Ingmar Bergman's Face to Face

Michael Tapper is an affiliated researcher in film studies at Lund University, Sweden, and a film critic at the daily papers Sydsvenska Dagbladet and Helsingborgs Dagblad. His previous books include Swedish Cops: From Sjowall and Wahloo to Stieg Larsson (2014) and he has contributed to several anthologies and journals.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I. Prelude: The 1960sUnder FireCrisisPart II. Bergman Goes TVOut of the Ivory TowerMass-Market BergmanThe TV Medium and Bergman’s StylePart III. Bergman’s ModernismAttack of Second-Wave FeminismThe Strindberg-Ibsen-Bergman ConnectionPersona: War on IdealismThe Making of Ingmar BergmanOne Man, Four WomenPart IV. The Djursholm Trilogy Plus OneThe Lie: A Tragi-Comedy of BanalityScenes from a MarriageLife in the Beige LaneCries and Whispers: Into the Belly of the Idealism BeastPart V. Face to FaceTo the Orgasm and Beyond: Ingmar Bergman and the Sexual RevolutionArthur Janov Conquers Sweden – and BergmanWorkbook No. 29, Part I: Everything is a DreamTraum and TraumaWorkbook No. 29, Part II: Jenny the PsychiatristWorkbook No. 29, Part III: The Primal ScreamThe ScreenplayThe ProductionThe TV SeriesThe FilmOverture to the ReleaseReceptionA Success and a FailureCoda: The End of Art?ReferencesIndex

Ingmar Bergman's Face to Face seems to be one of those films that dwell in the shadows, as if patiently waiting to be found by a discerning eye. Enter Swedish critic and scholar Michael Tapper, who in throwing his sharp torchlight virtually revives this film, which for so long has remained a blind spot neglected by critics and scholarship alike. Most of all Tapper succeeds in delineating how Face to Face lends itself to a rich contextualization of the sort not generally found in mainstream Bergman studies, be it the sexual revolution of the 1970s, second-wave feminism, the growing importance of television as producer of feature film, or the (in)famous 'primal scream' therapy promoted by Henry Janov. Face to Face superbly mirrors the times in which it was made, yet is saturated with issues that remain relevant today. An added feature of this book is that it includes never before published material, for instance the director's diaries in the Ingmar Bergman Foundation Archive, which would otherwise not have seen the light of day. -- Maaret Koskinen, Stockholm University