The Asthenic Syndrome

Synopsis

Divided into two stylistic halves—opening with a black-and-white chronicle of a grief-crazed female doctor mourning her dead husband who lashes out at strangers on streetcars, before cutting to a full-color narrative about a depressive high school English teacher who suffers from narcolepsy and falls asleep during meetings, subways, and mental asylums as Soviet society collapses around him. Kira Muratova's Berlin Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize-winning perestroika monument that shocked Soviet censors.