Visits with Wilbur are complimented with a wealth of photographs from his family albums and revealing glimpses into his home, studio and libraries in Cummington, MA, as filmmaker and friend, Ralph Hammann, builds an elegiac portrait of an exemplary man who calls us to the best versions of ourselves.

Chapters explore Wilbur’s childhood, service in WW2, miraculous translations of Molière, teaching, famous friendships (including Robert Frost), home life as a father of four, witty books for children, and work with Leonard Bernstein and Lillian Hellman on the legendary musical, Candide. Suffused throughout, is the love story of his remarkable 64 year marriage to Charlee and his years following her death as he contemplated his own mortality while in his 90s.

Alternating between biography and master classes in poetry and the creative processes, the film features Wilbur’s final readings of many of his poems and includes interviews with such luminaries as Brian Bedford, Rhina P. Espaillat, Dana Gioia, Donald Hall, Barry Moser, Austin Pendleton, John Simon, David Sofield, Stephen Sondheim, A.E. Stallings, and biographers, Robert and Mary Bagg.

The film also exists in a shorter, 179 minute, version intended for theatrical distribution. This iteration is titled Richard Wilbur . . . Keeping the Difficult Balance.