a lot, first about trivial things and then about increasingly personal matters, among them a sexual tryst Alma had with [[NoYay underage boys]]. When Alma happens to read a letter by Elisabet to her husband, which references the tryst and other things Alma told her in confidence, plus a comment where Elisabet says she's "studying" Alma, Alma begins to suspect that Elisabet is toying with her. Cold war ensues.

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At first, it is pretty straightforward: an actress named Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann) suddenly decides not to speak and is thus considered mentally ill. She and Alma (Andersson), the nurse who takes care of her, are sent to a Summer cottage in hopes that it will help nurse the actress back to health. Alma talks to her a lot, first about trivial things and then about increasingly personal matters, among them a sexual tryst Alma had with [[NoYay underage boys]]. When Alma happens to read a letter by from Elisabet to her husband, which has references to the tryst and other things Alma told her in confidence, plus a comment where Elisabet says she's "studying" Alma, Alma begins to suspect that Elisabet is toying with her. Cold war ensues.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


At first, it is pretty straightforward: an actress named Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann) suddenly decides not to speak and is thus considered mentally ill. She and Alma (Andersson), the nurse who takes care of her, are sent to a Summer cottage in hopes that it will help nurse the actress back to health. Alma talks to her a lot, first about trivial things and then about increasingly personal matters. One day, she reads a letter by Elisabet to her husband, which talks about these matters; among them, a sexual tryst Alma had with [[NoYay underage boys]] and told Elisabet about in confidence. Cold war ensues.

to:

At first, it is pretty straightforward: an actress named Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann) suddenly decides not to speak and is thus considered mentally ill. She and Alma (Andersson), the nurse who takes care of her, are sent to a Summer cottage in hopes that it will help nurse the actress back to health. Alma talks to her a lot, first about trivial things and then about increasingly personal matters. One day, she reads a letter by Elisabet to her husband, which talks about these matters; matters, among them, them a sexual tryst Alma had with [[NoYay underage boys]] and told boys]]. When Alma happens to read a letter by Elisabet about to her husband, which references the tryst and other things Alma told her in confidence.confidence, plus a comment where Elisabet says she's "studying" Alma, Alma begins to suspect that Elisabet is toying with her. Cold war ensues.
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Orthography correction


At first, it is pretty straightforward: an actress named Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann) suddenly decides not to speak and is thus considered mentally ill. She and Alma (Andersson), the nurse who takes care of her, are sent to a Summer cottage in hopes that it will help nurse the actress back to health. Alma talks to her a lot, first about trivial things and then about increasingly personal matters. One day, she reads a letter by Elisabet to her husband, which talks about these matters; among them, a sexual tryst Alma had with [[NoYay underage boys]] and told Elisabet aboout in confidence. Cold war ensues.

to:

At first, it is pretty straightforward: an actress named Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann) suddenly decides not to speak and is thus considered mentally ill. She and Alma (Andersson), the nurse who takes care of her, are sent to a Summer cottage in hopes that it will help nurse the actress back to health. Alma talks to her a lot, first about trivial things and then about increasingly personal matters. One day, she reads a letter by Elisabet to her husband, which talks about these matters; among them, a sexual tryst Alma had with [[NoYay underage boys]] and told Elisabet aboout about in confidence. Cold war ensues.

Added: 314

Changed: 385

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At first, it is pretty straightforward: an actress named Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann) suddenly decides not to speak and is thus considered mentally ill. She and Alma (Andersson), the nurse who takes care of her, are sent to a Summer cottage in hopes that it will help nurse the actress back to health. Alma talks to her a lot, first about trivial things and then about increasingly personal matters. One day, she reads a letter by Elisabet to her husband, which talks about these matters; among them, a sexual tryst Alma had with [[NoYay underage boys]]. Cold war ensues.

to:

At first, it is pretty straightforward: an actress named Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann) suddenly decides not to speak and is thus considered mentally ill. She and Alma (Andersson), the nurse who takes care of her, are sent to a Summer cottage in hopes that it will help nurse the actress back to health. Alma talks to her a lot, first about trivial things and then about increasingly personal matters. One day, she reads a letter by Elisabet to her husband, which talks about these matters; among them, a sexual tryst Alma had with [[NoYay underage boys]].boys]] and told Elisabet aboout in confidence. Cold war ensues.



* CreatorCameo: Bergman along with his cameraman right at the end.

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* CallBack: The opening montage contains several nods to earlier Bergman pictures - the boy from ''Film/{{Tystnaden}}'', the ShowWithinAShow from ''The Devil's Wanton'', the spider god from ''Film/ThroughAGlassDarkly''...
* CreatorCameo: Bergman along with his Bergman's cameraman right at the end.



* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Averted. Alma talks about having an abortion after getting pregnant, and Elisabet ([[MindScrew supposedly]]) tried to abort her baby but failed.



* MindScrew: Just what the hell is going on here? Is Elisabet real? Are Elisabet and Alma the same person? What do the brief clips from some old slapstick silent comedy signify? Why is there a penis?

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* MindScrew: Just what the hell is going on here? Is Elisabet real? Are Elisabet and Alma the same person? What do the brief clips from some old slapstick silent comedy comedy[[note]]Actually a clip from Bergman's earlier film ''The Devil's Wanton''[[/note]] signify? Why is there a penis?



* RepeatCut: Does this with an entire scene: first, we see a monologue with the camera looking at the speaker, and then we see the exact same monologue again, this time with the camera focusing on who the speaker is talking to. Bonus points: this isn't a simple shot-reverse shot, this is an entire sequence, with each shot being a perfect mirror of the opposite angle for each corresponding shot.

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* RepeatCut: Does this with an entire scene: first, we see a monologue with the camera looking at who the speaker, speaker is talking to, and then we see the exact same monologue again, this time with the camera focusing on who the speaker is talking to.speaker. Bonus points: this isn't a simple shot-reverse shot, this is an entire sequence, with each shot being a perfect mirror of the opposite angle for each corresponding shot.


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-->'''Alma:''' Elisabet? Did you speak to me last night?\\
'''Elisabet:''' (shakes her head)
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Moved to new title so it doesn't have to share its subpages with the video game of the same name.

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[[quoteright:338:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1232752461-large_5677.jpg]]

A 1966 psychological drama by Creator/IngmarBergman, starring Creator/BibiAndersson and Creator/LivUllmann. As with much of Bergman's filmography, the movie rides heavily on symbolism and philosophy. Its plot is...[[MindScrew hard to explain]].

At first, it is pretty straightforward: an actress named Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann) suddenly decides not to speak and is thus considered mentally ill. She and Alma (Andersson), the nurse who takes care of her, are sent to a Summer cottage in hopes that it will help nurse the actress back to health. Alma talks to her a lot, first about trivial things and then about increasingly personal matters. One day, she reads a letter by Elisabet to her husband, which talks about these matters; among them, a sexual tryst Alma had with [[NoYay underage boys]]. Cold war ensues.

Whatever happens from there on is entirely up to you to guess. The director's [[ShrugOfGod lack of explanation]] does not help. However, it is still regarded as one of Bergman's best movies, and one of the greatest films of all time.

Unrelated to the ''{{VideoGame/Persona}}'' video games, although Jungian psychology is a major theme in both.
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!!This film contains examples of the following tropes:
* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: Averted -- as the title suggests, psychology in this film is primarily based on Jung's ideas, which the viewer is [[ViewersAreGeniuses apparently expected to know all about]].
* BornInTheTheater: The famous moment in which the film appears to crack and melt right after Elisabet and Alma are about to have a confrontation.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Things start to get weirder around the halfway point, in the scene where Elisabet enters Alma's room and starts caressing her, while both stare straight at the camera.
* BrokenAce: Elisabet is a talented and respected actress and has a successful marriage and a son. Except she hates the kid and the very society she lives in, which leads her to become mute and need treatment.
* BrokenPedestal: Alma seems to look up to Elisabet as an actress at first. When it turns out Elisabet is writing about Alma in a rather condescending tone in her letters, Alma loses her respect for her and starts hating her.
* CreatorCameo: Bergman along with his cameraman right at the end.
* GainaxEnding: Alma and Elisabet packing up to leave, a ghostly Elisabet caressing Alma in the mirror, Alma leaving alone as Elisabet seems to have disappeared, brief shots showing Alma seemingly acting out the memory of a stage play that was Elisabet's. Then a shot of Ingmar Bergman filming the movie, and a shot of film running out of the camera and the arc light going out.
* ImaginaryFriend: Although it's never really made clear in this MindScrew of a movie, it's eventually at least hinted that "Elisabet"--the character played by Ullmann, that is--is not real, and is actually a figment of the imagination of "Alma" (Andersson) who is the real Elisabet. Note the scene where Elisabet's husband shows up and calls Alma "Elisabet". Alma denies it at first but then starts talking to the husband like she actually is Elisabet. Meanwhile, the husband does not seem to perceive the presence of Liv Ullmann when she shows up in the scene. Note also how the camera cuts to Ullmann just as Alma, apparently in "Elisabet" mode, shouts "It's all just sham and lies!" This is also strongly implied towards the end with the famous RepeatCut address scenes--Elisabet as Alma addresses her, then a cut to Alma doing the talking, then a horrified Alma insisting that she is ''not'' Elisabet, then a shot with one half of each character's face joined together to make a whole.
* ImpaledPalm: One of the surreal inserts that opens and closes the film is a shot of a palm getting a nail pounded through it Jesus-style.
* JuxtaposedHalvesShot: Alma and Elisabet in the climax of the film. Their faces are juxtaposed to show that their individual identities have become indistinguishable from each other (or they've melded, or they were each other all along, or something).
* MaddenIntoMisanthropy: Apparently this is what happened to Elisabet. The stress of all the white lies people have to tell and the masks people have to wear drove her to stop talking to anyone.
* MaleFrontalNudity: The montage of surreal imagery that starts the film includes a brief shot--less than a second, but still recognizable--of an erect penis.
* MandatoryMotherhood: In the past, someone told Elisabet that the only thing she was lacking was being a mother. She had no interest in having children before, but what that person said bothered her, so she allowed herself to get pregnant without being sure of whether she really wanted it.
* MeaningfulName: Alma, which is Spanish and Portuguese for "soul".
* MeltingFilmEffect: TropeCodifier at the least, as this is just one of the ways Bergman reminds you his movie is only a movie.
* MindScrew: Just what the hell is going on here? Is Elisabet real? Are Elisabet and Alma the same person? What do the brief clips from some old slapstick silent comedy signify? Why is there a penis?
* MinimalistCast: There's only four or five (if you think the boy from the prologue is meaningful) characters in the whole film. It's only Alma and Elisabet who are onscreen for the great majority of the film, with the head doctor and Elisabet's husband being in it very briefly.
* PaintingTheMedium: The director reminds us several times, through a few [[MindScrew weird]] sequences, that this is only a movie.
* ParentalNeglect: One of the reasons for Elisabet's condition, recounted by Alma in the film's climax, is having a son she didn't want and who she can't bring herself to love. It's said the son lives with relatives and Elisabet only sees him sporadically and unwillingly.
* ProsceniumReveal: Does this a couple of times, most notably at the very end when the camera pans away from the actors to show the crew who have been there all along, filming what's supposed to be two women isolated on an island.
* PsychoStrings: You could almost mistake this for a horror movie at certain points (the montage of strange, sometimes disturbing images at the beginning may well remind you of ''Film/TheRing''), and the music reinforces this.
* RepeatCut: Does this with an entire scene: first, we see a monologue with the camera looking at the speaker, and then we see the exact same monologue again, this time with the camera focusing on who the speaker is talking to. Bonus points: this isn't a simple shot-reverse shot, this is an entire sequence, with each shot being a perfect mirror of the opposite angle for each corresponding shot.
* ScareChord: Used a few times for disturbing imagery, like when half of Alma's face is put together with half of Elisabet's face to form one face.
* ShoutOut: In the strange interlude after Alma hurts Elisabet with a piece of glass, a scream from ''Film/{{Tystnaden}}'' can be heard.
* SuddenlyVoiced: Elisabet, who spends most of the film in silence, speaks in three instances, though it [[MindScrew may not have happened]]. It's interesting to note that the camera avoids showing Elisabet's mouth moving in the first two instances.
* TheVoiceless: Elisabet has been sent to recuperate after suddenly deciding to stop speaking; the number of times she speaks during the film can be counted on one hand and all of them may just be imagined by the characters.
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