A diptych portrait of the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnewskaya. Elegy of Life is a nostalgic look at the final years of Russian history, guided by Rostropovich's infectious joy, his wife's poignant serenity, and the melancholy of Sokurov, who films the end of these lives with the serenity of one who knows that death is merely the path to the light.