PHILIP ROTH

Seven days: we spent seven days with Philip Roth – in New York where he lives, and in his estate in the heart of Connecticut Woodlands where he wrote several of his novels. We filmed him at home and at work, in the streets of New York and in the countryside. But mostly – we let him talk. And talk he did, confiding in us like never before, allowing us into his inner circle where we met the likes of Mia Farrow, a longtime friend who inspired part of his new novel, Nemesis. He spoke of his family, his fantasies, his obsessions, Jewish humor, the turmoil of sex, love, the writers he admired, fame, depression, old age, illness, impotence and death – all the while reading to us from his own books.

The last giant icon of American literature, Philip Roth cuts a fascinating, disrupting, indeed disturbing, figure as a writer. From Portnoy’s Complaint, his first literary success, to his latest works, he has painted an uncompromising picture of society – a society from which he has retired for self-preservation. Revealing himself here for the very first time at age 78, the great man is very much alive and kicking – a man of charm, exquisitely funny… and full of surprises!