Kira Muratova is a respected and original contemporary film director, yet her earliest works were not welcomed when they were first shown at the beginning of Brezhnev's "period of stagnation." Only in 1987, in one of the first breaths of perestroika, were these movies rereleased, sending Muratova from talented pariah to celebrity almost overnight. Drawing from interviews with Muratova herself and her friends, unpublished scripts and interviews with audiences, Taubman traces the progress of Muratova's career, looking closely at each of her films, including the 1990 masterpiece Asthenic Syndrome. She also surveys critical reaction to her films, both in Russia and the West.