Woman and Her Four Men

Colour, 35 mm
Lithuania, 1983, 92 min
Section: Baltic Films

Synopsis

A balladic story from a Baltic fishermen´s settlement set at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Life is merciless towards the main heroine. Two of her men were taken by the cruel sea, with which they struggled daily for a poor catch and just for their survival. Her third husband was killed by some vagabond. But there is always someone from her family to come and take care of her children and her house. Now it is the turn of the father of her first husband, released from prison. He arrives to provide for his grandsons, protect her family from destitution and look after a house exposed to wind and storms. 

About the director

Algimants Puipa (b. 1951), after a successful beginning as an amateur, graduated from Moscow’s VGIK film school (1974), then worked for Lithuanian Film Studios. He has concentrated on adaptations of domestic literature, and on expressing the mentality of Lithuanian fishermen and rural people. His extensive filmography includes: Devil’s Seed (Velnio dekia, 1981), A Woman and Her Four Men (Moteris ir keturi jos vyrai, 1983), Eternal Light (Amžinoji šviesa, 1987; awarded at San Remo), The Fish Day (Žuvies diena, 1987). The Karlovy Vary festival has screened: Over There the Shores Are Sandy (Ir ten krantai smeleti, 1991), A Wolf-Tooth Necklace (Vilko dantu karoliai, 1997) and Elze’s Life (Elze íš gilios, 1999).