Seasonal Ruminations: Melbourne Cinematheque And The Powerful Complexity Of Liv Ullmann

Persona

Bergman’s haunting, forensic, astonishingly performed and formally adventurous examination of the uncanny merging of two incompatible personalities has been a profound influence on filmmakers ranging from Woody Allen to David Lynch. The film focuses on the tribulations of a great actress (Ullmann, who gives the performance of a lifetime) rendered mute during a production. A battle rages between the silence of the actress and her chatty nurse (Bibi Andersson).

Session screens with Faithless on May 28.

Shame

Another Bergman directed film, Shame follows a married couple (Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow) who live in isolation from society and almost from each other; struggling for survival and intimacy in an environment ravaged by war and destruction. The film’s tone affects a dry, detached poeticism that strains at revealing the lives of its characters and Sven Nykvist’s cinematography, combined with hauntingly vivid sound design, make this psychological drama both restrained and incredibly moving.

Session screens with Saraband on June 4.

Private Confessions

Liv Ullmann directs this 1996 Swedish film that has been adapted from Bergman's book of the same name. Ullmann's reimagining of Bergman’s semi-fictional telling of his mother’s moral turmoil is told through five extended conversations. The film is a spiritual confession exploring the complexity of emotions concerning the fidelity of the soul and the origins of self-condemnation.

Session screens on June 11.