Liv & Ingmar

I’ve yet to see a documentary about Ingmar Bergman that challenges his view of great artists as tortured and antisocial (which became his excuse for ugly behavior both on- and off-screen). This summary of his four-decade relationship with actress Liv Ullmann is no different, though it shows more concern for how Bergman’s destructive behavior affected other people. Ullmann and Bergman both walked out on their spouses to be together, and their cohabitation was a claustrophobic guilt-fest reminiscent of such Bergman movies as Winter Light (1963) and Shame (1968). The two collaborated on films long after their romance fell apart; not surprisingly, director Dheeraj Ajolkar presents this as a testament to the power of art. In English and subtitled Swedish.