Evdokiya (1961) - full transcript
GORKY Film Studio
Screenplay by
Vera PANOVA
Directed by
T. LlOZNOVA
Cinematography by
P. KATAYEV, Zh. MARKOV
Production Designers
B. DULENKOV, A. VAGlCHEV
Music by
L. AFANASYEV
English Subtitles by
T. Kameneva
Starring
Yevdokiya - L. KHlTYAYEVA
Yevdokim - N. LEBEDEV
Their children:
Natasha - Lyuba BASOVA
Olga NAROVCHATOVA
A. RUMYANTSEVA
Andrei - Yura AKHMADULlN
Ye. ANUFRlYEV
Pavel - Sasha BARSOV
V. lVASHOV
Katya - Lena PAVLENKO
N. ZASHCHlPlNA
Sashenka - Misha DYAKOV
Sasha GALCHENKOV
Avdeyev - P. KONSTANTlNOV
Anna Shkapidar - V. ALTAlSKAYA
Porokhin - V. ZUBKOV
Shestyorkin - l. RYZHOV
Maryushka - Ye. MAKSlMOVA
Nastya - M. LVOVA
This is a story
of a simple woman.
A very simple woman
and her children.
We should begin it from a distant past.
YEVDOKlYA
The Civil War was going on.
Yevdokim Chernyshov
was a young man then.
The long-lasting war took Yevdokim
from the Urals to the Carpathians,
from the Carpathians to Petrograd,
from Petrograd to Vladivostok.
There had been everything on his way:
railway stations and squares,
villages, hospitals and bogs.
And during those marches and travels,
spending nights at homeless halts,
he began to dream of
his future family nest.
My parents
had 1 1 of us, kids.
And my mother and father.
Not to have
13 persons sitting at the table,
they made our grandmother come
from the village to live with us.
l remember, when they
were making meat dumplings,
there was no place to live -
those dumplings were everywhere:
on tables, beds,
windowsills, benches.
At dinner,
milk was served in a pail.
You hear this?
A pail!
l wonder how many shoes
one needs for such a family?
And in his dreams Yevdokim was
building a home like this for himself.
He was building and decorating it.
Bringing to that house
the bread he'd earned and presents.
Children's light-haired heads
surrounded a big table.
A light-haired woman reigned
at a big stove.
A wife has to be tidy.
Always neatly attired.
She must be a helper
and adviser.
The kids must be affectionate.
We'll do away with the Whites,
secure a peaceful life for Russia,
and go back home...
After the war, Yevdokim returned
to his profession of blacksmith.
lt was the year of 1922.
Little by little, life in the country
was coming back to normal.
Yevdokim became a solid man,
he didn't like to waste words
on trifles.
ls he married, that Chernyshov?
Not yet, we can't marry him off.
- Why not?
- Can't find one he likes.
He's a solid man.
He needs the right wife.
Chernyshov, wait.
Why don't you drop by in the evening?
Do you play checkers?
l do.
Then come by,
we'll play checkers,
have some tea
and listen to the gramophone.
Alright.
My daughter.
She's in charge here.
l've been a widower for 10 years now.
She's looking after the house.
Come on, treat our guest, father.
Soon, l guess,
she'll get married.
Girls like her don't stay
single for long.
She gets married,
then l'll marry, too.
l have my eye on one.
lt's bad being without a housewife:
no one to clean, no one to cook.
Yevdokiya! Yevdokiya!
Bring mustard.
Help yourself to the meatjelly.
She's an expert at cooking it.
He liked her looks
and her housekeeping skills.
And he was struck by her name.
He's Yevdokim,
and she's Yevdokiya.
lt must have been fate.
While he wandered,
fought and matured,
this white-faced Yevdokiya
was growing up for him,
like a forest flower under a leaf,
without his even knowing it.
So was it she
whom he was waiting for?
- Do you play checkers?
- l do.
Why don't you drop by in the evening?
We'll play checkers,
listen to the gramophone.
Alright, l will.
Listen, Dunya...
Oh, you.
Anything can happen in life,
remember it, Yevdokim.
Anything can happen,
and don't hold a grudge.
When is the wedding?
Don't drag it out,
get married as soon as possible.
l want to build a house first.
- Where?
- The City Council will give a plot.
Will you be building it yourself?
lt'll take a long time.
l've got 4 brothers in the village.
They'll come and help.
The brothers came
and built the house.
They had a wedding party
at Avdeyev's house.
Now Sofia was the housewife there,
Yevdokiya's future stepmother.
Look, Yevdokim, the photographer.
Why aren't you having fun, too?
She's a wild child.
Everybody has normal children,
and mine is like a wolf cub.
Never would
help me with housework.
But she learned to read somewhere.
Who taught you to read?
Tell me.
No, she won't tell.
You may cut her in two,
yet she won't tell.
Eat it, Natasha, it's sweet.
- ls Yevdokiya home?
- She went to the market.
Well, l'll come later then.
Wanted to borrow some yeast.
l meant to ask you, neighbor.
You must know for sure.
Has Akhmed left for good?
- What Akhmed?
- Don't you know?
So they didn't tell you,
you, such a good man.
Akhmed, the Tatar,
a grocery salesman.
Yevdokiya's sweetheart,
she went out with him.
- Why didn't they get married?
- But he's a Tatar.
His father had forbidden, got
angry and sent Akhmed away.
- So he's not here now?
- No, not here.
Oh-oh-oh, took you by deceiving.
How could they not warn you that she
is spoiled, there'll be no children.
She can't have
children, she harmed herself.
Well, l gotta go.
That's what it is.
That's how it turned out.
Of course, l can divorce her.
The Soviet law does not
force anyone to live together.
Or l can keep her, subject her to
dejection, eat away with reproaches.
Sure, you took me by deceit.
Nag her until she gets
as thin as a match.
Though he couldn't do it.
lt was just a fantasy.
And she thought:
Yevdokim is a good man,
but he's so boring.
Keeps silent all the time.
Akhmed was absolutely different.
Always cheertul,
always affectionate.
Telling her tales,
joking.
Teaching her to say
amorous words in Tatar.
Akhmed was so good.
No, he won't have any other wife
but Yevdokiya, thought Yevdokim.
A deceiver she is,
but his heart longs for her.
What is it?
Something happened?
ls uncle Yevdokim home?
No.
Why do you want him?
Oh, my God!
God, you're so hot!
Ma was taken to the hospital,
and Pa died last night.
l've come to uncle Yevdokim.
Oh...
Oh, father, father!
Why have you left me?
She buried her old father,
and a week later her stepmother died.
lt was a dreadful
epidemic - typhus.
Many had fallen its victims.
Here you go again?
lt's a sin not to pray
for their eternal rest.
All right, let the women pray
if they need it.
How about the girl?
Will she stay with you now?
Where else?
Of course, with us.
l'll bring you some books, daughter.
- You like books?
- Very much.
Dunya, a delegate is here.
A delegate from the women's section,
making a list of the illiterate.
She was at Maryushka's,
now she's coming to you.
Did you ever study,
or you're totally illiterate?
Where could l study?
- Your name?
- Chernyshova.
The Soviet power
set a task of
completely
liquidating illiteracy.
This is one of the main behests
of Vladimir llyich Lenin.
lf we were taught from childhood,
like they teach now.
What a handsome beau she got.
- Who?
- The teacher.
Those were difficult years -
hunger and epidemics,
homeless children
and counterrevolutionary plots.
There was everything.
And yet people studied,
vacationed at resorts,
the former palaces,
The first electric power stations
were already being constructed,
the Volkhov, the Shatura.
Compared to the stations of today,
they were small.
But we said then
that the giants were being built.
There he runs!
A thief!
Catch him!
Catch him!
Stop this racket!
Wait.
My bag!
Some mob law.
Where's the bag?
- ls it yours?
- Yes, mine.
Just look at her.
Yelling like hell on account of
some bag.
Those Nepman parasites
would kill for a ruble.
Come with me.
Let go.
Come on, march on.
Let the little devil wash up
and give him something to eat.
He's so dirty,
he's going to smear the entire house.
Never mind. He'll sleep here, and
tomorrow l'll take him to the station.
l can't wash with cold water.
l'm anemic.
What a sissy!
Stop it, you pest!
Uncle!
Why is that woman fighting?
Never mind.
There you go.
Come and eat.
What's your name?
Andrei.
Sit down.
Where're you from?
From Samara.
You got father and mother?
They died of hunger.
Andrei, time to get up.
You sleep too much, buddy.
Where's my coat?
Mom, did you take
my coat from the rack?
There we go.
lt'll teach you how to bring
hooligans into the house.
Hooligans...
Why didn't you hide all these clothes?
Hi.
Did you come to sleep here or what?
l'll never do it again, auntie.
l can saw firewood for you.
He got very cold,
someone has taken his shoes.
And what did you do with the coat?
Sold it?
Showing up here
naked and barefooted like this.
Mom, why ask
when everything's quite clear?
What's so clear to you?
Ask or not ask,
there's no coat anyway.
You can't drive a naked and
barefooted man out into the cold.
Why are you sitting there?
Only a cat eats on the floor,
and a man must sit at the table.
Natalya, bring a washbasin.
We're going to wash you, anemic one.
We have, for example,
two children from the same family.
The Chernyshov brother and sister.
Natalya Chernyshova
is a very gifted girl
and an excellent student.
As far as
Andrei Chernyshov is concerned,
our teachers are having
a very hard time with him.
He's impertinent and lazy.
Working hard?
lt's no use.
What's going to happen to you?
You'll grow up, get
married and forget everything.
No, you're wrong.
l won't forget.
Yes, you will!
As soon as you get married,
you'll forget all about it.
l won't get married.
You're lying, you will!
Mom, why is he telling lies?
Leave her alone.
Why are you pestering her?
You don't study yourself,
and won't let her study.
Come here.
What are we going to do?
The situation is no good.
Take me to work at your plant.
lt bores me like hell
to sit in the classroom with boys.
Are you going to goof off
at the plant, too?
No, l'm not.
l swear l won't.
Pyotr Nikolayevich,
went to his final rest
on account of herna.
- Hernia.
- Here it's written ''herna''.
Read on.
And he left after himself
seven children.
And his widowed wife,
Antonina llyinichna,
being sickly herself,
hasn't the foggiest idea
what to do about this fatherlessness.
We would like to have your advice.
lf it is
at all possible
for you to come
to Bliny at least for a day,
that would be
a great help to us.
Well, you'll have to go.
l remember Antonina, she can't
work, whimpering all the time.
Yevdokim took a leave
and went to Bliny.
And from his brother's
inheritance he got
two kids and a heifer.
Can't you stand still?
Auntie, why
do Andrei and Natasha
call you mom?
And Katya and l call you auntie?
Andrei and Natasha
got no mother.
And your mother is alive.
Our mother doesn't want us.
You're too young to judge your mother.
Here, take it.
Katya, come here.
What?
Will you let me draw?
Later.
Call auntie Dunya
mom, you hear?
l hear.
Why?
Because our mom
doesn't want us.
So she's bad?
Don'tjudge her, Katya.
- You're too young.
- Alright.
- You drew it all yourself?
- Yes, myself.
- Why? Don't you like it?
- Yes, l like it, it's good.
- Here, keep it.
- You don't grudge it?
l can draw lots of them
like this, only l have no paints.
Here, take my paints.
lt's not that bad,
only too cramped.
Our heifer has more
room than we do.
Andrei, shall we build a second floor?
Sure.
Can we handle it, just two of us?
- Sure we can.
- We can.
By the November holidays,
the second floor had been built.
Proletarian Street was
preparing for the holidays.
Yevdokiya was preparing, too.
You going to cram the entire corner
with these again?
How can l not hang them?
Angering God?
There is no God.
What do you mean, no God?
l took some away,
to humor you, Party people.
Let it be like this.
Akhmed?
Let go, someone can see us.
Go away.
When it gets dark,
come to the bakery shop.
l'll be waiting.
How are you, my beauty?
How are you, my love?
Go, l'll lock it up.
Why aren't you sleeping?
Go, or you'll catch cold.
Mom, where've you been?
Hush, you'll wake everyone up.
Everybody's awake, except Katya.
Dad and Andrei
went looking for you.
All right, go to bed now.
What's the matter, you silly?
Go to bed, l said.
- Let's go.
- Mom, may l sleep in Natasha's bed?
All right, go to Natasha's bed.
Go to sleep now.
She felt ashamed and sorry that
they, after a long day's work,
went to look for her and
that the children were not sleeping.
She tried to persuade herself
that it was her personal affair.
She was doing
no harm to anyone.
There's no such rule
that a person should renounce
her own joys
for others.
No one forced him to run after me.
He could stay in bed and sleep.
Where have you been?
Where...
Took my friend to the maternity home.
You shouldn't have run
around and shamed me.
Which friend?
Masha.
You want to check?
Go and check,
and take Andrei along.
You could at least have told us
where you were going.
So l'm telling you now
that tomorrow night
l'm going to see Masha again!
Stop shouting.
Give the children some peace.
C'mon, hurry up,
l got no time.
lt looks like Akhmed
is in a hurry for a date.
ls it your former sweetheart, Akhmed?
Alright, alright, hurry up.
Whom do you want?
You.
Why are you here again?
Came to play your tricks?
She's a married woman.
How dare you?
Why? l meant nothing bad.
We used to know each other,
so we met and talked.
Don't teach her to tell lies,
l won't let you.
lf you love her,
why didn't you marry her?
My dear man, l would love to,
but we belong to different faiths.
What faith, damn you?
Thirty knights appear and three.
With their elder, Chernomor,
the foremost knight of all.
lt's mommy.
How's Masha doing?
Has she had her child?
l don't know. l haven't seen her.
And what was next?
Next?
Next it was like this...
Dunya.
Sit down.
Let's talk
about our situation.
And our situation is not good.
What had been before,
let's forget about it.
But l don't want any more deceit,
l want our life to be honest.
lf you want, you can be with Akhmed.
But stop sneaking out to meet him.
Don't you have any shame or
reason? Can't you hold yourself?
Come on, stop crying.
Listen to what l suggest.
lf you love him so much that...
you just can't live without him,
go on, love him.
l can't do anything about it.
But l won't be here to see it.
Don't be afraid,
you won't be left homeless.
You'll go on living in this
house, as you lived before.
This house is yours.
- And you?
- We're not speaking about me now.
The children and l will move
somewhere and build a new house.
l'm not leaving the children to him.
Even you l'm leaving...
against my will.
lf only you want it yourself.
l can't understand it.
He says he loves you.
But he sacrificed you
to priests' tales.
All right, this is your business.
So make up your mind.
We'll do as you decide.
But l won't have you
running to your dates.
l'm responsible for you, understand?
That's how she will sit
alone in the evenings,
waiting for Akhmed.
She will listen to the sound
of rain falling on the roof.
And Akhmed, will he come or not?
He's not a responsible man.
While Yevdokim and the children
will be far away.
And they won't need her
to take care of them.
She felt sorry for them.
lt would be awful if
they left because of Akhmed.
And even more awful
that Yevdokim would leave,
without whom there would have
never been this house,
nor the family,
nothing.
lt was unbearable
to suffer this injustice -
not having Yevdokim here.
And suddenly she thought:
why am l crying, the silly one?
Yevdokim said: you decide.
lt's for me to decide
who will be here and who will not.
C'mon, it's all right as it is.
Never mind, comrade Makeyev,
l'll do it for you.
You're not in the habit
of cleaning your lathe.
What did you say?
l'm telling the truth.
You don't look after your lathe.
Whom are you criticizing?
Whom are you teaching?
You think if you got your Komsomol
badge, you can order me about?
You, street rabble, you tramp.
A bitch's fosterling.
What?
What did you say, bastard?
And what do you think she is?
A slut!
Are you crazy or what?
She had an affair with Akhmed
from the grocery. You may ask anybody.
l'm going to kill him anyway.
l just can't hold myself.
l can't stand the sight of him.
- She's my mother. Do you understand?
- We understand.
- ls Yakovlev here?
- No.
lf you start another fight,
Chernyshov,
l'll raise the question about
expelling you from the Komsomol.
And l'll get my way, you know me.
All right, l promise l won't touch him.
So you're selling milk now?
Cannot make ends meet?
Of course, they can't,
having such a crowd.
Why, we can.
We, the working class, have no
grievances against the Soviet power.
l'm saving to buy a suit for Yevdokim.
His old one has completely worn out.
Oh, that Katya.
What can you tell?
That you're fighting all the time?
He started first.
Katya!
Take your girl!
Katyusha, come here.
What a load these people
have taken on themselves!
l would understand if they were
their own.
lt's no good the way
things stand, Katya.
- Why? lt's good.
- No, not good.
Everybody's scolding us,
you're fighting everybody.
He did it himself.
- What did he do himself?
- He was the first to start.
So what if he was the first?
And l gave it to him!
- What did you give him?
- With my foot.
l gave it to him with my foot.
Mom, l'll carry it.
Wait, you're going to drop it.
Mom, l'll do it.
Please, give it to Natasha.
Andryusha, take the bread.
Ah, Katerina.
Natasha.
Natalya, just look
what your boyfriend brought you.
For me?
My boyfriend?
Ah, it must be Vovka.
Come on, he's not my boyfriend.
You're so lucky, Natalya.
Nobody has ever
gave me a flower.
Of course, it's too early for him
to get married, but we can wait.
And he's good-looking.
Oh, mom, what ideas you're getting?
He's just a friend.
Nothing more.
You're too secretive, Natalya.
Stop pulling wool over my ears.
Who ever brought flowers
to just a friend?
Excuse me, l have to study.
l don't want to talk about it.
l'm sorry.
Such a fine young man,
such beautiful flowers,
and the name is nice - Vova.
And she doesn't want to talk
about it, just imagine.
What more does she want?
ls she going to look
into the book forever?
At that time, young people
began leaving Proletarian Street.
One went away, then another.
One to the Amur, another to the Kuzbass -
the five-year-plan constriction sites.
We had a meeting today, volunteers
signing up for the Magnitogorsk works.
l was thinking,
what if l go there, too?
We also had a meeting.
Many girls go.
- What about you?
- Me too.
How can we both leave?
What will the old folks say?
No, we both can't go.
One has to stay.
Shall we draw lots with matches.
All right.
- But l already signed up.
- Why didn't you say so?
lnstead of beating around the bush.
So l'm going.
But l signed up, too.
What do we do?
We have to tell them.
Father is a Party man,
he'll understand.
But mother...
l don't even know how to tell her.
Why are you standing here?
Where're the kids?
What secrets are you sharing there?
They're going to leave.
At least don't go away all at once.
One at a time.
Mother. Father.
Our dears, thank you for everything.
Good luck to you and be happy.
Natasha, honey, l hope
everything will be all right with you.
So our kids are gone.
They grew up and went away.
lt's natural.
lt'll feel empty without them.
Next Sunday our workers go to lay
the foundation of a new works.
Let's go too, Dunya.
Let's work together.
Why not? Let's go.
What shall we do there?
There were no
self-propelled excavators then.
Even a regular
excavator was a rarity.
The shovel had turned over
millions of cubic meters of earth.
Comrades!
Dear comrades!
Today we're laying
the first foundation ditch here.
Let's hope it won't be the last.
Well, with God's help!
Why was the meeting
so long today?
One guy was put on trial.
He manufactured utensils
from the plant's materials.
And sold them, pocketing the money.
And who was trying him?
- We were, our general meeting.
- Oh, the meeting.
Be careful when you go to bed,
or you may hurt the baby.
What baby?
God blessed us with a boy.
Whose boy is he?
Now he's ours.
- Was he abandoned?
- He was.
The name is Alexander.
How do you know?
A note was enclosed.
- Good name.
- Yes, good.
We can call him Shura, Sanya,
Sasha, whatever you like.
What do you know!
And where shall l sleep?
You lie down by the wall,
and we two on the side.
Be sure not to crush him at night.
Tomorrow l'll make
a cradle for him.
His bones are
young and soft.
The years were passing. Everything
was fine in Yevdokiya's family.
Sashenka was growing up,
her sonny, her heartthrob.
Letters came
from Natalya and Andrei.
Natalya had remained in Magnitogorsk
and got married there,
and Andrei went
to serve in the Red Army.
Give alms, for Christ's sake.
Well, sit down and eat.
You're young and healthy.
Why don't you work?
- You don't work, either.
- l'm keeping the house.
l cook, wash, sew,
bring up children.
They're not yours, the children.
So what if they're not mine?
Fosterlings.
Others gave birth to them,
yet they call you mama.
What did you do to deserve them?
You didn't take any suffering for them.
Trying to shut my mouth with your pie?
You're so smart, aren't you?
Give me 100 rubles.
Though we'll have to see yet
if l take it or not.
What should l give you 100 rubles for?
Just look at her,
so innocent!
Give me 200 rubles!
Or give back my son!
You'd given him up!
Abandoned him.
You're lying! You stole him!
l'll say so in the court!
l've got his birth certificate.
And l have witnesses that he's mine!
You're using others' children in order
not to work, just sit by the stove.
But our proletarian court
will see the truth!
They will expose you for what
you are, you parasite!
Two hundred rubles!
And it's even too cheap
for all those five years.
Well, all right.
Let it be so.
Give me 200.
l don't have 200.
l don't know how much l got.
Let me see.
Katya, stay here. Don't leave.
Here, 1 70 rubles.
Alright then,
you'll give me the rest on payday.
When is your payday?
On the 15th.
Sit down and write the receipt.
Katya, bring the ink.
Write
that you're giving him up, that you
are no mother to him but a snake.
Receipt. l give him up.
l'm a snake to him.
Anna Shkapidar.
Here, receive the salary, wife.
lt's me. Today is the 15th.
l came for my alimony.
Did you forget about your debt?
You won't get a kopeck.
- How come?
- Just like that.
My husband is earning
this money by his labor.
This money feeds our children.
l won't give you a single kopeck,
you drunkard!
Oh, that's how it is!
That's how you're talking now!
You'll be sorry, my dear,
you'll be very sorry!
You'll remember Anna Shkapidar!
You'll be sorry, my dear!
- Who was that?
- Nobody. lt's nothing.
Don't worry.
Just you wait! l'll show you!
They stole a child,
dear comrade judge,
those Chernyshov husband and wife.
The wife is a dependant, she doesn't
work, and they have their own house.
They stole him and are using him,
and l'm left with nothing.
Do you want to raise
your child yourself?
l don't want them
to raise him.
l'm a full mother,
l gave birth to him myself.
No one can bring him up
batter than his own mother.
So l'm asking you,
dear comrade judge,
to support me as a working
woman and a proletarian,
against those house-owners.
Where do you work?
As a salvage collector.
- What is your surname?
- Shkapidar.
Shkapidar.
There cannot be such a surname.
Skipidar? (Russian for 'turpentine')
Take your seat.
Under what circumstances
did you get the child?
Found him on our porch.
And she, that is my wife,
Yevdokiya lvanovna,
has raised the boy.
She tried to do
everything right.
She bottle-fed him.
She treated him from illnesses.
She was looking after him.
She always kept him at her side.
And what do you have to say?
l didn't steal him.
l found him on my porch,
in the snow.
l got the receipt.
Here.
l give him up.
l'm a snake to him.
lt's some nonsense.
Do you have any questions?
And where's the child?
He's here. l brought him. He's running
about in the lobby. l'll call him.
Wait a minute. l'll do it.
- What's your name?
- Chernyshov.
And your first name?
Sasha.
- Do you know your patronymic?
- Yes, l know.
Alexander Yevdokimovich.
How do you live, Alexander
Yevdokimovich, well or bad?
Very well, thank you.
Where's your mom?
You know, Alexander Yevdokimovich,
you've got not only one mom.
You have another mom.
No, it's not true.
Here she is.
Shurik!
My baby!
Those monsters have separated us!
My dear sonny, he doesn't
recognize his mommy!
How about going to live
with your other mom?
You lived with one for a while,
why not live with the other one now?
Shurik, come here,
my baby.
Shurik!
ln the name of the Russian Socialist
Federative Soviet Republic...
They were happy.
Each took credit for the success.
Yevdokim was thinking that his
testimony had convinced the judge.
Yevdokiya was thinking how
smart she was to bring Sasha along.
And Sasha was thinking
that the judge was lying.
That fat-faced woman with a red
nose just couldn't be his mother.
Sasha simply couldn't
understand why the judge had to lie.
But very soon
he stopped thinking about it
and began figuring out
what he should say to his mother
to make her buy
ice cream for him and Katya.
And such were the simple
joys, sorrows and worries
with which Yevdokiya lived.
lt'd been two years since Pavel left.
They had seen him off
to faraway Leningrad,
to the Academy of Arts,
to study to be a painter.
Katya grew up, too,
she was already 18.
She worked as a telephone operator
at the same works with her father.
You're extremely popular
among the entire works management.
Extremely popular.
What's popularity?
l want a real and deep feeling.
l want someone to fall madly
and passionately in love with me.
l want him not sleep nights,
be envious and kiss my hands.
The gold personalized
watches are awarded to
Yevdokim Nikolayevich Chernyshov
and lvan Yegorovich Shesterkin.
Look, it's our Katya.
Nastya.
Find out who's the guy l danced with.
- C'mon, do it.
- All right.
He's Kolesov. First name is Mitya.
A template metal worker,
came here from Kursk.
- May l?
- Yes, you may.
l got to go.
Good night.
Dmitri Kolesov,
it sounds divine.
lt's pure music -
Dmitri Kolesov.
Just listen to it -
Dmitri Kolesov.
Go on, dad, l'll catch up with you.
What were you talking about yesterday?
39624
Youth Ball
Hello.
Hello.
Will you go?
lt's only in a week.
Please come, l invite you,
we'll dance.
They met sooner,
exactly three days later.
But they didn't have
a chance to talk.
Katerina!
Where're you running?
What can be so important?
Pavel is back home!
Katya.
l'm leaving something here.
- Please, save it.
- What is it?
How can l save it, Pavel?
l'm going to the front, too.
Mother, my darling...
l'll never...
lt's me.
Milling shop.
Tell Chernyshova to come out,
her son's here to see her.
Any letters?
There's one, from Katya.
She's alive and well.
She went on a reconnaissance mission.
Katya and Andrei wrote to them, only
from Pavel they hadn't heard for long.
Pavel must be fighting somewhere,
from where one cannot write.
lt happens very often.
What have you brought?
Some potatoes,
and there's pea porridge in the pot.
And father's shirt, as you asked.
Did you get food for coupons?
l did.
And l paid for electricity.
All right, go now. Father and l
will come on Saturday.
Go, honey.
- Go and have some sleep.
- All right.
Yevdokim.
A letter from Katya.
Alyosha.
What's going on?
lf it goes like this, they may
soon call up our Sasha, too.
When will be the end
to this cursed war?
She prayed for her children.
She begged to keep everybody alive.
She named them all, but more than
anyone else, she prayed for Pavel.
For so many months they
hadn't had a word from him.
And a splinter of doubt
was already nagging at her heart -
is there God really?
Perhaps Yevdokim was right,
the children were right,
and there was no God?
lf He does exist,
the wise and merciful,
how can He allow
so many people to be killed,
so much blood and woe
to be in the world?
And though she
already had those thoughts,
still she prayed even harder,
as though setting a condition -
save Pavel,
protect Pavel,
then l'll believe You exist.
And the battle was getting
even more fierce.
- A death notice?
- Yes, for the Chernyshovs.
- Through the enlistment office?
- By mail.
Dunya.
You'd better cry.
Come on, cry a little.
Oh, God...
Dunya, come on, cry!
lt's all right, you'll get over it.
We'll go to church
and you'll feel better.
What do l have
to go to church for?
We'll order a service for the dead,
and you'll feel better.
How can l feel better?
lt's all lies.
And there came the victory.
And peace had come.
lnto whose gate will the soldier go?
lt was someone's happy
gate he turned to.
Soon our kids will come back, too.
l think Katya can't wait to get home,
seeing us in her dreams.
Maybe Andrei will
come for a visit, too.
l hope they'll be here soon,
so that you could
see them, Natasha.
Natalya took a leave and came
to visit with her parents
and show her daughter to them.
l wonder what Katya is like now.
Thousands of kilometers to cover
to get back to parental home.
Sasha?
Right.
Hello.
Hi.
What a big boy you've grown!
You, too.
l mean, a big girl.
ls mother at work?
She'll be here any minute.
Your room is ready, miss.
l mean, sis.
We thought
you'd send a telegram.
No, not this!
Katya!
You've come!
My darling daughter!
Mom, is that aunt Katya?
Katyusha, my dear!
Natasha, darling.
Natasha, pass me salt, please.
Please, eat, Katya.
You haven't tasted home cooking
for four years.
Well, there was some home cooking, too.
All right.
Let's drink to
never having a war again,
however long we might live.
Well, daughter,
what are you going to do now?
l shall work.
ln communications again?
As a telephone operator?
l'll work where the Party sends me.
Are you already in the Party?
Yes, l joined it.
lt was at Eilenburg.
Almost all of our battalion
had fallen there.
l so much want you
to be happy in your personal life.
Well, it didn't work so far.
lt will, you're still young.
Mom.
How do you like him?
He's all right, good-looking.
Looks very distinguished.
A scoundrel of the worst type.
And this one?
l don't know what to say now.
He looks all right, but...
...the rest, who knows?
No one could be better.
Only he was killed in Berlin.
- You're not sleeping, are you, Katya?
- Not yet.
l came just for a minute.
Come in.
That's what you're like now, Katya.
- You don't like me?
- No, it's not that.
lt's just that l remember
you as a little girl,
hardly older than my daughter.
Not only you were growing up,
others were, too.
What are your plans for the future?
Are you thinking of going to study?
Of course, you might think
you're too old for that.
- And where's your husband?
- ln Germany.
On business.
He's a professional man.
Did he fight in the war,
your professional man?
lt was not only you who fought,
others did, too.
Listen to me, Katya.
l'm leaving tomorrow.
Try to be kind to mother.
You mean that picture?
But it's ugly and vulgar.
How else could l react to it?
You think
l like that picture?
Or our late Pavel did?
But we didn't say a word.
Why didn't you?
You have to be tolerant.
Why should l?
What for?
Not to hurt
mother's feelings.
Mother's much smarter than you,
she didn't even pay attention.
You don't know her.
Everybody paid attention,
but said nothing,
not to spoil that day ofjoy.
You mean they're just bearing with me?
Let's not get annoyed.
What are you teaching me?
This way we may
hush up most horrible things.
No, my dear, l'm not going
to put up with what disgusts me.
Katya left her family
and settled in another city.
She finished courses and worked
at a Party district committee.
Where do you want to go, miss?
- To the diary factory.
- Get in, l'll give you a lift.
Thanks.
Am l not lucky?
Comrade, can you
give me a lift to the diary factory?
Only halfway,
to Dyomushkino.
All right, let it be Dyomushkino.
- Good luck, comrade.
- So long.
Always on her way, always on the road.
A few years had passed.
From her letters the Chernyshovs knew
that Katya finished by correspondence
the industrial economics college
and enrolled in the postgraduate
studies.
She was promoted from the district
committee to the regional one.
Yevdokiya often thought about Katya.
Of all her children,
she worried most about her.
She tried to picture how Katya
was living, and couldn't.
One day...
Sorry, but it's my place.
- Why yours?
- Here's the order, number 19.
Oh, you see...
l got number 19, too.
l don't know.
Give up my place, please.
l'm occupying my place.
What's the matter?
Why did you issue
two orders for one bed?
Well?
- Please.
- Give me another one.
l'm sorry,
we don't have any more beds.
lt's just unimaginable!
Can you come to terms somehow?
l'm sorry,
but you could take turns.
You sleep a half night,
then you another half.
Comrade administrator!
What the hell!
What a silly situation.
Look, can't you
just give up the bed to me?
Why should l give it up?
Because l'm a woman.
l didn't notice it.
Yes, you can yell real good.
But l didn't have a chance
to see that you're a woman.
Oh, what the heck, really.
Take advantage of your
privileges, you weaker sex.
We're being accused of
not providing enough housing.
But we closed down
the construction of only one building.
The rest will be finished on schedule.
- May l?
- Please.
Why have you closed down
the house with apartments
for the research institute workers,
the newly arrived people
who badly need housing?
Comrade Chernyshova,
we believe it's our duty
to provide housing
in the first place
for our local personnel.
So the institute workers
are not your local personnel?
Since the institute has moved
to your city, they're your personnel.
And it's your duty to
take care of them.
- She's right, this comrade...
- Chernyshova.
- Chernyshova.
- Yes, comrade Porokhin.
l share comrade
Chernyshova's point of view.
What do we get here?
The Party's 20th Congress
has taken certain decisions,
people came to work here,
and you turn away from them.
You'll get nothing but scaring
people off from doing theirjob.
You?
Hello.
You seem to be everywhere.
Except that l'm not
occupying your place this time.
Not this time.
Where're you going?
Home.
- And where's your home?
- l guess, in the same parts yours is.
- You work at the Regional Committee?
- And you?
At the People's Economy Council.
How powertul it is!
Really, music is capable
of making man better.
And, actually, there's nothing more
important than making man good.
You know, l happen
to meet a lot of good people.
Of course, there're a lot of them.
And there're more and more
of good people.
l wonder
how you feel?
Have you become better?
- And you?
- Me?
l got better, wiser.
l got more honest.
More purposeful than before.
lt's true.
Only...
...it's not making
my life any easier.
- So what?
- Nothing.
l'm just saying
that l have to review
many things in life,
to make different decisions.
Here's a simple case in point.
Husband and wife
are living in love and harmony.
They're well off,
the husband gets good wages.
They visit the theatre.
A harmonious family, as they say.
And all that harmony falls to pieces
as soon as their apartment
in the capital is called into question.
ln short, when the husband said
he was going to work in the provinces.
You are not sleeping, are you?
Are there any children?
l mean those people
you were speaking about.
A girl, 6 years old.
Let's go to sleep.
But you seem to be
satisfied with your life?
Me?
l don't know what to say.
My life is pretty hectic.
l'm always on the road,
getting dead-tired.
Sometimes don't even
have time to make my hair.
- But it's the only way l can live.
- Yes, you're right.
l think you didn't even try to
condition your wife to the real life.
You took her to the theatres, but
you protected her from difficulties.
Yet one mustn't hurt children.
All right, let's sleep.
What you're saying is absolutely right.
But, you know,
one may make little mistakes.
You may make errors,
you may even be unfaithful,
and it can be forgiven.
But you can't betray one
in the most important things.
Otherwise, what are we?
Do you agree with me?
Yes, l agree.
All right, let's sleep.
Yes, let's sleep.
Do you have
any family?
Yes, l do.
- What family?
- Mother and father.
My mother is a very
interesting person.
You know,
she's a quite simple woman.
Actually, she's not
my natural mother.
l was a foster child.
ln our family, we're
all foster children.
Really?
lt's amazing!
Why amazing?
That's how they are.
You mean you love them?
How could one not love them?
They even have similar names.
What do you mean?
Father is Yevdokim,
mother is Yevdokiya.
lt's really amazing.
Well, let's sleep.
All right.
You wanted Ruchyi Station?
lt's the next stop.
Thank you.
l have to get ready.
Why?
You said you were going home.
Yes, l am.
But l have to get off at Ruchyi.
l got some business here.
This is my address.
May l have yours?
Goodbye.
And how's Yevdokiya doing?
We haven't seen her for quite a while.
Our apartment is just like this one.
Only we have a bathtub on the right.
The children have arrived
for the parents' housewarming.
Only Sasha didn't have to come - he
and his wide lived with his parents.
But Natalya and her husband and
younger daughter came from afar.
Andrei also came with his family.
We wouldn't even be
able to tell who is who.
But does it really matter?
Don't you think it's not the right
time to do it, Dunya?
- What if Katya comes?
- But she didn't, did she?
Maybe she'll come yet.
We'll be in trouble again.
Never mind.
Let this beauty hang for a while.
Mother! lt's Katya!
- Sasha!
- How are you?
Oh, my darling!
- Mom!
- You've come after all.
Andryusha! Klava! Come here!
Come on in.
l'm not alone, mom.
Please meet my husband.
A new man
enters the family.
What are you like? Show yourself.
What is your heart?
What are your intentions?
We all feel good with one another.
Will we feel as good with you here?
Hi!
A good man.
He came with good intentions.
Come in, man,
feel at home.
How are you?
Come in, please.
See?
Just in time for meat dumplings.
The End
Screenplay by
Vera PANOVA
Directed by
T. LlOZNOVA
Cinematography by
P. KATAYEV, Zh. MARKOV
Production Designers
B. DULENKOV, A. VAGlCHEV
Music by
L. AFANASYEV
English Subtitles by
T. Kameneva
Starring
Yevdokiya - L. KHlTYAYEVA
Yevdokim - N. LEBEDEV
Their children:
Natasha - Lyuba BASOVA
Olga NAROVCHATOVA
A. RUMYANTSEVA
Andrei - Yura AKHMADULlN
Ye. ANUFRlYEV
Pavel - Sasha BARSOV
V. lVASHOV
Katya - Lena PAVLENKO
N. ZASHCHlPlNA
Sashenka - Misha DYAKOV
Sasha GALCHENKOV
Avdeyev - P. KONSTANTlNOV
Anna Shkapidar - V. ALTAlSKAYA
Porokhin - V. ZUBKOV
Shestyorkin - l. RYZHOV
Maryushka - Ye. MAKSlMOVA
Nastya - M. LVOVA
This is a story
of a simple woman.
A very simple woman
and her children.
We should begin it from a distant past.
YEVDOKlYA
The Civil War was going on.
Yevdokim Chernyshov
was a young man then.
The long-lasting war took Yevdokim
from the Urals to the Carpathians,
from the Carpathians to Petrograd,
from Petrograd to Vladivostok.
There had been everything on his way:
railway stations and squares,
villages, hospitals and bogs.
And during those marches and travels,
spending nights at homeless halts,
he began to dream of
his future family nest.
My parents
had 1 1 of us, kids.
And my mother and father.
Not to have
13 persons sitting at the table,
they made our grandmother come
from the village to live with us.
l remember, when they
were making meat dumplings,
there was no place to live -
those dumplings were everywhere:
on tables, beds,
windowsills, benches.
At dinner,
milk was served in a pail.
You hear this?
A pail!
l wonder how many shoes
one needs for such a family?
And in his dreams Yevdokim was
building a home like this for himself.
He was building and decorating it.
Bringing to that house
the bread he'd earned and presents.
Children's light-haired heads
surrounded a big table.
A light-haired woman reigned
at a big stove.
A wife has to be tidy.
Always neatly attired.
She must be a helper
and adviser.
The kids must be affectionate.
We'll do away with the Whites,
secure a peaceful life for Russia,
and go back home...
After the war, Yevdokim returned
to his profession of blacksmith.
lt was the year of 1922.
Little by little, life in the country
was coming back to normal.
Yevdokim became a solid man,
he didn't like to waste words
on trifles.
ls he married, that Chernyshov?
Not yet, we can't marry him off.
- Why not?
- Can't find one he likes.
He's a solid man.
He needs the right wife.
Chernyshov, wait.
Why don't you drop by in the evening?
Do you play checkers?
l do.
Then come by,
we'll play checkers,
have some tea
and listen to the gramophone.
Alright.
My daughter.
She's in charge here.
l've been a widower for 10 years now.
She's looking after the house.
Come on, treat our guest, father.
Soon, l guess,
she'll get married.
Girls like her don't stay
single for long.
She gets married,
then l'll marry, too.
l have my eye on one.
lt's bad being without a housewife:
no one to clean, no one to cook.
Yevdokiya! Yevdokiya!
Bring mustard.
Help yourself to the meatjelly.
She's an expert at cooking it.
He liked her looks
and her housekeeping skills.
And he was struck by her name.
He's Yevdokim,
and she's Yevdokiya.
lt must have been fate.
While he wandered,
fought and matured,
this white-faced Yevdokiya
was growing up for him,
like a forest flower under a leaf,
without his even knowing it.
So was it she
whom he was waiting for?
- Do you play checkers?
- l do.
Why don't you drop by in the evening?
We'll play checkers,
listen to the gramophone.
Alright, l will.
Listen, Dunya...
Oh, you.
Anything can happen in life,
remember it, Yevdokim.
Anything can happen,
and don't hold a grudge.
When is the wedding?
Don't drag it out,
get married as soon as possible.
l want to build a house first.
- Where?
- The City Council will give a plot.
Will you be building it yourself?
lt'll take a long time.
l've got 4 brothers in the village.
They'll come and help.
The brothers came
and built the house.
They had a wedding party
at Avdeyev's house.
Now Sofia was the housewife there,
Yevdokiya's future stepmother.
Look, Yevdokim, the photographer.
Why aren't you having fun, too?
She's a wild child.
Everybody has normal children,
and mine is like a wolf cub.
Never would
help me with housework.
But she learned to read somewhere.
Who taught you to read?
Tell me.
No, she won't tell.
You may cut her in two,
yet she won't tell.
Eat it, Natasha, it's sweet.
- ls Yevdokiya home?
- She went to the market.
Well, l'll come later then.
Wanted to borrow some yeast.
l meant to ask you, neighbor.
You must know for sure.
Has Akhmed left for good?
- What Akhmed?
- Don't you know?
So they didn't tell you,
you, such a good man.
Akhmed, the Tatar,
a grocery salesman.
Yevdokiya's sweetheart,
she went out with him.
- Why didn't they get married?
- But he's a Tatar.
His father had forbidden, got
angry and sent Akhmed away.
- So he's not here now?
- No, not here.
Oh-oh-oh, took you by deceiving.
How could they not warn you that she
is spoiled, there'll be no children.
She can't have
children, she harmed herself.
Well, l gotta go.
That's what it is.
That's how it turned out.
Of course, l can divorce her.
The Soviet law does not
force anyone to live together.
Or l can keep her, subject her to
dejection, eat away with reproaches.
Sure, you took me by deceit.
Nag her until she gets
as thin as a match.
Though he couldn't do it.
lt was just a fantasy.
And she thought:
Yevdokim is a good man,
but he's so boring.
Keeps silent all the time.
Akhmed was absolutely different.
Always cheertul,
always affectionate.
Telling her tales,
joking.
Teaching her to say
amorous words in Tatar.
Akhmed was so good.
No, he won't have any other wife
but Yevdokiya, thought Yevdokim.
A deceiver she is,
but his heart longs for her.
What is it?
Something happened?
ls uncle Yevdokim home?
No.
Why do you want him?
Oh, my God!
God, you're so hot!
Ma was taken to the hospital,
and Pa died last night.
l've come to uncle Yevdokim.
Oh...
Oh, father, father!
Why have you left me?
She buried her old father,
and a week later her stepmother died.
lt was a dreadful
epidemic - typhus.
Many had fallen its victims.
Here you go again?
lt's a sin not to pray
for their eternal rest.
All right, let the women pray
if they need it.
How about the girl?
Will she stay with you now?
Where else?
Of course, with us.
l'll bring you some books, daughter.
- You like books?
- Very much.
Dunya, a delegate is here.
A delegate from the women's section,
making a list of the illiterate.
She was at Maryushka's,
now she's coming to you.
Did you ever study,
or you're totally illiterate?
Where could l study?
- Your name?
- Chernyshova.
The Soviet power
set a task of
completely
liquidating illiteracy.
This is one of the main behests
of Vladimir llyich Lenin.
lf we were taught from childhood,
like they teach now.
What a handsome beau she got.
- Who?
- The teacher.
Those were difficult years -
hunger and epidemics,
homeless children
and counterrevolutionary plots.
There was everything.
And yet people studied,
vacationed at resorts,
the former palaces,
The first electric power stations
were already being constructed,
the Volkhov, the Shatura.
Compared to the stations of today,
they were small.
But we said then
that the giants were being built.
There he runs!
A thief!
Catch him!
Catch him!
Stop this racket!
Wait.
My bag!
Some mob law.
Where's the bag?
- ls it yours?
- Yes, mine.
Just look at her.
Yelling like hell on account of
some bag.
Those Nepman parasites
would kill for a ruble.
Come with me.
Let go.
Come on, march on.
Let the little devil wash up
and give him something to eat.
He's so dirty,
he's going to smear the entire house.
Never mind. He'll sleep here, and
tomorrow l'll take him to the station.
l can't wash with cold water.
l'm anemic.
What a sissy!
Stop it, you pest!
Uncle!
Why is that woman fighting?
Never mind.
There you go.
Come and eat.
What's your name?
Andrei.
Sit down.
Where're you from?
From Samara.
You got father and mother?
They died of hunger.
Andrei, time to get up.
You sleep too much, buddy.
Where's my coat?
Mom, did you take
my coat from the rack?
There we go.
lt'll teach you how to bring
hooligans into the house.
Hooligans...
Why didn't you hide all these clothes?
Hi.
Did you come to sleep here or what?
l'll never do it again, auntie.
l can saw firewood for you.
He got very cold,
someone has taken his shoes.
And what did you do with the coat?
Sold it?
Showing up here
naked and barefooted like this.
Mom, why ask
when everything's quite clear?
What's so clear to you?
Ask or not ask,
there's no coat anyway.
You can't drive a naked and
barefooted man out into the cold.
Why are you sitting there?
Only a cat eats on the floor,
and a man must sit at the table.
Natalya, bring a washbasin.
We're going to wash you, anemic one.
We have, for example,
two children from the same family.
The Chernyshov brother and sister.
Natalya Chernyshova
is a very gifted girl
and an excellent student.
As far as
Andrei Chernyshov is concerned,
our teachers are having
a very hard time with him.
He's impertinent and lazy.
Working hard?
lt's no use.
What's going to happen to you?
You'll grow up, get
married and forget everything.
No, you're wrong.
l won't forget.
Yes, you will!
As soon as you get married,
you'll forget all about it.
l won't get married.
You're lying, you will!
Mom, why is he telling lies?
Leave her alone.
Why are you pestering her?
You don't study yourself,
and won't let her study.
Come here.
What are we going to do?
The situation is no good.
Take me to work at your plant.
lt bores me like hell
to sit in the classroom with boys.
Are you going to goof off
at the plant, too?
No, l'm not.
l swear l won't.
Pyotr Nikolayevich,
went to his final rest
on account of herna.
- Hernia.
- Here it's written ''herna''.
Read on.
And he left after himself
seven children.
And his widowed wife,
Antonina llyinichna,
being sickly herself,
hasn't the foggiest idea
what to do about this fatherlessness.
We would like to have your advice.
lf it is
at all possible
for you to come
to Bliny at least for a day,
that would be
a great help to us.
Well, you'll have to go.
l remember Antonina, she can't
work, whimpering all the time.
Yevdokim took a leave
and went to Bliny.
And from his brother's
inheritance he got
two kids and a heifer.
Can't you stand still?
Auntie, why
do Andrei and Natasha
call you mom?
And Katya and l call you auntie?
Andrei and Natasha
got no mother.
And your mother is alive.
Our mother doesn't want us.
You're too young to judge your mother.
Here, take it.
Katya, come here.
What?
Will you let me draw?
Later.
Call auntie Dunya
mom, you hear?
l hear.
Why?
Because our mom
doesn't want us.
So she's bad?
Don'tjudge her, Katya.
- You're too young.
- Alright.
- You drew it all yourself?
- Yes, myself.
- Why? Don't you like it?
- Yes, l like it, it's good.
- Here, keep it.
- You don't grudge it?
l can draw lots of them
like this, only l have no paints.
Here, take my paints.
lt's not that bad,
only too cramped.
Our heifer has more
room than we do.
Andrei, shall we build a second floor?
Sure.
Can we handle it, just two of us?
- Sure we can.
- We can.
By the November holidays,
the second floor had been built.
Proletarian Street was
preparing for the holidays.
Yevdokiya was preparing, too.
You going to cram the entire corner
with these again?
How can l not hang them?
Angering God?
There is no God.
What do you mean, no God?
l took some away,
to humor you, Party people.
Let it be like this.
Akhmed?
Let go, someone can see us.
Go away.
When it gets dark,
come to the bakery shop.
l'll be waiting.
How are you, my beauty?
How are you, my love?
Go, l'll lock it up.
Why aren't you sleeping?
Go, or you'll catch cold.
Mom, where've you been?
Hush, you'll wake everyone up.
Everybody's awake, except Katya.
Dad and Andrei
went looking for you.
All right, go to bed now.
What's the matter, you silly?
Go to bed, l said.
- Let's go.
- Mom, may l sleep in Natasha's bed?
All right, go to Natasha's bed.
Go to sleep now.
She felt ashamed and sorry that
they, after a long day's work,
went to look for her and
that the children were not sleeping.
She tried to persuade herself
that it was her personal affair.
She was doing
no harm to anyone.
There's no such rule
that a person should renounce
her own joys
for others.
No one forced him to run after me.
He could stay in bed and sleep.
Where have you been?
Where...
Took my friend to the maternity home.
You shouldn't have run
around and shamed me.
Which friend?
Masha.
You want to check?
Go and check,
and take Andrei along.
You could at least have told us
where you were going.
So l'm telling you now
that tomorrow night
l'm going to see Masha again!
Stop shouting.
Give the children some peace.
C'mon, hurry up,
l got no time.
lt looks like Akhmed
is in a hurry for a date.
ls it your former sweetheart, Akhmed?
Alright, alright, hurry up.
Whom do you want?
You.
Why are you here again?
Came to play your tricks?
She's a married woman.
How dare you?
Why? l meant nothing bad.
We used to know each other,
so we met and talked.
Don't teach her to tell lies,
l won't let you.
lf you love her,
why didn't you marry her?
My dear man, l would love to,
but we belong to different faiths.
What faith, damn you?
Thirty knights appear and three.
With their elder, Chernomor,
the foremost knight of all.
lt's mommy.
How's Masha doing?
Has she had her child?
l don't know. l haven't seen her.
And what was next?
Next?
Next it was like this...
Dunya.
Sit down.
Let's talk
about our situation.
And our situation is not good.
What had been before,
let's forget about it.
But l don't want any more deceit,
l want our life to be honest.
lf you want, you can be with Akhmed.
But stop sneaking out to meet him.
Don't you have any shame or
reason? Can't you hold yourself?
Come on, stop crying.
Listen to what l suggest.
lf you love him so much that...
you just can't live without him,
go on, love him.
l can't do anything about it.
But l won't be here to see it.
Don't be afraid,
you won't be left homeless.
You'll go on living in this
house, as you lived before.
This house is yours.
- And you?
- We're not speaking about me now.
The children and l will move
somewhere and build a new house.
l'm not leaving the children to him.
Even you l'm leaving...
against my will.
lf only you want it yourself.
l can't understand it.
He says he loves you.
But he sacrificed you
to priests' tales.
All right, this is your business.
So make up your mind.
We'll do as you decide.
But l won't have you
running to your dates.
l'm responsible for you, understand?
That's how she will sit
alone in the evenings,
waiting for Akhmed.
She will listen to the sound
of rain falling on the roof.
And Akhmed, will he come or not?
He's not a responsible man.
While Yevdokim and the children
will be far away.
And they won't need her
to take care of them.
She felt sorry for them.
lt would be awful if
they left because of Akhmed.
And even more awful
that Yevdokim would leave,
without whom there would have
never been this house,
nor the family,
nothing.
lt was unbearable
to suffer this injustice -
not having Yevdokim here.
And suddenly she thought:
why am l crying, the silly one?
Yevdokim said: you decide.
lt's for me to decide
who will be here and who will not.
C'mon, it's all right as it is.
Never mind, comrade Makeyev,
l'll do it for you.
You're not in the habit
of cleaning your lathe.
What did you say?
l'm telling the truth.
You don't look after your lathe.
Whom are you criticizing?
Whom are you teaching?
You think if you got your Komsomol
badge, you can order me about?
You, street rabble, you tramp.
A bitch's fosterling.
What?
What did you say, bastard?
And what do you think she is?
A slut!
Are you crazy or what?
She had an affair with Akhmed
from the grocery. You may ask anybody.
l'm going to kill him anyway.
l just can't hold myself.
l can't stand the sight of him.
- She's my mother. Do you understand?
- We understand.
- ls Yakovlev here?
- No.
lf you start another fight,
Chernyshov,
l'll raise the question about
expelling you from the Komsomol.
And l'll get my way, you know me.
All right, l promise l won't touch him.
So you're selling milk now?
Cannot make ends meet?
Of course, they can't,
having such a crowd.
Why, we can.
We, the working class, have no
grievances against the Soviet power.
l'm saving to buy a suit for Yevdokim.
His old one has completely worn out.
Oh, that Katya.
What can you tell?
That you're fighting all the time?
He started first.
Katya!
Take your girl!
Katyusha, come here.
What a load these people
have taken on themselves!
l would understand if they were
their own.
lt's no good the way
things stand, Katya.
- Why? lt's good.
- No, not good.
Everybody's scolding us,
you're fighting everybody.
He did it himself.
- What did he do himself?
- He was the first to start.
So what if he was the first?
And l gave it to him!
- What did you give him?
- With my foot.
l gave it to him with my foot.
Mom, l'll carry it.
Wait, you're going to drop it.
Mom, l'll do it.
Please, give it to Natasha.
Andryusha, take the bread.
Ah, Katerina.
Natasha.
Natalya, just look
what your boyfriend brought you.
For me?
My boyfriend?
Ah, it must be Vovka.
Come on, he's not my boyfriend.
You're so lucky, Natalya.
Nobody has ever
gave me a flower.
Of course, it's too early for him
to get married, but we can wait.
And he's good-looking.
Oh, mom, what ideas you're getting?
He's just a friend.
Nothing more.
You're too secretive, Natalya.
Stop pulling wool over my ears.
Who ever brought flowers
to just a friend?
Excuse me, l have to study.
l don't want to talk about it.
l'm sorry.
Such a fine young man,
such beautiful flowers,
and the name is nice - Vova.
And she doesn't want to talk
about it, just imagine.
What more does she want?
ls she going to look
into the book forever?
At that time, young people
began leaving Proletarian Street.
One went away, then another.
One to the Amur, another to the Kuzbass -
the five-year-plan constriction sites.
We had a meeting today, volunteers
signing up for the Magnitogorsk works.
l was thinking,
what if l go there, too?
We also had a meeting.
Many girls go.
- What about you?
- Me too.
How can we both leave?
What will the old folks say?
No, we both can't go.
One has to stay.
Shall we draw lots with matches.
All right.
- But l already signed up.
- Why didn't you say so?
lnstead of beating around the bush.
So l'm going.
But l signed up, too.
What do we do?
We have to tell them.
Father is a Party man,
he'll understand.
But mother...
l don't even know how to tell her.
Why are you standing here?
Where're the kids?
What secrets are you sharing there?
They're going to leave.
At least don't go away all at once.
One at a time.
Mother. Father.
Our dears, thank you for everything.
Good luck to you and be happy.
Natasha, honey, l hope
everything will be all right with you.
So our kids are gone.
They grew up and went away.
lt's natural.
lt'll feel empty without them.
Next Sunday our workers go to lay
the foundation of a new works.
Let's go too, Dunya.
Let's work together.
Why not? Let's go.
What shall we do there?
There were no
self-propelled excavators then.
Even a regular
excavator was a rarity.
The shovel had turned over
millions of cubic meters of earth.
Comrades!
Dear comrades!
Today we're laying
the first foundation ditch here.
Let's hope it won't be the last.
Well, with God's help!
Why was the meeting
so long today?
One guy was put on trial.
He manufactured utensils
from the plant's materials.
And sold them, pocketing the money.
And who was trying him?
- We were, our general meeting.
- Oh, the meeting.
Be careful when you go to bed,
or you may hurt the baby.
What baby?
God blessed us with a boy.
Whose boy is he?
Now he's ours.
- Was he abandoned?
- He was.
The name is Alexander.
How do you know?
A note was enclosed.
- Good name.
- Yes, good.
We can call him Shura, Sanya,
Sasha, whatever you like.
What do you know!
And where shall l sleep?
You lie down by the wall,
and we two on the side.
Be sure not to crush him at night.
Tomorrow l'll make
a cradle for him.
His bones are
young and soft.
The years were passing. Everything
was fine in Yevdokiya's family.
Sashenka was growing up,
her sonny, her heartthrob.
Letters came
from Natalya and Andrei.
Natalya had remained in Magnitogorsk
and got married there,
and Andrei went
to serve in the Red Army.
Give alms, for Christ's sake.
Well, sit down and eat.
You're young and healthy.
Why don't you work?
- You don't work, either.
- l'm keeping the house.
l cook, wash, sew,
bring up children.
They're not yours, the children.
So what if they're not mine?
Fosterlings.
Others gave birth to them,
yet they call you mama.
What did you do to deserve them?
You didn't take any suffering for them.
Trying to shut my mouth with your pie?
You're so smart, aren't you?
Give me 100 rubles.
Though we'll have to see yet
if l take it or not.
What should l give you 100 rubles for?
Just look at her,
so innocent!
Give me 200 rubles!
Or give back my son!
You'd given him up!
Abandoned him.
You're lying! You stole him!
l'll say so in the court!
l've got his birth certificate.
And l have witnesses that he's mine!
You're using others' children in order
not to work, just sit by the stove.
But our proletarian court
will see the truth!
They will expose you for what
you are, you parasite!
Two hundred rubles!
And it's even too cheap
for all those five years.
Well, all right.
Let it be so.
Give me 200.
l don't have 200.
l don't know how much l got.
Let me see.
Katya, stay here. Don't leave.
Here, 1 70 rubles.
Alright then,
you'll give me the rest on payday.
When is your payday?
On the 15th.
Sit down and write the receipt.
Katya, bring the ink.
Write
that you're giving him up, that you
are no mother to him but a snake.
Receipt. l give him up.
l'm a snake to him.
Anna Shkapidar.
Here, receive the salary, wife.
lt's me. Today is the 15th.
l came for my alimony.
Did you forget about your debt?
You won't get a kopeck.
- How come?
- Just like that.
My husband is earning
this money by his labor.
This money feeds our children.
l won't give you a single kopeck,
you drunkard!
Oh, that's how it is!
That's how you're talking now!
You'll be sorry, my dear,
you'll be very sorry!
You'll remember Anna Shkapidar!
You'll be sorry, my dear!
- Who was that?
- Nobody. lt's nothing.
Don't worry.
Just you wait! l'll show you!
They stole a child,
dear comrade judge,
those Chernyshov husband and wife.
The wife is a dependant, she doesn't
work, and they have their own house.
They stole him and are using him,
and l'm left with nothing.
Do you want to raise
your child yourself?
l don't want them
to raise him.
l'm a full mother,
l gave birth to him myself.
No one can bring him up
batter than his own mother.
So l'm asking you,
dear comrade judge,
to support me as a working
woman and a proletarian,
against those house-owners.
Where do you work?
As a salvage collector.
- What is your surname?
- Shkapidar.
Shkapidar.
There cannot be such a surname.
Skipidar? (Russian for 'turpentine')
Take your seat.
Under what circumstances
did you get the child?
Found him on our porch.
And she, that is my wife,
Yevdokiya lvanovna,
has raised the boy.
She tried to do
everything right.
She bottle-fed him.
She treated him from illnesses.
She was looking after him.
She always kept him at her side.
And what do you have to say?
l didn't steal him.
l found him on my porch,
in the snow.
l got the receipt.
Here.
l give him up.
l'm a snake to him.
lt's some nonsense.
Do you have any questions?
And where's the child?
He's here. l brought him. He's running
about in the lobby. l'll call him.
Wait a minute. l'll do it.
- What's your name?
- Chernyshov.
And your first name?
Sasha.
- Do you know your patronymic?
- Yes, l know.
Alexander Yevdokimovich.
How do you live, Alexander
Yevdokimovich, well or bad?
Very well, thank you.
Where's your mom?
You know, Alexander Yevdokimovich,
you've got not only one mom.
You have another mom.
No, it's not true.
Here she is.
Shurik!
My baby!
Those monsters have separated us!
My dear sonny, he doesn't
recognize his mommy!
How about going to live
with your other mom?
You lived with one for a while,
why not live with the other one now?
Shurik, come here,
my baby.
Shurik!
ln the name of the Russian Socialist
Federative Soviet Republic...
They were happy.
Each took credit for the success.
Yevdokim was thinking that his
testimony had convinced the judge.
Yevdokiya was thinking how
smart she was to bring Sasha along.
And Sasha was thinking
that the judge was lying.
That fat-faced woman with a red
nose just couldn't be his mother.
Sasha simply couldn't
understand why the judge had to lie.
But very soon
he stopped thinking about it
and began figuring out
what he should say to his mother
to make her buy
ice cream for him and Katya.
And such were the simple
joys, sorrows and worries
with which Yevdokiya lived.
lt'd been two years since Pavel left.
They had seen him off
to faraway Leningrad,
to the Academy of Arts,
to study to be a painter.
Katya grew up, too,
she was already 18.
She worked as a telephone operator
at the same works with her father.
You're extremely popular
among the entire works management.
Extremely popular.
What's popularity?
l want a real and deep feeling.
l want someone to fall madly
and passionately in love with me.
l want him not sleep nights,
be envious and kiss my hands.
The gold personalized
watches are awarded to
Yevdokim Nikolayevich Chernyshov
and lvan Yegorovich Shesterkin.
Look, it's our Katya.
Nastya.
Find out who's the guy l danced with.
- C'mon, do it.
- All right.
He's Kolesov. First name is Mitya.
A template metal worker,
came here from Kursk.
- May l?
- Yes, you may.
l got to go.
Good night.
Dmitri Kolesov,
it sounds divine.
lt's pure music -
Dmitri Kolesov.
Just listen to it -
Dmitri Kolesov.
Go on, dad, l'll catch up with you.
What were you talking about yesterday?
39624
Youth Ball
Hello.
Hello.
Will you go?
lt's only in a week.
Please come, l invite you,
we'll dance.
They met sooner,
exactly three days later.
But they didn't have
a chance to talk.
Katerina!
Where're you running?
What can be so important?
Pavel is back home!
Katya.
l'm leaving something here.
- Please, save it.
- What is it?
How can l save it, Pavel?
l'm going to the front, too.
Mother, my darling...
l'll never...
lt's me.
Milling shop.
Tell Chernyshova to come out,
her son's here to see her.
Any letters?
There's one, from Katya.
She's alive and well.
She went on a reconnaissance mission.
Katya and Andrei wrote to them, only
from Pavel they hadn't heard for long.
Pavel must be fighting somewhere,
from where one cannot write.
lt happens very often.
What have you brought?
Some potatoes,
and there's pea porridge in the pot.
And father's shirt, as you asked.
Did you get food for coupons?
l did.
And l paid for electricity.
All right, go now. Father and l
will come on Saturday.
Go, honey.
- Go and have some sleep.
- All right.
Yevdokim.
A letter from Katya.
Alyosha.
What's going on?
lf it goes like this, they may
soon call up our Sasha, too.
When will be the end
to this cursed war?
She prayed for her children.
She begged to keep everybody alive.
She named them all, but more than
anyone else, she prayed for Pavel.
For so many months they
hadn't had a word from him.
And a splinter of doubt
was already nagging at her heart -
is there God really?
Perhaps Yevdokim was right,
the children were right,
and there was no God?
lf He does exist,
the wise and merciful,
how can He allow
so many people to be killed,
so much blood and woe
to be in the world?
And though she
already had those thoughts,
still she prayed even harder,
as though setting a condition -
save Pavel,
protect Pavel,
then l'll believe You exist.
And the battle was getting
even more fierce.
- A death notice?
- Yes, for the Chernyshovs.
- Through the enlistment office?
- By mail.
Dunya.
You'd better cry.
Come on, cry a little.
Oh, God...
Dunya, come on, cry!
lt's all right, you'll get over it.
We'll go to church
and you'll feel better.
What do l have
to go to church for?
We'll order a service for the dead,
and you'll feel better.
How can l feel better?
lt's all lies.
And there came the victory.
And peace had come.
lnto whose gate will the soldier go?
lt was someone's happy
gate he turned to.
Soon our kids will come back, too.
l think Katya can't wait to get home,
seeing us in her dreams.
Maybe Andrei will
come for a visit, too.
l hope they'll be here soon,
so that you could
see them, Natasha.
Natalya took a leave and came
to visit with her parents
and show her daughter to them.
l wonder what Katya is like now.
Thousands of kilometers to cover
to get back to parental home.
Sasha?
Right.
Hello.
Hi.
What a big boy you've grown!
You, too.
l mean, a big girl.
ls mother at work?
She'll be here any minute.
Your room is ready, miss.
l mean, sis.
We thought
you'd send a telegram.
No, not this!
Katya!
You've come!
My darling daughter!
Mom, is that aunt Katya?
Katyusha, my dear!
Natasha, darling.
Natasha, pass me salt, please.
Please, eat, Katya.
You haven't tasted home cooking
for four years.
Well, there was some home cooking, too.
All right.
Let's drink to
never having a war again,
however long we might live.
Well, daughter,
what are you going to do now?
l shall work.
ln communications again?
As a telephone operator?
l'll work where the Party sends me.
Are you already in the Party?
Yes, l joined it.
lt was at Eilenburg.
Almost all of our battalion
had fallen there.
l so much want you
to be happy in your personal life.
Well, it didn't work so far.
lt will, you're still young.
Mom.
How do you like him?
He's all right, good-looking.
Looks very distinguished.
A scoundrel of the worst type.
And this one?
l don't know what to say now.
He looks all right, but...
...the rest, who knows?
No one could be better.
Only he was killed in Berlin.
- You're not sleeping, are you, Katya?
- Not yet.
l came just for a minute.
Come in.
That's what you're like now, Katya.
- You don't like me?
- No, it's not that.
lt's just that l remember
you as a little girl,
hardly older than my daughter.
Not only you were growing up,
others were, too.
What are your plans for the future?
Are you thinking of going to study?
Of course, you might think
you're too old for that.
- And where's your husband?
- ln Germany.
On business.
He's a professional man.
Did he fight in the war,
your professional man?
lt was not only you who fought,
others did, too.
Listen to me, Katya.
l'm leaving tomorrow.
Try to be kind to mother.
You mean that picture?
But it's ugly and vulgar.
How else could l react to it?
You think
l like that picture?
Or our late Pavel did?
But we didn't say a word.
Why didn't you?
You have to be tolerant.
Why should l?
What for?
Not to hurt
mother's feelings.
Mother's much smarter than you,
she didn't even pay attention.
You don't know her.
Everybody paid attention,
but said nothing,
not to spoil that day ofjoy.
You mean they're just bearing with me?
Let's not get annoyed.
What are you teaching me?
This way we may
hush up most horrible things.
No, my dear, l'm not going
to put up with what disgusts me.
Katya left her family
and settled in another city.
She finished courses and worked
at a Party district committee.
Where do you want to go, miss?
- To the diary factory.
- Get in, l'll give you a lift.
Thanks.
Am l not lucky?
Comrade, can you
give me a lift to the diary factory?
Only halfway,
to Dyomushkino.
All right, let it be Dyomushkino.
- Good luck, comrade.
- So long.
Always on her way, always on the road.
A few years had passed.
From her letters the Chernyshovs knew
that Katya finished by correspondence
the industrial economics college
and enrolled in the postgraduate
studies.
She was promoted from the district
committee to the regional one.
Yevdokiya often thought about Katya.
Of all her children,
she worried most about her.
She tried to picture how Katya
was living, and couldn't.
One day...
Sorry, but it's my place.
- Why yours?
- Here's the order, number 19.
Oh, you see...
l got number 19, too.
l don't know.
Give up my place, please.
l'm occupying my place.
What's the matter?
Why did you issue
two orders for one bed?
Well?
- Please.
- Give me another one.
l'm sorry,
we don't have any more beds.
lt's just unimaginable!
Can you come to terms somehow?
l'm sorry,
but you could take turns.
You sleep a half night,
then you another half.
Comrade administrator!
What the hell!
What a silly situation.
Look, can't you
just give up the bed to me?
Why should l give it up?
Because l'm a woman.
l didn't notice it.
Yes, you can yell real good.
But l didn't have a chance
to see that you're a woman.
Oh, what the heck, really.
Take advantage of your
privileges, you weaker sex.
We're being accused of
not providing enough housing.
But we closed down
the construction of only one building.
The rest will be finished on schedule.
- May l?
- Please.
Why have you closed down
the house with apartments
for the research institute workers,
the newly arrived people
who badly need housing?
Comrade Chernyshova,
we believe it's our duty
to provide housing
in the first place
for our local personnel.
So the institute workers
are not your local personnel?
Since the institute has moved
to your city, they're your personnel.
And it's your duty to
take care of them.
- She's right, this comrade...
- Chernyshova.
- Chernyshova.
- Yes, comrade Porokhin.
l share comrade
Chernyshova's point of view.
What do we get here?
The Party's 20th Congress
has taken certain decisions,
people came to work here,
and you turn away from them.
You'll get nothing but scaring
people off from doing theirjob.
You?
Hello.
You seem to be everywhere.
Except that l'm not
occupying your place this time.
Not this time.
Where're you going?
Home.
- And where's your home?
- l guess, in the same parts yours is.
- You work at the Regional Committee?
- And you?
At the People's Economy Council.
How powertul it is!
Really, music is capable
of making man better.
And, actually, there's nothing more
important than making man good.
You know, l happen
to meet a lot of good people.
Of course, there're a lot of them.
And there're more and more
of good people.
l wonder
how you feel?
Have you become better?
- And you?
- Me?
l got better, wiser.
l got more honest.
More purposeful than before.
lt's true.
Only...
...it's not making
my life any easier.
- So what?
- Nothing.
l'm just saying
that l have to review
many things in life,
to make different decisions.
Here's a simple case in point.
Husband and wife
are living in love and harmony.
They're well off,
the husband gets good wages.
They visit the theatre.
A harmonious family, as they say.
And all that harmony falls to pieces
as soon as their apartment
in the capital is called into question.
ln short, when the husband said
he was going to work in the provinces.
You are not sleeping, are you?
Are there any children?
l mean those people
you were speaking about.
A girl, 6 years old.
Let's go to sleep.
But you seem to be
satisfied with your life?
Me?
l don't know what to say.
My life is pretty hectic.
l'm always on the road,
getting dead-tired.
Sometimes don't even
have time to make my hair.
- But it's the only way l can live.
- Yes, you're right.
l think you didn't even try to
condition your wife to the real life.
You took her to the theatres, but
you protected her from difficulties.
Yet one mustn't hurt children.
All right, let's sleep.
What you're saying is absolutely right.
But, you know,
one may make little mistakes.
You may make errors,
you may even be unfaithful,
and it can be forgiven.
But you can't betray one
in the most important things.
Otherwise, what are we?
Do you agree with me?
Yes, l agree.
All right, let's sleep.
Yes, let's sleep.
Do you have
any family?
Yes, l do.
- What family?
- Mother and father.
My mother is a very
interesting person.
You know,
she's a quite simple woman.
Actually, she's not
my natural mother.
l was a foster child.
ln our family, we're
all foster children.
Really?
lt's amazing!
Why amazing?
That's how they are.
You mean you love them?
How could one not love them?
They even have similar names.
What do you mean?
Father is Yevdokim,
mother is Yevdokiya.
lt's really amazing.
Well, let's sleep.
All right.
You wanted Ruchyi Station?
lt's the next stop.
Thank you.
l have to get ready.
Why?
You said you were going home.
Yes, l am.
But l have to get off at Ruchyi.
l got some business here.
This is my address.
May l have yours?
Goodbye.
And how's Yevdokiya doing?
We haven't seen her for quite a while.
Our apartment is just like this one.
Only we have a bathtub on the right.
The children have arrived
for the parents' housewarming.
Only Sasha didn't have to come - he
and his wide lived with his parents.
But Natalya and her husband and
younger daughter came from afar.
Andrei also came with his family.
We wouldn't even be
able to tell who is who.
But does it really matter?
Don't you think it's not the right
time to do it, Dunya?
- What if Katya comes?
- But she didn't, did she?
Maybe she'll come yet.
We'll be in trouble again.
Never mind.
Let this beauty hang for a while.
Mother! lt's Katya!
- Sasha!
- How are you?
Oh, my darling!
- Mom!
- You've come after all.
Andryusha! Klava! Come here!
Come on in.
l'm not alone, mom.
Please meet my husband.
A new man
enters the family.
What are you like? Show yourself.
What is your heart?
What are your intentions?
We all feel good with one another.
Will we feel as good with you here?
Hi!
A good man.
He came with good intentions.
Come in, man,
feel at home.
How are you?
Come in, please.
See?
Just in time for meat dumplings.
The End