The Five Wives & Lives of Melvyn Pfferberg

2017 • 17 minutes

About this movie

Dumped on his wedding day, Melvyn Pfferberg wonders how he can find true love. Then he sees a TV Advert for gadget that guarantees romantic success, the 'Cupidatron': a helmet allowing the wearer to see the future of themselves with anyone they shake hands with.

Ratings and reviews

I've just sat through the Golden Globes, wearing my obligatory black dress, so I needed a bit of light comedic relief. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this little nugget of humourous delight. It's like a happiness enema. As a 45 year old middle aged man I have no right to laugh as much as I did. I particularly like the sound track...that girl with the Scouse accent will go far one day.

A bright, brilliant self-parody, Damian Samuels throws his heart, soul and body into the role of the lovelorn Melvyn with total enthusiasm and zero vanity. The story is told with striking visuals and cheeky music — and no dialogue, which is surprisingly unnecessary. No words are needed for Melvyn's woebegone loneliness — Samuel's vivid expressions say it all. Plus: great original song at the end performed by Mel C!

Tragic, very funny, frequently gross and always unique. In fact there is SO much going on in such a short space of film, that has to be some kind of achievement in itself, along with the lack of dialogue which challenges the viewer to imagine the unimaginable conversations between Mervyn and his various suitors. A very solid, visually rich and entertaining short film, not to be missed IMO.