Autumn Sonata (Swedish: Höstsonaten) is a 1978 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann and Lena Nyman. It tells the story of a celebrated classical pianist who is confronted by her neglected daughter. It was Ingrid Bergman's last performance in a major theatrical feature film, and the film won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1979 Golden Globe Awards.

The plot focuses on a prominent concert pianist, Charlotte Andergast (Ingrid Bergman), who has been neglectful and dismissive of her children, whom she has not seen in over seven years. Charlotte decides to make a visit to her eldest daughter, Eva (Liv Ullmann) at her remote house, where she lives with her husband, Viktor (Halvar Björk). Upon arrival, Charlotte discovers that her other daughter, Helena (Lena Nyman), who is mentally and physically disabled (and was placed in an institution by Charlotte) is living with and being taken care of by Eva. Wounded by the neglect and selfishness of her mother, Eva begins to spill all of the things she has ever wanted to say to Charlotte, and as the evening progresses, the tension culminates to a wave of harsh words and exposure of true feelings that change their mother–daughter relationship forever.

Liv Johanne Ullmann (born 16 December 1938) is a Norwegian actress and film director, as well as one of the "muses" of the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Nominated five times for a Best Actress Golden Globe, winning once for The Emigrants, Ullmann has also been nominated for the Palme d'Or, two times for the Academy Award, and two times for a BAFTA Film Award.

Ullmann was born in Tokyo, Japan, the daughter of Janna (née Lund) and Viggo Ullmann, an aircraft engineer who was working in Tokyo at the time. At age two, the family moved to Toronto, Canada where her father worked at the Norwegian air force base on Toronto Island during World War II. Four years later, her father died of a brain tumor, an event that affected her deeply. After the war, the rest of the family moved to Trondheim, Norway, where Ullman spent the rest of her youth. She currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts.

Ullmann began her acting career on the Norwegian stage in the mid 1950s. She continued to act in the theatre for most of her career, and became noted for her portrayal of Nora in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, but became wider known once she started to work with eminent Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman. She went on to act to significant acclaim in 10 of his most admired films, including Persona in 1966, The Passion of Anna in 1969, Cries and Whispers in 1972 and Autumn Sonata, in which her co-star, Ingrid Bergman, made her return to Swedish cinema. She co-starred often with Swedish actor and fellow Bergman collaborator, Erland Josephson, with whom she made the 1973 Swedish television drama, Scenes from a Marriage, which was also edited to feature-film length and distributed theatrically. Ullmann appeared with Laurence Olivier in Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far in 1977.

Igor Yakovlevich Krutoy (Russian: Игорь Яковлевич Крутой), born on July 29, 1954, is a Russian composer of Ukrainian descent, performer, producer and musical promoter. Krutoy was awarded the Lenin Komsomol Prize in 1989. On March 24, 2011 the New York Post reported that Krutoy purchased under the name of '1 Central Park South Realty LLC' a $48 million combined condos #1207 and #1209 at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan — at the time, the highest price ever paid for a single condo unit in New York. [1]

Igor Krutoy was born on July 29, 1954, in Haivoron (Kirovograd oblast). When a child, he taught himself to play the accordion, and then played together with the school band. Igor studied at the musical school, and after graduation he entered the Theory faculty at Kirovograd music college, that he graduated with distinction in 1974. He failed to enter the Kiev Conservatory and spent the following year in giving accordion classes in Haivoron and Bandurovo village. In a year Igor entered Nikolaev State Pedagogical Institute at conductor (choral music) department, and having studied there, he worked in restaurants, where he met singer Aleksander Serov, who later will become his friend and will be performing many of his songs. During that period Igor Krutoy worked also as the artistic director of Valentina Tolkunova band and was giving performances accompanying famous Russian actor Yevgeny Leonov.
In 1979, he was invited to Moscow Concert Orchestra "Panorama", where he worked together with such famous artists, as Leonid In 1986 Igor Krutoy finally managed to enter the Saratov Conservatory, the composer department. In parallel, his friend, popular singer Aleksander Serov, was winning international competitions with Igor Krutoy songs "Inspiration" and "In Fate's Despite".

Ernst Ingmar Bergman (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈɪŋmar ˈbærjman] ( listen); 14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera," he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and influential film directors of all time.

He directed over sixty films and documentaries for cinematic release and for television, most of which he also wrote. He also directed over one hundred and seventy plays. Among his company of actors were Harriet Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Gunnar Björnstrand, Bibi Andersson, Erland Josephson, Ingrid Thulin and Max von Sydow. Most of his films were set in the landscape of Sweden. His major subjects were death, illness, faith, betrayal, and insanity.

Bergman was active for more than six decades. In 1976 his career was seriously threatened as the result of a botched criminal investigation for alleged income tax evasion. Outraged, Bergman suspended a number of pending productions, closed his studios, and went into self-imposed exile in Germany for eight years.

Ingrid Bergman (29 August 1915 – 29 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute. She is best remembered for her roles as Ilsa Lund in Casablanca (1942), a World War II drama co-starring Humphrey Bogart and as Alicia Huberman in Notorious (1946), an Alfred Hitchcock thriller co-starring Cary Grant.

Before becoming a star in American films, she had already been a leading actress in Swedish films. Her first introduction to American audiences came with her starring role in the English remake of Intermezzo in 1939. In America, she brought to the screen a "Nordic freshness and vitality", along with exceptional beauty and intelligence, and according to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, she quickly became "the ideal of American womanhood" and one of Hollywood's greatest leading actresses.