# Face to Face (1976 film)
**Face to Face** (Ansikte mot ansikte) is a 1976 Swedish psychological drama written and directed by [Ingmar Bergman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingmar-bergman), following Dr. Jenny Isaksson, a psychiatrist who descends into a mental breakdown while her own life is outwardly stable. It was shot in 1975 and released in two versions: a theatrical feature that premiered in the United States on 5 April 1976 and a four-part television miniseries broadcast on Sweden's TV2 in April and May 1976.[1](https://philarchive.org/archive/ENGBNA-2)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | Ansikte mot ansikte; directed and written by Ingmar Bergman[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/face-to-face/) |
| Lead performance | Liv Ullmann as Dr. Jenny Isaksson, a psychiatrist suffering a breakdown; Erland Josephson as Dr. Tomas Jacobi[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/face_to_face_1976) |
| Dual release | 135-minute theatrical film (US premiere 5 April 1976) and 177-minute miniseries on TV2 over four weeks in April and May 1976[1](https://philarchive.org/archive/ENGBNA-2) |
| Production | Cinematograph AB with Sveriges Radio and TV2; financing arranged by Dino De Laurentiis after a February 1975 meeting in New York[4](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/face-face) • [5](https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/50921/1/9789198557718_fullhl.pdf) |
| Key crew | Sven Nykvist, cinematography; Siv Lundgren, editing[6](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/1976/sections_and_films/official_section/7/240022/in) |
| Music | Mozart's Fantasi for piano, K. 475 in C minor, performed by Käbi Laretei[4](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/face-face) |
| Awards | Two Academy Award nominations (Bergman, Best Director; Ullmann, Best Actress); Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film[7](https://cinematograph.se/DistributionCatalog.pdf) |
## Spoilers
### Story
Jenny Isaksson is a psychiatrist whose routines are temporarily suspended: her husband is away at a long conference, her daughter is at camp, and she moves in with her grandparents while between houses.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/face_to_face_1976) Unpleasant childhood memories, apparitions, and a traumatic assault push the otherwise disciplined woman toward collapse; she descends into hallucinations and delirium and attempts to take her own life, which begins an intense exploration of her own psyche.[8](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/adaptions/face-face) The San Sebastián Festival synopsis describes her taking a bottle of sleeping pills, attending her own funeral in a dream, and speaking about her past in a long monologue beside the coffin with Dr. Jacobi.[6](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/1976/sections_and_films/official_section/7/240022/in)
The cast centers on Ullmann and Josephson, with Gunnar Björnstrand and Aino Taube as the grandparents and Kari Sylwan as Maria.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/face_to_face_1976) It was the sixth time Josephson and Ullmann played opposite each other in a Bergman film.[9](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/verk/ansikte-mot-ansikte)
## Genesis and production
Bergman began work on the project in 1974, during the editing of his television production of Mozart's The Magic Flute, at a moment he later described as the peak of his artistic self-confidence, when his company Cinematograph was producing other directors' films and "the money was flowing in."[10](https://e-edu.nbu.bg/mod/resource/view.php?id=1399824) The origin, as he told it, was a question from producer [Dino De Laurentiis](https://www.edgepedia.org/dino-de-laurentiis) in the United States: "are you doing anything I could have?" Bergman answered that he was making "a psychological thriller about the breakdown of a human being and her dreams," and a contract was signed.[4](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/face-face) De Laurentiis had met Bergman secretly in New York in February 1975 and arranged to finance the TV series, calling it "a wonderful, strong story."[5](https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/50921/1/9789198557718_fullhl.pdf)
**Personal sources.** Bergman attributed the film's motivation to "an anxiety which has no tangible cause" that had bothered him "like having a toothache," and to "another person's vicissitudes": the personal history and suicide of Marianne Höök, a woman he regarded as a sister. He considered the working process therapeutic.[11](https://e-edu.nbu.bg/pluginfile.php/2078810/mod_resource/content/1/Michael%20Tapper%20-%20Ingmar%20Bergmans%20Face%20to%20Face-Columbia%20University%20Press%20%282017%29.pdf) The set for the grandparents' apartment was copied exactly from the apartment of Bergman's own grandparents, down to the wallpaper.[12](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1976/04/05/trapdoor)
The film was shot in Sweden in 1975.[4](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/face-face) Its release coincided with the most disruptive episode of Bergman's life: in January 1976 he was detained by Swedish tax authorities on charges later dropped, an experience that led to a breakdown of his own, a hospitalization, and self-imposed exile in Munich. Face to Face was one of the last works he completed in Sweden before that departure, though the film's conception predates the arrest.[13](https://sightlines.media/film/29454/face-to-face-1976)
## Two versions
Like [Scenes from a Marriage](https://www.edgepedia.org/scenes-from-a-marriage) before it, the production was made in a dual format: a multi-part serial for Swedish television and a shorter cut for cinemas and international release.[13](https://sightlines.media/film/29454/face-to-face-1976) The theatrical film premiered in the United States on 5 April 1976, and the 177-minute miniseries aired on TV2 over four weeks beginning in April 1976.[1](https://philarchive.org/archive/ENGBNA-2) Editing the film version cut the material by 42 minutes, from 177 to 135 minutes, with scenes thrown out, trimmed, or moved.[11](https://e-edu.nbu.bg/pluginfile.php/2078810/mod_resource/content/1/Michael%20Tapper%20-%20Ingmar%20Bergmans%20Face%20to%20Face-Columbia%20University%20Press%20%282017%29.pdf)
The two versions also differ in framing. Face to Face was shot in the widescreen format of 1.66:1, reframed to 1.33:1 for television, then reframed again to 1.78:1 for the film version, turning medium close-ups into close-ups. Bergman preferred the film version, possibly for its greater intimacy and the "different rhythm" of the cutting.[11](https://e-edu.nbu.bg/pluginfile.php/2078810/mod_resource/content/1/Michael%20Tapper%20-%20Ingmar%20Bergmans%20Face%20to%20Face-Columbia%20University%20Press%20%282017%29.pdf) For decades the full television version was difficult to see outside Sweden; the Olive Films DVD carried only a shorter theatrical cut, and the complete miniseries later became available on streaming.[14](https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2019/02/08/face-to-face-bergman-1976/)
## Reception and awards
The film was shown out of competition at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/face-to-face/) In the United States it received rave reviews, in De Laurentiis's account and Bergman's own recollection.[4](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/face-face) It earned two Academy Award nominations, Bergman for Best Director and Ullmann for Best Actress, and won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, along with honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the [National Board of Review](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-board-of-review); Ullmann's Best Actress wins included the New York Film Critics Circle and LAFCA.[7](https://cinematograph.se/DistributionCatalog.pdf)
Critics divided over the film's dream sequences. Roger Ebert, the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) critic and 1975 [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) winner, called the film "a confused and sometimes overwrought new treatment of the director's most obsessive theme, suicide," while judging Ullmann's performance one of the greatest in any Bergman film.[15](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/face-to-face-1976) The Harvard Crimson criticized the "heavily symbolic dream sequences" as didactic, but praised the acting as superb.[16](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1976/5/14/eyeball-to-eyeball-pbabnyone-who-has/) Penelope Gilliatt in [The New Yorker](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-yorker) called it "Bergman's magnificent 'Face to Face'."[12](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1976/04/05/trapdoor) Retrospective aggregate scores sit in the generally favorable range: Metacritic 68 based on 7 critic reviews, and Rotten Tomatoes 80% from 20 reviews.[17](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/face-to-face/) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/face_to_face_1976) In Sweden the television version met with less acclaim than Scenes from a Marriage and was soon overshadowed by public discussion of Bergman's tax case and departure from the country.[1](https://philarchive.org/archive/ENGBNA-2)
## Bergman's later assessment
Bergman himself was dissatisfied with the result. In his memoir Images he recalled repeatedly changing and moving the dream sequences during filming, and judged only two short dream sequences acceptable: the one-eyed lady stroking Jenny's hair, and Jenny's brief encounter with her parents after an automobile accident.[4](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/face-face) He first dismissed the film's lack of inspiration and excess of artistic license, and later claimed to find only its first part "acceptable."[1](https://philarchive.org/archive/ENGBNA-2) His sharpest comment was a comparison to the [Bob Hope](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-hope) and [Bing Crosby](https://www.edgepedia.org/bing-crosby) farce [The Road](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-road) to Morocco: whenever he sees the film and Ullmann's "incredibly loyal effort" on his behalf, he thinks of the scene in which Hope throws himself down screaming, then explains, "This is how you have to do it if you want to win an Oscar."[4](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/face-face)
## Later standing
The film has been read as part of the cycle of Bergman's mid-1970s psychodramas that began with [Cries and Whispers](https://www.edgepedia.org/cries-and-whispers) and ended with [Autumn Sonata](https://www.edgepedia.org/autumn-sonata), and Time Out's Martyn Auty called it Bergman's most potent psychodrama from that cycle.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/face_to_face_1976) It remains one of the few Bergman titles never released by [Criterion](https://www.edgepedia.org/criterion), and the stage adaptation rights, licensed through Josef Weinberger Ltd., have kept the story in circulation, with notable productions at the Sydney Theatre Company in 2012 directed by Simon Stone and at Le Théâtre de l'Atelier in Paris in 2019 directed by Léonard Matton.[14](https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2019/02/08/face-to-face-bergman-1976/) • [8](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/adaptions/face-face)
## References
1. [Jacob Engelberg, "Ansikte mot ansikte," philarchive (UvA-DARE)](https://philarchive.org/archive/ENGBNA-2)
2. [Face to Face, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/face-to-face/)
3. [Face to Face, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/face_to_face_1976)
4. [Face to Face, Television production, ingmarbergman.se](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/face-face)
5. [Ingmar Bergman on the international scene, OAPEN](https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/50921/1/9789198557718_fullhl.pdf)
6. [Ansikte mot ansikte / Face to face, San Sebastián Film Festival 1976](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/1976/sections_and_films/official_section/7/240022/in)
7. [Cinematograph distribution catalog, Face to Face TV series](https://cinematograph.se/DistributionCatalog.pdf)
8. [Face to Face, Adaptations, ingmarbergman.se](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/adaptions/face-face)
9. [Ansikte mot ansikte 1976, Verk, ingmarbergman.se](https://www.ingmarbergman.se/verk/ansikte-mot-ansikte)
10. [Ingmar Bergman's Face to Face, Michael Tapper (2017), excerpt](https://e-edu.nbu.bg/mod/resource/view.php?id=1399824)
11. [Michael Tapper, Ingmar Bergman's Face to Face, Columbia University Press (2017)](https://e-edu.nbu.bg/pluginfile.php/2078810/mod_resource/content/1/Michael%20Tapper%20-%20Ingmar%20Bergmans%20Face%20to%20Face-Columbia%20University%20Press%20%282017%29.pdf)
12. [Penelope Gilliatt, "Trapdoor," The New Yorker, 29 March 1976](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1976/04/05/trapdoor)
13. [Face to Face (1976), Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/29454/face-to-face-1976)
14. [Lauren Wilford, "Cracking Up: On Liv Ullmann in Face to Face," Bright Wall/Dark Room](https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2019/02/08/face-to-face-bergman-1976/)
15. [Roger Ebert, "Face to Face," Chicago Sun-Times, 6 August 1976](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/face-to-face-1976)
16. [Anne Strassner, "Eyeball to Eyeball," The Harvard Crimson, 14 May 1976](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1976/5/14/eyeball-to-eyeball-pbabnyone-who-has/)
17. [Face to Face, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/face-to-face/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1970s › Released 1975 to 1979*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
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