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Liv Ullmann: A Tribute

The new charming and captivating documentary, Liv Ullman: A road Less Travelled, is a wonderful opportunity to look back at the glorious career of one of the greatest actresses in the history of cinema, who played in over 60 films and TV series. We decided to focus on three avenues of her works: her renowned work with great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, her other masterful performances, and Ullmann's work as a filmmaker in her own right.

Ullmann is known mainly for her Swedish films, but she started her career in the Norwegian movie, The Wayward Girl. This is a sensational film, and Ullman (only 20) brings full force her alluring charisma.

In the 1960s, Ullmann met director Ingmar Bergman and their professional and personal relationship brought to the screen some of the most significant works, not only in their careers, but in cinema in general. A partnership that spawned 12 films, ten of which she acted in and two of which she directed based on a screenplay by Bergman. We chose to screen four of these films: Persona, which is considered the best of Bergman's films, a work that moves between imagination and reality and examines the bewitching power of art and imagination. Autumn Sonnet, an emotionally charged chamber drama about a mother-daughter relationship. Scenes from a Marriage, six scenes from married life as they appear in the masterpiece and what is considered the pinnacle of Ullmann's career. Faithless, directed by Liv Ullmann and written by Ingmar Bergman, and together they deal with the array of forces within the fragile family framework.

Ullmann continued to work in Sweden together with another cinematic virtuoso, Jan Troell. Troell's immigration saga, which consists of two parts - The Emigrants and A New Land, is monumental, one that grabs the heart and does not let go, but it is also poetic and full of compassion and humanity. These are masterpieces that have not been seen on the screen in Israel for years and Ullmann, with her expressive face, is the beating heart of these works. She herself points out how much the role of Kristina was one of the most significant she played, it even won her a Golden Globe Award and her first Oscar nomination.

This success brought her success in Hollywood, where she starred alongside names like Jeremy Irons, Gene Hackman, Sean Connery, and Michael Caine. But she returned to her Nordic origins and even moved behind the camera. In her first directorial work, Sofie, Ullmann tells us a female story, which deals with the shackles of tradition - Jewish, family - and the price of these retrains. This will not be the first time she will explore Jewish subjects and characters. When she visited the Cinematheque in 1987, she showed a film about Ida Nudel, a Prisoner of Zion and activist. Ullmann was a friend of Cinematheque's founder, Lia van Leer, and the restaurant's terrace is named after her.

Today, Ullmann is mostly involved in theater, writing, and humanitarian activities.

Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Travelled

Dir.: Dheeraj Akolkar
| 102 minutes

Each chapter of the film is dedicated to a different phase in the life of cinematic icon, Liv Ullmann - actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian.It is a portrait full of grace and insight, as well as, a look at some of cinema's most significant works. Through her own words and interviews with close friends and colleagues, Ullmann captures the heart with authenticity, humor, and candor.

The Wayward Girl

Dir.: Edith Carlmar
| 95 minutes

A rebellious 17-year-old girl runs away with her boyfriend to his bourgeois family's country house. Isolated, their relationship blossoms. This idyll existence shatters when a stranger appears at their door. Liv Ullman, in her debut film, portrays a character full of contradictions. This dichotomy, along with sensational elements, allows Edith Carlmar to examine the hypocrisy of the bourgeois.

Persona

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 84 minutes

An actress who withdraws and becomes mute is cared for by a nurse. Persona is considered Bergman’s best film: a work that  examines the enchanting powers of art and imagination.

Scenes from a Marriage

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 300 minutes

Six scenes from a marriage in which the husband becomes involved with a younger woman... Bergman’s masterpiece conveys the aridity and bitterness of a beleaguered relationship. 

Sofie

Dir.: Liv Ullmann
| 145 minutes

When Sofie falls in love with a handsome painter, her parents object to the marriage. No good Jewish family wants a gentile in their mix. They shortly marry her off, and she becomes pregnant. Her spontaneous life style changes drastically into that of a well-known and frustrating pattern. Fair print

Autumn Sonata

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 92 minutes

A famed concert pianist locks horns with her daughter whom she hasn’t seen for seven years. Much of Bergman’s career was devoted to creating chamber dramas and sharp distinctions, here when he directs Ingrid Bergman in the role of mother, the drama is loaded with emotion.

Faithless

Dir.: Liv Ullmann
| 155 minutes

Liv Ullmann directs and Ingmar Bergman wrote this powerful love triangle between a woman, her husband, a successful orchestra conductor, and his good friend.  Fair print

The Emigrants

Dir.: Jan Troell
| 191 minutes

The first part of Jan Troell's monumental work follows the hardships of a Swedish family emigrating from their famine-stricken homeland to the new continent in the 19th century. The meticulous manner in which the story is presented, as well as the masterful camerawork and soundtrack, is nothing less than a wonder. 

The New Land

Dir.: Jan Troell
| 202 minutes

Karl Oskar and Kristina find their own place in wild Minnesota and face the challenges of building a new life. every day and the trials of the brutal reality of life in the American frontier. This is an absolute and devastating film, yet poetic and full of compassion and humanity, “what [Troell] has achieved seems no less than a masterly exercise in filmmaking" (New York Times).

Miss Julie

Dir.: Liv Ullmann
| 129 minutes

Ireland, 1919. While left to her own device, an unsettled daughter of an aristocrat encourages her father's valet to seduce her. Liv Ullmann, with a triumphant performance by the leads, presents a powerful and intense adaptation of the August Strindberg play.