The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1992) - full transcript
Dostoevsky's "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" tells the story of a desperate man disenchanted with the world and at the verge of committing suicide. But when a little girl comes his way ...
THE DREAM OF A RIDICULOUS MAN
based on a story by F. Dostoyevsky
A. Petrov
Everything was like in our world
but glowed with majestic glory
In our world, I have never seen
such beauty in Man
Perhaps only in our children, in the
very first years of their age
From my first glance on their faces,
I understood everything.
Everything!
It was a world, not corrupted by
the sin of the Fall.
The people who lived there were
innocent
I saw them myself, I understood them.
I loved them!
I suffered for them afterwards...
A dream, my dear,
is nonsense, hallucination.
But how to create paradise...
I don't know
Because I can't express it in words
But it's all so simple
In one day, in one hour
Everything came to place at once
The most important thing
is to love others like yourself
That is the most important thing
Except that, you don't need anything.
The truth became clear to me last November
Namely, third of November
I remember every instance of that day
I aimed to kill myself that night
And would have defiantly shot myself
If not that girl
Mister!
There
Mama
Mister!
Mister!
It means nothing to me now
In an hour or two all will end,
And then what do I care of this girl,
or the whole world.
I will become null.
Absolute null!
Bugger off!
Who'd that?
Now, life and world depend on me
I shoot myself and the world is gone
at least for me
I also thought; what if I lived on the
moon or Mars before
And would have done there some
dishonest deed
Would I care about it from here or not?!
And that point I fell asleep
Slipped into sleep unnoticed
continuing to ponder at the same matter
Seems there is life after the grave...
Could it be that this Earth is the same as ours?
How can such a repeat be possible?
And what for?
They were in love with one another
All was whole, all was shared
They had love, children were born.
But never have I noticed urges of that
cruel pleasure-seeking
which afflicts almost all inhabitants of
our Earth
Each and every one.
And serve as almost the sole origin
of humanity's sins
Is it really important if it's a dream or not,
If this dream showed me the truth
How could me small heart, and capricious
insignificant brain
Rise to such a revelation of truth?
I saw them myself!
I understood them and was convinced.
I loved them!
I suffered for them afterwards
They mock me by saying it was just a dream
But what does it matter that it was a dream,
if it showed me the truth
I saw the truth!
I saw it, and now I know people can be
wonderful and happy
without losing the capacity to live on earth.
And they laugh at this belief of mine.
Maybe, it wasn't a dream at all
Until now, I hid it,
but now will tell also that truth
The thing is, I...
corrupted them all.
Let us be evil and unjust,
as long as we know it
But we have science
And through it
We will find the truth again
But this time, we will accept it consciously
With knowledge, which is higher than feeling
The knowledge of life is higher than life
Each one is part of the whole
And the whole is part of each one
Who's there?
Who's there?
WHO'S HERE?
Dream, child's nonsense, hallucination
A dream. What is a dream?
What? Life is not a dream?
Let it be a dream!
But this life, that you esteem so highly
I wanted to snuff out by suicide,
but this dream
showed me a new, greater, rejuvenated life
THE END
Yeroslavel, 1992
based on a story by F. Dostoyevsky
A. Petrov
Everything was like in our world
but glowed with majestic glory
In our world, I have never seen
such beauty in Man
Perhaps only in our children, in the
very first years of their age
From my first glance on their faces,
I understood everything.
Everything!
It was a world, not corrupted by
the sin of the Fall.
The people who lived there were
innocent
I saw them myself, I understood them.
I loved them!
I suffered for them afterwards...
A dream, my dear,
is nonsense, hallucination.
But how to create paradise...
I don't know
Because I can't express it in words
But it's all so simple
In one day, in one hour
Everything came to place at once
The most important thing
is to love others like yourself
That is the most important thing
Except that, you don't need anything.
The truth became clear to me last November
Namely, third of November
I remember every instance of that day
I aimed to kill myself that night
And would have defiantly shot myself
If not that girl
Mister!
There
Mama
Mister!
Mister!
It means nothing to me now
In an hour or two all will end,
And then what do I care of this girl,
or the whole world.
I will become null.
Absolute null!
Bugger off!
Who'd that?
Now, life and world depend on me
I shoot myself and the world is gone
at least for me
I also thought; what if I lived on the
moon or Mars before
And would have done there some
dishonest deed
Would I care about it from here or not?!
And that point I fell asleep
Slipped into sleep unnoticed
continuing to ponder at the same matter
Seems there is life after the grave...
Could it be that this Earth is the same as ours?
How can such a repeat be possible?
And what for?
They were in love with one another
All was whole, all was shared
They had love, children were born.
But never have I noticed urges of that
cruel pleasure-seeking
which afflicts almost all inhabitants of
our Earth
Each and every one.
And serve as almost the sole origin
of humanity's sins
Is it really important if it's a dream or not,
If this dream showed me the truth
How could me small heart, and capricious
insignificant brain
Rise to such a revelation of truth?
I saw them myself!
I understood them and was convinced.
I loved them!
I suffered for them afterwards
They mock me by saying it was just a dream
But what does it matter that it was a dream,
if it showed me the truth
I saw the truth!
I saw it, and now I know people can be
wonderful and happy
without losing the capacity to live on earth.
And they laugh at this belief of mine.
Maybe, it wasn't a dream at all
Until now, I hid it,
but now will tell also that truth
The thing is, I...
corrupted them all.
Let us be evil and unjust,
as long as we know it
But we have science
And through it
We will find the truth again
But this time, we will accept it consciously
With knowledge, which is higher than feeling
The knowledge of life is higher than life
Each one is part of the whole
And the whole is part of each one
Who's there?
Who's there?
WHO'S HERE?
Dream, child's nonsense, hallucination
A dream. What is a dream?
What? Life is not a dream?
Let it be a dream!
But this life, that you esteem so highly
I wanted to snuff out by suicide,
but this dream
showed me a new, greater, rejuvenated life
THE END
Yeroslavel, 1992