LENFILM
Trubetskaya - Irina KUPCHENKO
Trubetskoy - Alexei BATALOV
Volkonskaya - Natalya BONDARCHUK
Volkonsky - Oleg STRIZHENOV
Gueble-Annenkova - Ewa SZYKULSKA (Poland)
Annenkov - Igor KOSTOLEVSKY
Rayevsky - Lev IVANOV Rayevskaya - Raissa KURKINA
Annenkova - Tatiana PANKOVA
Ryleyev - O. YANKOVSKY Ryleyeva - T. FYODOROVA
Pestel - A. POROKHOVSHCHIKOV Kakhovsky - V. KOSTETSKY
Nicholas I - V. LIVANOV
Tsejdler - I. SMOKTUNOVSKY Lavalle - V. STRZHELCHIK
Miloradovich - D. SHILKO Lebzeltern - I. DMITRIYEV
Alexander I - V. DUBENSKY Levashov - V. TEREKHOV
Vausher - L. MAKAROVSKY Fyodor - A. TRUSOV
Nikitka - M. KOKSHENOV Pafnuti - A. KOZHEVNIKOV
To the women of Russia
THE CAPTIVATING STAR OF HAPPINESS
Written by V. MOTYL, O. OSETINSKY
Director of Photography Dmitry MESKHIEV
Production Designer Valery KOSTRIN
Music by I. SHVARTS
Sound by M. LAZAREV Song lyrics by B. OKUDZHAVA
English subtitles by T. Kameneva
Directed by Vladimir MOTYL
- Nikolai Nikolayevich is sleeping? - He's not at home.
He and Sophia Alexeyevna are vacationing at Belaya Tserkov.
You can go!
Marie!
Sorry for not having come sooner. It was beyond my powers.
Here, the letters from Pushkin.
Believe me, Marie, I missed you very much.
Pestel has been arrested!
Pavel Ivanovich?
What for?
The regiment under my command will have to place under arrest
the commander-in-chief and the head of the staff.
The Northern Society is for the preservation of the monarchy.
The Southern Society intends to abolish it.
To abolish the monarchy overnight is impossible,
especially here, in Russia. It can only be restricted by the law,
like in Britain.
But that will be a republic, Prince.
Your arguments are useless. We detest the ignominy of serfdom.
Pestel is not married.
Not married... Pestel...
Neither is Kakhovsky.
Nor Muraviev-Apostol.
But Ryleyev... His wife... and daughter...
I'll give orders to serve dinner.
The czar will certainly come to review the troops.
His death will be a signal to action.
We in the South want to know if the Northerners agree to regicide.
I'm pleased with your brigade, Prince.
I only regret that you haven't got rid of that spirit of giddiness.
It'd be much more profitable if you devoted yourself to military affairs.
Sire...
- I don't know the reason why... - You're too smart, Volkonsky.
Beware, Prince, you had let yourself get carried away with matters
that don't concern you when you were in Paris.
True, I myself had encouraged those extravagant dreams,
and even ordered to draft a Constitution.
Though I realize now that it's of no use in an enlightened monarchy.
Nor did I rescind the ban on the society you're a member of.
And don't try to deny it.
The tyrant's blood will deliver our country of the autocracy.
We can't but agree with the Southerners' plan, Prince.
lf, by the spring, the Tsar doesn't grant the Constitution he'd promised...
And what if he doesn't?
Gentlemen, I will wait until 1926,
and, during a review of the troops, confess my guilt.
The Tsar will have me executed.
But he will grant Russia the statutes you failed to obtain.
The thunder will strike, gentlemen!
Perhaps I deserve to be condemned...
If something goes awry,
I hope you will at least try to understand us.
Us?
Oh God, us?
Maria!
What is it?
Oh, God, what does it mean?
Maria! Masha!
Oh, my God! An omen!
It's an omen!
A bad omen! O Lord! Forgive me!
She must be by the swing.
Maria!
Mashenka! Masha, hush, hush...
Nothing really happened. Calm down.
I could never imagine such a thing.
Enough, Mashenka, calm down. It was really nothing.
Come on, what's the matter with you?
Turn back!
Turn back, Your Excellency!
They put a guard at your house.
Don't go to Uman! A courier from St. Petersburg...
He brought the Tsar's order about your arrest...
Turn back, Your Excellency.
It's too late to turn back.
Ippolit!
Ippolit, please.
Here, these are my letters to my wife.
Distribute them, so that they are sent from different places.
My wife is still too weak.
I want her to learn about it as late as possible.
Yes, sir, I'll do it.
Go!
By the winter of 1825-1826, the Russian gentry was deeply divided.
The accession of Nicholas l,
to replace the dead Emperor Alexander,
was marked by a revolt.
Who is going to report about me to the Tsar?
Are you joking, Captain? There's been no order to arrest you.
On the day of taking an oath of allegiance, you were in the barracks.
Isn't that so?
But I joined the rebels when the guns were aimed at them.
You're slandering yourself.
I was a member of the secret society, and I must share their fate.
He's lost a lot of blood, and had nothing to eat for two days.
He gave up his sword of his own free will,
but when he was led to the guardhouse,
he offered resistance, and, therefore, was tied up.
In view of his hunger swoon...
He's been wounded. Let him remain seated.
I knew it would be you here.
You said, exterminate the august family? Was it you?
No, I never said it to anybody.
Let him eat.
I never said it to anybody, but I've been thinking of it all the time.
Stand up!
Insulting the most august highnesses?!
Excuse me! How can I insult their highnesses?
They have fortresses, the army and fleet. They fire with case-shot!
What do they care if I say: you, Nikolai Pavlovich, are a pig?
How dare you sit in the presence of...
Scoundrel! Swine! Scum! Scum!
Put him in irons, so he can't even move! Scoundrel!
You used to swear better when you were in the army.
Catherine!
- Whatever you may be told about us... - Don't say anything!
Only God can judge you, Serge! You and your friends.
Mister Ambassador, I'm sorry, the Russian officials are here,
the Minister of Foreign Affairs himself...
What happened, Mister Minister? So early in the morning at my house?
I'm very sorry to disturb you at this untimely hour,
but your relative,
Prince Trubetskoy, spent the night at your house.
If the Prince remains at your embassy, you'll be presented a note.
I have sent for the Prince, but if he doesn't wish to come out...
- It's so awful! - I hope everything'll be all right.
What can I do for you, gentlemen?
The Emperor wishes to see you.
When?
Immediately.
What are you doing, Prince?
I hope, Ludwig, you will take care of Catherine.
Catherine! What are you doing here?
You can expect anything from those soldiers!
Father, I beg you, tell me, where is Serge?
Trubetskoy is not here!
Where is Serge?
Go away, quick, these are the rebels!
The rebels? Here? Where is Serge? I'm begging you!
Get away from here, quick! Go now!
Do you have at least one company?
Your Majesty, the artillery swore their allegiance, the guns are out.
Your Majesty!
The Grenadiers are outside. You'd better go back, Your Majesty.
These are the mutineers.
You're too late with your advice, General.
Good morning, boys!
Don't you recognize me?
Your Majesty, a company of the First Preobrazhensky Regiment is here.
But, through some misunderstanding, their rifles are not loaded.
- Looking for somebody, Lieutenant? - For my company, Your Highness!
In that case, we'll make way for you, go ahead.
Open order!
Open up from the center!
Hurray for the constitution!
Trubetskoy!
Soldiers! Perhaps no one has ever seen me,
or heard of me?
Who remembers me? Who knows me?
Tell me, soldiers, those who'd served with me don't remember either?
Neither the Moscow Regiment men remember...
Nor the Grenadiers...
But if I remind you in what battles I was with you...
in what campaigns...
where we were freezing in the snow together?
They probably don't understand to whom they should swear their oath.
For our Tsar! For our Motherland!
To the Tsar? Or to the Constitution? Though I don't know what it means...
Who of you was with me at Kulm and Leipzig,
Amstetten,
Brienna, Prechampenoise and Krems,
Bucharest, Obelesti,
Lake Oberalt, at Tarutino,
Vilna and Borodino?
No one was?
Thank God! There's not a single Russian soldier here.
If there was at least one officer, or one soldier here,
then you would know who Miloradovich is!
There're only rookies here! Brawlers! Vagabonds! Scoundrels!
You've shamed the name of the Russian soldier!
The honor of the military man!
You are a disgrace to Russia!
You are criminals betraying your Tsar, your Motherland,
and God Himself!
What are you up to?
What are you doing?
On your knees before the lawful sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich!
On your knees, boys! All of you!
The general is wounded!
Yes, Eugene.
While sharing your views, we remain Loyal to the crown and our Tsar,
whom we despise as a deceiver!
Dear Serge, habit is everything for a Russian man.
You said it yourself recently.
Prince Trubetskoy, are you familiar with these sheets?
Prince Sergey Petrovich! Answer me!
Manifesto.
"Save, O Lord, Your people, and bless Your heritage.
Abolition of the former rule...
Abolition of the right of ownership of human beings...
Equality of all classes before the law..."
The landowner, the merchant, the craftsman and the peasant -
they all have equal rights?
Was it you who wrote this?
Please, try to remember.
"The Russian people are not the belonging, nor the property
of a person, or a family.
The slavery of serfdom should be radically abolished."
This is your handwriting.
A revolution in Russia
is as preposterous as a woman grenadier.
Why does a European bourgeois take a dagger in his hand?
To usurp the rights he doesn't have, to rob and pillage.
Even if it's a society like the Mason loge, I visited them, too.
A lot of noise, agitation and verbal determination.
But once they return to their homes, all is quiet again.
His Imperial Majesty the Tsar Alexander Pavlovich!
We're getting old, Miloradovich.
Russia needs new power, new energy.
We live in the hard times, fields are sown poorly for the shortage of grain.
Peasants' food is loathsome, there's no bread.
They're being sold by the piece, their families broken, wives corrupted,
maidens robbed of their virginity.
And all this is done in the open! The oppressors have no fear!
The gentry think they own the honor, property and life itself!
Negroes on plantations are happier than our peasants.
There are monsters who make peasant women
breastfeed borzoi puppies.
Any member of the gentry who opposes the act of liberation
cannot but be called the enemy of the country.
And the first and foremost enemy is the Emperor himself.
I'm tired.
I trust in God, for it is said:
I boast when I feel my infirmity,
then the Lord will strengthen me...
Is that your hand?
Yes, mine.
What have you done?
What on earth have you done?!
Prince Trubetskoy! Of such a noble family!
Colonel of the Guards!
What was going on in that head of yours...
when you decided to link your name to that filth?
Leave us!
Your fate is going to be horrible.
Horrible...
Such a lovely wife.
You've ruined your wife's life.
O Lord...
I could shoot you right away.
Life would be a shame and punishment for you.
Shoot me.
Levashov!
You're lucky, Sergey Petrovich, that you don't have children.
Come what may!
Don't be afraid, Mademoiselle, I've got a magic touch, we'll get through!
Somehow or other!
What the heck! By guess and by God!
You intended to shoot the fortress's whole garrison, Mademoiselle?
And all this because of Lieutenant Annenkov?
By the way, you arrived just in time.
Today your friend was taken out of the noose.
Oh, my God!
Wait! Where are you going?
Wait!
As you were!
Calm down, the towel had gone loose, he was brought to his senses.
You can't detain me. It's been two days since I left Moscow.
Two days, Monsieur.
You have no heart!
The Russians have changed so much!
As though the guillotine had been invented in Kostroma.
In your country, all the mutineers would have been executed long ago.
You're right, Monsieur! But they'd be entitled to have defense lawyers.
A petition for a visit must be handed in to the investigation commission,
then it will be submitted for the highest consideration.
- Do you understand? - No.
I could make it clear to you in Russian.
Monsieur, you're so strong, and I'm so weak.
And I have come as far as here.
Can it be that you, so strong a man,
will not help me, all alone in a strange country?
That's all I've got left.
It was given to me by my mother.
Somehow or other!
Take what comes!
Troshka!
Your Honour!
Mademoiselle Pauline!
The life of a cavalry guard's not long, Hence it's the sweetest in the world.
The trumpet sounds, a bedspread thrown, And distant saber rattle heard.
The guitar sings without fading, Yet the commander rushes forth.
Don't ever promise to a maiden Eternal love on our earth.
At last.
Lieutenant, what are you doing here?
Excuse me, Mademoiselle, but I'm at my home.
What do you mean? Isn't that a coaching inn?
It's no tragedy. You'll take a night's rest from that bug-infested place.
I don't understand. Is that your house?
This is my mother's estate.
There's about 100 kg of silver here... I'm scared being alone with roaches...
And crickets...
And on Holy Day, so much wine and smoking. What will your mother say?
Mother will have us flogged.
There's not a soul in the house except this deaf woman.
No one will disturb you here.
In vain you try prolong the story Of peaceful games with laughter filled:
You'll never come by a lasting glory Unless somebody's blood is spilled.
The sweet sublime world notwithstanding, Anxiety knit your brow doth.
Don't ever promise to a maiden Eternal love on our earth.
Twenty kilometers on foot are a dubious pleasure.
It's getting late.
It would be more prudent to come back.
Leave me alone! I insist on it!
Oh? So if you don't love me...
What are you going to do then?
- I'll fight! - With whom?
With anyone who dares to look at you!
And if it's not only one man?
I'll fight them all!
You'll get killed, and it will serve you right!
I love you like a madman!
Thousands of Russians and your compatriots lost their lives here.
There was war here in 1812.
Who knows, maybe my uncle's remains lie in these parts,
he was the jolliest man in the world.
My uncle and my father served Bonaparte.
Your father fought against Russia?
No, he died in the Spanish Kingdom.
I was orphaned when I was not yet nine.
Stop it! These sounds have been giving me a shudder since I was a child.
My father hated Bonaparte.
Any royalist would've paid with his life for sympathy to the Bourbons.
Though any revolution means blood, orphanhood and suffering.
However, if there has been no shake-up in France,
I would have never met you in Russia.
Jean! I'll arrange for your escape.
I'll bribe the soldiers, I'll put the officer to sleep or poison him.
You'll go in hiding abroad.
I can't, I must share the fate of my comrades.
No, it's impossible! I've already prepared everything!
I must share the fate of my comrades.
So much the better.
Fate has set everything straight
and spared you the cruel lot of becoming the wife of a convict.
You're insane!
I would be happy to become the wife of an outcast
if it could only alleviate your suffering.
Is it true?
Is it true?!
God's servant loann plights his troth
to God's servant Paraskeviya.
Are you joining this holy wedlock of your good and unconstrained will?
- Excuse me, what does it all mean? - What do you mean?
We'll be right back.
Mademoiselle Pauline!
Can you explain what's going on?
Look, even if I were dying of hunger,
I wouldn't have married a bag of money.
Have a safe journey, Mademoiselle.
Goodbye!
So you don't like me?
Bravo, Lieutenant! At last you thought of such a trifle!
You're too arrogant! I despise you!
An arrogant and conceited brat!
Oh, my God! What an idiot!
- Leave me alone! Go away! - I don't believe you, Mademoiselle!
Shut up!
I hate you!
Is it true?
It's true, Jean, I want to be your wife.
No one can suspect me of mercenary intentions now.
Even those at the fashion house where I still work.
Your purse, Mademoiselle.
Listen... Listen, Jean...
Thank you, Pauline. But I'm not worthy of your love.
You will meet someone you'll love. You're going to be happy.
Forget about me! Forget me forever!
Jean! Jean, don't dare saying that!
I'll never be happy without you!
It's all over for me! Goodbye!
I'll live in peace, and as the death angel cometh, I'll hold out my hands...
Mademoiselle, it's dawn already. The mistress asks you to come in.
She wasn't receiving you, because they dined all night.
...I want to save a place for a man
to whom I'll be inseparably tied forever.
Oh, my dear friend! What torments of grief my heart has experienced!
Oh, my lord, that's the end, very soon my brother
will be united in wedlock with Miss Clementine!
Poor Henriette!
What a lot for a maiden
whose beauty adorns the Universe...
I'm very sorry, Madame,
but I must tell you that your son is imprisoned in a fortress.
Mademoiselle is saying
that His Excellency Ivan Alexandrovich is in a fortress.
He must have gotten into debts again?
Madame... Madame... His life is in danger.
Listen to what he's written!
"I don't even have a pin at hand,
with which to put an end to my existence."
Ivan Alexandrovich wants to kill himself.
That will make our relatives so happy, they will get everything, scoundrels.
Only you can afford to buy a foreign passport for your son.
And I'll arrange everything else.
Yes, the passport, the master must flee...
My son? A fugitive?
That will never be!
Your answer is fit for the Romans, but their time has gone.
Jean is a child.
Ivan Alexandrovich is a little child.
Some child, to have picked up that masonic pest from the French
and wanting to marry a French woman.
Aren't you that French woman?
Strengthen us, O Lord, in our infirmity.
I was pierced to the bottom of my heart.
You should marry an English girl, not the Italian one.
Don't make the choice that may dishonor Clementine.
I've got a proud heart.
I want you to remember me with affection.
Neither the summer heat, nor the winter cold...
Mother, it's...
Mother, it's time for me to think of building a family.
And my spirit was exalted...
Who told you to come to Moscow?
Mother, I've got a bride. Will you please hear me out?
Well?. Have you found her in St. Petersburg?
You saw her, but you probably don't remember.
She works here, at the French fashion house.
It was only I who knew you're a fool, now the whole Moscow will know.
May your gracious hand heal me.
Covering her delicate daughter with endless kisses,
Marquise had moistened her with her tears.
Mother, don't make me go to extremes.
My intention is very well considered, I won't give up.
Don't give up, you won't scare me. You may marry even a peasant girl.
Are you depriving me of my inheritance?
Clementine was fascinated by your handsomeness. I don't deserve you...
- Mother, you mean you've cursed me? - Get out!
You haven't given me your answer.
Fyodor!
Don't give horses to Ivan! Let him get out of here on his own!
He takes after me, not like Grishka.
At least I have somebody to leave the inheritance to.
- Go and beg your mother... - Listen, Fyodor...
Can one who's deprived of his inheritance be called a bag of money?
Oh, no, master... Is it really so, master? Oh, God...
That's the answer!
Wait!
Come on, catch her!
What does it mean?!
Leave me alone!
You abominable, dirty creatures! Leave me alone!
Beasts!
Don't be angry.
You'll live here, you'll marry a general,
and forget about my stupid son.
You know how many diamonds you're wearing?
They are worth a hundred thousand, or maybe even more.
I'll be giving balls.
Give back my dress.
So finicky.
Come on, Prince, it's not my intention to find you guilty.
On the contrary, I'm giving you an opportunity to justify yourself.
But my situation is unenviable when I'm not trusted.
Meanwhile, I'm only the first citizen of our country.
You took up arms against a friend of your cause
and thus tied my intentions.
From the high position I'm placed at, one cannot but see
that even if any particular persons were guilty,
there had also been some general reasons for indignation.
A lot of people are involved.
It's more important for me to know that, than whether someone's guilty.
You have a wife, the daughter of Rayevsky.
Your son was born recently.
You may rest assured, Prince, your children are my children.
If you promise to be Loyal to the crown, I'll be able to forgive you.
Thank God, we thought something had happened to you.
How is she? Did the doctor call?
Calm down, Prince, the doctor was here. Though all was clear without him.
- What was clear? - Fits of sickness are inevitable.
God willing, we'll have a grandchild in winter.
If you can, Sergey Grigorievich,
please, don't leave me for long periods of time.
We never spend time together.
It's so strange, I don't know you at all.
Levashov!
Please.
I can pardon you, Prince Sergey Grigorievich.
That's the trouble that you can do anything, you're above the law.
And I would like your subjects to be dependent on the law,
and not on your will, caprices or momentary moods.
Put him in irons! Incarcerate as a villain!
He's a complete fool, that Prince!
Or a liar and an utter scoundrel...
There you go, little prince! There you go, Mikolushka!
Mikolushka! That's a boy!
Yegor!
- Why is this door locked? - I was told to lock it for the night.
Then unlock it.
Yes, Your Excellency, we'll report it to Alexander Nikolayevich.
Marie! Marie!
What's the matter?
Marie!
Hiding the mail from me? I learn about the winter troubles from hearsay.
Not a single letter from Sergey. And now this house arrest!
What are you talking about, Marie?
The prince is probably at the Turkish border. Father will come and tell us.
Father is in St. Petersburg, not in Bessarabia.
I'm tired, Alexander.
Since the first days of this awful year I've been so depressed,
and you're indulging me with some inventions.
It doesn't befit our friendship. It's even cruel.
Please, understand, no torture can be worse than uncertainty.
If you don't tell me now where Sergey is, I'm going to St. Petersburg.
And you know me, I don't waste words.
Sergey Grigorievich... how shall I put it...
What happened to him?
Well, all right... He has been sent to St. Petersburg.
You see...
Say it!
He took part in the antigovernment conspiracy.
Thank you!
- How shall I announce you? - Colonel Pestel.
Come on in, be so kind.
Please accept our deepest apologies for intruding at such a late hour.
- Something happened? - We have to be in Uman by morning.
Allow me to introduce Prince Yablonovsky and Mr. Grodetsky.
- You'd better spend the night here. - It's out of the question, Prince.
We must go to Warsaw immediately.
The Polish Society is waiting for our answer.
Just married and now back to my regiment?
There may be not another such opportunity for a year or longer.
When and where?
Tomorrow in Uman, at your apartment at 1 p.m.
All right, I'll be there.
Thank you. I knew I could rely on you.
Marie!
Thank you!
Are you glad?
There's no such awful thing Volkonsky hadn't been involved in.
He has a fortress in store for him, or even more horrible...hard labor.
The most horrible is behind us.
Now he will need me.
The night of July 12-13, 1826.
These state criminals
condemned to political death,
upon being deprived of ranks, orders and the status of nobility,
are to be exiled to hard labor according to the categories.
Lieutenant Annenkov! Stop it!
- What is it? - It hasn't been cut out right!
Proposed to deprive the Emperor and his Imperial family
of freedom when seizing the palace.
Directed the Northern secret society
which plotted mutiny.
Agreed to be named the head and ringleader of the army revolt,
though did not participate in it personally.
Who could know there'd be such a delay with logs.
- And what's the problem? - The cart broke down on the way.
Come on, men...
Let's take it down together. We must do it together.
The ropes are too short!
Such a bad luck...
What happened?
Bring him here right away!
What have you been sent to Russia for?
You have no executions anymore. Where did your Swedish brains look?
We'll have to wait, Your Excellency.
Mouzhik do mistakes. Poles not deep.
Bring benches, quick!
What a miserable empire! They can't even hang people properly.
Bring the Commandant to His Excellency!
If we don't act, we'll deserve to be called scoundrels.
That I would consider a failure!
We must only start, this is in our power.
Military bravery and political foolhardiness are not the same thing.
In the present circumstances, an uprising means death!
Yes, we will die,
but we'll set an example for the others.
...To put to death
Pavel Pestel, Kondraty Ryleyev, Sergey Muraviev-Apostol,
Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Pyotr Kakhovsky,
as determined by the court verdict.
For their heinous deeds, these criminals are to be hanged.
What day is today?
O Lord, stretch forth Thine hand on Your servants.
Pardon their transgressions, deliver their souls, O Lord, in Your realm!
Give me your hand. Listen... does my heart beat faster?
Give my husband back to me!
Don't make him perish!
Nastenka! Beg father! Beg him, Nastenka!
Beg him for yourself and for me!
Our Lord, Jesus Christ,
who has left His commandments to His disciples and apostles...
Where's the Commandant?
Your Excellency, a message from His Majesty!
His Highness summons you to his side!
Hangman! Oprichnik!
Take off your aiguillettes!
Strangle us with your aiguillettes! They may be more durable!
Yes, Your Excellency!
Have you come here to watch us dying, General?
You can make your Tsar happy, his wish has come true:
we're dying in torments.
Hurry up, hang them!
The ropes are no good! We should send for the new ones.
I'm dying in torments!
But I'm happy that I'm dying twice for my Fatherland!
Ones who broke loose were pardoned in Russia. Shall we inform the Tsar?.
Hang them!
Pardon them who hate us and hurt us,
for not one of them will perish for us...
O Lord, You Savior of all through Your mercy,
all-generous God, the Savior of all through Your mercy!
O Lord, all-generous God!
Your Majesty!
It's done, Your Majesty!
We pay our particular attention to the situation of the families
from which, by a criminal action, their fallen sons had been torn away.
Blood ties pass on to the descendants the glory of their ancestors' deeds,
but never hold them up to disgrace for personal vices or crimes.
No one.
No one shall ever dare find fault for the blood relationship.
This is prohibited by the civil law, to say nothing of the Christian law.
What were you trying to tell me?
There's a pretty venomous opinion going the rounds, Your Majesty.
The cobbler in Europe rebels, because he seeks wealth and high standing.
And what on earth do our revolutionaries of noble birth want?
They must be dreaming of becoming cobblers.
Gen. Rayevsky shall be made a member of the State Council as a Senator.
Tell me, Prince, what's your response to the whim of my daughter?
You must tell Maria that you're rejecting her sacrifice.
Write about the hardships she'll experience if she follows you.
The letter must dispel her illusions, she'll lose hope and calm down.
You mean...
You mean she'll forget me?
Petersburg, Petersburg, Petersburg, Chernigov...
Will you repeat it, please?
Of course, to Princess Yekaterina Trubetskaya, English Embankment...
He hasn't gone a hundred miles yet, and already the third letter.
Prince Sergey, be a man, be a Christian.
You've ruined her life, at least don't become her murderer!
She has a frail health, she won't endure the horror of the journey.
Prince Sergey, don't be an egotist!
Your responsibility as father and husband...
Wasn't it your intention to abolish the autocracy?
And to replace the monarch with the conspirators?
Who told you all that?
If we are destined to be successful,
the Society's members will immediately withdraw from political life.
Wait, Prince, you subject yourself cold-bloodedly to the danger
of dishonor, shame, maybe even losing your life.
And if you're successful? No reward for the risk?
All we could hope for is that our descendants remember us well.
And had my participation in the Society's cause
stood in the way of my happy family life,
I would rather, albeit grudgingly, have renounced that happiness
than betrayed my convictions and duty.
Oh, gracious God!
How could you go to the altar with such a sin in your heart?
Good night.
I'll do everything as you ask.
Goodbye.
May God save you.
I'm so sorry...
May God save you, martyrs to the truth!