Tchaikovsky’s Wife
International Panorama: Russia
A visionary evocation of the heartbreak and sickness of a woman in love with a Russian icon who doesn’t love her back. Screened at the 2023 Chichester International Film Festival.
The year is 1872, Antonina (Alyona Mikhailova) is a student and admirer, to say the least, of Pyotr Tchaikovsky (Odin Lund Biron). She is desperate to meet the famous composer and at a party has the chance to briefly acquaint herself with him before he leaves.
She eventually tracks him down and convinces him to visit her, at which point she confesses her love and proposes that he take her as his wife. There is no denying the ambition or craft of this visually virtuosic film, with Serebrennikov mounting elaborate long takes that sometimes play disorientating games with time and space.