Hanging out With Liv Ullman, Watching Persona and Thinking of Bergman -- Two Years Later a Post is Finished and Posted

I've had a draft of a blog post sitting in my blogger dashboard for two years and five months. I had written roughly a third of the post when I was stricken by one of the worst bouts of depression I've ever suffered, one that lasted for over a week. By the time I was ready to write again the post seemed dated but worse, reminded me of the horrible depression that had just visited me. I've meant to get back to it but other writing and life as a whole kept getting in my way. So here I present what I'd written 29 months ago followed by a few other thoughts about the evening in question.

I saw Liv Ullman last night.
I asked Liv Ullman a question.
She looked right at me while answering the question
I saw Ingmar Bergman's Persona on the big screen.
I had a very good night.

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives started an 11-month retrospective on Ingmar Bergman last night in honor of 2018 marking exactly 100 years since the great director's birth. The showing of Persona (1966) was one of two this weekend which featured opening remarks by one of the film's stars -- Ms. Ullman -- who appeared regularly in Bergman's films.

As my wife pointed out, Ms. Ullman looks like she could be one of my aunts, though of course I'm Finnish and she is Norwegian (close enough, I suppose). Ms. Ullman is as handsome an 80-year-old woman as you'll ever see. She stood erect and wearing heels look much taller than her listed height of 5'8". She was immaculately attired wearing a red dress, a lovely necklace and a watch that probably costs more than I make in a year -- or two. The retired actress/director's hands shook a little bit but that was all that betrayed her octogenarian status. Her voice was resonant and her English excellent with minimal accent.

Mr. Ullman's pre-film address was initially perfunctory with thanks to all concerned and platitudes about the Bay Area. But then she launched into a story of getting the role in Persona (her first of eleven with Bergman) along with co-star Bibi Andersson (who was also a regular in Bergman's films). She then discussed Persona and how revolutionary it was and she provided some insight in how it reflected on Bergman's life.

*******************************************************************************
That was as far as I got. One important part of the evening that I didn't get to was that during the post film Q and A with Ms. Ullman, I was one of the local yokels who asked her a question. Specifically what it was like working with the great cinema photographer, and frequent Bergman collaborator, Sven Nykvist. In answering my question she twice made a point of saying his last name, I believe in order to highlight the correct pronunciation. I had pronounced it as Nye-kvist and she more properly pronounced it as Knee-qvist.

Anyway she talked of how meticulous he was about setting up shuts and how important the proper light was for him and how that would influence the manner in which Bergman would position actors. She also said the two argued at one point about how best to light a shot so they did it both ways and when they looked at the dailies Nykvist had to concede that Bergman -- as was evidently usually the case -- was right.

I wish I remembered other questions that she was asked but they're lost to me, many recollections having vanished as a result of that horrible depression (which was most emphatically not as a result of that evening which was a great thrill for me).

A few weeks ago I watched my copy of Persona for the first time since seeing it then. I meant for it to stir up memories of when I beheld Liv Ullman in person, but the film is so compelling that I was totally enraptured by it as I have been with each viewing.

It is an exceptionally bold film. Bergman was utterly audacious in so many ways such as the long shots of a character's face through the entire telling of a story or the perplexing montage at the beginning. Persona demonstrates the director's brilliance as he takes the seemingly dull premise of two women, one suddenly unable to speak, spending time together at a Summer house on an island. How much can you do with two women alone in such a situation one of them is effectively mute? Bergman made of it a cinematic masterpiece. An examination of two people who through conflict and understanding come to realizations about themselves and life.

Persona is a thought-provoking film and is throughly entertaining despite and because of this fact. Ullman and co-star Bibi Andersson are transcendent which many performers were when working with a Bergman script under Bergman's direction. He is to me the greatest of all directors.

Of those few sightings of famous people I've had in my life, seeing Liv Ullman has been one of the most memorable and meaningful. It's a shame I was stricken shortly afterwards but two-and-half-years on, the sight of this great actress a few feet away from me, looking right at me, far outshines any stupid depression. What a night.