The Washing Machine 1993

Three eccentric sisters, the Kolbas, live together in the same penthouse: Vida Kolba, the spoiled temptress, Ludmilla Kolba, the lonely voyeur, and Maria ‘Sissy’ Kolba, the bisexual sister who owns a black cat. When Vida ends her relationship with mob boss Yuri Petkov, she discovers he engraved a bracelet with Maria’s nickname, a detail that stirs tension and sets the stage for a web of lies and desire.

Late one night, Ludmilla notices the washing machine running, blood seeping from the door, and when it opens, Yuri’s body is found inside, dismembered. Ludmilla is knocked out while trying to flee, hits her head, and by the time the police arrive, Yuri’s remains have vanished, leaving more questions than answers. Inspector Alexander Stacev arrives to assess the scene, dismissing it as a drunken hallucination and insisting there’s no real case to pursue.

Without revealing how she obtained his number, Ludmilla secretly contacts Inspector Alexander Stacev, who is at home with his girlfriend, Irina. He agrees to meet, but Vida interrupts with calculated seduction, insinuating that Ludmilla’s jealousy drove Yuri to spy on them during a consensual encounter. Stacev rebuffs Vida, yet when he attempts to meet Ludmilla, he’s blocked by an officious colleague. Soon, Stacev learns that Yuri’s criminal files are missing, a clue that hints at a cover-up.

The sisters actively shadow Stacev as he questions their alibis, turning the investigation into a psychological game. Ludmilla offers a stack of love letters from Yuri to Maria, who explains that she and her blind girlfriend Nidaya merely teased Yuri into believing she was the intended recipient. Vida manipulates the evidence, presenting a letter she claims is Yuri’s handwriting and pressing Stacev to break into Yuri’s apartment with her. In a shocking moment, Vida cuffs Stacev to a stairwell and sexually assaults him, a brutal turn that underscores the power dynamics at the heart of the case. Nikolai, Stacev’s rookie partner, makes the misstep of hiding the fact that Stacev’s fingerprints were at the scene, worsening the tension between them.

The sisters keep changing their stories or vanishing whenever Stacev closes in on the truth. Maria claims she saw her cat allegedly eat Yuri’s hand on a plate, while Ludmilla posits herself as a clairvoyant who “saw” the murder in a dream before it happened. A twist reveals that Ludmilla’s husband recently died in a canal accident, an event she’s officially cleared of, despite being the sole witness to the tragedy. Maria also uses her influence, seducing Stacev during a seminar for blind students, kissing him openly while playing with Nidaya’s inability to see.

Stacev’s relationship with Irina strains under the pressure of the case; when Irina realizes the sisters are courting the detective, she confronts the truth and ultimately dies by suicide, leaving Stacev to confront a navy of deceit. In the aftermath at headquarters, Nikolai presents two German criminals who claim Yuri conned them with counterfeit payments. Their testimony shifts the timeline, placing Yuri away from the Kolbas’ claimed whereabouts during the critical night, which means everyone’s alibi might be fabrications.

False confessions follow: Ludmilla claims Yuri died during a tryst on the washing machine, while Maria alleges she walked in on them, offered herself, and Yuri was stabbed. Amid the chaos, Stacev’s tea is drugged, and he experiences horrid dreams in which Vida appears to dismember Yuri, followed by the sisters’ wicked laughter. When the drug wears off, Vida greets him at the door, dropping a hint that Yuri’s death could be staged—yet also suggesting it might be true.

A crucial clue emerges: a suitcase filled with jewels and cash, intended for the sisters, lies hidden at Stacev’s apartment. He keeps it there while he builds a case, planning to secure the fortune. Maria meets him at the conservatory, where she flaunts photos of him with all three sisters, blackmailing him with the prospect of ruin while professing love and a desire to run away with him and the money. Stacev remains wary but is swayed by the possibility of a life beyond the case, hinting at a future where affection and wealth could coexist.

Yet Nikolai is not done with the plan. He burgles Stacev’s apartment, hoping to seize the jewels, only to be cruelly murdered by an unseen killer—revealing a deeper conspiracy. When Maria doesn’t receive the call she needs from Stacev to escape with the riches, she realizes something terrible has happened: Stacev is dead, his body disposed of in the washing machine.

Vida and Ludmilla step forward with the jewels, but the killer’s identity is suddenly clear: Yuri is alive. Nidaya reappears, having warned Maria about her fate if she fails to join the family. Yuri threatens to kill Maria unless she accepts his terms, and the five of them line up for a grim group photo, with Stacev’s corpse still haunting the washer. In a final act of vengeance, Maria turns the tables on Yuri, throwing a hot iron into his running bath and electrocuting him to death. The sisters surround Maria as she revels in their shared victory, and the room erupts into derisive laughter as their twisted alliance endures.