Q&A with Elliott Gould and filmmakers Ben and Josh Safdie (Daddy Long Legs) after Nov. 6 screening!

Elliott Gould turned down McCabe & Mrs. Miller to star as an ornery, suicidal writer in Bergman’s American co-production. An archaeologist abroad (Gould) causes a rupture in the ostensibly serene relationship between two thoughtful Swedes (Bibi Andersson and Max von Sydow). Shot by Sven Nykvist on an island near Bergman’s Fårö hideaway. Of Gould, Bergman said, “I think it is a catastrophe for the creative powers of this man to just to make pictures, because he is also a Shakespearean actor, an Ibsen actor, a Strindberg actor. A wonderful Molière actor.” Gould himself observed “I read [the script] more intently than I’ve read anything in my life. I probably memorized it in one reading. And I got a migraine headache.”

“A trip—if not a mindfuck.”
—J. Hoberman

Special thanks to The Swedish Film Institute and the Bergman family for the use of the archive 35mm print of The Touch.