Filmocom
The Russian Federal Agency for Culture and Film
Supported by the Hubert Bals Foundation, Rotterdam Film Festival
Yelena Yatsura
presents
See, those 18 tons there are even since '65.
I don't care if they're from '41!
Well! Where is he? It's past two.
- Valya, stop fuckin' around. - Nosirev! Nosirev!
The chunks are you know... I boiled them a bit.
It's the right smell - absolutely.
Tomorrow at nine - all of it. You take care of loading.
- What about those 18? Ha? - Not now.
What about the Kantemir meat? It's minus 28 there.
Don't work with ground meat. Told you 100 times.
It's minus 28 down there, everything'll be fine,
- All packaged back in '92. - I don't work with ground meat.
Eight years old. Cutlet meat with powder. In tin cans.
- Plus, they deliver. - I don't work with ground meat.
So he says, take six cans,
pour water, stick in a newspaper,
and put them inside. And the moisture problem will be solved.
Shithead!
The curves will get all rusty.
Put varnish on the pegs.
And you'll get church bells instead of a piano.
The glass'll crack, eh?!
Hey what about that Blutner?
Semi-lousy. The basses are off.
Se-emi lo-ousy,
Sem-i-i l-o-usy.
- How much is it? - One and a half thousand.
One-and-a-ha-a-lf.
He cra-zy or something?
May-y-be...
And whe-re's my tuning fork?
Who-the-fu-uck kno-ows?
He-ere it-is.
That's it, finished!
Bye.
- The metro is closed. - We don't use the metro.
- What are you... already? - Uh-uh.
Why?
It's nothing...
Nothing.
Where?
Where's the money?
In the vase.
Which one?
The 'Gagarin' one.
- Marina... - What?
- What's it with you? - Nothing.
I'll tell Paravazik.
Fuck off.
What will it be?
What goes down better at three in the morning: Vodka or blood?
I drink beer at night.
So what do you want?
I'll start with vodka. Then we'll see.
- Absolut, Smirnov? - Do you have Moscovskaya?
Of course.
- How much? - 50 grams. And a tomato juice.
I'll have a beer. What do you have?
- Tuborg, Baltika. - I'll have a Baltika.
What kind of bastard would run over a dog at night!
Why?
What, why?
Well, it's more likely to happen at night than during the day.
The city's empty! He didn't even look. Idiot. People are assholes...
So are dogs.
They throw themselves under cars.
- Themselves? 'Cos a dog's life is shit? - Because man's is.
A dog's life is comfortable actually.
- What do you want to drink? - White Russian.
- I'm out of cream. - Ah, come on.
A dog gets hit, and the bar's out of cream.
- Anything else? - What else?
You got any Curacao? One half with vodka. Lots of ice.
It's not so simple with dogs.
A friend of mine hit two dogs.
And each time something bad happened to him after...
His lover left him. Then something with his teeth.
Then he hit a drunk on Profsoyuznaya. Killed him.
Straightaway he got lucky with a flat. Good European furniture too.
- For cheap? - Very.
Dogs are closer to God.
Are you a believer?
No.
Haven't had Curacao in a while. Wish everyone looked that way.
Everyone'd be gay then.
Nowadays they're bloody everywhere...
Have you tried Curacao with tequila?
- No, is it good? - A killer.
- But I don't like it. - Why'd you suggest it then?
- Women like it. - Women are into tequila now.
Yeah?
Two women I know. One never drank.
Now soon as I turn up - she's there with salt, cutting a lemon.
The other, drinks a bottle of tequila a night with her husband.
Home alcoholism.
I can't stand tequila.
- It's made from cactus, yes? - Yes.
Reminds me of aloe!
My grandma used to give it to me for arthritis. Shit!
- Did it help? - No.
Soon as February comes, the white glops...
White like cream?
Sweeter.
- Damn. I forgot my cigarettes. - Let me see.
You got some?
Had them somewhere.
Not lights?
No.
Well, okay.
Sese.
What's 'sese'?
That's 'thank you' - in Chinese.
You know Chinese?
Christ, no!
Why not?
- It'd blow my roof off. - Smart Russians are learning it.
- Why? - China - is the future.
- You think so? - I'm sure.
You know the workforce in China?
- 600 million people. - 600 million!
I don't believe it. You know that for sure?
Absolutely.
What, you work in the Statistics Institute?
Worse than that.
- Where? - The presidential administration.
And what - what'd you do there?
Well, what do you do in any administration? Administrating.
Is it in the Kremlin?
Our department is on the Lubyanka. In the KGB building.
Cool.
And what do you do there? Security?
We aren't responsible for security.
My department delivers mineral water to the Kremlin.
It's time for a grappa. Barman!
- I hope you're not out of grappa? - No.
And I'll have another beer.
What kind of water goes to the Kremlin?
Varies. From Evian to Borgomi.
What kind does the president drink?
The president drinks spring water.
From where?
From the source of the Volga. Tver region.
- What's there? - That's where the Volga starts.
There's a well with a spring. The great Russian river.
- Does the water taste good? - Yes. The water's nice and soft.
- You deliver it yourself? - Not personally. I'm the boss.
How often do you see the president?
About twice a month.
- Tell me, is he a drinker? - Practically not.
A glass of French wine sometimes, you know.
'Chateau de Latour'. And a glass of champagne at ceremonies.
- But his wife likes a drink. - Really? What?
- Champagne. - French?
Of course, not Russian!
- She really drinks a lot? - Yes.
About two bottles of wine a day!
Not really a lot. Two bottles of wine! If it was vodka!
A Russian woman should be able to drink a liter of vodka.
Right! My friend can drink all on her own.
And afterwards go... you know... out on the catwalk.
- Is she a model? - Yes.
And you go out on the catwalk too?
No. I'm in a different business.
- Interesting, what kind? - Advertising.
- What do you advertise? - Different stuff.
Right now there's this Japanese device.
A home appliance?
No... it's this device...
- Can I have another cigarette? - Sure.
This absolutely new device...
For...
For improving your health at work.
- Something like an air ionizer? - Almost.
But an absolutely new generation.
You hook it up to the socket in the office,
in a few minutes it generates these waves,
and it works very nicely, right away.
People don't get tired, there's no aggravation,
I really didn't believe it at first.
Work is work though.
Before I advertised air conditioners, now this device.
Then I took one to try myself, and put it on at home.
- And how was it? - It really helped.
Usually I get up - and everything's wrong,
I want to cuss everything. You ride around all day,
work, sign stuff...
I was in a good mood!
The Japanese really do know how to make stuff.
What's it called?
In Japanese it's called 'Chao van.'
'Chao van? '
Yes. It's the name of a Japanese bird.
You know, the one they worship.
- A crane? - No.
Different bird... there's a picture of it,
it's bluish with this reddish tail.
Lives up in their forests, or mountains.
- It only sings at night. - Like an owl?
No. When it sings,
all the Japanese start to feel much better.
Sleep?
In general. They even cry in their sleep.
- In their sleep! - 'Chao van.' Never heard of it.
Have you sold a lot of them?
Around one and a half thousand.
- Maybe you could give us one? - I'd be pleased to.
Just leave your phone number.
Well, you won't be able to get through to the Lubyanka.
Better if you gave me yours.
Okay.
Damn, left my cards in the office as usual.
Let me give you my number.
Marina Borisovna.
Call from nine to seven.
When I'm not away, I'm always in the office.
Or, well, leave a message with the secretary.
Thanks.
You want another drink?
Okay. Only something else.
- Champagne? - Okay.
Hey, wake up.
I'm not sleeping.
So cheers! Marina Borisovna.
- What's your name? - Oleg Nikolayevich
And yours?
Just Vladimir.
Well than Oleg Nikolayevich and 'just Vladimir',
Let's go with the flow!
- Or rather - tune in. - Not like in the army, though.
No, musically-speaking.
You a musician?
Do I look like one?
Yup.
No. Way off. Organic chemist.
Horrible!
In school I just hated chemistry! All those formulas!
To each his own.
You in a chemical Institute, or in industry?
I work in a top secret department. They used to call it a 'mail box'.
- For the military? - No, not the military.
Why's it so closed then, this box?
It's hard to explain.
Inventions, or something?
There's nothing left to invent in this business.
- In organic chemistry? - No. In genetic engineering.
- Genetics? Trendy job. - It's the job.
So what d'you do, breed sheep?
- That too. - Cows? Cattle?
Yeah, that too.
- What, and people too? - Of course.
What?
That's banned. There was some international conference,
they banned cloning human beings.
You forget what country we're living in.
What is banned there is allowed here.
Yeah.
- And... it worked with a human? - Yeah, long ago.
What? How long? Has some boy-clone already been grown?
Not a boy anymore. Or even a teen.
What - a guy? I mean, an adult?
Sure enough. The oldest is now 44 years old.
It's crap! 44! When was he cloned? In Khrushchev's time?
The first human cloning experiments began in 1947.
Professors Bronstein, Lukin. Doctor Nesmeyanov.
The first success.
The first Stalin Prize in genetics.
Stalin Prize... Genetics was outlawed back then.
Outlawed officially. But people went on with their work, as usual.
There were two secret major government projects:
The atomic bomb and cloning. Only, cloning is a western word.
Here we call it 'doubling'. The objects are 'doubles'.
We don't use the word 'clone' in our institute.
Where is this institute? Or is that a secret?
There're no secrets nowadays. Ever been on Volgina street?
- Where's that? - Somewhere near Belyaevo?
Yes. Shemyakin's institute of organic chemistry is down there.
There's a secret laboratory in it. Where I work.
What, they grow there, these people... 'doubles'?
No, we just have a laboratory there.
- The doubles grow in incubators. - Where are these incubators?
What do you mean? There are quite a few.
How many?
I don't remember, when I started there
six years ago there were about 40.
- 40. - 12 incubators in Moscow alone.
Four near us in south-west Moscow. Eight in the suburbs.
I don't understand anything! Do people grow in them?
We just have a laboratory. We lay the genes down.
The people grow up in society.
Kindergartens, orphanages.
Fuckin' bullshit! Where'd these clones go? To the army, ha?
No. Same as the rest... Different places.
There are special programmes. Managed by special departments.
- Which departments? - The KGB, the defense ministry.
- How many clones are there? - In our laboratory?
No, in general? How many've been grown?
Hard to say. You see my professor -
he's been in this project since 1968.
He says that then throughout the country there
were about 6000 healthy doubles and about 19000 sick ones.
Now... Jesus, I couldn't even tell you.
Wait, so you're saying that...
Nonsense... the 'doubles' are among us?
So why no-one knows about it? Nobody writes about it?
In the president's administration nobody's ever said anything!
There've been publications. A number of them.
Sure your people talked. Just you didn't pay attention.
- I would pay attention to that. - No, you didn't.
There was a big article six months ago in a tabloid, 'Twins Village'.
It described a village somewhere in Mordovia,
that's full of sick twins. Twins, triplets, quadruplets.
They all have some kind of internal disease.
- For twins it's a normal thing. - Normal?
A lot of sick people too.
Yeah, but four kilometers from this village is
Soyuz 4- one of the first Soviet incubators.
These twins are production waste. The first Soviet doubles.
Volodya! Past midnight, great time for stories...
Let me tell you how I once saw a UFO.
Near Smolensk, after the army draft. We were takin' a leak,
it was there, hanging above the forest. Bluish-green!
Really. Three of us saw it. The guys at the gate did too!
I once saw a ghost. In Petersburg. I got so scared.
I'm not insisting on it, let's go on to something else.
Just Marina asked me where I work...
Forget it. Hey, get me a shot of something stronger?
Right. Before midnight - lower the strength, after - raise it.
How do you know? A lot of boozing in your line of work?
We like to relax. Work is tough,
just to get around. And we can afford a drink.
- The whole firm relaxes together? - Yup. Don't you?
- Or you got prohibition there? - No, nobody bans it.
Just not in groups... Everyone has their own friends.
We just go two or three of us to our favorite places.
- Like where? - John's, Kempinsky,
sometimes - Pushkin.
Volodya, I can't really recall any bars around Belyaevo.
- Or you just booze in your lab? - Pure spirit with the clones?
I've had a few drinks with them. Not in the lab. In the slums.
- Where? - In the Krasnoyarsk slum.
It's this place, where...
Well, it's kind of hard to explain. Like a transit prison...
But let's go on to something else.
Barman, another 50 grams of Moskovskaya and that's it.
- And 50 for me too. - And I'll go home.
- Come on, tell! - Tell her, she's asking.
You won't believe it - no interest to be a clone...
Tell about this... this transit place.
Let's get this down first. To 'accordance'.
What?
For everyone to live in accord with his place on earth.
Good toast.
To start with, there are three types of doubles:
M-type, F-type and Type-4, or simply 'fours'.
The Germans conducted the first in 1937.
It was M-type. Then stolen by the KGB.
Then Professor Bronstein modernized it,
added the domino principle: A paired chromosome
connected to the unpaired one when substituted.
That allowed for you to make one double.
That's F-type.
In 1968, the now-deceased Nikolai Petrovich Golosov
discovered Type-4 doubling.
That's when four chromosome-complexes are put in one cell.
Four doubles developed, four clones.
The most amazing thing
is that '4' produced the least errors
and the optimal survival rate.
They tried doubling by three, seven; even a double-12.
But four turned out to be the ideal number.
It was never sacred in any culture's history.
Not '3', '5', '7' or '12'. But '4'! The number the world rests on.
This is the heart of the matter of four corners.
- Like four table legs. - Yes.
And about three years ago
I was sent on a work trip to the Krasnoyarsk slum.
It's a cool place. The things that happen there!
Built back in Stalin's time - the first incubator in the USSR.
So I came, did my job.
I was met by this guy from Initial Correction,
he says, what are you doing tonight?
35 miles to the city - let's drink with the 'fours'?
Why not? We took two liters of vodka, canned food...
The territory there must be like half of Moscow.
We arrive.
There are different departments around,
We went into this huge building, where the 'fours' live.
- All 'fours' and all twins? - Yes.
Sure. There are around 300 of them there.
Jagged bricks sticking out of the walls.
They're all dressed horribly, of course. In rags, dirty.
He says lets go to dept 32.
The 16-year-old girls are there - all 'fours'.
So we went in.
They look at us.
We poured some vodka for them.
They come up, four of each.
We drink.
The first one, the one with the biggest tits -
four of them too - tears my shirt, and right on me!
The guard comes in,
And says: What the fuck're you doing?
Can you imagine?
So we were kicked out.
I practically lost my job.
That's not a flying saucer, eh? That's a story!
There was this other time,
Not in the Krasnoyarsk slum, in the Pushkin one.
We came there with this guy.
We weren't really boozing, we were there for work...
We come to this building,
full of blacks,
All 'fours', and all men.
If you worked in the institute for five years,
you have to pass this test:
You're thrown in with these niggers, on your own.
All twins, all 'fours', and all blacks,
They have to fuck you...
That's it, shut up!
What do I owe you?
Okay, here.
What assholes work in the president's administration.
You quarrel?
It's just late. Everyone wants to sleep. Except me.
220 rubles. 150.
220.
Here.
Let's go to this place.
- What place? - It'll be good there.
- How's that? - Like this?
- Tomorrow'd be better. - Now is better.
Tomorrow's better. I can't now.
And tomorrow I can't.
Hey, Volodya, at least finish your story.
What?
What'd you do there with them? With those 'fours'.
The 'fours'?
I was joking.
You made it all up?
Yes.
- Everything? - Everything. From the start.
I'm a piano-tuner.
- Fuck! You hear that? - What?
All that crap.
Siberia, or something? He's a hunter?
Go back to sleep.
Just bring me mineral water and a main course.
We have a large selection of main courses.
What's your special?
Our special -
is young round piglet with apple radish. Superb.
- What kind of piglet? - Round.
- Ground up or something? - No, that's the breed.
- What breed? - Round piglet.
- What are they, overfed? - They're perfectly round.
A piglet can't be round. What do you, pump them up?
- No. They're born that way. - Where?
The 'Kommunarka' state farm.
They've been sending us round piglets for two years.
Listen buddy, I sell meat seven years, and I never heard of them.
Take a look in the kitchen.
Sasha,
this gentleman here wants to look at the piglets.
This is the musicians' room.
I'm a musician.
The musicians have left.
Obviously, not all of them.
- You a drummer? - I was a pianist once.
- And I was a person once. - And now?
God knows...
Sometimes I wake up, look at myself in the mirror and think:
Who is this? What is this?
And you don't like what you see?
That's not the point - if I like it or not.
People can have strange tastes...
The point is that - there's no name.
Who has no name? The reflection?
The person.
This here is a turtle.
And this is glass.
And this is the floor.
And they'll always, always be
turtle, glass and floor.
Nothing else. They've already been made.
Finished.
But we - not yet.
And we could easily become anything or anyone.
That's why a person doesn't yet have a name.
Actually, I'm Volodya.
So what?
In just half an hour you could become a stray dog.
Or a rag, that a nice girl uses to wipe her feet on.
Or just a piece of live meat.
That's not true. You can decide not to turn into a dog,
or rag. Or a piece of meat.
There's always a choice.
Suicide?
Yes. But that's just a palliative.
A what?
- You know, a forced move. - So what?
In this game, forced moves are out.
Senior sergeant Nikonov. Your ID?
Okay.
When will winter end?
When spring starts. Come over to the car.
- What's the problem? - We'll explain at the station.
- What's the problem? - Get in.
'Hey, Suley, Marinka:
Go to Leninsky 65, entrance 4, flat 72. His name's Valera.
He's waiting since nine.'
'Raya, don't go to Bogdan's tomorrow, he wants Thursday.
A little later, like after eleven.'
'Girls, pick up the phone,
I can't get in downstairs. The lock got frozen again.'
'Marina Kravchenko, I'm the conductor of train number 162,
see, like, I'm at the station now, just got in,
I got asked to tell you
from Maly Okot, that Zoya died.'
'Wanted to know, what about five, with Lena.
They'll ring you... '
Buildin' all these damn buildings...
- Want some vodka, girl? - I'm not allowed.
- You going far? - The polygon.
What, you in the army?
No. My narcologist recommended it. So I don't shoot up.
Grenade launcher... gets you higher than heroin.
Shove in a few grenades - you couldn't care less for a needle.
Buildin' these damn buildings...
- Want some vodka? - I'm not allowed.
- You going far? - The polygon.
Why?
To shoot a grenade-launcher.
- What, you in the army? - No.
My psychiatrist's advice for the head. Calms the nerves.
And helps against suicide.
Just shove in a few grenades - and you want to live again.
Misha, I'm home!
Hello, my dear.
Mish, I'm tired of saying...
You don't have to wash the garbage can every day.
Son, you can't imagine how strong the microbes are today.
Everything is ready.
It's your favorites
today.
Pea soup, croutons,
then cutlets
with potatoes in mushroom sauce.
- Fruitjelly. - Steamed cutlets?
Don't torture me.
Hey, Misha...
- No, it's... - What is it?
Some bloody rubbish.
I'm calling the ambulance.
- It can't go on anymore... - Don't torture me, son.
You'll have to move, Mish.
I can't live with you. Or live like this.
I'm calling the ambulance. That's it.
Very good for you...
There's a limit to my patience...
a real limit!
You can't imagine...
Or understand...
- Please. - I can't. I don't' want to.
Quiet now...
I can't eat your steamed meat seven months in a row!
Son, believe the great ones.
Dear!
I asked you, I told you a thousand times.
You, Misha - listen to me!
Mishenka, please, for once, just a simple steak!
Son, steaming - is a great thing.
Is it so hard? You want a scandal?! Tell me.
- Okay! It's a scandal! - Son, don't torture me.
Exhausted by hunger, he ate in secret,
thought he was stealing food.
But that was better
than begging from strangers.
Son,
can you imagine
how many maniacs there are out there?
I get this call. From Vitaly Ivanovich.
He says, lend me 700 dollars.
Can you imagine?!
Give me the fairy stories.
700 dollars.
Amazing!
I mean, he knows
my bills
are sorted by their numbers.
So I tell him it's just not polite,
I don't care about the money,
after all, they're not mine - they're Oleg's.
But you won't give back the notes I give you -
you'll give back totally different notes.
And what kind of order,
will there be after that?
Son, it's been a long time
since we've gone to your mum's grave.
It's horrible there.
Oaks, fences.
Birds shitting all over it.
And bums.
Misha, go sleep.
You can't even imagine the power of hell.
So, you weren't in Saratov, on the 8th and the 25th?
I have never been in Saratov.
That's interesting!
What's this then?
- What are these things? - A cup, a hammer.
Correct.
Why've you've gone so pale then?
I really have never been in Saratov.
What, never ever?
You never were at Mayakovsky Street 7, flat 68?
That night from 7 till 9, with Vitya Rogozhin?
You didn't drill? Or knock?
And that whore,
didn't step out on the balcony?
And the truck didn't drive up?
And your coat didn't get caught on the nail?
When the neighbor yelled? The hunchback neighbor.
And you didn't sing with Victor in the garage?
In the garage, by the bridge.
So, now d'you remember?
You want to read the hunchback's testimony?
No?
Tryin' to be like sap, musician?
Now you're talkin' - 'never, never'!
Round piglets.
Danger! High voltage.
I thought you were in America, Marina.
In the train I dreamt I was late. And I am.
All the same now...
Zoya Kravchenko.
Oh, how will we get along without you...
The bitter minute has come
Mother dear forgive,
For we shall never see you
Ever, in this life's road.
These working hands are worn
Forever folded now they are
And dear, you shall never
Return to us.
Days you went hungry
Nights you did not sleep
Your last piece of bread
You shared half with us.
Okay, gals, to the hut. Cold.
Cold.
Manya, take the chairs in.
And I'm late, stupid!
What - was she killed? Someone killed her?
No, she died.
- What from? - She choked.
How?
On the chewing.
What chewing?
The chewed bread, chewies.
Why chewies?
- The whole village makes dolls. - I know.
The doll faces are made out of bread chewies.
The oldies chew'd it, then Zoya shaped them.
But, then, she came to have a drink.
The old crones chew'n crumbs.
Zoya says, hey how about I give you a hand?
So she began to chew and choked.
Fuck'n shit...
She molded dolls for us, but you screwed it up! Scum!
No!
Zoya asked to chew herself.
Who'll make the doll faces now?
- What's he doing? - Leave it!
Enough, Marat.
- You ruined her! - Ruined...
- Now you're all here! - Sure, for the wake.
Let's drink, since we're here.
Sure, we'll drink.
We'll mourn her.
Her eternal memory.
- Marat, here - have a pancake... - Me?
Who'll shape the dolls for us now? Zoya's gone.
Zoya did it all.
We got so many arms, legs, and what? And nothing!
Scum, come here.
Enough of that, love all the same...
Marat sewed a dick on, instead of a nose.
Where'd I sew a dick instead of a nose?
Show me the dick?!
Here're balls! Where's the dick?
Shut up! I'd never sew anything like it! Never!
Give it back!
Never!
Fuckin' whores.
Fuck it.
That's what you...
Oh, fuck...
How can the locals drink this stuff, moonshine?
Why's vodka better? You should've eaten.
A Russian girl should be able to drink a liter easily.
Please, not a word about that. Filthy.
Let's take a walk.
Zoya!
You wrecked her!
Here, we found this for you.
So puffy.
And the pubes so soft.
Just asking for it... here look!
It's fuckin' just right, dammit, look.
Come on then,
Vanyusha's here.
I'll save the dolls!
I'll save it for Zoya.
Those metal scum.
Metal scum.
That's it...
Light,
and warm still...
That's it. The metal scum.
Metal scum.
Everythin'll be okay Zoya.
Sleep,
let's rest.
All okay.
My dearies.
All's going to be great.
Everything'll be great.
See now, Zoya dear.
This's how we live.
Learn it, for the best.
And to come, too, it'll be okay.
Marinka, so you're the hip one!
What?
You know, all so cool. Like all in chocolate.
Whadya you mean, chocolate? See, Zoya died.
It's strange. I can't believe it somehow.
What don't you believe, loony? You saw her in the coffin?
Yeah, I did... But still... it's a fucker.
We were at the market, both of us. I sold crystal, her - dolls.
It was fun together. Then we made fry-ups on the beach.
And got smashed and swam. Zoya, Zoichka...
Marinka, you never forgave her?
When'd you last see her?
Back then.
That was... back then? In the village?
Yes.
O, girlies. I'm feelin' shitty?
You don't fuck enough.
What, she didn't have her own photograph?
She did, the one on the grave.
Didn't like to be photographed alone. Always with someone.
Now, sisters, to Zoya's memory.
I had a shitty dream last night.
Like I was still in my grandma's apartment in Simferopol.
I'm in the kitchen, boiling dumplings.
Suddenly Zoya comes in, and hands me a jar with earth.
I said: Zoya, I asked for cream.
She says: Come on, try it, stupid,
it's real fresh, I got it, and no line.
I got scared.
I can see that she's dead.
But the fuckin' thing is that she's, like dead,
But she's still as happy, runnin' and chuckling.
She's by the door, her arms crossed.
I look at her, then I know I'll never get out of this kitchen.
Never.
I woke up.
- It's 'cause you didn't forgive her. - Probably.
What're you fuckin' saying! Forgive her!
For me being in the hospital for three months,
Or for me rotting at the station? Fuck!
Or the abortion, worse - they cut pieces of the baby out.
Fucking loonies!
Zoya, Zoyanka... Forgive me
Get up, dear, we're in grief.
Get up, dear.
Nothing's recognizable now.
No eyes, no noses.
They tore you to pieces...
You had to be so patient...
You had such a hard time... God, my dears, you are...
Oh, just to look at you...
Just to see, how great you were...
The buyers are coming - what are we going to sell?
What're we going to eat? We don't have any more dolls!
- Who'll shape the faces? - I will, I told you.
Zoya left her secret with me!
She gave me her secret, how to shape the faces.
You chew the bread.
We'll chew, and chew, but no one can shape them.
He's lying, the bastard!
No light?
They turn the electricity off at night, those metal scums.
For us to sleep.
Zoya's children - the dolls.
Only these?
These. We've got others near ready.
Gotta finish the work, then sell 'em.
What'd you sell them for?
Depends. It was enough.
What about clothes?
No big deal to sew them.
Zoya would collect rags,
all sorts...
The problem's with the faces.
The faces are hard?
The problem's with the faces.
Only Zoya could make them.
What about the oldies?
What about them?
The crones can only sew arms 'n legs,
and do the chewing.
Why chewies?
It's good material, gets good and hard. For, like for ever.
For ever! But the dogs ate it.
The dogs ate it...
Zoya loved dogs. And they loved her.
Didn't Zoya have a mould or something?
What?
A mould of the faces.
It's easy - make one mould,
slap it down, time and again, like gingerbread.
Gingerbread?
Yeah, that's the secret,
She like made each face to look alike...
But every one she made was special. Special.
She loved 'em.
Like they were children.
But she had no real kids.
You said, she told you her secret.
I thought - it was a mould.
It's really complicated here.
It's complicated here, Marina, 'cause of the metal scum.
'Cause they get evil...
Don't know a good way.
The buyers will come,
And the hassling will start again.
Hassling?
Now, listen.
Find a kid, make a mask of his face.
Then you can just shape them all the time.
Zoya didn't do that.
What mask? How will I make it?
Will I shape it all the time?
Come on! You know, a mask of a face,
like in the morgue,
they rub oil on a face,
put white clay on, and it dries.
They take it off - and you have a mask.
Now you're talking, Marina.
Only there ain't any kids here. Only old crones.
But there's tons of clay.
White, red...
Fuck...
It's hard here. You only know how to booze.
Break it, come on, break it...
Not like that...
My country dearest -
I can't imagine another country
Where man can breath so freely
From Moscow to the very edge
From the southern mountains to the northern seas
Man here is owner Of his vast homeland
All about life is liberated and limitless
Like the Volga flowing so full
The young can travel any road
The old are honored everywhere.
Nice pin.
Bastard, why'd you stop?
Go on, sing!
The pigeons fly over our prison
The pigeons have no limits
How I would love to
Be up with the pigeons
Flying away, down home...
Get up, the girls are fighting!
What're you doing?
You forgot where you are?
You thief, get out of here!
Forgot what happened?!
Girls,
my pig Borya died in the night!
Come on, you idiots, enough!
They need to take a bath first.
Horrible, awful!
What, you never go to the baths?
I go to a sauna. Of course it isn't as cool as this.
Fuck, those claws of yours, Vera!
- Why'd you two quarrel? - Whadda you care?
First 'cause of a man. Then because of money.
It's a madhouse here as it is. Now you're starting.
Madhouse's the word. I can't imagine how Zoya lived here.
I'd just bury all these old crones and dolls.
And her boyfriend - he's the pits.
Nah, he's nice.
I can see!
We should like, eat and get out of here.
Yeah. It's time to run.
Before we get covered in mould.
- When's the train? - At 15:30.
Marina, you taking any of Zoya's stuff?
Maybe a photograph.
- The one with all of us? - Yeah.
Tasty.
Hold this, I'll cut it...
Eat up,
with your hands...
We're just like dogs...
Marusya, two of 'em here still not been fucked...
- Let's drink, all four! - All four!
Down with it!
- Your turn. - Okay.
Was great, shared it all...
But you went and fucking died.
I don't want to go there anymore.
- I can't live there! - Fuck'em, all of them!
Let's go outside.
- Let's go, sister. - Don't touch me!
It's a fuckin' mess. Go inside and see.
I saw...
- I can't stay inside! - Let's go get some fresh air.
Some fresh air.
Open the fucking door.
Round piglets What, you really never saw it?
- Nope, never. - Shit.
They've been in the sixth refrigerator the last three years.
Get 'em in regularly.
A delicacy.
- They're only bred there? - For Moscow - yes.
But there's another one, near Tambov, but...
A dog - is a man's best friend.
Tomorrow at two.
- May I ask you something? - No money.
Not money. Something really important. Just a second.
- What's important? - Your boy is cute.
You know, I would like... I need to make a mask off him...
I'll pay, I've got money, 67 rubles.
- What mask? - I'll pay...
So we live,
look at us,
Zoyka.
Honey, was my pig tasty?
Yeah.
Scum!
And our Homeland will give you the possibility
to atone for your sins.
You'll be sent to a war zone.
The blood of innocent people is flowing there,
Our citizens are suffering.
As a classic said: There's always room in one's life for a good deed,
for heroism, space for us to show the qualities of a brave soldier.
What d'you mean? This is perfect canned ground meat.
Got it from the Kantemir division.
So what if it's nine years old? It's minus 28 in there.
Tomorrow if you like. And they deliver.
Who told you I don't sell ground meat?
I sell anything that smells of meat. Yeah, it really smells!