Details
Movie Description
Actress Marianne Vogler (Lena Endre) and her husband, Markus (Thomas Hanzon) have a 9-year-old daughter, Isabelle (Michelle Gylemo). Markus, an orchestra conductor, is often away, and casually, almost without thought, Marianne starts an affair with theater director David (Krister Henriksson). Thus starts another of Ingmar Bergman's relentless examinations of love and sex and pain in the affairs of women and men. For FAITHLESS, Bergman is the scriptwriter--not the director. He writes from the point of view of a solitary old man, also called Bergman (Erland Josephson), who lives on a remote island. He remembers an affair he had long ago. From time to time, Marianne interrupts him to correct his version of their story.
FAITHLESS is directed by Liv Ullmann. As an actress, Ullmann burst into Bergman's cinematic world in the 1960s, with stunning performances in PERSONA, SHAME, and THE PASSION OF ANNA. In the 1990s, she began directing. FAITHLESS is her fourth film as director, her second from a Bergman script. Ullmann directs with unpretentious precision, working closely with her actors, and she gives the story a new inflection, making real and vivid the predicament of Isabelle in the face of (what she sees as) the unpredictable behavior of the adults.
Film Notes
Theatrical release: January 26, 2001.
Ullmann told the New York Daily News in January 2001, "If you see a movie and recognize something of yourself, if you connect to some feelings or something that is said, to me that is not heavy. To me, it's more heavy with the Farrelly brothers, where you make love to a chicken. Because what is life about then? About nothing? Going to the cinema and watching that? Talk about lack of values."
Ullmann was heavily influenced by Ingmar Bergman, though she says that watching him direct movies taught her more about how to be a bad director than a good one. She starred in nine of Bergman's films and was his lover. Bergman is the father of her daughter, Linn. In addition, two of the four movies Ullman has directed--including FAITHLESS--use screenplays written by Bergman.
Industry Reviews
"...It is an invigorating experience to see the work of a masterful director fully in control of her craft..."
Box Office - p.158 - Chris Wiegand (11/01/2000)
"...More than just a reverent homage to [Ingmar Bergman]....The [film's] mystery is deepened by [its] extraordinary central performances..."
New York Times - p.E16 - Stephen Holden (01/26/2001)
"...[Ullman has] a magnificent empathy with her players, she is also rewardingly attentive to visual detail..."
Sight and Sound - p..33-41 - Philip Strick (02/01/2001)
"...A searing close-up epic of adultery....FAITHLESS is a domestic tragedy of lacerating vision..."
Entertainment Weekly - p.73 - Owen Gleiberman (02/16/2001)
"...Ullmann's refreshingly restrained direction draws out intense performances from all involved..."
Total Film - p.99 - Kevin Harley (03/01/2001)
"...As luminous as it is shattering, FAITHLESS is complex, challenging and richly rewarding, and it glows with the kind of wrenchingly selfless portrayals that are the hallmark of the Bergman classics..."
Los Angeles Times - p.F14 - Kevin Thomas (02/16/2001)
"...Intriguing in the way it dances in and out of the shadow of Bergman's autobiography....Ullmann has a sure sense for the ways people behave in emotional extremity..."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (02/16/2001)
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