Persona

Alma speaks both times: first we see Elisabet listening, then Alma speaking. Susan Sontag's 1967 scene account describes this order and the composite face that follows, made from half of each woman's face. The repeated account concerns Elisabet's relationship with her son; it is separate from Alma's earlier story about the beach.

Why keep both views? In Criterion's production notes, Abbey Lustgarten reports that the confrontation was filmed in full with the camera on each actor. Bergman intended to cut between the two views, then chose to let both play through. The repetition lets us attend separately to the woman hearing the account and the woman delivering it.

On another viewing, compare what looking at each face does to your response to the same story. The composite image invites a connection between the women without settling every question about their identities. It need not be treated as proof that they are literally one person.