Reputedly based on an incident in the life of its screenwriter, Ingmar Bergman, Faithless is a powerful film that investigates the consequences of adultery, betrayal and grief and the long-term implications for everyone involved. Directed by Bergman's former muse and actress-turned-director, Liv Ullman, the story begins when an old man who lives by the sea, just like Bergman himself, ransacks his memories for material for his writing. He conjures up the beautiful Marianne (Lena Endre) who recounts a major turning point in her life: her affair with her husband's best... friend. Her story is captured both in flashback and through Marianne's dialogue, as the camera lingers on her expressive face and his rapt, silent countenance. Not surprisingly the story is an intense and convoluted one and what ensues is a tale of guilt, pain and enduring damage as "simple things become complicated". The remote shore-side confessional location adds to the mystery: just what is their relationship? Is Marianne a figment of his imagination? As the film progresses, the truth begins to dawn. Lena Endre gives a vividly emotional performance, particularly during the poignant scenes concerning her beautiful but increasingly withdrawn daughter (luminescently acted by Michelle Gylemo). Without seeming to judge her, Endre brilliantly portrays a woman who knows that what she is doing is wrong, but does it all the same. The rawness of the erupting emotions is reinforced by an almost total lack of background music and the film becomes ever more involving to watch, even if the key characters seem to have brought about their misfortune themselves. If there is a weakness here it is that the performances of the men are somewhat overshadowed. Lover David, enigmatically portrayed by Krister Henrekssen, looks older than his allocated years and his motivations are unclear; Thomas Hanzon, playing Markus the charismatic husband, seems too restrained in his role and the viewer longs for him to do something wrong to justify his wife's affair. When he eventually does, the ramifications are enormous. Faithless is riveting and very much in keeping with the Bergman oeuvre, here expressed through the sensitive, restrained direction of Liv Ullman. --Christina McLoughlin [show more]
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Directed by Liv Ullman from a semi-autobiographical screenplay by Ingmar Bergman, 'Faithless' tells a story of love, infidelity and betrayal. Marianne (Lena Endre) and Markus (Thomas Hanzon) share a happily married life together, along with their nine-year-old daughter Isabelle (Michelle Gylemo), and regular visits from their good friend David (Krister Henriksson). One night, with Markus away from the apartment, David reveals his attraction to Marianne and from this one moment a dangerous and intense affair soon develops. When Markus discovers what is going on, he demands a divorce and seeks custody of Isabelle, but it is not long before he too forgoes his right to claim innocence in the matter.
Actress Marianne Vogler (Lena Endre) and her husband, Markus (Thomas Hanzon) have a 9-year-old daughter, Isabelle (Michelle Gylemo). Markus, an orchestra conductor, is often away, and casually, almost without thought, Marianne starts an affair with theater director David (Krister Henriksson). Thus starts another of Ingmar Bergman's relentless examinations of love and sex and pain in the affairs of women and men. For FAITHLESS, Bergman is the scriptwriter--not the director. He writes from the point of view of a solitary old man, also called Bergman (Erland Josephson), who lives on a remote island. He remembers an affair he had long ago. From time to time, Marianne interrupts him to correct his version of their story.FAITHLESS is directed by Liv Ullmann. As an actress, Ullmann burst into Bergman's cinematic world in the 1960s, with stunning performances in PERSONA, SHAME, and THE PASSION OF ANNA. In the 1990s, she began directing. FAITHLESS is her fourth film as director, her second from a Bergman script. Ullmann directs with unpretentious precision, working closely with her actors, and she gives the story a new inflection, making real and vivid the predicament of Isabelle in the face of (what she sees as) the unpredictable behavior of the adults.
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