Bergman originally filmed FACE TO FACE for Swedish television as a four-part series. While appropriate for the more liberal television codes of Sweden, it was unlikely fare for US consumption. He edited it down to a length that would permit distribution as a feature film. Despite the
snipping, it remains a potent representative of Bergman's psychodrama cycle that began with CRIES AND WHISPERS and ended with AUTUMN SONATA.
The film depicts the slow and painful nervous breakdown of a successful psychiatrist. Ullmann is Dr. Jenny Isaksson, a psychiatrist vacationing at her grandparents' gloomy home in the country--alone because her husband, Dr. Erik Isaksson (Lindberg)--also a shrink--is away. She soon begins
hallucinating about an old woman. This leads to depression and a feeling of helplessness as she is overwhelmed by memories of the past.
FACE TO FACE is an extremely intense experience from start to finish, due in large part to Ullmann's performance as she powerfully expresses a range of emotions seldom seen in American films. Bergman's frequent collaborator, cinematographer Sven Nykvist, enhances the film's harrowing mood with his
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