A COUPLE
O.V. in French subtitled in English and Spanish
Frederick Wiseman, a historical figure of documentary cinema, has decided at the age of 92 to let loose with an unexpected and disturbing fiction about Leo Tolstoy and his wife, Sophia. They were married for 36 years and had 13 children. In A Couple, inspired by their diaries, is Sophia, whose voice we hear. Which entails being the genius's wife, the one who deals with the practicalities of life, the one who has to put up with the writer's vagaries, mood swings and insecurities. Wiseman leaves us holding our breath. This is what modernity was all about.
Direction: Frederick Wiseman
Screenplay: Frederick Wiseman, Nathalie Boutefeu
Cinematography: John Davey
Editing: Frederick Wiseman
Sound: Jean-Paul Mugel, Emmanuel Croset
Cast: Nathalie Boutefeu
Production: Frederick Wiseman, Karen Konicek
Production company: Zipporah Films, Wat Films
Distributor: Météore Films
Internationals sales: The Party Film Sales
Boston, 1930. Frederick Wiseman, the great living figure of modern documentary cinema, had his directorial debut with the legendary Titicut Follies (1967), a stark portrayal of a psychiatric hospital. This was the first of his incursions into institutions, scrutinized through an exhaustive and precise work of observation. Wiseman, like no other, completes a cinematic corpus showing the real gears of the system by addressing: the educational institutions with High School in 1967 and At Berkeley in 2013; the local authorities with City Hall in 2020; the healthcare with Hospital in 1970; the military with Basic Training in 1971, Manoeuvre in 1979 and Missile in 1988; the housing with Public Housing in 1977; and museums with National Gallery in 2014. After almost six decades of activity and more than forty titles to his name, he now presents A Couple, his first fiction film at 92.
