Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases


Private Confessions (1996)

Director: Liv Ullmann

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Bergman's script takes the story of his parents' relationship further on from The Best Intentions - August and Fröler reprise their roles as his mother and father - in this absorbing, if somewhat foursquare study of infidelity and self-knowledge. When Anna tells her clergyman uncle Jacob (Sydow) that she's having an affair with a much younger seminary student, the confession initiates a series of five conversations, ranging back and forth in time, in which her desire to escape the bonds of marriage is contrasted against both the disillusioned compromise later required to sustain the union, and the bright questioning spirit displayed in her early confirmation classes. Under Ullmann's over-studious direction, the pieces take their time to fall into place (though the original television version ran 200 minutes), but the actors clearly respond, August conveying the turmoil of a woman trapped by circumstances and her own febrile emotions, Sydow a figure of towering moral authority and compassion.

Author: TJ

Time Out Film Guide


What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields




Most popular on this site


Top Stories

10 alternative romantic movies

10 alternative romantic movies

Romance blossoms in the most unlikely of places...

Has David Cronenberg turned tame?

Has David Cronenberg turned tame?

Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?

Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day

Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day

Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing

The 10 worst date movies

The 10 worst date movies

Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made

Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films

Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films

Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas

10 unlikely badboy biopics

10 unlikely badboy biopics

Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects