"Faithless" was written by Bergman and is based on actual events from his life. It tells the story of Maryanne, who engineers an adulterous affair with her husband's best friend. What starts out as a simple plan ends in tragedy. But the film is full of ambiguity, and offers no swelling strings to guide the viewer toward the proper conclusion. There are fantastical Bergman-esque elements, too: In the opening frames, an elderly writer named Bergman conjures up the character Maryanne from his memory, and Maryanne begins to recount her painful tale. Or perhaps she never existed, and the whole event is a fiction.

Though "Faithless" marks Ullmann's fifth outing as a director, she is best known for her work as an actor, appearing in some 40 films, nine of which were directed by Bergman. She has also written two books and has acted on stages all over the world. These days, she has all but retired from acting and dedicates most of her time to directing. She's uncertain about what's next for her, and, true to form, she says she's more interested in letting the answer come to her.

This film is based on painful events from Ingmar Bergman's life. How did he approach you to direct it with that in mind?

I think he felt it was so personal that he couldn't do it himself. Because he's a great artist, most of what he writes is personal, but it's very seldom you can see [a character representing] Bergman directly in a movie. This time, though, he's even called the main character Bergman. He said, "I couldn't think of another name."

And I think that's why he wanted someone else to do it, but someone that he really trusted -- someone that really could see things he wasn't sure he wanted to show. He wrote "Faithless" more or less as a monologue. He didn't want to make a shooting script or anything. He wanted a woman's vision to be part of it, and a woman's images, and a woman's experience. And that's why he asked me to do it.

Did your relationship with Bergman change between your work with him as an actress and your work with him now as a director?

In some ways, yes, but I'd already directed three films when he asked me to do the first one for him. I just took it that what I had done was something he really liked and really trusted, and that he saw me as a person who knew what was lying behind his words.

It was good, because I had stopped acting for him many years ago. "Autumn Sonata" was the last film we did together, in 1979. I never thought we'd work together again, and suddenly this came, and it's marvelous. I think few people experience that. You have a love relationship in one field of the arts, and then suddenly you meet many years after and you have another love relationship. And with love, I mean artistic love.

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