AllMovie

In 1919, two years after the Russian Revolution made him one of the most powerful men in the world, Joseph Stalin wed 18-year-old Nadezhda Alliluyev, the daughter of a close friend. Fourteen years later, Nadezhda was dead, with a bullet in her head and a gun in her hand. Did ruthless Stalin arrange for the death of his wife, or did she commit suicide, a possible consequence of learning the full and deadly extend of her husband's tyranny? And what was the nature of their relationship, and Nadezhda's role in Stalin's political life? Stalin's Wife is a documentary which presents most of the known facts about Nadezhda Alliluyev, as well as some of the more interesting suppositions about her and her life -- including the suggestion that Stalin may have had an affair with her mother, or that Stalin, smitten with Nadezhda, may have stolen away from the Russian Revolution to spend time with her. Stalin's Wife was directed by Slava Tsukerman, best known for the offbeat new wave sci-fi comedy Liquid Sky.