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Features: DVD, English, Subtitled
Lyrical, passionate and enigmatic, Faithless begins with a writer named Bergman summoning his muse, in the form of a memory. Marianne (Lena Endre) appears to Bergman as he sits down to write about a love affair of long ago. As she discusses ideas for the story, she is transformed into the main character of the film he is now writing. Marianne is a successful actress happily married to Markus (Thomas Hanzon) and devoted to her young daughter. A friendship with a film director develops into passion as the two yield to temptation and indulge in an affair in Paris that continues back at home. Eventually Markus, who has suspected the affair confronts the faithless pair and their marriage, a friendship and a family are threatened to be destroyed.
"[Endre] A lovely, aging vixen with monumentally expressive eyes, she virtually carries the film herself." Michael Atkinson, The Village Voice
"...intriguing... " Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Editor's Note
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.
| Features | Filmographies | | Audio: Swedish, French | | English Subtitles | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Trailer |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: First Look Pictures |
| Release Date: 7/22/2003 |
| Running Time: 142 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2001 | | Catalog ID: 94509 | | UPC: 00687797945099 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: Swedish | | Available Audio Tracks: Swedish | | Available Subtitles: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | 4:3 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Cannes Film Festival (2000) | | | Liv Ullman, Nominee, Golden Palm |
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| | Professional Reviews | Box Office
"...It is an invigorating experience to see the work of a masterful director fully in control of her craft..." 11/01/2000 p.158New York Times
"...More than just a reverent homage to [Ingmar Bergman]....The [film's] mystery is deepened by [its] extraordinary central performances..." 01/26/2001 p.E16 Sight and Sound
"...[Ullman has] a magnificent empathy with her players, she is also rewardingly attentive to visual detail..." 02/01/2001 p..33-41 Entertainment Weekly
"...A searing close-up epic of adultery....FAITHLESS is a domestic tragedy of lacerating vision..." 02/16/2001 p.73 Total Film
"...Ullmann's refreshingly restrained direction draws out intense performances from all involved..." 03/01/2001 p.99 Los Angeles Times
"...As luminous as it is shattering, FAITHLESS is complex, challenging and richly rewarding, and it glows with the kind of wrenchingly selfless portrayals that are the hallmark of the Bergman classics..." 02/16/2001 p.F14 Chicago Sun-Times
"...Intriguing in the way it dances in and out of the shadow of Bergman's autobiography....Ullmann has a sure sense for the ways people behave in emotional extremity..." 02/16/2001 p.39 L.A. Times 8 of 10
As luminous as it is shattering, Faithless is complex, challenging and richly rewarding, and it glows with the kind of wrenchingly selfless portrayals that are the hallmark of the Bergman classics. Indeed, Ullmann has drawn from actress Lena Endre an awesomely harrowing portrayal of the kind that Ullmann herself gave for Bergman. - Kevin Thomas
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