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Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other

Available in 12d 12h 02m 20s
Available April 6, 2025 3:00 PM UTC
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In this tender and intimate view of life among artists, novelist Maggie Barrett and photographer Joel Meyerowitz are fast approaching their twilight years. As they learn the push and pull of caring for each other, we the viewers are regaled with a lifetime marked by creative epiphanies, career regrets…and hope.


Thirty years after a chance encounter, Maggie and Joel—ages 75 and 84—are still very much in love. But their relationship is not without complications. Born in the hard-boiled Bronx, Joel Meyerowitz is a world-renowned photographer with major exhibitions and 40 books to his name. British-born Maggie Barrett is a talented but less recognized artist and writer. There is a knot of unease in their relationship, which is further strained when Maggie falls and breaks her leg and Joel becomes her caregiver. In the shadow of mortality, each with a long and dramatic life behind them, the hard truths of life together provoke in Maggie and Joel an attempt to find a shared inner-peace while there is still time. With unique access to the couple’s lives, directors Jacob Perlmutter and Manon Ouimet have created a profoundly moving film about living, creating, and loving.


  • Year
    2024
  • Runtime
    100 minutes
  • Language
    English, French, Italian
  • Country
    UK, Denmark, USA
  • Premiere
    Cleveland
  • Director
    Jacob Perlmutter, Manon Ouimet
  • Producer
    Manon Ouimet, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Jacob Perlmutter
  • Cast
    Maggie Barrett, Joel Meyerowitz
  • Cinematographer
    Jacob Perlmutter
  • Editor
    Estephan Wagner, Josh Mallalieu