The Sentimental Policeman

After completing critically rigorous The Asthenic Syndrome, Muratova shifted to films rooted in comedy and melodrama, developing adventurous plots using social reality as a backdrop. The Sentimental Policeman revolves around a humble law enforcement officer who unexpectedly discovers his deep and overwhelming attachment toward an abandoned baby found in a cabbage patch. After she is taken to an orphanage, the emotional connection he has developed leads him to search for her with the hopes of adoption. Although the setting in The Sentimental Policeman is never explicitly defined by the director, the location reveals itself as the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa, with its touristic atmosphere, vibrant local community, and patina of neglected historical architecture. From this film on, Muratova abandoned radical visual and editing experiments while adopting unexpected plot twists, outré characters, and absurdist dialogue, further developing the style she invented in the direction of simplification and theatricalization.