Want More of Magic!

November, 2020

Nina Zaretskaya’s documentary Married to Math is captivating and hypnotically lyric. It introduces the viewers to the lives and works of three Russian mathematicians' personal experiences by unveiling a dimension where artistic oeuvre is married, as the title highlights, to science.

Zaretskaya confers to the narration a very dynamic flow by beautifully interwoven colorful images of artworks, music, and a narrating voice over with black and white close-ups of the three main characters recollecting their journeys of becoming mathematicians and while also pursuing an artistic career. Worth noting too is the clever use of the above-mentioned components to create an element of surprise to the narration when it is revealed that these pieces are fragments taken from original creations by the three scientists.

I only wish Zaretskaya will be able to produce a longer version of it to expand the storytelling of such fascinating characters.

Cristina Morandi, Ph.D.
Art historian, curator