| Trap for a Lonely Man | |||||
| Native Name: |
| ||||
| Director: | Aleksey Korenev | ||||
| Screenplay: | Aleksey Korenev | ||||
| Cinematography: | Anatoly Mukasei | ||||
| Editing: | Irma Tsekavaya | ||||
| Music: | Maksim Dunayevsky | ||||
| Studio: | Creative Unification Entertainment Film | ||||
| Distributor: | State Committee for Cinematography | ||||
| Runtime: | 87 minutes | ||||
| Country: | Soviet Union | ||||
| Language: | Russian | ||||
Trap for a Lonely Man (ru|Ловушка для одинокого мужчины|Lovushka dlya odinokogo muzhchiny) is a 1990 Soviet comedy mystery film detective film directed by . It is based on the 1960 play of the same name by Robert Thomas.[1] [2]
The film tells about a man whose wife was missing, which forced him to turn to the police. Suddenly, a local curé brings to him a woman who calls herself his wife, and he claims that he never saw her.
The story is set in a suburb somewhere in France. Newlywed Daniel Corban approaches the police commissioner to report the disappearance of his wife, Elizabeth. A few days later, Madame Corban returns home accompanied by a local priest, but Daniel is stunned by her appearance and refuses to recognize her as his lawful wife. He believes this woman is an imposter attempting to claim his fortune. Elizabeth is an orphan, and Daniel has no photos or identification documents to prove her identity. No one can corroborate Daniel’s story, as the couple married recently and in a secluded location.
Complications arise when a drunken artist nicknamed "Papa Merlush," who was a random witness at Daniel and Elizabeth's wedding, unexpectedly appears. He offers to describe the real Elizabeth's appearance in exchange for payment. However, the imposter "wife" shoots Merlush, accusing Daniel of the murder. The police commissioner calls in a nurse, Yvonne Berto, who had previously treated Elizabeth, as a witness. Berto openly negotiates her testimony, offering to either confirm or deny the imposter’s identity based on who pays her more. Ultimately, Daniel loses control and confesses that the real Elizabeth is dead, revealing that her body is in a mountain stream in the Chamois forest.
In the finale, the police commissioner reveals that he orchestrated the entire scenario as a staged performance to elicit Daniel Corban’s confession to his wife's murder. Elizabeth’s body had already been discovered, and the commissioner immediately suspected her husband. Instead of conducting routine interrogations, he devised this unconventional plan. A married actor couple, the Tarks, played the roles of the priest and Elizabeth, while the real witnesses—Papa Merlush and Nurse Berto—were also involved. The plan successfully traps the perpetrator.
The film was shot at the Yalta Film Studio.[3]
Aleksandr Kolbovsky of Sputnik kinozritelya praised the actors' performances, but still found them generally lacking a French style, and concluded that the film is "unpretentious, but entertaining and even at times fascinating".[4]