Cinema: Acts Of Love And Contrition

Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman unite again, and the result is sublime

It is a thrice-told tale. Ingmar Bergman first brought it to the screen in Scenes from a Marriage, then devoted a chapter of his autobiography, The Magic Lantern, to it. Now, at 82, he has written it again, this time as a savage domestic tragedy.

He calls it Faithless, and since he no longer directs films, he has given it to his onetime star and sometime lover, Liv Ullmann, to direct. It is, they both insist, very much her film. Bergman visited her set only once and never intruded on her editing room. Her style is warm, almost glowing, and it...

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