Lonely Woman Seeks Life Companion (1986)
Klava, a lonely woman who is bored with her life, posts an advertisement seeking a male companion. Valentin, a retired circus performer, responds to her message and the two enter a dubious relationship.
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This undemonstrative slice-of-Soviet-life may be the quintessential sleeper: a small but valuable gem deserving more attention than it will likely ever earn. When it was released in the US the film was sold (disingenuously) as a romantic comedy about the singles scene behind the Iron Curtain, but don't be misled: it's actually a poignant, emotional portrait of solitude and isolation, two conditions hardly exclusive to Soviet Russia. The lonely woman is a quietly desperate 43-year old spinster who, in a moment of weakness, tacks the title ad to several telephone poles, attracting only the attention of a homeless drunk even more pathetic than herself. What follows is little more than a sad duet between mutual strangers, played with delicate sympathy by two virtuoso actors. The production itself is technically crude (by Hollywood standards), but the low budget lack of polish only enhances the fragile intimacy of the story. Unglamorous it may be, but also equally unforgettable.