Liv Ullmann - Scenes from a Life

Colour, 35 mm
Norway, 1997, 77 min
Section: Tribute to Liv Ullmann

Synopsis

In the documentary portrait of Liv Ullmann (b. 1938), we first meet the eminent actress "playing" an energetic and thoughtful director during the shooting of Private Confessions (Enskilda samtal, 1996), a film based on a script by Ingmar Bergman. Using clips from a variety of films, as well as documentary footage, her acting career unfolds retrospectively: her start in Norwegian theatre, followed by her celebrated Bergman era in Sweden, then the period of international stardom in the United States. Ullmann recalls her past fame with detachment, taking stock of it with objectivity and humour. In addition to acting and directing, she has written books, raised her daughter alone, and travelled the world as a goodwill ambassadress for UNICEF and the International Rescue Committee. Documentarist Edvard Hambro captured her everyday work schedule in New York, where the actress lives, and accompanied her on her humanitarian mission. This creative and personal profile of Liv Ullmann is rounded out with interviews with colleagues and other personalities in the arts.

About the director

Edvard Hambro started out as an assistant director in Oslo (Norsk Film), concurrently directing for the stage: three plays for Norway´s National Theatre. Since 1979 he has produced and directed for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. As a producer-director he has made the documentaries Throwaway Children (1989), Sonja Henie - The Queen of Ice (1993). He devoted two documentaries to Liv Ullmann: on the making of her film Kristin Lavransdatter - Portrait of a Film (1995) and the documentary profile Liv Ullmann - Scenes from a Life (Liv Ullmann - Scener fra et Liv).