“Long Day’s Journey...”

Liv Ullman on life, Bergman’s house and the upcoming Eugene O’Neill play at the Riksteatret, Oslo. More than any other person, Norwegian actress Liv Ullman is connected to Ingmar Bergman’s house on the island of Fårö. And when the Bergman week opened the other day on Fårö, she was an obvious guest speaker.  

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  Liv Ullmann with the director, Ingmar Bergman; Actors, Erland Josephson, to the left of Ullman; Julia Dufvenius and Börje Ahlstedt to the right of Bergman. Photo from 2002, as Bergman, at age 84, started production on "Saraband," a 120-minute television movie based on the two main characters in "Scenes From a Marriage."

• Liv Ullman on life, the Bergman Center and Bergman’s house

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  In “Persona” (screened on Feb 1), an actress named Elizabeth (Liv Ullmann, left) lapses into silence and is put into the care of Alma (Bibi Andersson), a nurse companion. The young Liv Ullman, with Bibi Andersson in an image from Bergman's 1966 movie "Persona."

• “I would like so much to talk about what it meant for me to see this house being built and for me to move in here with Ingmar. He built it for the two of us. But I was also here many times when we were no longer a couple, but colleagues.”
  When she was back at Bergman’s house last spring, she was back as an actress preparing to play Mary Tyrone in Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”. Like most actors, Ullman is not afraid of emotions or spirituality. In a recent interview with Swedish Daily Dagens Nyheter, she talked about getting older:
  “Our insecurities get more visible as we age. As long as we’re young, it can be sweet and quite charming to not know or to be insecure. A lot can be excused when you’re young and pretty, and sometimes it’s difficult for people to realize you’re still like that inside. I cannot charm my way in life anymore.”
  She continued talking about Bergman’s house:
  “[It is] a place of memories. The door to the office where we had our journal and every day wrote hearts and crosses, it is still there today. I see that he kept at it through the years, continued writing in it. But the curious thing is, that when I left last time it was my Norwegian colleagues, actors, and the director and the set designer I remembered. My daughter Linn had this amazing vision that the house Ingmar left behind should be a place for artists from all art forms to come and work. And our ensemble became the very first one. Now others have sat in Ingmar’s chair at his private movie theater, others have sat in his recliner inside the house, Ellen Horn, the director of our theater in Oslo, Riksteatret, cooked delicious meals for us. After a week with the ensemble at Bergman’s house, we all got to know each other a bit better. According to the stipulations, it’s free of charge for the artists to live in Ingmar’s house as long as they give something back to the people on Fårö. Coming here for the Bergman week on Fårö, is my way of giving back.”
  The premiere of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” at Riksteatret in Oslo will be on September 1. More info, see www.riksteatret.no
  For more information on Bergmanveckan (the Bergman Week) and the Bergman Center, see http://bergmancenter.se/bergmanveckan/