FAITHLESS ---------
When Marianne (Lena Endre, "Kristin Lavransdotter") takes her and her husband's best friend David (Krister Henriksson) as a lover, she never anticipates the tragic events which will follow in writer Ingmar Bergman and director Liv Ullmann's "Faithless."
On a remote island, a writer named Bergman (Erland Josephson, "Scenes From a Marriage") sifts through the contents of a desk drawer, trying to draw inspiration from memories. (Bergman purportedly wrote this script based on an incident from earlier in his life that's continued to haunt him, although he gave Ullmann complete control over the film.) Marianne comes to him and begins to recount her painful story under his gentle prodding.
Marianne is a successful actress with a happy marriage to a world-reknowned composer/conducter Markus (Thomas Hanzon, "Private Confessions"). They have a 9 year old daughter Isabelle (Michelle Gylemo). Their friend, David, a film director with a messy life, frequently joins them for dinner and acts as an uncle to their daughter. When Marianne encounters David drunk and distraught one day, she brings him home. He suggests they sleep together. She laughs it off, proclaiming their relationship like that of brother and sister, but the idea takes root. Marianne, who's won a scholarship to study in Paris while Markus is away on a U.S. tour, talks David into a 'happenstance' meeting on the continent.
Trouble rears its head almost immediately, when Marianne discovers David's childish behavior coupled with intense jealousy. When an initial incident is smoothed over, their emotional bond becomes stronger - what Marianne had convinced herself she was doing for 'fun' has become hurtful. When she leaves their Parisian hotel room, David pulls a red bedspread over his head and Ullman cuts to Isabelle with a white and red bedspread over her head. This connects David to the child as well as pointing out Isabelle as the next victim of Marianne's hurt.
Marianne can't keep herself from David when they return. As his actors in 'A Dream Play' rebel, a distraught David asks Marianne to 'come look at your idiot,' appealing to her vanity. Markus discovers the lovers and promises Marianne he will make her hurt, demanding custody of Isabelle. That's just the beginning of the hellish descent Marianne continues to agonize over with Bergman, accusing him of laziness while allowing her, an actress, to shape his drama out of her real memories.
This bleak and talky Swedish drama is like watching a train wreck. Lena Endre's expressive face (beautifully lit by cinematographer Jorgen Persson, "Smilla's Sense of Snow") keeps our attention whether she's telling her story or admidst the action of flashback. Ullmann's deliberate pacing allows a sickening, gut-wrenching sense of dread to build. Her staging of Bergman and Marianne suggest a mentor/student relationship which flows in both directions. Again she uses duality as she shows Marianne and her reflection in a mirror, suddenly separated by the ghostly appearance of Isabelle. Ullmann's direction is strong although Bergman's presence is always evident. Lena Endre's performance is devastating.
"Faithless" is an open wound of a film, yet its humanity brings a heartfelt message. When Marianne tells Bergman that talking about love is painful, one can't help but think that this film will make it far more difficult to ever take love for granted.
A-
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
laura@reelingreviews.com robin@reelingreviews.com
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews