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.
