Central Studio of Children and Youth Films named after M. Gorky
LITTLE VERA
Natalya NEGODA
Ludmila ZAITSEVA
Andrei SOKOLOV
Yuri NAZAROV
Alexander ALEXEYEV-NEGREBA
Now we've got it! Just look at her! Just look!
She finished school, but got nothing but foolishness in her head!
It's all your doing! Kissing her ass when she was little.
- Come on, stop it. - That's why she's grown up like this.
Who knows what happens now!
- Will you eat? - Yes, I'm hungry as a wolf.
Is there nobody in this house to fix the light?
Vera!
Victor's coming with his wife.
Come here!
Come here, I said!
What do you think you're doing, Verka?
Why are you torturing your mother?
How can we look people straight in the eye after that?
Instead of helping your mother, you're loafing about with your...
It's Chistyakova, the bitch, who's putting you up to it!
I don't want to see her again in our courtyard!
What's her telephone number? What's her number, I say!
She says she got no telephone.
All right, I'll check it.
I'll get everything from the school - the telephone and the address.
Aren't you ashamed of yourself?
Your mother and I are killing ourselves
to put you on your feet.
Thank God, Viktor has made it. And you?
Have you ever thought that he might be fired because of this thing?
She even began to smoke for everyone to see how liberated she is!
What are you smirking at?
- Will you give me something to grub? - In a minute.
Why don't you say something?
What am I supposed to say?
- Where did you get the money? - Found it.
You hear? You shall go to the police today and tell them everything!
Sit down.
You eat, and I'll go and call Viktor.
Let him talk to her if she won't listen to her mother.
- Isn't he on duty today? - He was yesterday.
Hello? Who is it?
Is it Moscow? Who is it? Sonya?
Sonya, why didn't you call us lately?
How's Mishenka? Is he all right?
It's very hot here.
And you got rains? Oh, it's too bad.
Why don't you come to visit? Mishenka would eat plenty of fruit.
They must be very expensive at your market.
Mishenka, my sweetie!
Say something to your grandma, honey.
Oh, he said "ganma"! And how does my little one sing?
Oh, how he's singing, my darling!
Sonya, did he get any new teeth?
That's all right, they'll pop up.
Sonya, is Viktor home? Get him for me.
Vitya, it's your mom calling.
It's about Vera.
I got into her bag today, I needed a pen.
And I saw some strange piece of paper there.
I unfolded it.
And it was 20 foreign dollars.
Yes, 20 dollars.
She says she walked and found it on the ground.
Since when have we had dollars lying about on the ground?
I'm telling her: "Go to the police and tell them how it happened."
And she doesn't want to!
Verka! Wait, Vitya.
Vera! Verka! Open up now!
Come on, do something!..
Vitya, can you believe what she's doing?
Open up!
She locked herself up in the bathroom!
Where's the money?
What? What are you saying?
Verka!
She tore the dollars up and flushed them down the toilet!
I got no patience anymore! She won't listen to us!
She smokes, she hangs about the hell knows where!
Vitya, you talk to her.
Come here!
Yes? Hi.
Yeah.
Yes.
Sure, I'm already running.
Bye.
What did Viktor tell you?
Don't smoke. It's bad for your health.
Do as the parents tell.
He's right.
Remember, Vera, you must cherish your honor from a tender age.
I got to go.
Is everything all right with Victor?
Yes, he's all right. Will you go there?
Sure I will. They won't work without me.
You got summons from the school?
What? You want a fight?
Bastards!
Let's get out of here.
To go where?
To my place.
Why?
I've got cool cassettes.
- So what? - We can watch the video.
Let's wait for Chistyakova and take her along.
Chistyakova...
I got a call from the naval school.
And?
Will have to go soon.
Why are you staring?
To remember you better.
Vera!
Vera, Vera, Vera dear,
Like a slender twig you steer!
- Where's the dollars? - I lost them.
You sold them?
Lost them.
Who ever lose dollars?
You shouldn't have stuffed them in my bag.
I couldn't go to the station with them and get framed for currency dealings!
Lay off me.
They were Chika's dollars.
He'll switch on the ticker, and I got no money.
I got no money either.
You goats!
What's up?
Nothing.
Who's that?
Don't know. Never seen him before.
- Shall we take a walk? - I'm dancing here.
Let go, you stinking cop!
- What do you want? - Cool off!
Let go, bastard!
Let go! My hand hurts!
You?
What's your name?
Vera. And yours?
Sergey.
The broad that was with me, who is she to you?
She's like sister to me.
All people are brothers.
Only somehow they get their mugs smashed.
You got cigarettes?
Who was that guy with you?
My classmate.
A classmate, that's good.
Shall we go?
- Let's go, I said! - Get lost!
- What about you? - I'll sleep here.
What time is it?
- Half of twelve. - Oh, God!
Like a firefighter.
- Shall I see you home? - No.
Do you love me?
Sure.
All right...
Verochka! It's me.
- Come on, dad! - Sorry.
Have you eaten? Go and eat now!
Verochka!
I can't eat like this. You're so...
Come sit with me.
Mother will be here any minute. Come on, eat and go to bed.
I've missed you.
I can see.
Remember how you put me to bed when you were little?
You were that tiny, but you pushed me in the back!
Vera! Viktor!
Viktor what?
What!
He's coming.
- Why? - To see us.
What about Sonya?
Coming alone.
Dad, go and eat.
Mother will come and make a scene again.
Why is he always coming alone?
Mom, Viktor is coming.
Start baking your pies, mother!
- Did he eat? - Try and make him to.
Is it true?
She never believes what she's told! He called today.
Said he's coming in 3 days.
I beg you, Kolia, be quiet.
- I'm going to shave. - You'll cut yourself.
Fucking not! Where's my razor?
On the balcony.
Why are you talking like that?
You know when she showed up? Just before you.
- Where have you been? - I had a walk.
- Where have you been?! - Kolia, we'll sort it out ourselves.
Hiding in the bushes! I haven't lashed you enough!
Why are you yelling? Go and eat.
Like mother like daughter! I'm going to shave!
You can't shave! I told you: Go and eat!
- There it goes. The circus in town. - Oh, my heart!
It hurts!
Take your legs away.
- Your daughter is a whore! - Yours, too.
Oh, how it hurts!
Mom!
You deal with him!
Get up.
No.
Dad, you hear me? Mom!
- Don't call her. - Then get up yourself.
Oh, it hurts!
Come on!
- I'm going to call the ambulance. - No, I'll get up myself.
Get up then.
You die like that and no one will have a kind word for you.
And I've been breaking my back for you all my life.
Ruining my health. But no one loves me.
Everybody loves you. Stop acting like a baby!
Hush, the neighbors will hear you. Why be so loud?
Oh, it hurts.
Sure it hurts when you drink so much.
Go to sleep.
- I won't. - Sleep.
Go to bed.
I got no strength left.
Why spend all that money on medicines?
With you...
...no medicines would be enough.
You haven't washed the floors again.
Before, in India, according to an ancient custom,
the wife had no right to live longer than her husband.
She was destined for an awful lot.
She was burned in the bonfire, along with her dead husband's body.
I would have run away.
What do you think, who is he to her?
Her first daddy, I guess.
If my mother had married all her lovers,
I would have got 4 daddies.
The most interesting thing is that they themselves wanted it.
In the last century that custom was abolished.
But despite the strictest ban, there have been cases of self-immolation.
There have been cases of self-immolation.
Well, I wouldn't say that living without a husband is worse than dying.
A woman was pushed into the fire by some inner impulse.
In other words, by the irresistible calling
of a deeply disturbed spirit.
The day after tomorrow we'll be seeing Andrei off. Are you going?
I don't know.
He loves you by the way.
Will you write to him?
Who loves whom? He loves me. So let him write.
I dig him like a boa constrictor digs a package of insecticide.
So you dumped me, didn't you?
I was standing alone. They were fighting around.
Where was your shoulder I could lean on?
I came home in tears, hardly alive.
Hello, Vera.
Like a weak tune, a ray sprang up in my bosom.
My dear Sergey, I'm being so lonesome.
I wrote it myself. Isn't it great?
Absolutely.
And Vera says my poems make her feel like itching.
I bet Vera loves Pushkin.
And Dostoyevsky and Gogol.
- And do you love me? - I do.
Oh?
I see a big, beautiful Soviet feeling being born here.
I won't stand in your way, my friend.
Only don't go too far.
Happiness is like a sparrow perched on a tree.
The wind blows, and it would flee.
A poem I wrote myself. Isn't it great?
Well... it is.
Are we going to sit like that?
We could go to the movies.
Oh, you're not in bed yet?
Turn off the radio.
I got it real bad this time.
People in the trolleybus said there'd been a fight in the park again.
Easy, easy.
Rolls. Are you going to eat?
I'm too tired.
Why are you eating dry bread? Have some potatoes with meat.
It's late. Let's go to sleep.
You haven't washed the floors again!
Vera!
Vera, come on, give me a hand.
Well?
Are we going to meet ships together?
Vera.
You've got a beautiful name. Vera. (means 'faith' in Russian)
You must wait for him.
See how he loves you?
I feel kind of sad today.
Tolyan, what time is it?
Just half an hour left.
Finished your coffee?
- Get your purse. - Take it.
Get your purse.
Your greed is going to kill you.
I love you.
Am I supposed to marry you because of that?
You will.
You'll have no choice.
Andrei.
I love someone else.
You'll come running to me
when I begin to go overseas.
Yeah, I'll stand on the pier, crying bitter tears.
Let's go out and have fun.
Catch it!
- Where's all the people? - Swimming.
Well, forget the people.
Come on, Tolyan!
My sweet pioneer days.
Where's the knife?
All right, where's the knife?
The knife!
- Where's the knife? - I don't know.
How is our relationship with young man Sergey developing?
Just great!
Oh, is it so?
Yes, it is so.
Lena!
Are you looking for me?
A helpless man is drowning in the sea.
A smile on his face, but what a tragedy!
How did you find me, dear?
- You made it up yourself? - Sure. Just now.
You're a very talented person.
Your poems really make an indelible impression.
- Thank you very much! - Shut up. He came to me.
Thanks! So the flowers are not for me?
Oh God! Two loving eyes just say a mass.
Inflamed, I walk in a cloud of gas.
Tolyan, are you leaving too?
- Please. - Bye, guys.
- Hello. - Good afternoon.
Here's her bag.
Vera.
Chika is here.
- So what? - Talk to him.
I'll talk when I see him.
Talk to him tomorrow.
He'll do nothing to you. But me, he'll put on a hit list.
- Will you talk to him? - All right.
Andrei, come on down!
Good boy.
Let's go and jump. Don't be scared, I'll hold you.
- How are you going to hold me? - Come on, Vera, I'll hold you.
I'm not going.
Vera, what's the matter with you? Come on!
Are you nuts? I'm on high heels.
Oh, stop it! Don't kiss me!
I want to sit down.
Right here.
Oh, it's good!
You really got to me, Andrei!
Hey, where are you going?
Swimming.
All right, sailor, cheer up!
Remember your native shores.
It's not too late, there's no point
For me to leave this groovy joint.
I'm having a ball, I'm getting drunk!
The intelligent people live on Brighton Beach,
Some of them poor, some of them rich...
Seryozha!
I love you!
Quiet. Quiet. See the ladder?
Got it. I got you.
A helpless man...
is drowning in the sea.
Oh, God...
A smile on his face, but what a tragedy!
Come here.
Give me your hand.
Come on, come here. Come, my darling.
Give me your hand, Seryozha, or I'll leave.
Give me your hand. You want me to break my neck?
- Come on, come here. - Oh, it's so good!
Just a few steps left.
Come on, my darling.
Oh, you feel so warm! Hello.
What do you think you're doing?
Your mother didn't sleep a wink all night, looking out for you!
- You knew where I was. - Yes, we knew.
But where were you after that?
Andrei was back home at 10:30, all wet. Why did he get all wet?
You better ask him why he was wet.
I will ask him. I want to know everything to the last second!
You just want to look like that friend of yours in everything!
Have you got the call from the school?
- You got the call from the school?! - I don't know.
She doesn't know! Wait till Viktor comes, he'll know everything!
Let him see what you've grown up into!
All right, come here.
- What? - Let me smell your breath.
- Are you a traffic officer? - Breathe.
You breathe yourself.
Do as I tell!
And again.
Let's go, his plane must have landed.
Why didn't you bring Sonya along?
I say, why didn't you bring Sonya?
We decided to give each other a little respite.
What do you mean?
Well... it's kind of hard to explain.
You could at least have brought the kid.
It's too hot here.
How you doing, Vera?
Me? Better than anybody else.
- She got out of hand! - There we go again.
First of all, you got to understand that a child in the family
is notjust an object to be constantly controlled
and made demands on.
The child should be a controller and demander, too.
There're days in the family when the master is the father.
But there must be also days when the master is Vera
and everybody should obey Vera.
There's nothing funny about it.
In the families where this is done, the children and adults are equally...
And why did you leave your Sonya?
Vera, you're incorrigible. You'd better listen.
Listen to whom?
You're talking some bullshit.
He himself doesn't believe in what he's saying.
Why do you speak to your brother like that?
Barge in!
This is me!
And this is me.
Hi!
How can you eat that filth?
There's nothing else to eat.
- Are you comfortable like this? - Nah.
Me neither.
- I love you so much. - Hurray!
Sokolov!
Give me your can opener.
He was adored by women for what no one should know about.
- It's not on the table. - Look somewhere else.
Where's he?
Where's our tiger?
Where's this dormitory's sexual pulse beating?
- The pulse is busy. - Busy with what?
What are you busy with?
All right! What you should know about AIDS.
Let's see.
Avoid casual sexual relations
and contacts with homosexuals...
Sokolov, don't be a jerk, give me the opener.
...drug addicts
and persons
leading promiscuous
sexual, Seryozha, life!
Who's that?
An old acquaintance.
- Hi. - Hi, buddy.
- Are you here for long? - For a week.
How are you living here without me? Regularly?
- I'm doing all right. - I can see. Metallurgist!
Vitya, we can't wait to have you with us.
Coming, my dear.
How about the opener?
You got me. Are you blind or what?
Vitya, we're off.
Who's the broad?
That one? A high school graduate.
I don't see anything here to put under my sciatic nerves.
Hi, Vitya.
What are you doing here?
My dear.
- And you? - Do you know each other?
- I'm asking you! - Just sitting.
Incidentally, she's my little sis.
All people are brothers, Vitya.
So you're just sitting, right?
I know a man who was sitting drunk on a windowsill.
Of course, he fell down from the 3rd floor. His brains all out of his ears.
They brought him to our hospital. I gave him one chance in a hundred.
He hadn't used it.
So he died.
Yes. Yes.
What is it between you two, Vera?
It's love between us, Vitya.
So you've ripened up to it, right? And what do you need her for?
- What do you need me for? - I want to marry her.
Isn't that true, Vera? Do you want to be my wife?
- I do! - You see?
I can't get you, guys.
- It's not for everyone to get it. - It's not like stuffing brains back.
Just look at him carefully.
Women will be throwing themselves on him, and you'll be able to do nothing.
In a week he'll dump you.
What is it you don't like about me?
- I'm going to call mother. - Wrecking the factory's production.
Come home and father will give you everything: Husband, wife and factory.
Go home now, I said!
She's already going.
Well, shall we go?
Where?
To get married.
Why?
What do you mean 'why'?
To live together.
- Always. - Really?
You'll wake up at night and see me beside you, always.
You'll be cooking delicious dinners for me.
Sure. Only I hate it when someone's sleeping beside me.
And I can't cook.
You don't want to marry me?
I do!
There she is!
A fresh-cooked bride.
A harbor whore!
So you itch to get married?
And did you ask your parents?
I'll knock this nonsense out of you! I'll get you locked up here!
Where does he live? Where does he live, Verka?
Vitya, where does that bastard live?
I don't remember.
I'll find him! I don't know what I'm going to do!
Instead of studying, she's been messing with men!
Have you got the call from the school?
Have you got it, I'm asking?!
What a shame!
What will our neighbors say now?
You didn't like it, living with your parents, you bitch?
Go away, don't torment me.
Mommy, dear.
Mommy dear! Father will never let you get married.
You know, I love him so much!
What can you know about love?
I loved your dad too when I got married to him and his three brothers.
You've told me about it already.
You should listen again.
My mother was right when she said I'd get worn out by cooking and washing.
Then I had Viktor, but I got no help. That's love for you.
Put it out of your head.
When you get your education, then... But now it's out of the question.
Mom, I think I'm going to have a baby.
- What? - I think I'm pregnant.
What?!
Don't you understand what I'm saying?
Vitya, go and drink some juice from the fridge.
It's nice and cold, sonny.
- What were you thinking about? - He wants to marry me.
Will you tell father yourself?
All right.
All right?
You want a boy or a girl?
A boy.
You stupid.
I wanted a girl, to help me about the house.
Where's that fucking fiance?
Stop it, father, it's not good.
Lay off me, at least you.
Vera! Father!
Here I am.
You gone crazy or what?
- It's too hot today. - Dressed up like a clown...
This is Seryozha.
Sergey. Nice to meet you.
Oh, I got my hands busy. I'm Aunt Rita.
I feel nervous...
- Well, come on in. - Thank you.
Come in.
Feel yourself at home.
- Where to? - This way.
Hello.
- Sit down, Seryozha. - Sit down.
Sergey.
- He's justjoking. - I love to joke.
We love to joke too, right?
We do.
Well...
Take some bread. Let's eat.
Bread has all the vitamins.
Right, one should eat bread.
Put it for father.
- You'll drink your own? - Right.
All right, let's drink to everybody's health.
As the saying goes, right ahead and with a song.
Seryozha.
To our meeting.
Vera! Vitya! Father!
Not drinking bottoms up to health? It's not the way to do it.
It's too hot.
Fill up your plate. There's eggplant caviar too.
- You like it? - I like everything.
Vera, help him.
And what are we doing?
We're studying. Finishing college.
After college,
we're going to devote ourselves to the chosen specialty
and, of course, to our beloved family.
I see.
And your parents?
The parents are in fraternal Mongolia.
Will come back in a year.
And what are you doing, if it's no secret?
Good for him, he knows how to stand up for himself.
Our mother is a dispatcher at a garment factory, and I'm a driver.
Very interesting. Let's drink to you, the parents.
No. Wine for me.
All right.
Thanks.
- Right ahead, as the saying goes. - And with a song.
And to your parents, may they be happy there.
Thank you very much.
You're a poor drinker, Sergey.
One can't drink wine in a gulp. You should taste the bouquet first.
You see, father? The bouquet.
I don't get it. Have you all gone crazy?
Just look at him.
- You look at yourself, scarecrow! - Shut up, you snot!
What's the matter with you, children? Doing it in front of strangers...
He's one of us now.
And you, beat it to your stinking Moscow!
Oh, it's not nice!
Let's drink to everything good.
- Forgive us, Seryozha. - It's nothing.
- We're forgiving them, right? - Come on, stop it.
Sonny, eat some duckling.
Well, we got to go.
Thank you. Come on, Vera.
Seryozha, how about drinking to you and Vera?
You hardly ate anything.
Got acquainted all right...
Why did you do it?
Mother took time off from work.
And you just spat at them like a pig.
Like a camel.
What difference does it make?
Why were they so happy to see me, as if they've waited for it all life?
I told them...
that we're expecting a baby.
What's the matter with you...
Is that true?
No, it's not true.
Why?
You want it so much?
The day of your registration is October 27 at 12.
You have to come 10 minutes earlier.
Write it down.
You don't have to. I'll give you an invitation with the date and time.
An invitation to our own wedding?
Yes, with it you can go to the newlyweds' shop,
order a car and visit a fashion house and a hairdressing salon.
Guys, you're just killing me, so many of you here!
A metallurgist. A comrade.
Nice meeting you.
- A fraternal country. - I got it.
Bitch.
The YAK-40 plane, flight 161 from Kiev, has just landed.
She could've come and seen her brother off.
Come on, mom, we can do without her.
You... how you doing... financially?
I'm okay.
And we... We'll have to marry Verka off.
I don't know how we'll manage.
Don't worry, mother, we'll be all right by winter.
We'll breed rabbits, make fur hats and sell the meat at the market.
Everything'll be okey-doke.
Call us.
Next year, son, we expect you to come with your family.
Our regards to your in-laws, to everybody.
Go on, please.
Vitya, send us Mishenka's photo!
Mother, the watermelon! Vitya, the watermelon!
What do I do with it?!
- We forgot the watermelon! - Put it in a string bag!
Oh, my God! I've had enough of you!
I don't want it! Why are you shoving it on me?
Pack your things.
What things?
Vitka must have flown away by now. His bed is free.
So what?
We should occupy it.
Mommy!
Dad! Seryozha's moving in!
A new life is beginning for you.
An exciting and interesting life.
Nobody's here.
Seryozha...
Isn't it great? We'll be all together now.
Sure.
All right.
Send a telegram to Mongolia, let your parents know.
As for the money, my brothers and I will help.
There'll be about a hundred people at the wedding, all our neighbors.
A car with a doll.
Like others have it.
- But how about the veil? - The veil? We'll buy it.
They buy a veil for virgins.
Dad, Seryozha is joking.
You know what we've decided? We decided not to have anything.
Not to have what?
No veil, no car, no doll.
I don't want people shouting "kiss the bride".
And how can I look people straight in the eye after that?
Dad, let's drink.
We arranged Viktor's wedding and we'll arrange yours.
Nothing will happen to you. What an idea!
You just get together without us and celebrate.
Some smart aleck you've brought here. All right, I'm going to bed.
That's it.
We hurt his feelings.
We shouldn't have banged him on the head like that.
Never mind, let him get used to it.
- Yes? - May I come in?
Good morning.
Did you sleep well, Seryozha?
Just great.
Why you got such a mess here, daughter?
This is Inna Sergeyevna's present for you.
The books are old, but very useful.
It's called "Housekeeping".
Well, I got to go. Have a rest.
"To Verochka, a future housewife."
"Having good manners in society makes a good impression,
wins people over and may serve as the beginning
of a big friendship between people who met in society."
- Is it clear? - Yes.
- Vera, do you like to read? - Just adore it.
Do you have your favorite book?
"The Captain's Daughter".
It has a good epigraph: "Cherish your honor from a tender age."
When did you start smoking?
In the 7th grade.
- And your parents knew? - Oh, come on!
Once mother found cigarettes in my pencil-box.
She gave me a good lashing.
So I began to hide them better.
Why have you chosen the phone operators school?
Why are you badgering me?
I'm interested.
I don't know.
At school
we went to a telephone station once a week.
By the way, everybody wants to meet a phone operator.
- Really? - Yes, really.
Do you have an aim in your life?
We have only one aim, Seryozha, it's communism.
What do you love most?
You.
Who was your first man?
You.
The very first?
Is it an interrogation?
Stop pestering me. Read "Housekeeping". It'll make you a lot smarter.
Were you in love with him?
Who was he?
He was our physics teacher.
Some old lecher?
Why old lecher? He was young, just out of college.
Did he bang you during a lesson, while discussing thermodynamics?
- No. - No? How, then?
We had a Saturday voluntary work.
Chistyakova and I were washing retorts in the lab.
Then he invited us to his place.
His wife and kids were visiting with her parents.
After a while Chistyakova left.
And you stayed. What was next?
Oh, what was next!
Nothing was next. But after that Chistyakova and I had no problems.
He didn't give us A's, of course. He was afraid to.
But he didn't make us do reports.
Then his wife insisted they went North, to make money.
And he was writing to you, right?
He sent me a postcard on a Woman's Day.
Are you waiting for him?
No, I'm not.
A nocturnal star at a time when it should
Above the roof will appear.
I may be as far as the pole would,
But your voice I will hear.
I will hear.
The day is rolling...
He's so funny, your Seryozha.
I was making pickles yesterday when he came in.
"Why so many?" he asks. "For father to get a snack with drink."
He says, "You like it when he's drinking?"
I say: "No."
"Then why prepare this snack for him?"
Like if there're no pickles, father will quit drinking.
Do you have morning sickness?
And I felt sick all the way till I gave birth.
Hi. Where's that friend of ours?
Reading books.
Reading... Untie that damn bag.
When I was his age, I worked sweating my guts out.
Why should he sweat his guts out? His parents send him money.
He got it nice and easy, right, Kolia? I wish we had lived like that.
You bet. All that love of theirs is kind of plutonic.
- What? - Plutonic.
How's that?
Just like what you're having.
A nice girl would've blushed in your place, and you're just grinning.
Why blush if I don't know what you're talking about.
You don't know? Why he lives here, then?
Other young people court each other for a whole year and read poetry.
And you? Hi, meet my man. And now we got surprises.
Seryozha, what's plutonic love?
It's when people love each other, but don't kiss and sleep together.
Oh, it's just like you and me, right?
Thanks, mom.
Why are your parents so dumb?
I got no other parents.
They're all I got.
It's so boring.
Don't you think?
No.
Vera, where's my razor?
What did you say?
Where's my razor?
Oh, you're just killing me!
- What's so funny? - It's on the balcony.
Here, try it.
- Want some brew? - No.
Do you think he'll like it?
He will.
There he is at last! Who's going to water the kitchen garden?
Mother's at work, I'm busy.
I'll water your garden.
It's yours too, you nerd!
Why don't you grub something?
- And where's your hello? - Hello, Aunt Vera.
Some dress you've made! It's falling off me.
See? What's that?
We will add lace here.
How is he getting along with your parents?
With parents?...
They're abusing him.
He's abusing them.
- It's just great fun! - Will you drink today?
Yes, I will.
Don't get upset.
My mother's friend broke her son-in- law's head, and they're doing alright.
Little children, listen!
For no earthly reason
Ever go to Africa for a walk.
In Africa, there're big sharks,
In Africa, there're reptiles,
There're ferocious crocodiles.
They're going to bite you...
Oh, Lena, itjust doesn't make sense.
Look, it's supposed to be...
The happiest time of my life.
And I feel like howling!
He hates my parents.
They hate him.
At night my brains are just going to blow up.
I'm lying, looking at him,
and I think: Oh God, how are we going to live?
I got the same situation.
- With whom? - With Mikhail Petrovich.
What Mikhail Petrovich?
Don't you remember that cafe?
And his daughter? How he was telling her about India?
The cafe?
Why haven't you told me?
Everything is too uncertain about us.
He's against my enrolling in the school.
What do you mean?
Am I supposed to go there alone?
You'll be with Alevtina there.
With Alevtina?!
You may study with that cow yourself. Some friend I've got!
We'll go away soon.
- Your mother will never let you go. - And you get out of here!
You want me to go alone?
Stop yelling at me! What do you have to do with it?
You're getting married!
You know how much telephone operators earn?
For plugging those sockets all day: Shepetovka, Magadan is calling!
- And who talked me into it? - I did, my dear.
It's much better than washing potties in a nursery!
- Have you got the call? - I have.
I got it, too. I tore it down and threw away.
Lena!
When are you leaving?
He'll settle his affairs here and we'll go.
Really?
And you didn't say a word!
How did it start between you?
Usual. We sent the daughter off and fixed a date.
Just like everybody else.
But he's old!
Yes, old.
Polite.
Always quiet.
An intellectual!
He does Yoga exercises.
He promised to teach me, too.
Standing on your ears?
- You're ignorant in those matters! - What?
You don't know a shit. And I know the "ha" posture.
- Ha? - A very good posture.
Come on, show me.
Stand with legs apart as wide as your shoulders.
Raise your arms up
Hold your breath.
- And what? - A very useful posture.
When we're in an unpleasant environment,
its unclean atmosphere sticks to us.
Even when we leave it, the feeling of disgust remains.
Doing "ha", we cleanse ourselves of psychic poison
and resist outside influences.
Having a ball again.
Seryozha, you know, it's father's birthday.
So we'll be drinking?
Just a little bit. Then everyone will relax.
We'll go to bed early.
What's the matter with you? Please, don't start.
Well, son-in-law, say a toast.
Your health.
Right, at our age health is the most important thing.
I forgot to tell you. Inna Sergeyevna's sister got married.
It's high time.
Though she had to go North to find herself a husband.
But he happens to be from our town. So they're coming soon.
His mother is so intelligent, she does no housework.
Right, like our friend here.
Kolia!
She listens to music all day, reads books.
They play symphony on the radio,
and she asks her daughter-in-law: "What music is that?"
The daughter doesn't know, of course. So she explains what it is.
The daughter got fed up with it, she's a simple, working woman.
So when she asked again: "Which music is that, my dear?"
And the daughter...
What is it she said?
This is the aria of Baiser from the opera "Jose".
She said it to spite her.
What kind of a man are you?
One can't neither talk nor drink with you. Why do you cling to her apron?
Stop it, dad!
A man must be the master in the house!
All right, that's it. Let's go to bed, Vera.
Our dear son-in-law, our precious!
You fool, he's going to dump you!
- Kolia, stop it! - Go and kiss his ass!
And you wait!
- Come here! - What... how you dare...
- You faggot! - Shut up, old goat!
You fucking brat!
I'll break your neck! Open up!
Open up now! You shitty condom!
I said, open up!
Open up, bastard!
Verka!
Open up, I say!
You all against me, bitches?
Eating my bread and turning on me?
You just wait!
I'll kill you all, shit!
Verka!
Verka, you bitch!
And your mother is a bitch like you!
Open up now, bastards! You, with your yid mugs!
He tore off the washbasin.
Shall we call the police?
Dad, are you alive?
How are you?
I cut my hand.
That's what your father got. On his birthday.
You shouldn't have drunk so much.
One must drink with friends!
What have you done!
Especially with his own family!
He can't even fix the switch...
That's how you thank your father.
- And I've ruined my health for you. - You'd better shut up!
That's how you love your father...
Shut up, you brute!
And you get out of my house!
I'll do you in!
Oh, my God!
You've killed him!
Kolia!
Good morning.
I repeat to you again: No one can see him.
- How is he? - The same as before.
Vera, don't you understand that Seryozha is to blame only himself.
Why should father answer for that?
Don't you remember how he treated us?
He treated us contemptuously.
And father couldn't stand it anymore.
Women at work got me a law handbook.
Read it and think!
What are we going to eat without father? What shall we do?
Father won't bear it if he's locked up.
Tell her, Vitya. She can't understand simple things.
What can I tell her?
She always listened to you.
She listened when she was little.
She has to be distracted somehow.
Take some tranquilizers.
For instance, relanium is a very good preparation,
an antidepressant with a relaxing action,
having a slackening effect on the cerebrum stem.
Vitya.
Write out the prescription.
That's how it is.
We have to write to Moscow.
I've brought you some beer.
Here.
It's good.
Seryozha, are you asleep?
Thank God we're here.
Well? What is there to carry?
Just a minute.
Come on, come on.
Let me carry it.
Let's spread the cloth right away.
- We didn't forget anything, did we? - I guess not.
Vitya, smooth out the corner.
The water is so warm!
Why don't you go for a swim, daughter? Come on, go, Vera.
Vera.
Mother, Vitka won't eat your bacon.
- Why not? Just taste it. - You know I don't like it.
- Then have some juice. - Juice? Yes.
Are you sure this picnic will help?
Who knows. The sea and fresh air is better than any medicine.
The most important thing is to act as if nothing happened.
Right, mommy? What are you grinning at?
Come on, Vitya, you start, it's your turn now.
Tell us what a good daddy we got, what a precious daddy,
he gave us food and drink, he kissed our buns.
And his daughter is so nasty, she doesn't want to go to the police
and tell them that he stabbed Seryozha by sheer accident.
Haven't you been summoned here for that, Vitya?
You're so smart, you've sorted everything out.
And look how smart our mother is. You know what our mom has thought up?
What have you thought up, mommy? Mom decided that she would tell this.
What are you going to tell?
That Seryozha ran against the knife himself, because he was drunk.
We've nurtured a snake.
It's not her who's going to visit father in prison.
I'll tell that it was your Seryozha who attacked father with a knife.
Mother, you realize what you're saying? You'll get a term for that.
I'll get no term! I'll have them so confused they won't puzzle it out.
Who brought him into our house? You did, not me.
She's expecting a baby! Two babies!
She cheated on us, the bitch! You're not a daughter, you're a degenerate!
I even didn't want to have you, but your father insisted!
I wish I had an abortion!
- Leave me alone! - And you don't sympathize with her!
I remember how mother was crying bitter tears!
You had Verka only to get an apartment.
Shut up your mouth!
To turn on your own mother!
How about taking a swim, eh?
Let's go and dive, son.
Come on!
Vereshchagin, don't start the motor!
Just look!
Kolia, hurry up! Enough of your swimming!
Let's go for a ride, my darling!
Where's Verka? Where's she?
- Where's Verka? - Vera!
She's going to catch cold.
She'll be all right.
Take it easy.
Vitya, don't forget my sandals.
I won't.
Nature has no bad weather...
I'm running
Mother, take this.
- All right. - Where's that parasite?
Don't worry, she'll come.
Where's the bag?
I put the jar in it, it's under my feet.
You're going to overturn it.
Look, it's hail!
Oh, it's nothing. A diplomat came from South America and told me
that one pellet of hail there weighs about half a kilo.
Oh, come on!
Give me my jacket.
- Thank God cows can't fly. - What?
We're lucky cows can't fly.
- What cows? - Those with cakes of shit.
Vera!
Daughter!
We didn't get along.
We often had fights.
He used to beat me.
It annoyed my father, but he liked it.
Who?
Sergey.
I got a subpoena about the Alkhimichev case.
You should go there.
Did your father drink often?
- No. - How many times a week?
- Try to remember. - I don't know.
All right, go on.
Year of birth?
1970.
- Education? - High school.
Place of work?
I'm waiting to be drafted.
- Is that some kind of work? - I'm not working temporarily.
- I'm listening. - It was father's birthday.
We were drinking tea, eating a cake.
Were you not sober on the night of July 2?
You were eating a cake. That's clear. What was next?
Well, we had a drink or two. Just a bit. We were with girls.
Chika, who was at the next table...
Then suddenly he attacked me with his fists.
...Pay back your debt, he says.
What debt? Are you nuts?
But he pushes on: Give back the debt.
Father asked him to stop that outrage.
What's Chika's name?
Don't get distracted.
Ostapchuk.
Valera Ostapchuk.
So he comes to me again and says, "Give me an ashtray."
The man wanted to smoke.
He couldn't shake ashes off on the plate.
Then Sergey locked him up in the bathroom.
- Whom? Your father? - Yes.
And I let father out.
His table was to the right of mine.
Why did you throw the ashtray to the left?
Father insisted on his demands, he threatened him with a knife.
- Are you going to lunch? - Yes.
Who threatened whom with a knife?
How did the ashtray end up in Parashina's cheek?
- Seryozha threatened Dad. - What?
I don't know. I guess it was Chika.
Seryozha threatened Dad.
Let's record it.
Those Armenians who were at the table with Parashina,
they went for me and fractured my scull.
I never saw those Armenians before. I don't know who that Parashina is.
One of those Armenians hit me on the head with a chair.
In her statement, Parashina writes that she noticed
that you took aim at Ostapchuk with forks and knives,
tried to break his eyeglasses, spitted, used obscenities,
violated order and showed disrespect for those around you.
As for Parashina, you threatened her
with sexual intercourse of unnatural order.
What?
Your actions are qualified under the article...
During the first interrogation
you said that at the moment your father stabbed Sergey
you were in the other room and didn't see anything.
Tell me why you decided to change your testimony?
She's just... she's slandering me, that Parashina!
How can you believe her?
I passed the ashtray over to Chika.
I was in a shock, I got very scared.
But he didn't catch it.
But then... I decided to come and tell you everything.
Tell how it really was, right?
- Well? What? - What "what"?
Everything! The hen goes cluck-cluck!
Did you tell as I said?
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Here, take it.
Viktor said to take it 5 times a day.
Take it, daughter.
Will we go to Seryozha together or you'll go alone?
Or I can go without you?
We'll come home, I'll cook and then go.
And you can lie down and sleep. See how good everything turns out?
And you'll go to him tomorrow. Are you missing him?
I'll go now.
Don't worry, next year we'll be all right.
We'll lease a field with my brothers. I found a chairman who agreed.
We'll plant watermelons. We got the truck.
Remember our neighbor in Novoselovka?
He has fresh watermelons on the New Year eve. He keeps them in straw.
Vera, the broth is in the bottle, and I put some fruits too.
Vera, why are you so sad?
Oh God, I poured it all over.
- Never mind. - Well, it's nothing.
Here. But take care that it's not overturned in the trolleybus.
And be more cheerful with him. We even laughed together last time.
Here, take it.
How about water, Vera?
How are you feeling?
I feel nothing.
I've brought you some broth and apples.
Thanks.
Will they release you soon?
Yes, soon.
- Where're you going to live? - I don't know.
You're not coming back?
The investigator was here.
What did you tell him?
That I don't remember anything.
Will you forgive me?
What for?
You know that we'd be lost without him. Mother is sick.
- Tell her not to come here anymore. - All right.
- What shall I bring you tomorrow? - Nothing.
What are you going to eat?
Vera, go home.
I love you.
Go home, will you.
- That's it.
- Get well. - You be well, too.
Vera! Vera!
Verka! Hi, Verka!
Hi, Andryusha.
Vera, my poor girl, I know everything.
Vera, I've forgiven you.
Vera, let's go to my place.
They let me off for one day only. I came here to you.
I can't live without you. I missed you so much, my poor girl.
Let's go. I'm just going crazy.
I'm going crazy without you. Come on, my mother isn't home.
We'll be alone, Vera. Let's go.
You won't believe it, but I got here only on your account.
Tomorrow I'll have to leave. I don't know what's going to happen.
Andryusha, I beg you, leave me alone.
That's it, Andryusha, baby, come on, that's it.
Get your hands off. Please, I beg you!
Andryusha, enough, leave me alone!
I'm talking to you!
Enough, Andryusha!
Oh, you bastard! I'm going to yell!
Are you crazy? You've been cockteasing me for a year!
No, you're going with me now!
- Vera, what's the matter? - I can't.
Get it, bastard!
Are you crazy? Are you nuts or what?!
- Get it! - Come on, hit, with your foot!
Hit me! Hit me! With your foot!
You stinking vermin!
Go on, crawl to your home!
What?
Nothing.
That's only for the good.
What do you need him for?
You'll marry Andryusha when he's back.
You'll be much better off with Andryusha, and with more money.
And this is important.
Father's left some, he'll be driving tomorrow. Let's have just a bit?
Come on.
Then I won't, too.
I got to go. My boss called.
I got so tired with those preserves. I'm going to sleep.
You go to bed, too.
No one is going to fix the washbasin until we die.
Want some anchovies?
Come here.
One.
Two.
Three. Four.
Just like this!
Easy. Easy.
Well, right ahead and with a song.
Right ahead.
Come on, light up.
Oh, we're on fire!
Fire! Come on, my dear!
Oh, our wounded man has run away.
Wait, I'll get my things.
- When is the wedding? - Tomorrow.
And I'm going home. With this locomotive, there're no tickets.
He'll take me to Kharkov, from there Moscow is not so far.
Oh, my dear boys!
Just great!
Way to go! It's just something, old girl!
Great.
Vitya, just look what I've got!
Seryozha, coo-coo!
Vitya, the music...
Seryozha, you don't like me?
Why not? I'm so young and pretty!
Why not? I can love you so well!
Leave me alone, my dear, hateful brother!
Lay off, you fool!
Seryozha!
Let go!
Get out of here!
Hush.
That's it, let's go, let's go.
There we go, yes, yes, yes.
Vera dear, drink a bit more.
- I can't. - Come on, you must.
Please, honey, to make it absolutely clean.
- Come on, once more. - I can't take any more.
Good, good, there we go. More.
Good, good. More, take it in!
Swallow it! Good!
Don't squeeze your throat with hands!
Get out of here!
Drink it, quick! She can't!
But eating all kind of shit she can! Come on, drink more!
There!
There you go...
Now it's working!
What is it you got here again?
I hate you all! I hate you all!
What happened?
When will be the end of all this?!
I'm slaving like a horse at two jobs and get not a shit in return!
- Who's in the bathroom yelling? - It's Viktor.
Seryozha?
- How do you feel, Seryozha? - Just great.
My wife is an idiot! Mother-in-law is nagging me for giving me shelter!
What's going on? Who's yelling in the bathroom?
I told you it's Viktor.
And what happened?
Who broke the lamp?
Did someone fall there? What's going on?
Seryozha?
- I'm going to die now. - No, now you won't die.
Vitya.
- But what happened? - Nothing. Everything's all right.
All right?... I can't understand anything.
Seryozha, how's your side? Does it hurt?
What's going on...
Stop looking at me like that.
He's not looking. Right, Seryozha?
Why, father? Everything's all right. Everybody's home.
That's it, I'm leaving.
- Going where? - Home, to Moscow.
Why, Vitya?
They'll fire me at my work!
- Call them and take a leave. - Take a leave!
I've taken hundreds of leaves already! They'll fire me!
Just a couple of minutes! Wait!
Vitya, what about these jars?
The locomotive is waiting! Whatjars?
- For Mishenka! - All right.
- Hurry up, mother. - In a jiffy, son.
How are you going to carry it?
Please, Vitya, sonny, don't!
It's for Mishenka, I beg you. You'll get it there alright.
Don't enter her room now, let her sleep.
Or you'll have another case here.
Vitya, what's the matter with her?
Nothing's the matter.
- Did she try to poison herself? - Where did you get that idea?!
Vitya, come on...
You think I'm afraid of your shitty prison?
I can be a driver there, too. I'll be all right.
But what will happen to you?
Later, Kolia, later.
All right, that's it. I'm off.
Vitya, sonny...
You sort it out between yourselves here, but, please, no violence.
Go to bed.
You have to get up early.
You won't get enough sleep.
I have a morning shift too.
- Go to bed, Kolia. - You go, mother, I'll come soon.
Turn off the light.
Why did you come back?
I got scared.
Do you love me?
Vitya!
Vera...
Vera - Natalya NEGODA
Sergey - Andrei SOKOLOV
Father - Yuri NAZAROV
Mother - Ludmila ZAITSEVA
Viktor - Alexander ALEXEYEV-NEGREBA
Chistyakova - Alexandra TABAKOVA
Andrei - Andrei FOMIN
Tolik - Alexander MIRONOV
Mikhail Petrovich - Alexander LINKOV
Screenplay by Maria KHMELIK
Directed by Vasily PICHUL
Director of Photography Yefim REZNIKOV
Production Designer Vladimir PASTERNAK
Music by Vladimir MATETSKY
English subtitles by T. Kameneva
The End