- published: 27 Aug 2008
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Face to Face (Swedish: Ansikte mot ansikte) is a 1976 Swedish psychological drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It tells the story of a psychiatrist who is suffering from a mental illness. It stars Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson.
It is also the film debut of Lena Olin.
The film was conceived and produced as a four-part mini-series on Swedish television with a running time of 177 minutes. The episodes were entitled:
It was edited down for theatrical releases for running times from 114 to 135 minutes. However, the theatrical version premiered first. The film was later screened at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival held in May, but was not entered into the main competition. The television version aired in Sweden over four weeks in May and June of that year, and has not been released for home media.
Dr. Jenny Isaksson (Liv Ullmann) is a psychiatrist married to another psychiatrist; both are successful in their jobs but slowly, agonizingly, Jenny succumbs to a breakdown. She is haunted by images and emotions from her past and eventually cannot function as a wife, doctor, or individual.
Call the police or let the neighbors hear you scream
Your center of attention.
Settle out of court, don't want to make a scene.
Automatic reputation.
Guided by voices and led by thieves
Don't move to California
And sell me out, cause I won't, sell me out
[Chorus]
Say what you want to gace to face or nothing matters at all.
That's what you get.
Don't talk around it.
Stop reading my mind and make the telephone ring
Waiting for the white out.
Put your soul on ice cause you can't come clean
It takes one to fake one,
Forget about it.
[Chorus]
At seventeen I had a break down, a psychic reading and a new sound.
I want to talk about the clear blue mourning
You read it, get it? Oh now forget about it.