i have seen your banner. and ive heard what you say. you think im the hope of russia, do you? well, thats not true. you are the hope of russia. the hope of all the world. you say, you want a new way to live? well, you are not gonna find it making a fuss over me. so, i suggest that you get on with your work and let a poor old men get on with his.
nothing's working.  hand me my other boot, my friend, will you?
it doesn't matter. if my heart had stopped beating, i'd still go riding today.
peut-etre. you think that's inaccurate?
dushan petrovich, you're scribbling again?
riding with sasha. don't expect us for lunch.
what do you mean?
it's not meant to offend you.
i doubt it not, my dear.
these people are bandits.
they come into my house and arrest a man whose only crime is to express a view of life saner than that which prevails.
of course, i'm the guilty one. i reject the orthodox church. i condemn the established order and i make no secret of it.
sasha!
i'm glad you're here. so glad.
god bless you.
vladimir grigorevich has already written about you at length. i need your help badly. the manifesto against the government is hard work. they commit their idiotic abuses faster than i can catalogue them. and the new book.
i've become convinced that all the world's religions have a single organizing principle. can you guess what it is? love! love! simple.  now, i want to talk about you. how are you? how was your journey? come, sit down.
you know, i was born on this sofa.
sit. sit.
myself, my brother, my children, at least five or six of them, right here. now, i've read your essays. how`s your work progressing?
my boy, what is it? i upset you in some way. was it the sofa? it's only a sofa.
you rest for a moment and i'll fetch you a glass of tea. rest, because there's work for both of us together.
i'm not suggesting they be given land. private property is the root of the problem.  we should be giving ours away.
i believe that wealth corrupts us all, yes i do.
if the peasants had money, they wouldn't surround themselves, as we do, with footmen costing ten rubles a month.
valentin fedorovich, do you think fifty years from now, people will eat while grown men walk around and wait on them hand and foot?
you keep going on like that. why do you think we should profit from the work im doing which is only meant for the sake of the people.
it's tiresome. another remarkable invention will supercede it.
please excuse me.
oh, thats better. thats nice. very nice indeed.
i couldn't write. i was distracted i think. i had a dream last night, about a tartar girl i knew in the war.
no, no. a girl i had sexual intercourse with.  sometimes we did it twice a day.
god bless. i've never forgotten our time together, the position of our bodies, the taste of her.
torture? you are a virgin, aren't you.
to be what, a good tolstoyan?
you see, i myself am not a very good tolstoyan. you should think twice about asking my advice about anything.  torture.
kalya, her name was. she's an old woman now, white hair, old body like me. she'd hardly remember my name, i suspect. she may even be dead. do you think that meant something?
i mean that little romance. was there some meaning to it?
i say lots of things. what do you say? what do you think?
i dont know, either.
smell that.
precisely. it's lilac. the smell's stronger when the sun goes down.
i've enjoyed myself, my boy.
my dear, dear man.
an old man is a very ugly thing.
my dear boy. come and kiss me.
now, who is this? maria filipovna.
you're both looking so well. life here at telyatinki obviously agrees with you.
god bless you, boy. what are you nervous about, now? sit down. sit down.
dear masha, valentin tells me you're the great treasure of telyatinki. he claims you're a very gifted teacher.
what do you mean?
forgive him. he can't help it. he's a better tolstoyan than i am.
no, my dear, i'll go alone.
sofya.
sofya, are you ill?
it's no good, you know, all this. you frightened everyone.
that was some sort of love call?
why? why? why, do you do it? we live in the country and you insist on making it an opera house. what's wrong with a little peace now and then?
i do.
of course, my dear.
what are you talking about?
about what?
laughing about what?
i have a great affection for vladimir grigorivich. let them laugh if they find it amusing.
we have a great deal in common.
because he understands what i'm trying to do? because he tries to help me accomplish it?
this is absolute nonsense.
it's impossible for you not to distract me. let me alone.  for god's sake. you're like a spoiled child.
of course, i do.
why do you say that?
there's no new will.
there is no new will.
there's no new will.
there is no new will.
ive told you the truth. now, let me work. please, will you?
this is unbearable. you don't want a husband. you want a greek chorus.
not dangerous.  she's concerned for the welfare of the family.
its a terrible thing you ask. i cant do it.
she's my wife. shes part of me. we've been together now, so many years.
but she won't. she'll never understand.
can i not. can i not have.
our life together has become intolerable.
i didn't come for more recrimination. despite good cause for alienation between us, i have never stopped loving you.
god knows you don't make it easy.
sit down. so, this is what love is. does that surprise you, boy?
he's right, though. if we cannot live a decent, quiet life, if i cannot work, if i cannot find some peace, i shall simply go away.
not to chertkov, but i shall go.
dushan says you're killing me.
dushan!!!
why did you bring him here?
and astoundingly stupid in the way of all scientists.
i'm sorry, my friend, but this is all very upsetting to me.
take them downstairs. thank them for me. offer them a drink.
valentin fedorovich will stay with me, won't you, boy
you rest now.
you see, i no longer feel i have a choice in the matter. she isn't.
is it?
i need a pen.
i feel like a conspirator.
of course, my dear.
" your youth and your desire for happiness reminds me cruelly of my age and the impossibility of happiness for me." when i was courting sofya, she was so young and pure, it seemed impossible that i'd ever have her. i didn't want to tell her how i felt and i wanted to tell her nothing else. so i wrote down a string of letters and asked her if she could decipher them. she looked completely confused, thinking it was a game or.
i gave her one clue. the first two y's, i said, stand for "your youth" and then the most miraculous thing happened. she simply spoke the phrase, my phrase.
as if she had read my mind. in that moment, we both knew we would always be together. for those first years, we were incredibly happy, terrifyingly happy.
and now this.
then i shall try and die as soon as is convenient.
i don't write for publishers. i write for people.
valentin's in the library. he's asked to speak to me.
i don't see anyone starving in this house. on the contrary, our privilege revolts me.
what is it, dear boy? you look unhappy. what do you want to say?
sofya, what are you doing?
you're not well.
you behave like this, i have no choice. now give me the gun.
give it to me, please.
i'd like you to stay here tonight.
essentials only. nothing that isn't absolutely necessary.
please. we must hurry.
when i was a boy, my brother nikolai once brought me to a place when i was a boy. he told me he'd found a green stick with some words on it.  the secret to happiness for all men everywhere. he hid it in the ground. i looked for it very often. i've looked for it all these years. i really believed i would find it here. but i never did.
i never did. but this life is behind me now.
help me up, will you?
give this to sofya.
don't cry. i'll send for you when i can.
my position in the house has become intolerable. what i'm doing now is what people have commonly done - leave their worldly life behind to spend their last days in peace and solitude.
i beg you to forgive me for everything i've done to you, just as i forgive you with all my soul for everything you've done to me.
we don't need a plan, my dears, we'll simply go
i guess our little secret is out.
where are we?
where are we?
good old dushan,. you needn't worry. remember, you are my doctor, not my angel. whatever happens, it's not your fault.  i'm feeling much better now. i just need to sleep.
very lucky.
and then we'll be on our way.
it's you.
i needed to see you. thank you. we have so much to do. im sorry. damn hic ups. have you seen sofya?
i don't know when she'll come. but she'll come . i know it.
don't apologize, my friend. your enemas have become the news of the world. now, all of you, help turn me over.
sofya!
she's come, hasn't she? she`s here.
sasha. where's your mother?
if she wanted to see me i couldn't refuse her. is she going to come here?
to what?
at home.
very beautiful isn't it?
yes.
sofya. my dear sofya. so much has fallen to her.
who's going to look after her? someone needs to look after her.
this is it . the end.
sasha, sasha.  it's nothing. nothing.