Veteran Actor and Director Liv Ullmann discusses ‘Miss Julie’
Renowned actress and filmmaker Liv Ullmann discusses her role as director of tense period drama, Miss Julie.
Liv Ullmann is acknowledged as one of the most acclaimed and influential faces of Scandinavian cinema. Having collaborated with iconic writer, producer and director Ingmar Bergman on eleven films, Ullmann was recognised as one of the filmmaker’s muses leading her to critical, worldwide acclaim. Her performance in films such as Persona (1966), Cries and Whispers (1972) and Scenes From a Marriage (1973) has distinguished Ullmann as one of the greatest actresses of her time.
The Norwegian actress received Academy Award nominations for her roles in Bergman’s Face to Face and Jan Troell’s The Emigrants (1971) for which she won a Golden Globe – the first of five nominations throughout her career – as well as two BAFTA nominations. However, as well as starring in over fifty films, the veteran actress has also taken a seat in the director’s chair directing the biopic drama Sofie (1992), Kristin Lavransdatter (1995) and romantic drama Faithless (2000).
Ullmann returns as a director for the first time in fifteen years with the adaptation of August Strindberg’s 19th drama Miss Julie. Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain stars in the title role as an unsettled daughter of an Anglo-Irish aristocrat who attempts to seduce her father’s valet. Chastain stars alongside Irishman Colin Farrell and British actress Samantha Morton in this naturalistic adaptation of Strindberg’s prestigious play that premiered at the 2014 Toronto Film Festival.
Ullmann arrived in London to review her latest release ahead of a special screening and Q&A discussion at the Curzon Mayfair this evening. The filmmaker was keen to discuss her lead female character: one that has been widely misunderstood over the years. 'People would think of her as unlikeable', she states, 'because usually no one would listen to her.' Ullmann continues, 'I was asked to do a movie about a woman and I said: "what about Miss Julie?"'
The filmmaker first discovered Strindberg’s play of Miss Julie in her teens growing up admiring the work of playwrights such as Henrik Ibsen. Always keeping her at the back of her mind, the actress rekindled her love for Miss Julie back in 2009 when she directed Cate Blanchett in a Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire. 'Tennessee Williams loved Miss Julie', she recounts, 'and he actually stole a lot of it when writing A Streetcar Named Desire.'
After adapting Strindberg’s play into a screenplay, Ullmann was keen to modify Miss Julie for an English-speaking audience. 'I didn’t want to film in Sweden and have the actors speak in English: that’s a lie', says Ullmann. 'Ireland and Norway share a lot in common to which they have suffered in more recent times. I felt a whole atmosphere: everything said yes to Ireland.' Filming took place at Castle Coole in County Fermanagh with just a week set for rehearsals and a premature finish. However, despite a tight filming schedule, the director deemed it a wonderful experience as a result of her actors. 'Because they knew their lines we had no difficulty', she states, 'they were just incredible.'
Ullmann was adamant that Chastain would portray the character of Miss Julie from the start. 'When I met her, we started talking I knew immediately that it had to be her: she was very much Miss Julie', she asserts. The same was said to Chastain’s co-star Samantha Morton even creating more screen time for the supporting character. 'I said to Samantha "I want you to know you’re a genius and if you say yes I will make that part much bigger" and she said yes!'
It was a different process for Ullmann’s leading man with Farrell convincing the director that he was right for the part. 'I had a phone call with Colin and after I heard what he said it was incredible', she reiterates, 'We did very long scenes with him because I wanted to show him listening: he was a knight in shining armour with wonderful ideas.' Ullmann was so impressed with her lead actors for Miss Julie that she remembers three of them never coming out of character. 'I don’t know how good friends they were privately because they were so dedicated to their roles, it was amazing!' she laughs.
The complexity of Miss Julie is what distinguishes her as one of the greatest female characters in 19th Century theatre. Ullmann asserts that her character is one that is fairly misinterpreted and one that she finds admirable. 'I always want people to understand me; to know that I’m trying to see and understand them.' She adds, 'I’m so desperate to communicate with people because there is no less of it today. It’s the same with Miss Julie: for a little while she felt loved and for a little while she was loved.'
Miss Julie features a rather unsettling incident between Miss Julie and John (Farrell) scene in the film’s main setting of the kitchen. 'It was horrible filming it, I wanted to scream', remembers Ullmann. 'I’ve never seen anyone react like that. It was incredible and that’s how she is as an actress. I wanted to say cut because I was scared but I kept it on her and it was amazing!' Despite the complexity of these characters and Irish setting, Ullmann was certain about staying true to Strindberg’s characters. 'It’s a picture; one I feel is both a film and theatre piece, which is everything that I like about film.'
With over fifty films and five decades as an actress to add to her name, Ullmann asserts that it her recognised career that has helped shape her as a director. 'I understand actors more so by having bad directors', she says, 'as an actor you’re so open to everything: if they walk on your fantasy there is no way you can adapt to that.' Ullmann adds, 'A bad director could ruin an actor’s performance by interrupting them: I would never because a fantasy world you must leave in peace and that’s why who you select has to be the best.'
Liv Ullmann is one of the lasting cinema greats: an iconic actress, writer and filmmaker that has influenced many in the film business. With female filmmakers considerable lacking in comparisons to their opponents in the industry, Ullmann is a figure that revitalises and subverts the mainstream system. 'The more films women make the more people will see', she says. 'We will come to our right: just be patient and respect that we are women; it’s easier to a man than a woman. If you choose a woman, trust her.'
However, the filmmaker asserts that many men, as well as women, have influenced her over the years. 'Ingmar [Bergman] influenced me greatly having done eleven films with him, but also Jan Troell and the director of three of my favourite movies: Vittoria De Sica.' Growing up in a conservative household, Ullmann found rejoice through movies changing her outlook on acting, writing and filmmaking. She encourages and personifies the power of cinema and its powerful impact made on so many over the years: 'Artists really can change us in a way that politicians and generals cannot do.'
Words and interview by Victoria Russell