"Face to Face" falls short of the best Ingmar Bergman films, despite a harrowing, virtuosic performance from Liv Ullman.The plot is minimal, and has the unfortunate air of Bergman just laboring to contrive new ways to make a character miserable (this is not the first time I've had this reaction). Ullman is Jenny, a
physician with a shaky background. Her mother was emotionally distant, and discouraged shows of affection. Both parents later died in a car crash. Her grandmother was domineering and abusive, and her grandfather is now entering a painful state of elderly helplessness. Her job is stressful, and involves dealing with mentally unstable patients.Jenny is married and has a daughter, but has affairs and has alienated her child. Her husband Erik routinely spends time away from home on business. It's an environment where people pretend nothing is wrong, but privately know better.This is a depressing situation, but the details don't seem extreme enough to motivate the dramatic breakdown which Jenny suffers. Instead, the scenario just seems like an excuse for Ullman to flash her formidable acting chops (particularly dazzling during a vivid scene where her character deliriously reenacts past arguments with her grandmother).Initially haunted by visions of a grim crone with an eerie black eyeball, Jenny eventually turns suicidal, incapacitated and hysterical. She has spent years as a successful doctor, but now suddenly collapses. There is a specific trigger but, again, this incident doesn't seem quite traumatic enough to derail such an accomplished woman.Originally made for television, "Face to Face" has some bold nightmare sequences (a burning coffin here, a mutilated face there), but the cinematography is rather ordinary by Sven Nykvist's usual high standards. And the score is practically non-existent -- the opening credits are backed with the sound of lapping water, and music is almost absent except for one onscreen classical performance and a few slammed piano notes. Still, the main flaw is more fundamental: Unlike with most Bergman scripts, there is room for only one great role.(Note: I hear there is a 136-minute cut of this film, but I am reviewing the 114-minute version.)
November 5, 2009
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