The Cinematheque

Made shortly after his acclaimed futuristic fantasy Aelita, Queen of Mars, director Yakov Protazanov’s brisk, lively comedy is set against everyday life in a small Russian town during the time of Lenin’s New Economic Policy. Comic actor Igor Ilyinsky (the amateur detective in Aelita) is Petya, a humble tailor working in the shop of widow Shirinikina. The strong-willed widow decides she wants to take Petya for a husband—and is not going to take no for an answer! Petya, meanwhile, is falling in love with Katya, a local domestic. The purchase of a lottery ticket, and its subsequent loss, plays a major part in the comic antics. The film was commissioned by the USSR’s State Lottery Loan.