Original subtitles

Mosfilm

Creative Union "Circle"

Veteran partisan Vasily Petrovich Dobrynin, codename "Chapayevets"

Commander in chief of all heavy machineguns

Wow!

Let's go!

- She vanished - Get over here!

Drive!

Anna Myasoyedova

Aleksandr Baluev

Vytautas Paukste

in the film

Kerosene Salesman's Wife

Written and Directed by Aleksandr Kaidanovsky

Cinematography by Aleksei Rodionov

Production Design by Theodor Tezik, Viktor Zenkov

With Music by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert

Original Music by Aleksandr Goldshteyn Sound by Yevgeni Fyodorov

State Symphonic Orchestra of Cinematography Conducted by S. Skripka

Gypsy songs interpreted by the Buzylyovs Family

Directors: P. Syrtsova, Yu. Kolcheev, G. Torchinsky

Photography: A. Mihalychev, V. Chemendryakov

Costumes Design: A. Kryuchkova Editing: N. Dobrunova

Make-up Artist: E. Ivanova

Special Effects: Photography: V. Janov Artist: A. Rudachenko

Consultant: Senior Justice Adviser A. Proshkin

Editor: L. Tsitsina

Administrative Group: E. Baryshnikova, Yu. Bespalov...

V. Mihailov, G. Nadiradze, T. Nazarova, V. Shatsky

Lighting: V. Novikov, N. Sokolova Stunts: A. Lubny

Assistant Directors: M. Juravlyova, I. Klimova

Assistant Photographer: A. Manannikov

Producers: Vladimir Matusovsky, Vadim Serebrennikov

It's all right, Vasily, it's not your last opportunity

Get out of here, damn gypsies!

Tired you are, Vasily...

Suffocating you are...

Cool down

Cast: Sergei Veksler, Yevgeni Mironov S. Churkin, Nikolai Ispolatov

Oleg Shapko, Mikhail Danilov A. Malkova, V. Zenkov

M. Andreeva, N. Krujkov, B. Bratkovsky G. Stahanova, R. Brijjikaite, V. Surikov

G. Kazakov, S. Tylkin I. Kostromin, O. Shishkin

Kerosene for sale!

Kerosene for sale!

Next... How much?

- How much? - 5 liters

One... done...

two...

Excuse me

Excuse me

Poddubny, Viktor Pavlovich, born 1926, alias "Hermes"

house thief, repeat offender

medium build, brown hair and eyes

identifying marks: tattoo of the sun, knife scar on the right thigh

Take your shoes and pants off

Faster, hands against the wall!

There

Lay him down

Open your mouth

Give it to me

Give it to me!

Watch out!

Can I go now, mister investigator?

Go ahead, Hermes

I got your lengthy letter, so here I am

Petravichus, Yurgis Kazimirovich, investigator for public prosecution

Vladimir Stepanovich Rojin, priest

- Come in - Go Dmitry, nothing will happen to me

- Take your coat off - No, I'm fine

Imagine, Vladimir Stepanovich, that I'm in your confessional

You should have come to church then

- But I'm an atheist - So? We see all sorts of people

- Even party members? - They are quite welcome

They too drop by... It's never too late to visit God

Sit down please

I am in your town to solve one crime

We received a complaint

against a person rather well-known in your city

The situation is unclear

Of course, measures could be taken, but everyone is afraid

and we have no proof except that accusation

But what does this have to do with me?

The complaint came from your... what do you call it... staff

You mean our staff accused itself?

since offering a bribe is punished just as taking one

The bribe-giver is punished less, Vladimir Stepanovich

No matter who gave, who took... hard to believe one takes bribes from the church

What about taking from the midgets?

The midgets?

The midgets' circus gives him bribes on a platter every 10 days

So you know who takes the bribes

Whole town knows, he doesn't even hide it

- So, how does it take place? - What takes place?

Extortion from your church and ministers?

I don't know, it's your job to figure it out, mine is different...

Saving the soul of the outlaw is fine, but not helping imprison his body

And you'll defeat him even without the help of a church minister

All right, I'm in hurry for the evening service

- And my dog is not fed - Farewell

By the way, about victories... my mentor once told me...

Victory - is the truth of villains

Farewell, drop by for tea if you feel bored, you know the address

Touch not what ain't yours!

Locks are against the draft

- Grandfather on your head! - Grandfather, grandfather

Get lost!

Why do they let scum like you out of jail?

Hi, grandpa

Birdie picks the seed...

Birdie picks the seed...

...and spits it out

Old fool!

- Where are the flowers from? - Grigory Alexandrovich brought them

Thank you

The soup was very tasty

I shall lie down. Tired.

Have you read Kant's Critique of Pure Reason

Critique of what?

And now, Grigory Alexandrovich, you shall play Schubert

No way!

Yes, you shall play, and don't obstinate

You think you're the first one? There've been two such fools before you

They are still looking for one

They did find the other one... in the toilet

Rather, they found a part of his burnt jaw

Identified him by the fillings

- Have you got family? - No

See, I knew. And I do have one.

Nothing's worse than working in a small town

Everybody knows each other from childhood

From childhood? Who can you know here from childhood?

I meant it... in a general sense... globally

You've got a fellow selling kerosene off a motorcycle

Udaltsov...

- Udaltsov? - The brother...

of the chairman of the city council

- Got out of jail a couple of years ago - What was he in for?

Negligence, I think I don't recall who handled the case

He got sentenced to a year The guy had no luck

And his wife is no good...

flirting openly with some musician

And now this business, so he lost it

I want to see his file

- The file is in court archives, why? - I need it

Good morning

You came by, murderer?

Hermes!

...shortness of breath, sunken sternum and vertebral ribs

flat empty stomach, danger of pneumothorax

metabolic acidosis

sodium bicarbonate solution required

reducing intra-abdominal pressure

open the abdomen from costal arch midpoint

examine defect of diaphragm

inspect the abdomen

absence of pneumothorax no high intra-abdominal pressure...

cold, gray, wet...

transfusion...

respiration... Cheyne-Stokes...

transfusion...

cardiac arrest.

Kerosene for sale!

Kerosene for sale!

You've come

Your... where?...

Where are you going, dead meat?

Connect me to the fire chief

This is Udaltsov. There's a motorcycle with a kerosene tank driving around...

Should it catch fire or explode, you'll be held personally responsible

Am... I... the keeper...

Hello, excuse me please

Where is your handkerchief? A refined young man like yourself must have one.

What's funny?

I switched the briefcase from desnitsa to shuitsa

it's archaic for right and left hand

So sorry I'm late We had a complex rehearsal of Goedicke

The composition is new while our conductor is old

I was reading about these strange words in an etymological dictionary

So it says: nose was nebb, cheeks were chops, and face was ondwlita

and the body was called feorhbold, imagine that, wow!

- What nonsense! - You waited and I was late, excuse me

- You know where philharmonia is from? - Why don't you tell me?

Philharmonia is a Greek word, even two

Philo means love and harmonikos is harmony

which is what we strive for: to love harmony

Look at your hair! Grigory Alexandrovich I am inviting you to a hairdresser

Olga Viktorovna, I beg you, not the hairdresser!

- We will absolutely go - No, I don't want to

- Stop being like a baby - I don't like their dull scissors...

- Long, medium, short? - Short, please

- Wash? - Please do

Do you like it?

How strange, nothing has changed after all these years...

same streetlights, only rustier...

only the houses dilapidated, and they used to be like new...

houses dilapidated...

Olga Viktorovna, you couldn't have witnessed this, we weren't here before

dilapidated

Are you familiar with the word fahnok?

Have you seen the Chinese P�re David's maple in bloom? No.

And the horse still takes the same route as 100 years ago

I was born there, in that house

There was a fountain right here, only there was never any water in it

In the evenings we used to play "the brook", boys and girls, together

A simple children's game, but what secret meaning we found in it

in every look, every touch

I had a happy childhood, Grisha, and I often peek there

like in a museum with engravings hidden behind little curtains

You pull the curtain away and admire it, all alone, with no onlookers

they you close the curtain and fall back into depression

No, I am wrong, there was water in the fountain

with meandering jets

and the fish were red, fat, with bulging eyes and transparent tails

It was a holiday, I don't know which, but I do remember the fish swimming

and the fountain was sparkling

Everybody got up early and came to see that wonder

There was a loudspeaker on the roof and spirited music was playing

Yes, it was spring

It's a fantasy, Olga Viktorovna, you weren't born here, we weren't here before

- It's only now, but not before - No, it all was!

They were swimming right there

and the grotto was wet, all covered in moss and seaweed

- All right, let's close the curtain - This didn't happen

Yes it did, it did, it did!

You were speaking of Kant

- And I read that he died there, while his grave is here - He lived here

Died there, but buried here, yet "buried in his native land" - strange!

- On what grounds are you taking it? - You know the grounds

Why does the cistern bother you?

- Take him away, the motorcycle too - Don't you touch me!

You're in a uniform, so can do anything?

What a pig

Stop! Attention!

Wait! Don't you dare! Let go of him!

Leave him alone at once! He is ill, you bastards!

- Stop this, Madam! - You're all brigands, bandits!

- Who are you? - The wife!

What wife? Get out of here, this is none of your business

- Not my business?! - Your papers!

Here!

I have orders to confiscate your husband's flammable kerosene tank

By what right? We have a permit. Get up.

Produce it

After what you did, I shall only produce it tomorrow at the attorney's office

You're all right? Climb on.

- I'll tell the attorney of your prank - Who the heck knows...

- Who issued your permit? - Zenkov V. K., the fire chief

- Ciao! - Go ahead

Zenkov V. K. - that's me

The fireman got scared

Saw a high name in the passport, got scared and stayed on his guard

You showed him! They got me, yet you got them...

Funny and peculiar that they left

Left the motorcycle and marched away

- But I reckon they'll be back... - Enough!

You know who you are? A holy fool. A vile, cowardly madman.

You bend over backwards to look like a sufferer, a martyr

Driving your stupid cistern, reveling with masochism every dime you're given

You ought to marry that poor monastic soul to make a perfect harmonious couple

shortness of breath... sunken sternum and vertebral ribs...

flat empty stomach...

metabolic acidosis...

sodium bicarbonate solution required...

reducing intra-abdominal pressure...

open the abdomen from costal arch midpoint

examine defect of diaphragm

absence of pneumothorax no high intra-abdominal pressure...

reducing intra-abdominal pressure

open the abdomen

- Give back my Primus, precious - I don't need your darn Primus

- We don't steal - Then what do you need my iron for?

Return my knife, you prick

- God bless! - Thank you, grandpa

- So, where's my Primus, my esteemed? - Here you are

You filthy lowlifes, I lose appetite just looking at you!

Grandpa!

Shut the door, Vit'ka

Hey, buddy, can you hear me? You hear me, buddy?

- He's done in - Hey pal, wake up!

Beautiful dog, come here, come

She doesn't understand Russian

komm zu mir Marta

They left her behind, so I adopted her

How do people end up with such responsible jobs?

You, Yurgis Kazimirovich - was it your calling or they forced you?

- What's your feeling? - Hard to say, Vladimir Stepanovich

- You've been to war? - Yep

- Been wounded? - No, with God's mercy

- Me neither - You too have been to the battlefront?

I went through the whole war: sailor in the North Caucasus,

gunner in the airforce... A rascal I was like no other

And all out of fear. Fear tormented me when it started...

I don't get it, how did you end up in the church?

I had a sign

I found this cross in my knapsack when I got to my unit

I don't know how it got there, but I hid it in my shirt pocket and forgot it

And when it hit me, I didn't understand at first

Only later did I realize who kept me alive. And the fear vanished.

So I decided to join the church if I stayed alive

For it's a sin to use Him when scared and forget Him when all is calm

- Supposedly calm... - You said supposedly calm...

did you mean your letter?

I thought we agreed that I did not and will not write any letters

- To your health! - To yours

- Farewell - Leaving already? Too bad...

We could have talked or sung a song...

Building a collection, aren't you?

No need for irony, this is the key to your enigma

but it's not easy to reach: the needle is in the egg, the egg in the duck,

the duck in a chest, the chest under lock and the key is lost

We will find the key. Tell me, what is his name?

Vasily Petrovich Dobrynin from our choir, a peculiar man...

He repeated the exploit of Saint George

He entered into combat with the dragon In this case the dragon gobbled him up

Yea, that's not the canonical version Tell me in detail

He was carrying money from the parish, agonized over it, and lost his mind

He stopped singing, vanished, and then he put on this very jacket,

went to the city council building...

and threw a brick through the chairman's window

They later sent me the jacket from the asylum

And the letter, who wrote it?

I did

We'd all go nuts otherwise

So, Dobrynin Vasily Petrovich is presently in the insane asylum

I must tell you a horrible thing: we live here with no guardian angels

we have no cathedral, just a barn, our prayers do not reach

As to that villain...

Be careful. I pray you to be careful.

He is a dangerous man. A failed surgeon.

- He's a former physician? - He was one a while ago...

but he realized that the medicine is dangerous in our wonderful world

More dangerous than being a spy, so he became a leader instead

Farewell

- Hello - Go inside, Dmitry, I'll be a moment

Here, you left this at my place

They litter everywhere... May God be merciful...

May I help you, sir?

He's cursing at us, Vladimir Stepanovich Perhaps we should leave?

Stay Dmitry, where can we go?

Hermes, why did you take the fuse out?

Where are you running, old chap?

Crew, line up!

Install the valve! Ladder up! Extend hoses!

Two in the back! Cut the electricity!

Good day, Sergei Ivanovich!

- Any victims? - I don't think so. Excuse me.

If there were any, you'd hear them. They usually yell.

- Water! - Lie quietly

- Where am I? - In City Hospital #3

- Where are the pigs? - I don't know what you mean

- The cops, where are they? - It's a hospital, not a police station

- And you must be the nurse - That's right

and you're in a separate ward, and you shouldn't speak

- What is your name? - Olga Viktorovna

or simply Olya, easier for you to pronounce

Olya!

By whose generosity do I get this palace?

There's someone. Lie quietly.

Olenka, may I have a word with you?

And the barracks are already being demolished

- Why did you come? - To visit a man, a strange pitiful man

He went to the barracks to be nearly killed

His eyes struck me with indifference: he didn't care if he was to live or die

He likely knew it didn't depend on him, he had crossed the line of fear

You, Seryoja, need a slave: fix him up, then send him do your bidding

I bought you nice Chinese shoes

Give them to the wife of the prosecutor who put your brother in jail

- Calm down, this was not my fault - And who gave him the bottle of blood?

Pasha!

Pavlik, wait!

Pasha, stop

Pashunchik

Why are you hiding?

Don't be scared, Pashulya

- Pashunya! - Go to hell

Pasha, have a word with me, have a word, have a word!

Pavlik!

Pavlusha!

Pavlusha!

Lunatic, town lunatic

If you witnessed it, why didn't you report it?

The brick almost hit me

it flew by my temple and landed in the middle of the desk

broke a crystal vase with roses

overturned the inkpot, the ink spread on the green cloth

mixed with water from the vase

created a pale violet spot nauseatingly attracting one's gaze

Where are my pills?

Here they are

Two should suffice

I ordered the cloth replaced

but the roses fell...

I tried to pick them up but cut myself on glass fragments

They swept them away but I still find some in floor cracks

Pick one out, but another sparkles elsewhere

Glass fragments haunt me from that day

when he threw the vial in the operating room and ran out

Did they sweep the shards out then, I can't remember

There was no time for that: there was a corpse on the table

I later found a shard in my coat pocket

I stumbled upon it and cut my finger again

Damn, I'm cold

Where is this draft from? Blowing from some invisible crack.

I must wait until the lips and the tip of the tongue go numb

Lapses, flashbacks, and lapses again...

Where is your brother Abel?

Where? In jail of course.

Go away!

Away from me demon!

my dear mommy

mommy dearest

Olga Viktorovna, your door is not locked

Olga Viktorovna...

I will never forget your favor

Thank you, brother, thank you

Excuse me

Udaltsov, Pavel Ivanovich, university educated practicing physician

chief of surgery at city hospital as of 1946

comrade Petravichus, a call for you

convicted in 1950 to one year in jail according to penal code article 157

for criminal negligence resulting in the death of a patient

Yes?

Musician? Where?

I see...

What do you want?

Excuse me please. Are you connected with this case?

Babichev sent me, so you will show me the scene and we'll talk later

Kids found this yardman's shed's door open

and then they discovered this scene

The blow was to the cervical area He hit him on the neck and that did it

Autopsy results will be ready tomorrow

- And the instrument? - Being examined

He likely got scared of the visitor, and defended himself with the instrument

There may be fingerprints on it The flute was lying here, at his feet

Why was he here?

They wouldn't allow him practicing where he was renting

so the yardman let him practice here

where nobody could hear him

- What are these shards? - A broken jar

- Who broke it? - Hell knows, it was crowded here

- Call the yardman - Can't do, he's drunk at home

Looks like blood

- Looks like it - Send for examination

Shall I get dressed?

I didn't come to capture you, I just have some questions

No, I don't like your questions, and I am not ratting on anybody anyway

And I didn't expect you at the fire

- Why shut the door then? - I got scared

And why did you burn that apartment?

I don't know, I didn't even go inside, someone asked me to burn it

Who?

I'll tell you who asked you...

Udaltsov, Sergei Ivanovich, and why did he ask you?

No idea

He asked you to eliminate me, you had a common interest there

You have no need for me here, no?

Oh, I couldn't care less if you're here or not

...why has this sorrow struck us?...

Someone died

I don't care either

Hey, grandpa?

Why have you left us? How will we live without you?

Our sun has set upon us!

The postmortem examination revealed a large hemorrhage

in the basal ganglia area of the brain

This hemorrhage destroyed important areas of the brain

and provoked irreversible malfunction of breathing and blood circulation

Also discovered were: hypertrophy of the left ventricle of the heart,

numerous bleedings in the heart muscle and in mucous membrane of the intestine

atherosclerotic degeneration of arteries, particularly of the brain

These processes were the consequence of essential hypertension

The postmortem examination conclusions fully support the diagnosis...

Your shoelaces...

Your shoelaces are untied

Your shoelaces are untied!

I'm deaf, can't hear a thing

Well, it's over. Vice shall be punished, virtue shall triumph like in fairy tales

But I have no joy in knowing that I will capture that bastard red-handed

I don't care looking in his filthy face

while proudly thinking that I gained another victory...

because victory is the truth of villains

Hello, daddy

- How much? - Five, as always

Go in peace

Follow me, comrades

Sergei Ivanovich...

Sergei Ivanovich!

Hello, Sergei Ivanovich

I am Petravichus, investigator for public prosecution

This is a list of numbers of banknotes that you put in your pocket

Give me the money and we'll check the numbers in front of witnesses

Thank you

- 125319 - Got it

Someone's coming!

- Yes indeed, remarkable likeness! - Didn't expect this, no?

Comrade Petravichus, allow me to introduce to you... myself

And you, homunculus, can't even see who you're bribing?

So this is the situation, Mr. what's-your-name...

We have a bribe giver but no bribe taker

'cause it was not me, but my brother Pashka

He did a foolish thing, bluffed so to speak

It was me whom you were to arrest red-handed, but he came to my rescue

He saved his brother who had put him in prison

And he saved his brother from that very prison, because he's a saint

I'm vile shit

and he's a saint

All right, enough!

Over here!

Hold him, the devil

Take this

Olenka, don't! Leave! Leave!

My hat

shortness of breath...

sunken...

sunken sternum and vertebral ribs

flat empty stomach

Long live Marxism�Leninism!

Hurray!

One - two, one - two

Give way!

Basta

- Could the child have been saved? - No, it was useless, hopeless

- What was the cause of the shock? - Haemolysis, erythrocytes destruction

- Meaning? - Happens due to transfusion of incompatible blood

like adding vinegar to milk

What is your opinion of your brother's action?

- Why did you say nothing in court? - I thought it was for him to speak

and how can one accuse one's own brother

- He used you, knew you'd say nothing - What does it matter any more

He is no more, I served my sentence, the child was incurable. It's over.

I used to hope even during hopeless surgeries: what if he lives?

After the rupture with my brother, I still hoped: maybe we'll reconcile

- Which is why you disguised yourself? - He weren't supposed to be there

I am convinced that with no hope for a miracle life becomes surreal

it suffocates and withers, and a disgusting replica takes its place

encased in slogans, posters, monuments

misery and famine are on the farms, while bulls of stone are in city squares

stone farmers feed stone grain to stone chicks

smiling stone peasants hold stone sheaves

cemeteries awaken, full of exultant life

In Moscow's Novodevichy cemetery there's a military conductor's monument

his hands raised with the baton

the music sheet reads: vast is my native country

the horror...

this dead man's country is vast indeed

this dead man's country is vast indeed

he climbed out of his grave to tell us about the other world

or this and the other worlds merged but isn't this immortality?

monuments to conductors - conduct, commanders' - command

dairymaids milk stone cows, dead pilots are in stone planes and tanks

but that's not all

real tanks and planes are now on the pedestal with no people

as a symbol of invincibility and immortality

and anew they lead Zoya to be hung and general Karbyshev freezes in ice

Who came up with exhibiting the dead in the squares of our vast motherland

then, with downcast eyes, they will leave their graves

with hurried footsteps they will follow the angel calling upon them

and the dead turned to ashes ask: must we live?

the angel says: yes, there shall come resurrection

they say: resurrect our fathers and the generations before us

the angel: we destroyed them because they were criminal

they: what awaits our children?

the angel: for the living, heaven shall produce an invisible smoke

it shall cover all people and this shall be a terrible punishment

what being is more criminal than he who turns a deaf ear to words of truth?

than he who forgets his own deeds?

we covered their hearts with veils so that they would not understand the truth

we put weight in their ears

when even we ourselves will show them the true path they will never follow it

and this is a forewarning for people endowed with feeling

You are not well? Shall I call a doctor?

So, Yurgis Kazimirovich, the crime is solved

Fedoruk, recount your crime

He played, I came and said "enough", and he kept playing, and I felt sick

I cam from behind and hit him on the neck with the shovel

my crappy wooden shovel, for the snow

and he fell facing the ceiling, I thought he'll lie a bit and come to

and I went to my place to have a drink and then the cops come...

Wait, and who broke the jar?

I walked and it fell, and I cut myself on some shards

- I did it - All right, enough, it's all clear

Hands behind your back, march

Report to the republican prosecutor...

I am hereby informing you that I have verified a complaint against Udaltsov

Facts alleged by the complaint have not been confirmed

Receipt of bribes has not been proven

Comrade Udaltsov could not be informed of these conclusions due to his death

Results reported to secretary Popugayev

Investigator for public prosecutor's office Petravichus

What do you want, little boy?

To chief physician of the psychiatric hospital Martz, Mikhail Arkadievich

Please release Mr. Dobrynin V.P. unlawfully incarcerated by me

Thank you, chairman of the city council Udaltsov

Vasily Petrovich...

Vasily Petrovich!

Hello, Dmitry

- I came for you - Let's talk over there

I came for you, Vasily Petrovich, you don't need to remain here any more

Thank you, Dmitry, but I would rather stay

I very much like it here: the food, the care, and everything

Besides, I'm following a course of treatment which is good for my health

And in summer, we will go to the cottage in Semikarakory

it's woody there, with a river, fish, fresh air

I so want to go to Semikarakory

We shall certainly go to Semikarakory, but let us leave this place today

No, thank you, Dmitry...

I'd rather go with everybody - with them

Comrades!

Meet my friend Dmitry

Shall we go to Semikarakory?

We'll go...

We'll go to Semikarakory

Shall we go to Semikarakory?

We shall go to Semikarakory!

Come to take a photo

And I won't go

I'm not going

Excuse me

Call the doctor!

very tasty herring...

All the money... my passport...

very tasty herring, thank you, Lyubochka

The End

Creative Union "Circle" Copyright (C) 1988 by Mosfilm Studio