Original subtitles

LENFILM

To commemorate the centenary of A.P. CHEKHOV

THE LADY WITH THE LITTLE DOG

Based on A.P. Chekhov's story

Anna Sergeyevna - I. SAVVINA

Gurov - A. BATALOV

Written and Directed by losif HEIFITS

Cameramen A. MOSKVIN, D. MESKHIYEV

Production Designers B. MANEVICH, I. KAPLAN

Music by Nadezhda SIMONYAN Sound by A. SHARGORODSKY

Ah, Gurov! Well?

- What do you mean? - Nothing in particular.

I've had a good sleep for no reason.

Dmitry Dmitriyevich, have you paid attention to one fact?

A lady walked by a while ago -

you feel like licking your lips when you see her!

She takes walks with a little white dog.

Perhaps I should strike an acquaintance with her...

Nikodim Alexandrovich can't do it, he's with his wife here.

Came to Tula with his own samovar. Gentlemen, why not?

Nothing special. Massandras. Scolopendras. It's maddening!

That's her!

No! No!

He doesn't bite.

He doesn't?

May I give him a bone?

Please, do.

Have you been long in Yalta?

About... five days.

And I'm just finishing my second week here.

Time flies. And yet it's so boring here.

That's what one usually hears people saying here.

A man may be living in Belev or Zhizdra and he isn't bored,

but as he comes here, all you hear is ''Oh, it's boring! Oh, it's dust! ''

You'd think he'd come from Granada.

Look at the strange light that falls on the sea.

The water is of such a warm lilac.

That's because the day was so hot.

And in Moscow probably it's snowing already, everyone wears a fur coat.

The horses are steaming in the cold.

Do you like hearing the Moscow church bells ringing at Shrovetide?

I don't know. I come rarely to Moscow.

I was born in Petersburg, but had got married in Saratov.

Where I live now...

Have lived... for the past two years.

How long are you going to stay in Yalta?

For another month. My husband mightjoin me.

He also needs a rest.

Is your husband serving?

In the rural government.

In the guberniya government.

There's no such thing as a guberniya government.

In the Russian empire, there're rural councils.

Government, council... I always mix them up.

I only remember it's a long name.

At one time I thought of an opera singer's career, but gave up the idea.

Now I own two houses in Moscow.

I work in a bank, though I was a graduate in philology.

- It happens so sometimes. - It does.

Now you know absolutely everything about me.

- Though, no, not everything. - What else?

My name is Dmitry Dmitriyevich Gurov.

I'm Anna Sergeyevna.

Good night.

- Has the mail arrived? - Yes, it has.

Here. From Saratov.

Speaking.

I see. Two seats.

First class is with all conveniences, facing the horses.

And with your back to the horses is second class. You're welcome.

There's something pathetic about her, all the same...

Pathetic.

Rest for a while.

A week has passed since our first meeting,

and it seems like it was yesterday.

Sit!

Not long ago I didn't know you at all.

And when I saw you on the front or in the park,

I thought, ''Here comes the lady with the little dog again.''

He seems to be envious.

- I must go. - Go where?

- The steamer is due to arrive. - Are you expecting someone?

I don't know... Telegrams often come late. Goodbye.

You are... here?

Anna Sergeyevna!

Why don't we go for a drive?

I think that...

Are you cold?

No, it's just... that...

Are you tired?

No...

It's just...

It's chilly.

It's wrong!

You'll be the first not to respect me now.

Why should I stop respecting you?

You don't know yourself what you're saying.

May God forgive me. It's terrible!

I told you already that I had got married

and gone to live with my husband in Saratov.

Other people do live in the provinces.

But I hated Saratov from the first week.

I went to bed at 9 p.m.

The only diversions were dinner at three and going to bed at 9.

You seem to try to justify yourself.

I don't want to know anything. Absolutely nothing.

My husband... I'm sure, a good and honest man, but, you see...

He is a flunky.

I don't know what he does at his office.

All I know is that he is... a flunky.

I was only twenty when I married him.

I was eaten up by curiosity.

I wanted something... better.

There surely must be a different kind of life, I said to myself.

I wanted to live.

I was burning with curiosity. Probably you don't know what I'm talking about.

I could no longer control myself.

I could not be held back.

I told my husband I was ill, and I came here.

And now I've become a worthless woman for everyone to despise.

What is it you want?

Please, please believe me.

I love a pure, honest life. I hate immorality.

I don't know myself what I'm doing.

The common people say ''the devil led her astray''.

I too can now say about myself

that the devil has led me astray.

There, there, calm down.

Salty... and your cheek is salty too.

Would you like to go somewhere?

To Oreanda?

Shall we?

Do you hear the sea still roaring?

Why are you silent?

Let's talk. For God's sake, let's talk.

- About what? - About what?

About anything.

- It's so beautiful here. - Yes.

When you come to think of it, everything in the world is beautiful.

Everything but our own thoughts and actions

when we lose sight of the higher aims of existence.

And our dignity as human beings.

Well, admit it. Admit it, I beg you...

Admit what?

That you don't respect me, that you're not in love with me.

I know you so little, but you seem to me...

a good, wonderful

and high-minded man.

You're not like everybody else, you must understand me.

There, there, stop it.

There's dew on the grass. Time to go home.

This hat doesn't become you.

My wonderful one...

No, I'm not wonderful.

I sleep badly now, thinking all the time, my heart beating uneasily.

I'll go back to Saratov, you to Moscow, and that'll be the end.

And if you ever remember me, it'll be like about an adventure,

a vacation affair with a lady with the little dog.

You will forget me.

This is our farewell meeting.

Don't think ill of me. Don't think I'm a bad woman.

Why farewell meeting?

Von Diederitz?

This is from my husband.

He writes that he's having trouble with his eyes and begs me to come back.

Is your husband a German?

No. I believe his grandfather was German.

He is of the Orthodox faith himself.

It's a good thing I'm going. It's fate.

How am I to live now?

I'll come back home,

look out of the window and see the gray fence.

A long gray fence studded with nails.

It's hard.

It's all right. It'll pass.

Yes, you're right, it'll pass.

It has to pass. Itjust has to.

Let me have another look at you. One last look.

Like that.

I'll be thinking of you, remembering you.

Goodbye. Don't think badly of me.

We're parting forever.

Yes, it must be so, for we should never have met.

You're such a kind, rare, remarkable man.

Well, goodbye.

Watch out!

Please!

Pies with liver!

Hot pies! Hot pies!

Mitya! Let me kiss you!

You walk, good for you! And I took a cabby.

What should I do to lose weight?

I myself ate a whole portion of sour cabbage and meat yesterday at the club.

Cabbage and meat! Dinner at your place on Thursday, you remember?

Don't be late, we're expecting Lyubomirov himself!

How about your Yalta lady with the dog?

- Covered with a haze. - Yes, yes, yes.

To take up with a woman is easy. But then there're problems.

Especially for us, Muscovites, who are such slow starters.

Exactly.

Satan reigning there supreme! He reigns supreme!

Bravo!

You're a great talent! I haven't enjoyed myself so for a long time!

What expressiveness! What power!

I adore her! I simply adore her!

Dimitry, don't you think that it's time for the children to go to bed?

Excuse me.

Good night. It's half past ten.

- But, Daddy! - Natasha.

Good night.

''The Dragonfly and the Ant''.

A flying fidget dragonfly In the summer's gaily singing,

Of the future isn't thinking, But the winter is nearby.

Field was green, it's now reddish, Happy days already vanished...

- Bless you. - Thank you.

Very nice.

Good for you. She's crawling in dismay To the ant not far away.

- She's grown so and matured. - Yes, a young lady already.

I believe it's time to set a clear-cut aim before that young soul.

I agree with you completely.

Lately I've read a very interesting brochure on that subject.

Dimitry!

Fenya, serve tea, please.

Ladies and gentlemen, now Dimitry will play for us.

There was a time when he dreamt of a singer's career.

Yes, yes, yes. He has an incredibly good ear for music.

Come on, I already forgot everything.

Don't be so modest.

Remember, at the Andriyevskys soiree you literally won everybody's heart.

You were superb tonight. You played with such a deep feeling.

How is your newspaper business going?

There's nothing to write about.

If something special had happened,

something staggering,

something abominable, most ignoble,

something that would kick the devils to death, then it would be news!

I see you've got a wide perspective.

Ralph!

Ralph!

Isn't he Ralph?

No, his name is Frou-Frou. Would you like to buy him?

Buy him, Your Excellency.

Frou-Frou, beg!

See? He begs!

- It's a rare breed... - Sorry, I was mistaken.

- She told me to sell that beast. - No, thank you.

We need the money for coffee. Buy him, Your Excellency!

The flashing lights, the sparkling lights, They twinkle, twinkle, twinkle.

About what they saw and heard, They tinkle, tinkle, tinkle...

Let him in.

I see, my friend, you've lost already your Yalta suntan?

And you look gloomy. Why this melancholy?

I'm bored... And I don't feel like going home.

Me too... I drink, but get no merrier.

Waiter, do me a favour...

Give me a grunt!

He's made a fortune by grunting like a pig.

They're all like that.

Take those lackeys, for example.

And not only lackeys!

Forjust one ruble an engineer will gobble up a jar of mustard

and sing a cock-a-doodle-doo.

Do you remember Yalta?

And believe me, if at least one of them took offence,

I would have given him a thousand rubles.

I've got something stuck in my head, giving me no peace, not for a minute.

- What do you mean? - It's a secret.

Well, if you wish, just between us friends.

I hate my wife.

I've been thinking lately

that she had married me not for love, but for money.

This thought's just stuck in my head.

Well, you're a different case: You'd been married off as a boy,

in your second year at the university... married to two houses...

And I married for love!

I don't believe her now, and suspect everyone.

I have a feeling they flatter me because of my money.

During the day I have my business, and at night mooch about those dens.

And you, do you have a secret?

Every one of us has his personal, private life,

so there must be secrets, too.

It must be fate, I love you so, But no answer find in you.

I wish to forget, but, alas, no.

My heart is pining away for you.

Alexei Semyonovich... Do you remember last summer?

In Yalta?

I don't remember anything.

Look, Gurov, sing for me.

You're a good singer. Sing solo for me!

I'll give you 500 rubles!

Have you written?

''Should that were not to happen,

then there surely would happen something

that would have never happened to others.''

Pay attention, Natasha, and don't be in a hurry.

''Then there surely

would happen something that would have never happened to others.''

Any problems at the bank?

No, it's nothing.

''There surely would happen something

that would have never happened to others.''

''Never happened to others.''

Period.

What are you thinking about, Dimitry?

Me? About women.

Really, Dimitry, the role of a coxcomb doesn't suit you at all!

Four to left corner.

Reverse to corner.

Fifteen on me in center.

Cue ball to right corner.

From three cushions to center.

I've been thinking, gentlemen...

So much emphasis is being given to love in literature.

Isn't that somewhat exaggerated?

Pass.

- Spades. - Pass.

Remember ''Tristram and Isolde''?

''In you is my life, in you is my death.''

My life? My death? Our esteemed professor will explain it.

Seven spades.

You see, Dmitry Dmitriyevich, love can be explained very simply.

Whist.

How?

From the biological point of view...

For love you have to rent a separate apartment.

Nikodim Alexandrovich, my dear!

If you knew what a fascinating woman

I met in Yalta!

Dmitry Dmitriyevich!

What?

You were quite right: The sturgeon was a bit off.

Good night.

My good man. What savage manners! What faces!

The sturgeon was a bit off!

What a stupid night!

And last night, and the one before...

What uninteresting, wasted days!

Crazy gambling at cards, gluttony, drunkenness,

endless talk about one and the same thing!

And it is impossible to escape from it.

Just as though you were in a lunatic asylum

or a convict chain-gang.

You want to go to Ordynka, sir? You'd better sit, it's a long way.

Nominative. Who? What? A wash-basin.

Genitive. Of whom? Of what? Of a wash-basin.

Dative. To whom? To what? To a wash-basin.

Accusative. Whom? What? A wash-basin.

Instrumental. With whom? With what? With a wash-basin.

Prepositional. About whom? About what? About a wash-basin.

Once more. Quick.

Nominative. Who? What? A wash-basin.

Genitive. Of whom? Of what? Of a wash-basin.

Dative. To whom? To what? To a wash-basin.

Accusative. Whom? What? A wash-basin.

Dimitry!

You always forget everything.

I envy you. You're going to Petersburg.

You'll look at its wonderful monuments, the proud Neva...

It's not America I'm going to.

And I've got business in Petersburg just for a couple of days.

I don't like partings.

One first-class ticket to Saratov.

Do you know, dear, where Von Diederitz lives?

Diederitz? Of course, I know. The whole town knows him.

- Is it far from the hotel? - Not far, in Old Potter's Street.

You ask anybody and they'll show you. They have a house of their own.

Take a note to them.

Diederitz... Of course!

Thank you. You may go.

Roland!

Ramses!

Hall porter!

Hall porter!

Hall porter!

Good evening.

How you frightened me! I'm scarcely alive.

- Why did you come? - Try to understand, Anna, I beg you...

I've suffered so much! I've been thinking of you all the time.

The thought of you kept me alive... Yet I tried so hard to forget you.

Why, oh why did you come?

What are you doing? We've both gone mad.

You must go back tonight. Go now. I implore you by all that's sacred!

Somebody's coming!

You must go back.

Do you hear, Dmitry Dmitriyevich?

I'll come to you in Moscow.

I've never been happy, I'm unhappy now.

And I shall never be happy, never!

So please don't make me suffer still more!

I swear I'll come to you in Moscow.

But now we must part.

Oh, my sweet, my darling...

We must part!

POSTE RESTANTE

''... I'm coming to Moscow for a few days in March.

I'll be staying in the Slav Bazaar, in the same room.

As soon as I arrive, I'll send you a note. Yours A.''

To Gurov?

I've delivered it, as you said. Only he was not in.

I had to hand it to his wife, it seemed to be a business letter.

Gurov! Gurov!

Have you forgiven me?

You have a kind heart.

And I am a bad man, a swine.

It's all for my money. The silver samovar, too.

It's all for the sake of the company.

You must understand. For its reputation.

Reputation... It's important!

Where're you going? I won't let you go.

It's too fast again.

It does it out of malice.

It's three degrees above zero.

And yet it's snowing.

Why?

It's only warm on the earth's surface.

In the upper layers of the atmosphere the temperature's quite different.

Why isn't there any thunder in winter?

Thunder is caused by a thunderstorm.

And in the middle part of Russia thunderstorms occur only in summer.

There we are.

Well... how are you? What's new?

Wait, I'll tell you everything... No, I can't...

Bring us some tea, please.

Yes, sir.

Have some, you like the apple ones.

You've got thinner. Were you ill?

No, I'm all right.

How are you getting on?

Nothing special.

During the day I work, the evenings I spend at the club.

Night and day, and they're out of the way...

And I again told my husband that I was going to Moscow

to consult a doctor on... women's diseases.

Before he believed and did not believe me, but now...

I don't know now.

What am I going to tell him next time?

I like this gray dress of yours most.

Always wear it, even in 10 years, when it is out of fashion.

In ten years?

In 10, in 20 years, every time you'll be coming here.

Why did it happen that I've met you now and not when I was young?

Why do I have a wife, and you a husband?

All these years I had met women, parted from them...

But not once had I been in love.

There had been everything between them and me, but no love.

And only now, when my hair has turned gray...

It has always seemed to me that we didn'tjust met in Yalta by chance.

It is just...

That we've found each other after a long parting.

It is fast, it's early yet.

- It does it out of malice. - Out of malice...

You know...

We're like two migrating birds, male and female,

who had been caught and forced to live in separate cages.

And they're going to die... of grief.

That'll do... Don't cry, my sweet.

You've had your cry, that's enough.

Let's talk now, let's think of something.

We'll think of something.

What are we to do?

What are we to do?

What are we to do to get rid of the necessity of pretending,

telling lies, hiding, living in different cities,

not seeing one another for so long?

How are we to free ourselves from our intolerable chains?

How?

How?

Sometimes it seems to me that...

In only a few more minutes a solution will be found

and a new, beautiful life will begin.

I know, but the most complicated and difficult part is only just beginning.

We'll think of something. We will.

The End