Indeholder "1. del. Norge", "2. del. Øboere", "3. del. 'Twinkle, twinkle little star'", "4. del. Skuespiller", "Daglige notater over arbejdet med "Ansikte mot ansikte", hvor hun spiller psykiatrikeren Jenny Isaksson", "Epilog".

Liv Ullmann eller Liv Johanne Ullmann blev født i Tokyo, Japan den 16 december 1938 af norske forældre og denne selvbiografi er fra 1977, da hun var knap fyrre år gammel. Hendes mor har fortalt at jordemoderen undskyldte at det blev en pige og spurgte om hun selv ville fortælle det til faderen.

??? ( )

I opened this book because I wanted to learn about Liv & Ingmar but I encountered so much more: a lively and honest voice sharing accomplishments and doubts, a strong woman who cut her own path through the forest of life, including the tangle of single motherhood and Hollywood. I'm looking forward to reading her follow-up memoir, Choices.

The Knopf edition I read was beautifully designed by Camilla Filancia. ( )

There's a passage towards the end of the book in which Liv Ullmann is listening to music late in the afternoon on day 18 of shooting 'Face to Face (1976). Ingmar Bergman stops by and says "I feel like I'm in a train running through time. It's very strange." This line captures the sentiment of this book well, how her life unfolded in time up to that point and how everything else was unfolding simultaneously. The structure of the book written in a non-linear objectively way goes back and forth through time. Memories and current events intersect in the narrative. She writes about a lot from the faint memories of her father, grandmother, dinner with an uncle to the women´s pay gap and gender biases (the women's movements were happening at the time) to landscapes, love, breakups, heartache, success, fame, theater, Hollywood, books, etc but at the core is her experience of motherhood as a single mother and being the lead actress in so many of Ingmar Bergman's films and her five year relationship with him. She's very aware that she is an internationally famous actress and there are name drops and privilege but she has a distinctive voice. ( )

This autobiography of Norvegian actress Liv Ullmann, I found this summer in the library collection of Eye Filmmuseum. I read it together with the autobiography of Ingmar Bergman (Laterna Magica, 1987). This was an interesting excercise. Liv Ullmann had a stormy relationship with Bergman and In 1966 she got a daughter with him. The relation ended - she was heartbroken for a time - and she raised her daughter as an single mother with a demanding international career as actress. She fell often guilty about leaving her daughter to go on playing tour. And she was looked upon the fact that she chose for her career. She felt very lonely in this period. Although written in 1976, it has actual themes. The power than and now is still centered with powerfull men, as as was with Ingmar Bergman who walked with authority in the center of his world. He was not the most easy of persons to put it mildly. But their emotional love for each other was also their power in the films he directed and in which she played. She recognized his genius. Also when their relationship ended she played the best roles in his films and the stayed very close. I like the way she tells her story from different perspectives which you can see as different stories with different views, but they come from the same center. That is herself becoming the human being she wants to be. That is not the role others want to put her in. The way she wrote about the making process with Ingmar Bergman of the film "face to face" (1976) I found very moving. I love her honest and authentic voice. ( )

When existence feels too real, I retreat into the comforts of my reclusive tendencies and surround myself with the enchanting confines of cinema. It is in this same dangerous habit that I discovered Ingmar Bergman and my deepest love for this legendary artist. Together with this discovery came my unexpected awe with his Stradivarius, Liv Ullmann. My favourite film of theirs is Autumn Sonata. But after watching Shame, The Passion of Anna, and Scenes From A Marriage almost consecutively in the past weeks, I had to know more about Liv Ullmann. It is how I stumbled upon her contemplative memoir, Changing. Divided into four parts, Norway, Islanders, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and Masks, its nonlinearity nearly gives a dreamlike impression with its constant recall of childhood. In her fragmented retrospection which reads like a diary, she tells her complicated affair with Bergman, especially when they lived in Fårö and their filming process (of their film Face to Face) and collaboration. She also shares her attempt to make a name in Hollywood, her yearning for home, the attack of loneliness and fading with age, and her conflicted passion for acting and theatre.

In the course of the memoir, she often ponders why mothers are immediately bad/neglectful for having a profession when men get a pass. And she worries she's selfish for being away from her daughter due to work. It's easy to define an artist based on their work alone. Liv reminds us of its hazards, of an artist's forgotten humanity if not for the surreal stories she nonchalantly includes here. Once, she attended a party and overheard Mae West mention she didn't know her seconds after feigning excitement about finally meeting her. Another was when she visited Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner's house and looked at a film about "a dog making love to a girl" (please don't ask me to elaborate further).

Changing often shifts from one grammatical person to the other. It can be a little annoying at times. A dialogue from Scenes From A Marriage describes this memoir aptly: "You have moments of greatness, interspersed with sheer mediocrity." But beyond Liv's apparent grapple for a distinct voice in her writing and her restraint, her sincere sensibilities and intense rumination are infectious. They reveal as much about herself as with ours. The memoir satisfies for its glimpse on one of the most unquestionably versatile and exquisite actresses to bless the screen. ( )