[Psicodrama] Ansikte mot ansikte (Face to Face, Sweden, 1976). Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman.

Here at last, the Bergman film most of his fans don't have (and may have never seen it either, if they were not already adults by 1976). This drama about the nervous breakdown of a female psychiatrist, played by the great Liv Ullmann in an unforgettable performance, may not be one of the master's greatest achievements but it's a very interesting, harrowing movie experience. Never released on video on a big scale, and almost impossible to find (Amazon doesn't even lists this title, and ebay only offers a DVD-R copy of a TV-rip), Bergman himself may be responsible of this film's unavailability, since he wasn't very fond of it (see details). Golden Globe winner for Best Foreign Film and Oscar-nominated for Best Director and Best Actress.


"Face to Face was intended to be a film about dreams and reality. The dreams were to become tangible reality. Reality would dissolve and become dream. I have occasionally managed to move unhindered between dream and reality, in Persona, Sawdust and Tinsel and Cries and Whispers. This time it was more difficult. My intentions required an inspiration which failed me. The dream sequences became synthetic, the reality blurred. There are a few solid scenes here and there, and Liv Ullmann struggled like a lion, but not even she could save the culmination, the primal scream which amounted to enthusiastic but ill-digested fruit of my reading. Artistic license sneered through the thin fabric."
— Ingmar Bergman, The Magic Lantern


"Now when I see Face to Face, I remember an old farce with Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour. It's called The Road to Morocco. They have been shipwrecked and come floating on a raft in front of a projected New York in the background. In the final scene, Bob Hope throws himself to the ground and begins to scream and foam at the mouth. The others stare at him in astonishment and ask what in the world he is doing. He immediately calms down and says, 'This is how you have to do it if you want to win an Oscar.' When I see Face to Face and Liv Ullmann's incredibly loyal effort on my behalf, I still can't help thinking of The Road to Morocco."
— Ingmar Bergman, Images: My Life in Film


"Ingmar Bergman's Face to Face takes you into the grittiest and most powerful look of a human's descent into a nervous breakdown ever captured. As Dr. Jenny Isaksson's breakdown becomes more and more intense, Bergman begins to insert hallucinations and flashbacks of her violent childhood. And Jenny's eventual suicide attempt is done in one long horrifying take which is made all the more stunning with the aid of Sven Nykvist's amazing cinematography. There are several horrifying nightmare sequences, one of which includes Jenny standing outside of herself, looking at her own dead body as it lies in a burning coffin. Images like these make Face to Face unforgettable.
Amazingly, throughout the entire film, Bergman's camera never wavers from Ullmann's face and her acting throughout is a nothing short of a revelation. You feel her fear and you can breathe in her anguish. Liv Ullmann's performance is one of the best ever recorded in cinema history and must be seen to be believed. I will not say that Face to Face changed my life, but I will say that it changed the way I look at my life."
-efilmcritc