approaching mother's day

[wytchcroft]

i've been thinking about this coming Mother's Day, which is on Sunday in the UK, and this image has been haunting me.




It's from the film Persona by Ingmar Bergman, in fact it is the opening of the movie - with the child in front of a screen hmself there's something science fiction about it, as if a celluloid mother was being used the way iron puppets have been used on monkeys. Something close but unreachable - maybe... maybe, it's hard to pin down exactly why i find it so powerful.

But as Mother's Day approaches and i am aware of many friends who are both mothers AND daughters now - and since i am of the age where i can see through both sets of eyes when it comes to empathising with peoples' family relationships - i think i like this image because it conjures the (often forgotten) ancient sense of Mystery around the maternal, from the Sphinx to the Madonna, yet it does so in a futuristic way.

Comments

[sidherian.livejournal.com]

Lovely.

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

thanks!:)))

[vivid-corners.livejournal.com]

*strokes beard and says with best Freud accent*: So how was your relationship with your mother?

;)

What you wrote about this photo was great, I definetely pick up on the sci-fi vibe. Its intimently creepy.

Siggy Stardust

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

*nods sleepily* ha ha - i now have visions of you complete with false beard - and i may call you sigmund from now on!:))

and yes, it is an unsettling image - but then it's a pretty strange film!

[reginaclarejane.livejournal.com]

I've never seen the film but it is a haunting image.
Our Mother's Day isn't until May 10 here in the States.
:)

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

strange there should be such a time difference - but i had a feeling that might be the case. as for the image - it just kinda snapped into focus in my head (i love the movie but i haven't seen it in quite some time).
But i was actually thinking of a friend and worrying a little about how the day would make them feel.
Mother daughter relationships - THEY are the real mystery maybe!:))

[worldof-wonders.livejournal.com]

it is both beautiful and melancholic.

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

yes, and it makes me feel very contradictory emotions - i think you're right:)

[stoshagownozad.livejournal.com]

oh yes the Mother we can not reach but still could feel She is somwhere here...
tense feeling it is

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

exactly so!
- and also something like an archetype, a powerful image (the mother and child), it goes well beyond the specifics (the flesh and blood) of, say, my mother or my friends or indeed any actual person... well, it has got me thinking!

[alex-kraine.livejournal.com]

Here's the Blessed Virgin, Mother Mary by Vrubel from the altar in St. Cyrill church
Look at those eyes. I am always fascinated by that look full of concern, care, pain.

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

that is - well, i am astonished!
thank you for posting such a remarkable piece, so emotional.
:))

[reginaclarejane.livejournal.com]

Oh.My.Goodness.
How beautiful.
The Blessed Mother and Her Son has always been one of my favorite images, whether Jesus as a Child or the Pieta...
Thank you so much, Alex for the image and wytchcroft for alerting me of it...
:)

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

i was stunned:))

[alex-kraine.livejournal.com]

Well, I cannot help being fascinated by that sacred painting. That is love that never dies. :)

[reginaclarejane.livejournal.com]

Oh, indeed... I love the tenderness here on both their faces...
My thanks once again.

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

http://alex-kraine.livejournal.com/24364.html?view=281132#t281132

it's an amazing story!:)

[alex-kraine.livejournal.com]

What is interesting, the model for Holy Virgin was Emilia Prakhova, the young wife of Hadrian Prahkov, PhD, professor of Fine Arts and Vrubel's patron in reconstruction of St. Cyrill's in Kiev. And of course, both young people fell in love with each other... It's an intriguing and sad story, and I will probably tell it a little bit later.

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

please, now you have made me curious indeed!:))

[alex-kraine.livejournal.com]

A bit later, my friend, a bit later. it's the story of an artist, lover and believer haunted by the Demon. :)

[neversremedy.livejournal.com]

Wow. I've never seen a madonna/child image quite so striking. Usually painters add drama happening around them, never just offered it in the simplicity of a look as this ... making the image far more complex. It's actually painful to look into her face.

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

yes! i felt it hit me physically. An amazing thing:)

[svetlana0777.livejournal.com]

So sad image... something about our society.. where mother is just in another world. Where it could be virtual-word in Internet or drugs or parties with friends -- when I first came to America I was shocked! It's different here....

We don't have Mother's Day in Russia we are celebrate The International Women's Day. This present I made for all women:
http://blogger4you.narod.ru/8Marta/Chris_Spheeris.html

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

very interesting comment - thanks:)))

and i saw your post about Internation Women's Day, a very worthy celebration!:)))

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

in fact you may have just given me an idea for a story!... :))

[svetlana0777.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)))

[recycledfaery.livejournal.com]

what an amazing image. thanks for posting.

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

thanks:))

[recycledfaery.livejournal.com]

Are we back with the smoking icons again? ^^

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

hee hee - yes, it's one of those weekends!;) :))

(koff! wheeze! etc)

[recycledfaery.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

[rebeccawilde.livejournal.com]

Fantastic image! I'm going have to look into this film.

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

it's quite a strange, dark film - but it has always fascinated me:))

Will certainly check it out

[rebeccawilde.livejournal.com]

I quite like a touch of strange and dark!


*takes her vampire teeth out* j/k

Re: Will certainly check it out

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

LOL!:))

[enter-pin-code.livejournal.com]

her person as person infant

But I did not see this film. And other Bergman's films too :(
I little saw the classical foreign cinema. But has this month looked already 50 films :)))

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

50 films!?! wow!

Well, i would recommend every Bergman movie he ever made - but they are not the easiest of films to enjoy.
I would say, The Magician / The Face is a great film of his to watch if you have not seen his movies before.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magician_(1958_film)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051365/

[enter-pin-code.livejournal.com]

I want to find this. While I have found 2 films: Smultronstallet (1957) (Strawberry fields (en)?) and Saraband (2003). Why-that in Russia Bergman's film did not show... We know only his name, but not his films :) Thank you.

[neversremedy.livejournal.com]

What an eloquent summary of mystery and motherhood. It's something I've contemplated many times--although I had not seen this film or that image from the film before. Should I pursue motherhood and sexuality as themes in my research at college, I have considered delving into eroticism and motherhood, and this exquisite piece you've written rekindled that line of thought. Thanks. :)

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

wow, i'm glad to be the catalyst for that:)
you should check out the other comments by the way, Alex posted an extraordinary image of the Madonna / mother and child, with a backstory of love and deception.:)