The Man Who Envied Women

The Man Who Envied Women wryly chronicles the aftermath of a breakup between a philandering professor, played by two different actors, and his artist wife, voiced by choreographer Trisha Brown, who serves as the largely unseen narrator. Yet the work’s concerns radiate far beyond the couple, expanding to include film history and on-the-ground politics alike—punctuating the piece are a variety of cinematic quotations, from Hollis Frampton to Barbara Stanwyck, as well as documentary footage of spirited exchanges about American imperialism in Latin America and the housing crisis in New York. Explored throughout, Rainer wrote, “are the contrasts and outright contradictions that pervade many areas of this man’s life,” like his theoretical commitment to feminism relative to the fact of his womanizing.