Ukrainian women marry and deceive U.S. men in the documentary "Love Me," released in Kyiv on March 11. The U.S. premiere took place in April 2014 and received good reviews.
Its author, American director Jonathon Narducci, spent three years shooting real stories of Western men and Ukrainian women as they search for love. Narducci teamed up with Ukrainian field producer Nadiya Parfan to create “Love Me.”
Following the U.S. men in their search for brides overseas, the director explores why they want a Ukrainian woman for a wife.
“Western men are searching someone from the 1950s who will be submissive and serve them,” the director said at the premiere screening in Kyiv on March 11.
One of Ukrainian woman profile on www.loveme.com. mail-order bride agency.
In their search of a Ukrainian bride, Westerners usually look for a woman who will put a family, not a career, in the top place in life, according to the documentary.
The movie features four American men, guided by A Foreign Affair marriage agency, coming to Ukrainian cities to meet with the women they selected online.
Looking for much more than just a pretty foreign woman, Robert, Eric, Bobby, and Travis spend thousands dollars to attend a tour, which ends with marriage for two of them.
“It is like being a kid in a candy store,” Eric says about his feelings after the tour through Ukraine.
The movie follows Eric to his first meeting with Inna, a long-legged blonde from Poltava. The two are now married and bring up a baby in Texas. Construction foreman Robert ended up marrying Vitalina, who went to the marriage agency looking for “a man with a capital ‘M.'”
But for Bobby, an avid video game player, the trip was a disaster – the woman with an appearance similar to Angelina Jolie’s didn’t show up for a date after Bobby wasted $10,000 corresponding with her through the agency website.
All the couples featured in the movie have big age differences – usually women in their early 20s and men in their 40s and 50s, usually overweight, with a home.
The movie offers a first-hand explanation of the Eastern European women urge to marry a Westerner. According to Elena Petrova, the owner of the online dating service Elena’s Models, who has left Russia to marry a wealthy Australian, Ukrainian and Russian women are exhausted with poverty, lack of career prospects and alcoholism of the local men.
“Love Me” documentary official trailer.
“Love Me” documentary (“Zamizh za Inozemcia”) runs in Kyiv Cinema at 7.15 p.m., 3.10 p.m. (19 Velyka Vasylkivska St.), Kinopanorama at 1 p.m., 5 p.m., 9 p.m. (19 Shota Rustaveli St.) in English with Ukrainian subtitles. The ticket prices vary from Hr 20-70.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuliana Romanyshyn can be reached at [email protected].
