Duet for One

Duet for One (1986) is a British film adapted from the play, a two-hander by Tom Kempinski, about a world-famous concert violinist named Stephanie Anderson who is suddenly struck with multiple sclerosis. It is set in London and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky. The story is based on the life of cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who was diagnosed with MS, and her husband, conductor Daniel Barenboim, and only marginally fictionalized.

Synopsis

Stephanie Anderson (Julie Andrews) is suffering from multiple sclerosis and she is slipping into the depths of depression. She begins seeing a psychiatrist (Max von Sydow) and despises him for not being able to feel her pain. Her conductor husband (Alan Bates) is also drifting away from her, having an affair with his secretary. Stephanie shuts herself away from the world, once locking her door and replaying her old concert tapes, watching despairingly as her on-screen self plays music that she will never be able to create again. She attempts suicide but fails when her maid rescues her. Soon, however, she comes to terms with the facts of her bitter end and realizes that life must go on.