‘Persona’ Reveals a Doubting Bergman

LACMA’s “Collaborations: Bergman/Ullmann” series commences Friday and Saturday screenings at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. with an uncensored, newly restored and subtitled print of “Persona.” It has been said that ideally drama holds up a mirror in which the audience may perceive the truth about itself, and that the mirror shatters the instant the reflected society loses its common bond of faith.

This perhaps explains why the Elizabethan dramatists and the Greek tragedians, who lived in times of religious solidarity, could achieve greatness, a universality, while modern playwrights at best catch a random ray of truth with fragments and shards. Religion defines reality for society, and when religion loses its grip it becomes the task of the individual to define reality for himself--hence, that well-known concern of contemporary plays and pictures, the lack of communication.

Such is the train of thought provoked by “Persona,” in which Ingmar Bergman expresses the lack of communication that is the result of the loss of faith in God. He has found the perfect metaphor--the mask of classic tragedy--to express his feelings about God, man and art. His title “Persona” refers to the roles one may play on stage or screen and, finally, in life itself. Thus, the movie works on at least three levels yet draws strength from the simplicity of its surface story.

In the midst of a performance of “Electra,” a celebrated actress (Liv Ullmann) suffers a mental breakdown and refuses to speak. She becomes the charge of a nurse (Bibi Andersson, in a remarkable performance that amounts to a virtual monologue), who takes her to a remote island with the hope the actress will regain her sanity in an atmosphere of beauty and serenity.

In her loneliness the nurse, who strikingly resembles her mute patient, starts to assume the woman’s identity. Without the belief of humans made in the image of God, Bergman seems to ask, how can we fulfill our roles in life, let alone art? Bergman remains the doubter who can’t quite disbelieve, the filmmaker who, in creating the illusion of fragmentation, has ironically achieved an aesthetic unity--and thus, meaning. For full schedule and further information: Bing Theater, LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. (323) 857-6010.

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The American Cinematheque presents Alex Winter’s “Fever,” tonight at 7:30 at the Egyptian as one of its Alternative Screen offerings. (The film will also screen at the Sunset 5 on Friday and Saturday at midnight and Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m.)

Best known for his co-starring role as Bill in “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” Winter this time stays behind the camera as writer and director, creating an unsettling psychological thriller of much style and finesse.

Henry Thomas stars as none-too-self-confident, struggling painter Nick, who lives in a seedy Manhattan tenement while teaching drawing classes to pay the rent. High-strung and wary, Nick is in the worst possible state of mind to deal with the news of the brutal murder of his mean-spirited landlord (Sandor Tecsy). Not helping matters is the new tenant (David O’Hara), a surly, menacing loner, who has moved into the attic directly above Nick’s apartment. Nick is further unnerved by the subtly insinuating questioning by a veteran police detective (Bill Duke).

“Fever” is a richly visual, highly atmospheric film, perceptively sustained and culminating in stunning fashion. American Cinematheque, 6712 Hollywood Blvd.: (323) 466-FILM; Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd.: (323) 848-3500.

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Actor-writer-director Jerry LaMothe’s compelling, acutely personal “Amour Infinity,” which screens Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Sunset 5 through April 15, is charged with honest, raw emotion. LaMothe’s Derek is a Flatbush technician for a professional medical firm. He is a likable, steady low-key guy, but his adored small son’s mother, Tasha (Stacy Hill), is as shallow as she is sexy, manipulative and unfaithful.

After they break up, despondent Derek crosses paths with lovely and sensitive Amour (Jamie Burton-Oare), and they fall headlong in love. What ensues, however, is stunning in its impact, and it is accompanied by an unexpected gesture of the heart, the kind that makes all the difference--that gives an individual the strength to keep on going in the face of adversity.

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The Laemmle Theaters’ current “Documentary Days” cycle concludes with William Gazecki’s “Reckless Indifference,” screening Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Sunset 5. The film investigates the 1995 stabbing death in Agoura Hills of a 16-year-old son of a Los Angeles police officer, which resulted in three teenagers being sent to prison for life and another receiving 25 years to life. Gazecki, whose films include the riveting Oscar-nominated “Waco: The Rules of Engagement,” makes a convincing case that the convicted teens are victims of a gross miscarriage of justice.

On May 22, 1995, the five teens, all local youths, drove to a home in Agoura Hills where one of the boys, Mike McLoren, was known to sell marijuana in his makeshift backyard “fort.” A scuffle ensued, and 16-year-old Jimmy Farris wound up dead. (To his grieving mother Farris was an “angel,” while others claim he was in effect McLoren’s “bodyguard.”) One of the group admitted to the stabbing but all were convicted of first-degree murder, much to the dismay of Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who says, “This is a manslaughter case,” calling the sentencing “disproportional, outrageous, unconstitutional and immoral.” The parents of the four convicts are appealing verdicts.

Gazecki takes a calm, low-key approach yet makes a case that the fact Farris’ father is a policeman (who firmly believes justice has been done) weighed heavily against the youths.

The most pertinent remarks come from a local minister who suspects that the severe sentencing allows the community to think that it has ridden itself of an “undesirable element,” while ignoring that the fatal stabbing reveals an aimlessness among these five middle-class teenagers for whom getting stoned was apparently a routine activity. “Reckless Indifference” screens April 7 and 8 at 11 a.m. at the Monica 4-Plex, 1332 2nd. St, Santa Monica (310) 394-9741.

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Note: The American Cinematheque presents “Queen of Technicolor: The Delirious Glamour of Maria Montez,” Friday through Sunday at the Egyptian. (323) 466-FILM.