Linn’s mother was not one of those ‘many wives’. Liv Ullmann did not need to be. A creative force no less bright than Bergman himself, their partnership began with Persona, where her powerful depiction as an actress consciously refusing to speak a word, catapulted her to international stardom.
The two lived on Faro Island, in a house in the south-east corner where the forest meets the sea for five years and Linn was born here. Their partnership was one of the most creative and divergent one the world of cinema has ever seen. She would not only act in many of his best films, but go on to assist him in writing scripts, and in the end direct two multiple award winning films based on scripts by Bergman (the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival nominated Faithless and Private Confessions).
Faro Island was not only a place that sheltered Bergman, but a person, a constant companion to Bergman through his life, someone who saw and understood, but never judged.
In picture: Bergman’s first camera was actually gifted to his brother as a Christmas present in 1928. Bitterly disappointed at his own gift of a set of tin soldiers, he talked his brother into swapping presents.
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