For Ingmar Berhman, Face to Face represents a critical point in his cinematic resume. Everything before it represents the bulk of his years as a filmmaker in Sweden. Everything after represents his years outside the country. Face to Face is his last film as a director in Sweden, the last representation of the classic era of Bergman’s years in his native country and marks the second of three Oscar nominations for Best Director he would garner in his lifetime.
Face to Face has a fairly simple premise. Dr. Jenny Isaksson (Liv Ullmann) is a psychiatrist married who seemingly has a great life. She’s married to another psychiatrist and both are successful. Slowly and agonizingly Jenny succumbs to a breakdown, haunted by images and emotions from her past. Eventually she cannot function as a wife, a doctor or as a woman.
The film follows Jenny as she breaks down in the world around her, eventually trying to commit suicide and failing. The film follows her as the depression she feels eventually breaks down her psyche to the point where can take no more. It’s a brilliant character study on a character by a director who curiously can’t stay out of his lead actress’s way in the total overall plot and story of the film.
It’s a brilliant performance from Ullmann, one that earned her an Oscar nomination, and it’s mainly from that of separating herself from a showy emotional type performance that goes completely over the top. She’s dealing with depression but not in the overly dramatic way you expect from Hollywood when it comes to handling mental illness. When Jenny eventually breaks down it means something because Ullmann has given us a character worth seeing break down.
The problem is that Bergman has populated the film with too much other stuff going on. He ventures off into other things, if only momentarily, while showing Jenny’s emotional break from reality (for lack of a better phrase). It detracts from the film, despite Ullmann’s brilliance, and merely winds up being a good film instead of a brilliant one from a director known for the latter.
Presented in a widescreen format with a widescreen presentation, the film has a bad transfer. The audio is just as hideous, as anything other than a low volume sounds scratchy and the dialogue becomes hard to hear. The visual is fairly solid but not remarkable.
There are no extras for the film.
Face to Face is a rare Bergman film that is merely good instead of great.
Olive Films presents Face to Face. Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Starring Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Aino Taube, Kristina Adolphson. Running time: 114 minutes. Rated R. Released on DVD: August 30, 2011. Available at Amazon.com.
