Exhibition “I know how to steal too, madam!”

“My Wealthy Mistress” (1969, directed by Leonīds Leimanis) is one of the few Riga Film Studio films based on the works of writer Andrejs Upītis. The film takes place in Riga during the 1920s-30s, the first period of independence of the Republic of Latvia. The plot follows Oļģerts Kurmis, played by Eduards Pāvuls – the character who in the history of Latvian cinema embodies the well-educated but unemployed stereotype. His daily rounds in search of work brings Kurmis face to face with the full range of economic and social inequalities of Riga, as he crosses paths with his buddy Frīdis (Kārlis Sebris), also unemployed, and Emma Kārkls (Līga Liepiņa) – a young woman just released from jail, who needs to find a job or risk being arrested for loitering. Meanwhile, the city prepares for election, the charged political race becoming the perfect background for the human drama exacerbated by inequality.
In this exhibition we are focusing on the longing captured on the celluloid. Emma Kārkls yearns for something more – love and beauty that are elusive and distant concepts for an impoverished girl with a criminal past. Riga in this film is a different version of today’s city – mythical place conjured with cinematic means. Desire for another reality is a characteristic trait of cinema, and “My Wealthy Mistress” takes us to a different time and space, revealing previously overlooked facets of reality and manifesting our collective yearning for a world consisting of something more than daily toil.