Liv Ullmann - a legendary actress.
Ingmar Bergman - a master filmmaker.
Both met in 1964 while making a timeless classic called 'Persona' and became overwhelmed with passion. Both were married at the time and had a huge age gap. Liv was 25 and Ingmar was 47. But none of it mattered.
That summer, alongside the sunshine and desire and happiness, one of the greatest love stories was born.
Days were filled with romance and recognizing one another, playing with each other like childrenbeing alive...
He built a home for her on the spot where he had declared his love to her...
Together they had a child.
As days passed, loneliness crept in. Liv, the young, divorced and unwed mother of a little girl waited for comfort, attention and warmth, while Ingmar fought his demons in solitude, wrote his masterpieces and struggled to live up to his relationship.
Severe ups and downs followed. Days of psychological violence and bouts of Ingmar's turbulent rage pushed Liv further into a darker hole. She felt imprisoned, suffocated, scared...
And soon within her, a new sensation awoke, as if her loneliness gave her clarity. The adoration for this great man in her life disappeared, she noticed him for who he was and realized that this was love...
She became the mirror in which Ingmar could no longer bear to see his own reflection.
A painful break-up ensued, that very soon became a public and media circus.
Trauma and Catharsis gave rise to inexplicable strength with which they built a bridge between them.
Together, they had held each others hands and been painfully connected, but only when it was all over, did they become true friends !
Both went on to have exceptional careers. Liv Ullmann became a Hollywood Superstar, traveled the world, authored two books, visited over 50 countries doing humanitarian work as the UNICEF ambassador.
Ingmar married Ingrid Von Rosen and went on to write, direct and produce many masterpieces on stage and in cinema, earning worldwide recognition and respect...
Despite their own ways and their own journeys, they always remained entwined in each others lives walking a deeply connected path together. They worked on 12 films, two of which Ingmar wrote and Liv directed the only woman to have directed an Ingmar Bergman script for cinema
Despite 42 years of togetherness, in the popular media, Liv always remained one of Ingmar's women, one of his actresses... his muse...
This film 'Liv and Ingmar' celebrates, for the first time in the last 50 years, something sacred, something delicate, something unrequited, unrealized, unspoken...
Here, sitting in Ingmar's house on Faro, Liv herself tells the story. Passages from her book 'Changing', Ingmar's love letters - seen here for the first time - and many autobiographical sequences from their films become a part of this film's canvas.
In the process, this film becomes a homage, a salute... not only to two of the most important artists of our time, but also to two friends, companions and soul mates...