Un couple

Sophia and Leo Tolstoy were married for 36 years. Despite some moments of intimate reconciliation, their relationship was dysfunctional and unhappy. Based on Sophia's diary entries, which Wiseman has translated into a monologue form, UN COUPLE portrays a difficult relationship as complex as it is moving. “Who could have guessed that Frederick Wiseman’s first fiction feature – a mesmerizing, meditative masterpiece made at age 92, only two months after the death of his wife of 66 years, Zipporah Batshaw Wiseman (whose first name has served as the name of his production company) – would in some ways resemble some of the late works of Jean-Marie Straub?” (Jonathan Rosenbaum) (hb)