November 11, 1996

Private Confessions (1996) *****

Directed by Liv Ullmann. With Pernilla August, Max von Sydow and Samuel Froler. The final segment of Ingmar Bergman's trilogy about stormy relations between his parents, which began when they were children in "Fanny And Alexander" (1983) and continued with "The Best Intentions" (1992). The entire film consists of five long conversations between a middle-aged woman and the three men in her life: her husband, her confessor and her lover. Two people talking, with Sven Nykvist's stationary camera capturing their faces in close-ups - it's a quintessential Bergman film, a quiet masterpiece of suppressed emotions, tentatively exploring the most intimate aspects of a woman's life.