The couple first met when Bergman hired Ullmann to star in Persona, the path-breaking psychodrama he made when a physical and emotional breakdown almost derailed his career after his comedy All These Women failed in 1964. Soon after arriving at Fårö, where Persona was shot, Ullmann realized that the renowned director was gazing at her with more on his mind than respect for her acting ability. At first she could hardly believe that the monarch of Swedish cinema could be smitten with someone as young and inexperienced as she was, especially since both were married and Bergman had already been through three divorces. But before long the 25-year-old actress and the 47-year-old director were living together, and when Persona was released to international acclaim they settled down in Fårö, had a daughter and continued their artistic collaboration with Hour of the Wolf and Shame in 1968 and The Passion of Anna in 1969.
Although they had broken up by the time of Scenes from a Marriage and other films of the 1970s, the artistic bond between Ullmann and Bergman stayed strong, and when she made her Broadway debut in Henrik Ibsen's classic drama A Doll's House in 1975, he traveled all the way from Sweden to see a matinee. He gave moral support to Ullmann's short-lived Hollywood career - in the documentary she admits to shutting down two studios, something Greta Garbo never accomplished - and in later years she directed two films from Bergman's screenplays, Private Confessions (1996) and Faithless (2000). She saw him for the last time shortly before he died on Fårö in 2007.
Despite the long-lasting success of their creative alliance, Bergman and Ullmann had innumerable peaks and valleys as a couple. Bergman was a gifted team player when it came to directing, but he was also a loner and control freak who wanted to spend most of his time alone with Ullmann in their isolated house, which he enclosed with a tall fence and protected with a sense of privacy that Ullmann eventually found suffocating. She shares her thoughts about this and other challenges in the documentary, which is divided with chapter titles - Love, Loneliness, Rage, Pain, Longing, Friendship - that summarize the ups and downs of the relationship. Some of Ullmann's best anecdotes are linked to specific films, most notably Shame, a movie about the horrors and ambiguities of war. While shooting one scene, Bergman kept urging Ullmann closer and closer to a raging fire, and when another scene kept the actors crowded on a boat in icy waters, Bergman dressed them in thin coats while wrapping himself in a cozy parka. In both cases, Ullmann says, he deliberately caused pain because he was angry with her that day. The celebrated artiste could also be a petty tyrant, and Ullmann recalls such situations with a blend of wistfulness and good humor. She also takes justified pride in the compliments Bergman paid her, as when he called her his Stradivarius, the instrument that enabled him to create his finest music.
The voiceovers in Liv & Ingmar come from Ullmann's 1972 memoir Changes and Bergman's 1987 autobiography The Magic Lantern as well as Bergman's private letters. The documentary leaves out many things, from Bergman's many marriages to the misunderstanding with Swedish tax authorities that sent him into temporary self-exile in 1976, but these are not directly related to the films that are their finest legacy. Liv & Ingmar is a treat for admirers and an excellent introduction for newcomers.
Director: Dheeraj Akolkar
Producer: Rune H. Trondsen
Screenplay: Dheeraj Akolkar
Cinematographer: Hallvard Bræin
Film Editing: Tushar Ghogale
Music: Stefan Nilsson
With: Liv Ullmann, archival footage of Ingmar Bergman, Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Erland Josephson, Harriet Andersson, Ingrid Bergman, Ingrid Thulin, voice of Samuel Fröler
Color-89m.
By David Sterritt
