Face to Face - Liv Ullmann

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'Ansikte mot ansikte' or 'Cara a cara')

Sweden 1976

Ingmar Bergman's gut-wrenching drama stars Liv Ullmann (Cries and Whispers) as a successful psychiatrist who, despite her professional prowess, suffers from profound depression and mental illness. She finds herself teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown, haunted by disturbing images and emotions from her past. Desperately in search of a escape from her doldrums, she has an affair with fellow doctor Tomas Jacobi (Erland Josephson, The Sacrifice). This only worsens her hysteria as she struggles to maintain her grasp on sanity and reality. Ullmann's devastating performance earned her multiple awards including a Golden Globe nomination and an Oscar® nomination*. Writer, Producer and Director Ingmar Bergman (The Seventh Seal) was also nominated* for a Best Director Academy Award.

Posters

Television Premiere: April 5th, 1976

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DVD Review: Olive Films - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Olive Films - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	2:16:08
Video	1.78:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.1 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	Swedish (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Olive Films Aspect Ratio: DVD Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio 1.66:1 Edition Details: • None DVD Release Date: August 30th, 2011 Keep Case Chapters: 8

Comments:

Olive Films further expands their foreign film DVD production with this lesser-exposed, but still masterful, Bergman effort. This has been released on DVD in Europe but this Olive Films package marks the NTSC debut. Face to Face had origins as a multi-part TV production which eventually morphed into this 2-hour film.

Like all Olive Film DVDs to date this is dual-layered and progressive. It is anamorphic in the slightly bastardized 1.78:1 ratio aspect ratio (originally 1.66:1). The image looks quite thick and a bit soft but I have no details that this is inaccurate to its original production roots. Colors are bright and the image has a consistency throughout with a few speckles. Overall I had a very acceptable presentation.

The unremarkable audio in Swedish dialogue - clear and in-sync. It's flat but supports the stark film well enough. There are optional English subtitles on the region 1 - NTSC DVD. No supplements are provided.

This is all Liv Ullmann with her visage in virtually every frame of the film. It is magnificent and reminded me of one of my favorite Bergman's - Autumn Sonata. It shares the same emotional power. This may be bare bones but the director's fans won't want to pass it up. Absolutely recommended!