An Evening of Letters: Two 'Fiction' Films from Frederick Wiseman

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Discover two standout entries in the esteemed career of legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman: The Last Letter, made in 2003 as an adaption of a chapter in Vasily Grossman's epic WWII novel Life and Fate, and A Couple, Wiseman's latest film, based on a series of letters and diary entries shared between Sophia Tolstoy to her husband, Leo. Both films are connected by written letters and the power of personal testimony, and contain Wiseman's trademark observational humanism and penchant for finding stirring emotional resonance in monologue. Viewers have the rare opportunity to glimpse a window into another side of Wiseman; one no less grand and illuminating than in his masterly social documentaries.

A Couple (Un Couple) | 2022 | 63 min

The latest film from legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman, A Couple is only the second non-documentary film in his long career. The story follows the relationship between a man and a woman. The man is Leo Tolstoy. The woman is his wife, Sophia. They were married for 36 years and had 13 children, nine of whom survived. Each kept a diary. Although they lived together in the same house, they frequently wrote letters to each other. The Tolstoy’s were a dysfunctional couple, arguing frequently, while occasionally enjoying passionate moments of reconciliation. The film is Sophia’s monologue about the joys and struggles of their life together, loosely drawn from their letters to each other and their diary entries.

The Last Letter (Derniere Lettre) | 2003 | 61 min 

Based on a chapter of Vasily Grossman’s novel Life and Fate, this is the first non-documentary film in Frederick Wiseman’s career. In this story, it is 1941. A Ukrainian ghetto has fallen to the Nazis and all of its Jewish residents are slated to be murdered. In the midst of the impending horror, the town’s physician, a woman named Anna Semionova, dictates one final letter to her son, who is safe outside of enemy lines. The letter, with its detailed observations of daily life in a ghetto, reveals the fear, courage, frailty, compassion and dignity of this woman as she reviews her life and faces her death.

Both films are in French with English subtitles.

Tickets: $15 (Members from $10)