Dolgaya schastlivaya zhizn (1967) - full transcript

Guys! The bus is coming!

- Hello.
- Hi.

- Will you give me a lift?
- As the people say.

Hello everyone.

Hello.

So what do you say, people?
Do you mind? I'm a sociable man too.

Well, make your decision.
Or I might change my mind.

Get in. There's enough
space for everyone.

Who are you anyway?

Where are you from?

Me?



I'm a foreign intelligence agent.

Don't I look like one?

You do.

You are disguised
as a geologist, right?

Yeah.

I'm a young specialist, I lost my group.

I spent 5 days without food,
went through fire and water.

But it hasn't dampened my spirits.

I was eating rootlets and

singing songs of Soviet composers:

Geologist, hold on,

You're the brother of sun and wind.

You know songs as well?

I had to learn them.
It's the mark of the time.



Do you know under which
constellation we are now?

Which?

Cygnus and Orion,

autumn constellations.

Thank you.

Is there life on Mars?

Of course. Why shouldn't there be life?

Actually, I've never been to Mars, but

I've been to such places where life seems
impossible at all, yet people live there.

They raise children, go to parties
and subscribe to newspapers.

Urup, Iturup, Kunashir, Paramushir.
Does it ring a bell?

- Is it Chinese?
- No.

Those are Kuril Islands.

I was in the army there,
and then in an expedition.

Mountains like those on the Moon.

Volcanoes.

- Where there any eruptions?
- Every other day.

- What about earthquakes?
- Regularly.

We even grew to like them.

A week without one -
and we already missed it.

And if volcanoes didn't work,
it was an absolute anguish.

What were you doing there?

I went underwater in the name of science.

That's where life is
serious - underwater.

So clean and free.

And there's always fresh fish.

I guarantee, in hundred years whole
mankind will live underwater, no doubt.

As it happens,

I'm terribly afraid of water.

I couldn't swim until I was 15.

I nearly drowned once.

Like in Poor Liza by Karamzin.

Only, there's a pond,
and in my case it was sea.

It all began with one
man who used to live

in our house and who I fell in love with.

I finally leant to swim that summer.

When I was a kid, I used to live with
my father at a high-altitude station.

And one day, just for fun,

I decided to descend
a very high mountain.

Virgin soil, stones - no one had
ever descended there before me.

It was very scary indeed.

There're here!

- Do you have a spare ticket?
- No.

- Do you have a spare ticket?
- No.

- Spare ticket?
- Nah.

- Do you have a spare ticket?
- No.

Would you like to go to the theatre?

You're hesitating.

Why hesitate?

Let's go.

It's The Cherry Orchard by Chekhov.

Come.

I don't look right.

Excuse me. One, two, up she goes!

I need a haircut, a shave,
and I'd like to wash my hair too.

As you like.

Make yourself comfortable.

What's that?

I don't know.

I don't know.

It may be a bucket fallen
down a well somewhere.

But it's some way off.

Or perhaps it's some
bird... like a heron.

It's unpleasant, somehow.

Before the misfortune
the same thing happened.

An owl screamed

and the samovar hummed without stopping.

- Before what misfortune?
- I beg your pardon?

Before what misfortune?

Before the Emancipation.

You know, my friends,

let's go in; it's evening now.

You've tears in your eyes...

What is it, little girl?

- It's nothing, mother.
- Some one's coming.

Excuse me, may I go this way
straight through to the station?

You may. Go along
the path. Then turn left.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Lovely weather...

My brother,

my suffering brother...

Come out on the Volga,
you whose groans...

Mademoiselle, please

give a hungry Russian thirty copecks.

There's manners everybody's got to keep!

- Pardon.
- Take this... here you are...

Oh God. There's no silver...

It doesn't matter, here's gold.

I am deeply grateful to you!

I'm going, I'm going...

Little mother, at home
there's nothing for

the servants to eat,
and you gave him gold.

What is to be done
with such a fool as I am!

At home I'll give you
everything I've got.

Ermolai Alexeyevitch, lend me some more!

Let's go, it's time.

And Varya,

we've settled your affair;
I congratulate you.

You shouldn't joke about this, mother.

Let's go then, it's time.

Do you have a spare ticket?

What do you want?

Nothing.

Then bug off.

Help me to climb,
I'll open the window for you.

What have you done to me, Peter?

I don't love the cherry
orchard as I used to.

I loved it so tenderly, I thought

there was no better place
in the world than our orchard.

All Russia is our orchard.
The land is great and beautiful,

there are many marvellous places in it.

Think, Anya, your grandfather, your
great-grandfather, and all your ancestors

were serf-owners,
they owned living souls;

and now, doesn't something
human look at you

from every cherry in the orchard,
every leaf and every stalk?

We must first redeem the past,

and that can only be done by suffering,

Act two.

By strenuous, uninterrupted labour.

It's Anya.

The house in which we live

has long ceased to be our house;

I shall go away. I give you my word.

If you have the
housekeeping keys, throw

them down the well
and go away. Be free...

- And who is that?
- Trofimov, student.

Believe me, Anya, believe me!
I'm not thirty yet, I'm young,

I'm still a student, but I have undergone
a great deal! I'm as hungry

as the winter, I'm ill, I'm shaken.
I'm as poor as a beggar,

and where haven't I been--fate has
tossed me everywhere! But my soul

is always my own; every minute
of the day and the night it is filled...

Let's go. We have to leave our clothes.

You're safe with me.

I know that happiness is coming,
Anya, I see it already...

Anya!

Where are you?

The moon is rising.

Yes, the moon has risen.

There is happiness,

there it comes; it
comes nearer and nearer;

I hear its steps already.

And if we do not see it we shall not
know it, but what does that matter?

Others will see it!

Listen, mate.

Can I talk to you for a minute?

What's up?

What's up?

Why do you look so sissyish?

Oh come on, don't take offence.

You look like you've lost your money.

Does it show?

So I guessed then?

Have a seat. Fancy some beer?

- I'll take my own.
- Come on! Sit and have a drink.

So have you lost a lot of money?

Not really.

I met a girl here.

It was all going
well, and then I lost it.

It's a pity.

So is she a nice girl?

She is.

Alright, don't get upset.

You'll find it tomorrow.
Everyone knows everyone here.

I'm leaving tomorrow.

I was just passing through.

I spent 3 months in an expedition, and
the very first evening this stupid story.

Going to Moscow?

Going home, to Kuybyshev.

I'm not in the best of
moods either, mate.

I'm in love with a woman.

She's among the audience now.

Whenever I see her,

I want to get drunk.

Do you see her often?

Thank God, no.

I'd have become a drunkard.

Is she beautiful?

She is.

She's got

a classical type of beauty.

And me... Just look at my nose.

Listen, why don't you forget
about this whole thing?

I can't.

I love her.

I understand it
mentally, but still can't.

I'd do anything for her sake.

But apart from wanting
to get drunk when I see her,

my heart somehow sinks.

She calls

me names, and I tell her I like her.

"But I'm only starting to live,

what if I meet someone better than you?"

You know, when she told me this,

I wanted to shoot myself.

You're a fool.

Exactly. I know it.

Tell me then,

hasn't this sort of thing
ever happened to you?

No.

I always have simple desires.

Simple and understandable.

I didn't recognize you at first.
You have shaved.

I disguise myself and cover up my tracks.

You look so young now.

- When were you born?
- In 1932.

You're lying.

Although, it wouldn't make
much sense to do it. Listen...

You look good for someone born in 1932.

- Where's your seat?
- Nowhere.

How do you mean?

Come sit with us.

I've already seen this play.

Why have you come then?

Although, you know,

when I lost you then near the theatre...

Where were you, by the way?

I had some business.

We're standing in other people's way.
Let's dance.

As I was saying...

When I lost you then near the theatre,

I was thinking whether
you would come or not.

Why are you so cheerful?

I don't know.

When I first saw you, I thought to myself
that it must be an outstanding person.

But who are you?

I have no idea, but I'm glad.

This gullibility will be the end of you.

Don't exaggerate.

Can you stop a horse at full tilt?

What?

I mean it.

Will you enter a burning house?

I haven't tried.

I need to know it, you see.

Like personal details.

If you have horses and
a spare house, then try me.

I don't have a horse.

I wouldn't spare a house,
but I don't have it either.

If it's not there, it's not.

But I really like you a lot.

I really do.

It's always like this in the beginning.
It will change later.

Well...

Later is not now.
Maybe, there won't be any

"later". Maybe, we
won't live that long.

I had an uncle.

He was always saying, "I'll show you!"

He went through life being a decent man,
but he died without showing me anything.

Did he, at least, live long?

Who? My uncle?

Yes, quite long.
Everyone lives long in our family.

I'm full-blooded

and have already had two strokes;

it's hard for me to dance,

but, as they say, if you're in Rome,
you must do as Rome does.

I've got the strength of a horse.

My dead father, who liked
a joke, peace to his bones,

used to say, talking of our ancestors,

that the ancient stock...

Where have you put up?

On the steamer.

...horse that Caligula made a senator...

Or something like that.

Although, it doesn't seem to work.

I've no money!

A hungry dog only
believes in meat. So I...

On the steamer? It
doesn't make any sense.

Yes. There is something
equine about your figure.

Well... a horse is a fine animal...

you can sell a horse.

Madame Lopakhin! Madame Lopakhin!

- Decayed gentleman!
- Yes, I am, and I'm proud of it!

We've hired the musicians,
but how are they to be paid?

If the energy which you,
in the course of your life,

have spent in looking
for money to pay interest

had been used for
something else, then, I believe,

after all, you'd be able to
turn everything upside down.

Nietzsche... a philosopher...

a very great,

a most celebrated man...
a man of enormous brain,

says in his books that

you can forge bank-notes.

- And have you read Nietzsche?
- Well... Dashenka told me.

Now I'm in such a position,
I wouldn't mind forging them.

I've got to pay

310 roubles the day after to-morrow...

I've got 130 already...

I've lost the money!

I've lost the money! The money's gone!

Where's the money?

I don't understand anything.

Nietzsche.

Lost forged bank-notes.

Here it is behind the lining...

I even began to perspire.

Why is Leonid away so long?
What's he doing in town? Dunyasha,

give the musicians some tea.

Let's get out of here.

Business is off, I suppose.

And the musicians needn't have come,
and we needn't have got up this ball...

Well, never mind...

Here's a pack of cards,

think of any one card you like.

Do you like theatre?

What difference does it make?

It's not important now.

No importance whatsoever.

You are important to me now.

And you understand it very well.

As I'm looking at you now,

I feel at the same time

joyful and frightened.

Have you ever felt like this?

When I was sitting in the audience,
I could see nothing -

no actors, no stage - nothing at all.

Frankly speaking,
I've never felt like this before.

Why am I saying all this to you?

- I don't know you at all.
- And who knows anyone?

Do you know yourself?

Not really.

Although, sometimes
I think I know myself well.

And then I do something so strange,
that it makes me think

whether it is really me.

Does it happen to you too?

All the time.

Let's go back to the audience.

Let's go upstairs.

Let's run.

Where to?

Wherever you like.

In any direction.

I would go with you anywhere, although
I have no reason to leave the city.

What holds you back then?

Would you really come with me?

Yes.

Why not? I'm a free man.

I'm a lonesome young specialist.

What's your speciality?

Engineering.

So you have a degree then?

Naturally.

I only finished 8 forms.

That's too little.

I can't be helped.

I started working early.

Then I got married.

He's not a bad man at all.
I can't complain.

I forgave him for everything.

That means you loved him.

I did.

When he drank, I forgave him.

When he didn't come home
at night, I also forgave him.

That's not life.

- Did he die?
- Why?

Why are you talking
about him in the past tense?

- Not at all.
- He drank, he didn't come home...

He's alive.

He's a boring man. Not silly, but boring.

Boring you say.
Some would like to have it like that.

What is so cheerful about you then?

Nose is cheerful. Eyes are sad.

What kind of nose did Gogol have?

You see?

Why are you telling me all this?

What do you mean?

I wanted to tell you and I did.

You felt sudden trust towards me?

You can think about it this way.

Me too.

I'd tell you something myself,

but I can't think of
anything interesting.

Fiers,

if the estate is sold,

where will you go?

I'll go wherever

you order me to go.

Why do you look like that? Are you ill?

- I think you ought to go to bed...
- Yes...

I'll go to bed,

and who'll hand things round

and give orders without me?

I've the whole

house on my shoulders.

The whole house.

People always lose each other

only because they've forgotten
how to speak with simple words.

I need you. Those are simple words.

Even too simple.

They are just right.

Simple words are not the best ones.

They make everything
fall into place at once.

You're very nice.

- How do you know?
- I see it.

I see everything.

I can even read your thoughts.

Do you want me to tell you
what you're thinking about?

No.

Don't.

You're already afraid.

Are you always like this?

Like what?

One moment serious,
the next - cheerful.

I'm a very complicated man.

But I'm industrious and modest.

In short, I'm not arrogant,
despite my complexity.

You know, I'm very cheerful too.

It's just that no one
knows about it except me.

What a fortunate coincidence.

You are cheerful and I'm cheerful.
Two cheerful people together.

Who has your check?

My girlfriend.

Didn't you see her?
She was sitting right next to me.

She's pretty, by the way.

I was looking at you.

Good boy. Keep up the good work.

Lena, will you dance with me?

Go ahead.

Who is it?

I don't know him.

- Go. Maybe you'll find your girlfriend.
- What about you?

I'll wait for you here.

I was sure I would meet you.

One can know nothing beforehand.

Everything hinges on chance.

For example, I could have
drowned this summer.

Or the bus could have
gone without stopping.

Or Moscow Art Theatre
could've not arrived,

or Palace of Culture
could've burnt down.

You could've even been born in India.

Why in India of all places?

And why not?

People do not choose
their place of birth.

I would be living here
alone, without you.

You wouldn't be alone.
You would've found someone.

I don't need someone. I've found you.

After all, we're all looking for

a person, for a woman.

It's a very serious and important matter.

And very few succeed.

But I knew that

I would find a person, a woman

to spend my whole life with.

No compromises.

For the whole life.

Whatever happens.

Together in all troubles.

You know, I'm very independent.

My life was so hard when I was a child,
that I'm afraid of nothing now.

- Me and you, we'll have a good life.
- I believe you.

I really do.

So it depends only
on us two, no one else.

I guess the understanding
of this comes with age,

that in order to truly love someone,
you have to possess

some special gift.

One has to be able

to preserve the best in the other.

One has to be able to forgive.

These are not just words.
It's life. It's experience.

Experience comes hard.

I've lived and travelled
for quite a while,

but I still feel in myself

this untapped resource of spirit.

We know little about ourselves.

I'm convinced that
there are musicians

who have worked as
clerks all their lives,

without the slightest idea
that they are musicians.

It's just that in a given moment
there wasn't a grand piano at hand.

Me, for example. I have never painted,

but maybe there's Shyshkin dying in me.

You know, I feel as if

something important has happened.

It don't really know you, but
something has changed in my life.

Is this where you live?

- Let's go to your place.
- It's impossible.

I've got a daughter, Liza.
She's sleeping at this hour.

I have only mother.

She lives in Kuybyshev.

I'll present you someday.

You'll like her. And she'll like you.

- What's your mother's name?
- Olga Ivanovna.

How old is she?

I don't remember. She's in her 60's.

Why don't we go to my place?

Now?

It's impossible.

But I will come to see you.

I promise I will.

Thank you very much.

You must be tired after the journey. Go.

I'll be waiting for you.

Recreation center Otdykh.

I want

a happy life for him and myself.

A long happy life.

Isn't it wanting too much?

No.

It's just right.

I don't need less.

There's someone asking for you.

- I'm sleeping.
- You've got a visitor.

Have a seat.

I've decided to come.

Why wait since it's been settled?

I'll go wherever you go.

Why are you barefoot? Put your
shoes on, you might catch a cold.

And this is my daughter, Liza.

I won't take her with me yet.
She'll come when we've settled down.

I've just brought her to show you.

She can live with my mother

until we've settled down.

It's just the right thing for her there -
she can eat either soup or porridge.

Come on, put your shoes on.
I don't want you to catch a cold.

Is it Monday today?

I'll resign,

so that we can leave tonight.

Haven't you shaved?

It grows quickly.

What's the voltage here?

It's 220 V.

It's a pity.

- Hello.
- Hello.

- What's your name?
- Liza.

I've bought myself a Sputnik in
order not to care about the voltage.

It's a very useful thing.

I can shave on the plane,

on the steamer,

in taiga, in tundra, in the desert.

Even among the Nanai,

who temporarily don't have electricity.

Have you had breakfast?

I haven't had time.

I only gave Liza to eat.

- I'll be going then.
- Alright.

Woman! Enough of fulfilling the plan.

We'll now wrap up your stuff.

Hurry up, we're closing in an hour.

What do you want?

- Do you have something to drink?
- Sure.

- Would you like a drink?
- Why not.

- Some water?
- Yeah.

That's too much.

And give me a box of sweets too.

Good song, isn't it?

Thank you.

We forgot the forks.

You were looking at me,
You were searching for me everywhere.

I used to run from everyone else,
Keeping your glance to myself.

And now you're not here any more,
You're not here for some reason.

I want you to be here,

Pour me too.

I want you to look at me the same way.

Behind the window, there's rain and snow,

It's time to go to
bed, but I can't sleep.

The same yard, the same laughter,

Only now without you.

Come on, eat.

You shouldn't drink without eating.

Why don't you eat?

I'm looking at you.

There's nothing interesting to look at.

Who do you resemble more,
your father or your mother?

What about you?

My mum.

- It means you'll be happy.
- Really?

They say so.

Where do you get all these things from?

- Listen, Liza, do you know this song?
- What song?

Whatsitcalled...

Yeah, I got it.

Driver, hold your wheel tight,
So that your beloved doesn't get to cry.

Of course, I do.

Go ask the lady to put it on.

They don't have this record.

Why are you drinking alone?

Sorry, I forgot.

I'll also drink alone.

Liza, please, go ask
the lady to put on the record

we once heard, about
the accordion, remember?

I do.

Go ask her.

How beautiful are the evenings on Ob,

Would you give me a hand, my dear?

I love singing and dancing,

Do learn to play the accordion.

Can you play the accordion?

No.

Is it true that there are
beautiful evenings on Ob?

Don't know. Haven't seen them.

- Who can I ask?
- What for?

Just like that.

I need to make a call.

Go make a call then.

I love singing by the river,

Do learn to play the accordion.

I won't go to the party by the pond,

I will go to the river with you.

I will play with your curls,

Do learn to play the accordion.

I will play with your curls,

Do learn to play the accordion.

Pyotr Ulyanovich!

Are you sleeping?

When the boat arrives,
moor it at the second.