Watch Clip From CPH:DOX World Premiere ‘Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other’

EXCLUSIVE: It may not sound like it from the title, but the documentary Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other is, in fact, a love story. A love story not without complications.

The film directed by Jacob Perlmutter and Manon Ouimet explores the bond between artists Maggie Barrett and Joel Meyerowitz who have been together for decades. Their relationship takes a significant turn when septuagenarian Barrett breaks her leg, and her husband Meyerowitz, an octogenarian, becomes her caregiver.

Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other is making its world premiere in main competition this Saturday at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. The same day, the documentary will screen at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival in Greece, technically considered the “international premiere” of Two Strangers. We have your first look at the film in the clip above.

A synopsis of the film notes, “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.”

In a joint directors’ statement, Perlmutter and Ouimet – partners in life as well as on the documentary – explain that they moved in with their protagonists as they shot the film.

“As one artist couple making a film about another artist couple, we discovered that we shared similar values. Although separated by many decades of life experience and artistic output and practice, we found deep trust and commonality and agreed that the purest way to let the process unfold would be for us to live with Maggie and Joel during filming. Following deep discussions around trust, intimate subjects and situations, we entered an agreement to ‘just see’ where the year would carry them – and the film,” the directors write.

“The impact of the unexpected events and complexity of their lives unfolded and began to illuminate the depths of Maggie and Joel’s relationship, prompting a series of intense situations as the year of filming progressed. Meanwhile, our own family dynamic was set to change, with a baby due just as we would wrap filming. This additional life, as it grew, underlined the urgency and beauty of the poignance of mortality.

“With the female-male maker/ subject symmetry, we hope that the film provides conversations around gender balance of any and all configurations. Maggie and Joel also belong to an older demographic often marginalised by society and seldom represented in film. Our documentary lends an unfiltered voice to this group through its central protagonists and we hope will prompt conversations for people of all ages with its relatable themes both about age and in defiance of it.”

The film is produced by Manon Ouimet, Oscar nominee Signe Byrge Sørensen, and Jacob Perlmutter. Executive producers include Mandy Chang, Joslyn Barnes, Melissa O’Shaughnessy, James O’Shaughnessy, Janus Billeskov Jansen.

Cinetic Media presents Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other, a Manon et Jacob and Final Cut For Real production in co-production with Undeniable — a Fremantle-owned label — and Louverture Films.

In the emotional clip above, Maggie and Joel fold clothes as they ponder some profound questions.