Tchaikovsky's Wife (15)

★★★✭ A revisionist piece from Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov delves into the life of the estranged wife of the celebrated gay composer, however, like Ken Russell's 1971 biopic The Music Lovers, it plays little regard to historical facts. ~ ManchesterTheatres.com.

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Antonina Miliukova is a beautiful and bright young woman in Kirill Serebrennikov's "Zhena Chaikovskogo", born in the aristocracy of 19th century Russia. She could have anything she’d want, and yet her only obsession is to marry Pyotr Tchaikovsky, with whom she falls in love from the very moment she hears his music.

The composer finally accepts this union, but after blaming her for his misfortunes and breakdowns, his attempts to get rid of his wife are brutal.

Consumed by her feelings for him, Antonina decides to endure and do whatever it takes to stay with him.

Humiliated, disgraced and discarded, she is slowly driven to madness.

Languages:
French, Italian and Russian

Subtitles:
Full English

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★★★★ This is a year in which a Russian film competing for the Palme d’Or will inevitably attract attention, especially one featuring Pyotr Tchaikovsky, an emblem of national pride. Yet Kirill Serebrennikov is no ordinary Russian director and this is no blind piece of hero worship. ~ The Times.

★★★★ Serebrennikov’s hallucinogenic portrait is a punishing, but admirably ambitious revisionist period piece. A feverish biopic which plays as a symphony of cruelty. ~ The Observer.

★★★ Alyona Mikhailova is tremendous as estranged wife Antonina, whose naivety and narcissism fester in the rubble of her marriage to the gay composer. ~ The Guardian.