Liv & Ingmar – dir. Dheeraj Akolkar – 8.6 – Last night I finally had a chance to watch the beautiful film Liv & Ingmar which was originally released as a documentary feature and was later included as a special feature on the recent Criterion release of Persona. The film is solely Liv Ullmann discussing her life with master Swedish director Ingmar Bergman with whom she was married and has a child.

Their marriage was rather short lived but since their relationship developed they way it did, during the the making of four films between 1965 and 1970, they were tied tighter than many couples. Their desire to make art together did not wain after their separation as they made six more films together and as they grew older their friendship grew much stronger than their marriage ever was. At one point, Ullmann remarks, that she had asked why he kept asking her to be in the films and Ingmar said, “Liv, you are my Stradivarius.” That was a moment that I welled up a bit.

This movie is probably best watched by lovers of the two masters films but anyone who loves a good love story might also be interested. I very highly recommend this.