How a Soviet marriage swindler named Alain Delon became the prototype for the protagonist of the series "Casanova"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Recently the premiere of the detective series "Casanova" took place with Anton Khabarov and Svetlana Khodchenkova in the lead roles. In the center of the plot is the story of a Soviet marriage swindler, whose victims were women "with a position in society." Few viewers know that the main character had a real prototype - a swindler Yuri Lajun named Alain Delon, who seduced and robbed 72 women! At the same time, at the trial, many of them asked to mitigate the sentence and presented amazing arguments …

The first statements from deceived women from different regions and republics of the USSR began to arrive in the second half of the 1960s. Their stories were very similar: in just a few days, an intelligent, attractive man, who introduced himself as an employee of a secret research institute, or as a polar pilot, or as a sea captain, rubbed himself into trust, seduced the victim, and then, under various pretexts, lured away money and valuables from her. At first, the police were ironic about this fraudster: describing his appearance, many women showed the cover of a magazine with a photograph of Alain Delon, whose film (“Black Tulip”) was just released. But when the number of thefts exceeded several dozen, there was no laughing matter.

The detectives called him that - Alain Delon. Information about his new "exploits" appeared almost weekly. He presented documents to many women - either a certificate of a drummer of socialist labor in the name of Nikolai Pushchin, or a certificate of a nuclear physicist Pshentsov. When investigators found these people, it turned out that a random acquaintance had stolen their documents. The fraudster was very resourceful and told a new legend to each victim. Often, women were so imbued with sympathy for a world-renowned scientist who is being hunted by agents of the secret services, or for a robbed socialist labor drummer, or a missed business trip that they themselves gave him their money and valuables. If this did not happen, "Alain Delon" found ways to lull their vigilance and rob them.

In the early 1970s. the detectives finally managed to get on the trail of the swindler. One of his former colleagues, whom Yuri also robbed, identified him by the composite image and gave his real name and surname. A composite sketch and special signs were sent to all major railway stations in the country. There, Alain Delon got "burned": he tried to seduce the barmaid who worked at the station in Gatchina, but she recognized him and handed over to the police.

The most surprising thing was not that the swindler managed to seduce and rob 72 women, but the fact that almost all of them were very grateful to him! All of them unanimously repeated that "Alain Delon" gave them real happiness, albeit very fleeting, made it possible to feel loved and desired. At the trial, they tried in every possible way to shield him, to acquit him, to achieve a mitigation of the sentence. Despite this, Yuri Lajun was sentenced to capital punishment (he took the life of one of his victims), and in 1975 the sentence was carried out.

Although, while working on the script, the creators of the series "Casanova" really got acquainted with the materials of this criminal case, they did not aim to reproduce the details of Yuri Lajun's scams with documentary accuracy. Director Kirill Belevich said: "".

The creators of the series focused on the most important thing - the truth of the characters. Therefore, the leading actor faced an incredibly difficult task: to create such a vivid image so that the audience would believe that dozens of women could sacrifice a lot for a few moments of happiness with this person. The search for an actor for the main role continued for a long time, until the director opted for Anton Khabarov. One of the arguments in favor of this applicant was the fact that together with Svetlana Khodchenkova they looked very organic.

Anton Khabarov had to play several roles at once, because in each episode his hero transforms into a new character, the type of activity and image of which the swindler selects specifically for each of the victims. The actor said: "".

Many viewers were surprised to see Svetlana Khodchenkiy in an unusual role for her - a modest, nondescript, unhappy single mother, a female investigator who forgets about her professional duties as soon as she herself gets hooked on a marriage swindler. The creation of just such an image was one of the main conditions for the director. He first met the actress when she was preparing for the premiere of the play. Khodchenkova looked then exhausted and tired, and the director complimented her on her appearance and asked her to create exactly the same image in the series. Belevich thought it was fundamentally important: "".

Svetlana Khodchenkova believes that Casanova himself can be called the prototype of the protagonist, after whom the series was named, because it is precisely because the swindler “easily mimics every new darling”, surrounds her with attention, creates the atmosphere she needs and the feeling of a holiday, everything his victims did not feel offense, but grateful.

From the very first episodes, Casanova had very high ratings. Kirill Belevich sees the success of his project in the fact that in the genre of a detective series he managed to tell a very simple and close story to many - about the loneliness of not only women, but also Casanova himself, who took revenge on all the representatives of the opposite sex for leaving him once in childhood mother.

Yuri Lajun was not the only fraudster who profited from deceived women: The most famous marriage swindlers.