WRITTEN BY: Annika Pham
The six-part series produced by Miso Film has started filming in Stockholm for Swedish pubcaster SVT and European cultural channel ARTE. Fremantle handles global distribution.
Faithless (Trolösa) is the TV adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s script, first brought to the big screen by Liv Ullmann in her feature film of the same name, which competed for a Palme d’or in Cannes 2000.
The TV version is penned by Norway’s seasoned screenwriter Sara Johnsen, credit for NRK’s series July 22, winner of the 2020 Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize.
The series was initiated by SVT and the multi-awarded Swedish director Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Let the Right One In) who brought in Johnsen mid-2021.
In an earlier statement, Alfredson explained how he had first contacted the Swedish master Ingmar Bergman to create a possible TV adaptation of his script.
“Sometime during the winter of 2001, I contacted Ingmar Bergman and asked if I could reinterpret his story. Initially he said it sounded like "a drunken idea". But the longer we talked about it, he thought it sounded both "terribly exciting" and "really sh*tty".
Under Johnsen’s creative input and interpretation, the love triangle between David, Marianne and Markus is told in two time periods.
In the present-day storyline, the renowned director David Howard (73), is reunited with his former great love, actress Marianne Vogler (75). Together, they reminisce about their previous relationship and its painful consequences, not just for themselves, but for their families.
In the main storyline set 40 years earlier, we follow the young David and Marianne as they fall in love and embark on a passionate love affair, kept secret as Marianne is married to David’s best friend Markus Vogler.
Lena Endre who received a Guldbagge award in 2001 for her interpretation of Marianne in Liv Ullmann’s feature, reprises the iconic role, this time as the ageing woman at the centre of the love triangle. Danish star Jesper Christensen (James Bond, Exit, Nymphomaniac) is the elder director, a character inspired by Bergman himself. The young couple are played by Frida Gustavsson (Vikings, Partisan) and Gustav Lindh (Queen of Hearts, Burn All My Letters, while German/Swedish actor August Wittgenstein (The Crown, Ku’damm) plays Markus.
“I have been living with Faithless for more than 20 years and I’m thrilled that we now have commenced shooting”, said Alfredson, adding. “The casting of Faithless is crucial for the complex story and I have worked very hard to attract the right cast for the series.”
Anna Croneman, SVT’s Head of Drama praises the project where “past and present Swedish film history are coming together with Tomas’ take on Ingmar Bergman’s story.”
Peter Bose, producer and CEO of Fremantle-owned Miso Film said he developed the show in close collaboration with Alfredson, Johnsen and SVT and brought in ARTE at a very early stage.
The series produced by Bose with Christian Rank and Jonas Allen, has received support from DR, NRK, YLE, RUV, and Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
Filming takes place since August 7 almost entirely in Stockholm and surroundings, and will continue until December 2023.
Miso Film's TV credits include Netflix's The Rain, Tobias Lindholm's acclaimed series The Investigation, and Christopher Boe's Face to Face.
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