Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator

Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (Serbo-Croatian: Ljubavni slučaj ili tragedija službenice P.T.T.) is a 1967 Yugoslav film directed by Dušan Makavejev.[1]

Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator
Italian Movie Poster
Directed byDušan Makavejev
Written byDušan Makavejev
Branko Vučićević
StarringEva Ras
Slobodan Aligrudić
CinematographyAleksandar Petković
Edited byKatarina Stojanović
Production
company
Release date
  • 1967 (1967)
Running time
79 minutes
CountryYugoslavia
LanguageSerbo-Croatian

Plot

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The film begins with a sexologist in his office, talking about the history of sex.

Izabela (Eva Ras), an ethnic Hungarian switchboard operator, meets and falls in love with a Sandžak Muslim sanitation inspector named Ahmed (Slobodan Aligrudić), who soon moves into her apartment and has a shower installed. The film then cuts away to a police investigation of the death of a young woman by drowning. Ahmed goes away on business for a month. During his absence, Izabela finally gives in to a persistently amorous postman.

When Ahmed returns, he finds Izabela different, less loving. (She has found out she is pregnant.) He gets very drunk, and when Isabella chases after him to keep him from harm, he threatens to commit suicide by jumping into an underground cistern. However, Ahmed ends up accidentally pushing Izabela in instead, killing her. He goes into hiding, but is arrested by the police for murder. The film concludes with a scene of Ahmed and Izabela walking down a staircase.

Cast

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Home media

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It was released as part of the three-film DVD collector's set Eclipse Series 18: Dušan Makavejev—Free Radical by the Criterion Collection.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (14 August 2023). "Love Affair, or The Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator review – dissident sex and death". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-09-10.
  2. ^ "Eclipse Series 18: Dušan Makavejev—Free Radical". The Criterion Collection.
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