Voyna i mir IV: Pierre Bezukhov (1967) - full transcript

MOSFILM

LEO TOLSTOY

WAR AND PEACE

PIERRE BEZUKHOV

Directed by
Sergei BONDARCHUK

Screen Adaptation by
Sergei BONDARCHUK, Vassily SOLOVIOV

Director of Photography
Anatoly PETRITSKY

Production Designers
Mikhail BOGDANOV, Gennady MIASNIKOV

Music by
Vyacheslav OVCHINNIKOV

Sound by
Yuri MIKHAILOV, Igor URVANTSEV

English Subtitles by
Tatiana Kameneva



Starring

Sergei BONDARCHUK as Pierre Bezukhov
Liudmila SAVELYEVA as Natasha Rostova

Vyacheslav TIKHONOV
as Andrei Bolkonsky

V. STANITSIN
as Ilya Andreyevich Rostov

K. GOLOVKO as Countess Rostova
S. ERMILOV as Petya Rostov

I. GUBANOVA as Sonya
A.SHURANOVA as Princess Maria

A. SYOMIN as Nikolushka
B. SMIRNOV as Prince Vassily

A. STEPANOVA as Scherer

Boris ZAKHAVA as Kutuzov
M. KHRABROV as Karatayev

N. RYBNIKOV as Denissov
S. CHEKAN as Tikhon Shcherbaty

Vladislav STRZHELCHIK
as Napoleon

Jean-Claude BALLARD as Ramball
Yu. MILLYAR as Morel

B. MOLCHANOV as Davoust
L. POLYAKOV as Lauriston

The question we're meeting to
to discuss is the question of the war.



The question is:

The salvation of Russia
lies in her army.

Is it better to risk the loss of
the army and of Moscow

by giving battle, or to abandon
Moscow without a battle?

This is the question
on which I want your opinion.

I do not consider that the game
is lost.

The only way in which we may
still save our holy city

is to launch an attack upon
the adversary.

Can it be that I’m the one who let
Napoleon get so close to Moscow?

And when did I do that?

When was this frightful
business decided?

He was horrified at the thought
of the order he had to issue.

Well, gentlemen...

I take it that it's up to me
to pay the piper.

Gentlemen, I have heard your
opinions.

Some of you will not agree
with me, but l...

l, by the authority entrusted in me
by my Czar and my country,

give the order to retreat.

This I did not expect!
This I never thought of!

You should get some rest,
Your Highness.

Oh no!

I shall make them eat horsemeat,
just like the Turks!

They will, too! If only...

During the night of September 1 ,

Kutuzov's order to retreat through
Moscow by the Ryazan road

was issued to the troops.

Do you know, ma chere,
I wanted to tell you...

My dear Countess,
an officer came to me

to ask for carts to carry
the wounded.

Unload the carts!
Use them for the wounded men!

Give all the carts to the wounded.
Take all our trunks and store them.

Should I dismiss the cabman?

Yes, Guerasim. Could you do
exactly as I tell you?

- You wish something to eat?
- No. Now I need other things.

Could you get some peasant's
clothes and a pistol for me?

- Whose carriage is that?
- The wounded Prince is in it.

Who is he?

Our betrothed that was, Prince
Bolkonsky. They say he's dying.

Well, God be with us.

Look, it's him!

I swear it's Bezukhov!

Pyotr Kirillovich, come here!
We recognized you!

What are you doing?
Why are you dressed like that?

- What's wrong, Count?
- What?

Don't ask me.

- Are you staying in Moscow?
- Yes, I’m staying.

Goodbye.

If I were a man,
I’d stay here with you.

Mama, let me stay in the city,
please!

- We heard you were at the battle?
- Yes.

There'll be another battle tomorrow.

- But what is the matter, Count?
- Don't ask me...

I don't know myself.
These are frightful times.

Goodbye and good luck.

He suddenly felt that everything
was at an end, in a state of chaos,

and crumbling to pieces,
that there would be no future,

and that the present situation
offered no escape.

There she is, that holy capital!

There she is, lying at my feet,
awaiting her fate.

A strange, beautiful,
majestic city.

But why is the deputation from
the city so long in coming?

To arms! Board them!

Do you see it? Run them down!

My goodness, here they are!
Four of them, horsemen!

Master not here.
No understand... me you.

No understand...

Run them down!

- You are not wounded?
- I think not.

Brigand,
you shall pay for it!

Please, forgive this drunken
imbecile.

You have saved my life.
You are French?

I’m Captain Ramball.

- I’m Russian.
- Tell that to others.

What are we to do with this man?
All right, I grant you his pardon.

What is your name?

M. Pierre, you say?
That's all I want to know.

I owe you
a fine votive candle.

I have bullets enough
in my body.

Here is one from Wagram,
and two from Smolensk.

And the leg -
at the great battle of Moscow.

It was fine!
You cut us out a tough job.

I was there.

Really? So much the better.

You are courageous enemies.
Fine fellows!

So you're a soldier, like ourselves!
So much the better, M. Pierre.

Is it true that all the women
have left Moscow?

What had they to fear?

Wouldn't French ladies quit Paris
if the Russians came?

- That's a good one. But Paris...
- Paris is the capital of the world.

Paris - it is Talma, la Duschenois,

Potier, the Sorbonne,
the boulevards.

To return to your ladies,

what a chance they have lost.

We have taken Vienna, Berlin,
Rome,

Naples, Madrid, Warsaw.

We are feared, but we are loved.
And then the Emperor...

What of the Emperor?

He's the greatest man of
the centuries, past and to come.

Is he in Moscow?

No, he will make
his entry tomorrow.

We are sad, aren't we?

Morel!
Warm us another bottle!

- It’s not in Mytischi, but further.
- Right, it looks like Moscow.

Mytischi's over there,
and this is on the other side.

I say it is flaring.

That is Moscow burning, either
in Suschevsky or in Dubrovsky.

It’s awful!
I think all Moscow's burning.

What a dreadful glow!

Natasha, look!
You can see it from the window.

Look how it's burning.

What's burning? Ah, yes, Moscow...

- You didn't even look.
- Yes, I did. I saw.

Ever since Natasha had been told

that Prince Andrei had journeyed
with them, that she couldn't see him

because he had a serious wound,
though his life was not in danger,

she had disbelieved everything
she'd been told,

but being convinced that she would
always be told the same thing,

she no longer asked questions.

You're trembling!
You had better lie down.

Yes, I will lie down.

- Come lie down in my bed.
- No, I’ll lie down on the floor.

Mama!

You? What a blessing!

- Forgive me.
- I love you.

- Please, forgive me.
- Forgive you what?

Forgive me for everything
I did.

I love you more...
better than before.

He had to stay in Moscow,
concealing his identity,

and to kill Napoleon,
so as either to perish

or to put an end
to the misery of all Europe.

She's burned to death!

Oh, help me, good people,
good Christians!

I left my poor daughter there!
She's burned to death!

The fire started up next door,
then it spread to our home.

We ran out as we were,
taking only icons and my bed.

And we saved the children,
but we couldn't find Katenka!

Where did you last see her?

My good sir, my benefactor!
Set my heart at rest, please!

Anniska, you horrid girl!
Show him the way!

Show me the way. I’ll see
what I can do...

She has burned to death...

This way, sir.
We'll have to go by the alley.

Which is your house?

Right here! That's where our
place was.

She's burned to death! My little
treasure!

My darling little mistress!

Haven't you seen a child
in that house?

I did hear something crying
in the garden.

Perhaps it's the fellow's brat.

Ah, a little girl.
So much the better.

Must be humane.
We're all mortal, you know.

Have you lost someone, my good man?
You're of the gentry, aren't you?

Whose child is it?

A woman was sitting here with
her children. Where has she gone?

It must be the Anferovs' child.

The Anferovs left early today.
It’s Maria Nikolayevna's.

He says a woman,
and Maria Nikolayevna's a lady.

It’s Maria Nikolayevna's all right.
They left for the garden.

Here, take the child. Give her
to her parents.

Let that woman alone!

Arrest him!

Lieutenant, he has a dagger!

He looks very like an arsonist.

Sir! What about the little girl?

Who will I give her to,
if I can't find her mother?

What does she want?

She's carrying my daughter, whom
I have just saved from the flames!

Goodbye!

Most high and gracious
Emperor and Czar...

Calm and luxurious,

troubled only about phantoms
and reflections of real life,

the life in St. Petersburg
went right on as always.

Great efforts
were required

to realize the difficult situation
of the Russian people

and the danger
besetting them.

This time, at a soiree at Scherer's,
they were reading the letter

sent by the Metropolitan to the Czar
along with an icon of Saint Sergey.

Let the insolent and arrogant
Goliath

from the borders of France bring
to Russia the horrors of death.

Humble faith,
the sling of the Russian David...

The other big news was
the sudden death of Helen Bezukhov.

My failing strength
hinders me from the joy

of your most gracious presence.

Who are you?

I know this man.

You cannot know me, General.
I have never met you.

It is a Russian spy.

No, Your Highness!

You could not know me.
I have never left Moscow.

- Your name?
- Bezukhov.

Who can prove that you are not
lying?

How will you prove to me
the truth of what you say?

M. Ramball, Captain of the 13th
Light Brigade, knows me.

- You are not what you say.
- Your Highness!

Take him away.

What shall we do with him,
Your Highness?

In the name of the Emperor and
King,

on this day, September 8
of the year 1812...

the military judicial commission
sentences the accused

to death by shooting.

Who is executing me,
depriving me of life?

Me, with all my memories,
my aspirations,

my hopes, my thoughts?
Who is doing this?

They are all suffering as I am.

So who is doing this?

No one. The established order.
The interplay of circumstances.

Not the fat one with the glasses.

No! I don't want to!..

And have you seen
a lot of trouble, sir?

You mustn't worry, though.
Suffer an hour, live for an age.

That's the way it goes, my dear.

- Who are you? A soldier?
- Yes, from the Apsheron regiment.

I was dying of fever.
Twenty of us were sick.

No one expected this.

Here she is, the hussy.
She remembers me!

Here, you taste this, sir.

At dinner we had soup.
But the potatoes are first rate!

No, no, not that way.
Here, let me show you.

You taste them like that.

First-rate potatoes!

Why did they kill
those poor men?

That last boy was barely twenty.

Sins, sins... Where there's law,
injustice will follow.

Have you been here long?

It was Sunday they took me
out of the hospital in Moscow.

My name's Platon,
surname's Karatayev.

In the regiment they called me
"the little hawk”.

Aren't you miserable here?

Miserable, to be sure.
Moscow, she's the mother of cities.

One must be miserable to see it.

Well, though it's the worm that
gnaws the cabbage, it's first to die.

What was that you said?

I say it's not by our wit,
but as God thinks fit.

Oh, I think you must be getting
sleepy, eh?

Why, the little hussy,
you're warm, child of the bitch!

Lord, lay me down like a stone
and raise me up like new bread.

Prince Andrei not only knew
that he was going to die,

but he felt
that he was dying,

that he was already half dead.

It was the last moral struggle
between life and death,

in which death gained the victory.

Without anguish, he was awaiting
what was yet to come,

that grim, eternal, unknown
and remote something.

You're not asleep?

No.

I have been looking at you
a long while.

Natasha...

I love you far too much.

More than anything else
in the world.

And l? Why too much?

Why too much?

Tell me, what do you feel,
deep in your heart?

Within your soul?..

- Am I going to live?
- Yes, I’m sure!

It would have been so good.

You haven't slept at all.

Please, try to get some rest.

Yes, that was death.

I died. I woke up.

Yes, death is awakening.

Maria?

How did you get here?

And you brought Nikolushka?

Are you crying for Nikolushka?

You mustn't cry here.

I’d be cursed by posterity

if I were regarded
as the first instigator

of any sort of settlement.

The people of my country
feel that way.

He was making peace overtures, but
either he received negative answers,

or received no answer at all.

With every fiber of his being,
Kutuzov sensed

that the staggering blow dealt
the enemy at Borodino,

into which he and the entire Russian
people had put their whole strength,

must have been a mortal blow.

But still proofs were needed.

From Alexei Petrovich Dokhturov.

Come closer.

What news have you brought me?

Napoleon has left Moscow, has he?
Is it truly so?

Napoleon has left Moscow,
Your Highness.

His advance troops are already
in Fominskoye.

Lord, my Creator!

Thou hast heard our prayer!

Russia is saved.

There you are. Where's Platon?

They began to look. Where's
that little old man

who has been suffering in vain?

But God had already forgiven him.
He was dead.

That is life!

That is how it is with Karatayev;
he is absorbed and has disappeared.

How simple it is and how clear.
How was it I didn't know it before?

Life is everything.

That soldier wouldn't let me pass.

They have taken me, shut me up.
They keep me prisoner.

Who, me? Me!

Me!
My immortal soul!

And all that is mine!

It’s all within me!
I am all that!

From the general. I’m sorry.
It isn't quite dry yet.

But who is this? A prisoner?
May I speak to him?

Rostov! Petya! Why didn't you
say who you were?

Is it all right if I stay a day
or so?

I was told to find out things.
That way I will find out.

But let me go into
the thick of things.

- I want to go...
- ...to the thick of things.

Won't you put me in command
for once?

Why, what would it be to you?

- You want a knife?
- Mighty good knife.

Keep it.
I have many like it.

Oh, I almost forgot...

I have some capital raisins with me,
seedless raisins.

I bought ten pounds.
I’m used to sweet things.

Gentlemen, help yourselves.

Don't you need a coffee pot?
I got one from our canteen-keeper.

He has nice things for sale.
And he's very honest.

I’ll surely send it to you.

Might I call that boy
who was taken prisoner?

Perhaps we'll give him something
to eat?

Yes, I really pity the lad.
Fetch him!

- I’ll call him.
- Vincent's his name.

Ah, how jolly it is! How splendid!

A Rostov! Blood will always tell.

Well, Karabakh, we'll see some
action tomorrow.

Why are you still up, sir?

Ah, Likhachev, isn't that your
name?

The night before a big battle,
I don't sleep.

You wouldn't need any flint
for your pistol, would you?

No, thank you.

I brought along some flints.
Don't you want any?

Some people don't look ahead and
then they're sorry. I don't like it.

Yes, you're right.

Would you please sharpen my
saber? It’s dull.

- Would you do that?
- Of course, why not?

- The men are all asleep?
- Some are. Some aren't, like us.

And the French boy, Vincent?

Vincenny? Oh, he's curled up
in the entrance.

Oh yes, I must be dreaming.
It’s only in my ears.

All ready, your Lordship.

You'll be able to cut a Frenchman
in two with it.

One thing I beg of you, to obey me
and not to put yourself forward.

The signal!

Go around!
Wait for the infantry!

Wait? Hurrah!

- Done for!
- Killed!

Petya!!!

My son! No, it's not true!

Natasha! It’s not true!

Leave me alone, all of you!
It’s not true! They killed him...

- Mama, darling...
- No, it can't be true.

Mama, darling, please...

No, no, no, it's not true...

Natasha, you love me?

I want you to tell me the truth.

Mama darling!

Napoleon had left his army
and was returning to Paris,

under a borrowed name
of Prince Vitzenski.

Soldiers, I will keep
all my promises.

I want you
to see your Emperor

surrounded by the grandeur
and splendor

that befit the sovereign of
the first nation in the world.

Soldiers, thanks to you, those who
had the insolent pretension

of shattering my crown,
are now beaten and annihilated,

exemplifying the truth of my motto:
"God gave it to me,

woe to whomever touches it!”

It’s no longer our frontiers
which must be defended,

but the enemy states
which must be invaded.

Soldiers, by promising peace
to the French people,

I was your voice.

You conquered
the Rhine, Holland and Italy

and dictated peace beneath
the walls of an astonished Vienna.

Soldiers, you wish to return to
France only by the path of honor.

And we will return to our fatherland
through arches of triumph!

Soldiers, here is the battle
for which you've yearned.

Henceforth victory depends on you.

It will give you abundance and
a prompt return to your fatherland.

Behave as you did
at Austerlitz,

Friedland,
Vitebsk, Smolensk,

and may your descendants
say with pride of each of you:

"He was in that great battle
beneath the walls of Moscow!”

Happy the people who,
in the moment of trial,

asks no questions how others would
act by the rules in such cases,

but with ease picks up the first
cudgel that comes handy

and deals blows with it
till, in its heart,

resentment and revenge give way
to a felling of compassion.

He says he's Captain Ramball's
orderly.

- We ought to make him warm.
- Take the officer to the house.

Oh, my kind friends!

These are good men!
My kind friends.

Come on, drink up.

Teach it me. I’ll catch it
in no time.

They're human too.

Even the weeds have their roots.

Oh, God! I never saw so many stars!

That means a good harvest
this year.

Bow its head. Lower!

There we are. Hurrah, my friends!

I want to thank all of you
for your hard and loyal service.

Our victory is complete.
Russia will remember you.

Your glory shall live for all time.

And now, brothers,
I know it's hard for you.

But there's no help for it! Be
patient, it won't last much longer.

We will see our visitors off,
and then we will rest.

It’s hard for you, but still you
are at home, while they...

You see what they have come to?

Worse than the lowest beggars.

While they were strong,
we did not spare ourselves,

but now we can even spare them.

They too are men. Right, fellows?

But after all is said and done,
who asked them to come here?

It serves them right.
To have their mugs in shit!

It was only now that Pierre
understood, not with his intellect,

but with his entire being,
with his life,

that man was created for happiness.

He looked joyfully about him
at life,

eternally changing,
majestic,

incomprehensible and infinite.

Well, so this is how we meet.

Until the very last moment,
he often spoke of you.

When I heard you were safe,
it made me so glad.

It was the best piece of news that
we had received in a long time.

Imagine, I’d never had any news
of him.

So I thought he'd been killed.

What I did hear was generally
hearsay, through strangers.

All I knew was he'd landed
by a miracle at the Rostovs.

Strange thing, Fate!

Don't you recognize her?

If I were somebody else,

good-looking, intelligent and the
best of men, and if I were free,

I would be right now at your feet

asking for your hand and for
your love.

And hurrah for the whole world!

And I say,

let us all take one another's hand,
all of us who believe in goodness,

and let there be but one banner,
that of active good will.

I only mean that thoughts

that have important consequences
are always simple.

All my thinking could be
summed up with these words:

Since corrupt people unite
among themselves

to constitute a force,

honest people
must do the same.

It is as simple as that.

The End