First published in 2005, Taschen Books’ The Stanley Kubrick Archives provides fans and film scholars an unprecedented look behind the scenes of the iconic director’s life and work. But perhaps unsurprisingly, the 544-page book hardly penetrates the wealth of material that Kubrick retained from the production of his 13 feature films. The Stanley Kubrick Archive at the University of the Arts London stands as an even richer resource — and yet, for his students, aficionados, and disciples, this still doesn’t seem like enough.

But even if Kubrick the man remains largely unknowable to the public, there were indeed people who did know him. Christiane Kubrick, the filmmaker’s third wife, first met him in 1957 during the shooting of Paths of Glory, and remained with him until his death on March 7th, 1999. To commemorate the recent Stanley Kubrick exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Christiane sat down for an exclusive conversation about her late husband’s life and work. In addition to discussing and contextualizing the behavior that earned him labels like “reclusive” and “eccentric,” Christiane talked about the challenge of choosing what parts of a private man’s life should be made public, and offered her thoughts about the myriad interpretations applied to the work of a filmmaker whose career was nothing short of mythic.