Original subtitles

If there's snot in my nose she'll lick it clean.

Do you think she does it for no reason?

What do you think?

Because of my pretty blue eyes? No.

And if I have a pain somewhere, which God forbid...

...or a small wound...

...she knows without being told and she licks it.

She probably heals with her saliva. At least, that's what people say.

People say...

Erm...

You know...

This is my message to everyone:

Leave each other in peace.

Let human beings develop in a natural way.

THE BELOVS

What's up, my little ones?

I am coming, my darlings. Granny is coming, little darlings.

In a minute, my darlings.

I'm on my way. Granny is coming.

Just look what you've done.

You naughty things. You actors... For God's sake!

Let Granny get these flies off you.

They're eating you up while you're still alive.

Shameless flies.

Keep still, my little ray of sunshine.

My baby, my little cow.

My dearest, my little daughter!

You deserve twenty-five calves.

Dunay...

Get off!

Thank you, my darling.

Thank you, my daughter, thank the Lord.

Thank you, my feeder.

Go away! Push off!

Or else...

My little daughter.

Thank you, my sunshine. And you, off you go!

Dunay... Oh, you want some milk too, do you?

Come on, Granny will give you some. Oh, you're such a picture.

I'm here with my brother, Michael. Why bother filming us?

We are just ordinary people. We just live here, where the river begins.

There's nothing special about us.

Some women stay with one husband and they go into old age together...

...hand in hand.

I buried the first, I buried the second.

That was God's punishment.

I rejected a guy called Pavel when I was young.

My mother was against it and I didn't stand up to her.

It changed my whole destiny. Now I'm suffering.

Seryozhka, get up!

Abracadabra. Potatoes, dig yourselves up!

Oh, my God!

Dear brother, will you play? And sister, will you sing?

People will envy us watching us having fun.

Sit by my side, my darling.

They've got enough to eat.

Sit by my side.

Dinushka.

To keep our hearts from aching.

Oh, damn. - Don't swear, my darling.

Dina...

Don't scold me, Mother...

...that I eat so much bread.

Will you sew me a white bag, and you won't be fed up with me.

Why did you break the fence?

Why did you ruin my vegetable patch? You rascal!

Go away.

You're a rascal.

You've broken everything...

...and now you expect old Granny to repair it.

I am not going to describe my character.

No way!

No-one is perfect. I can't say I have no faults.

I can't say whether I'm good or bad.

I can't and no-one should.

No-one has the right to do that.

I don't know.

To some, I'm a friend, and to others, I'm an enemy.

Zhulenka...

Zhula...

I forbid anyone to judge other people.

I forbid condemning other people...

...on appearances.

Poor hedgehog! Let's take him to the forest.

Poor hedgehog, poor thing.

Get off him. Have a sweetie instead.

No? Not even a sweetie? Granny will take him away.

Come on. Let's put him back where he belongs.

I'll put him back in nature.

You want no sweet? And I have only one with my tea.

Keep away from him.

Let's take him back home.

Let Granny take him home.

What do you want? He'll go home or he will be crying.

I'll get you. I'll give you your sweetie anyway.

Don't you want to have the sweetie?

Don't you bite my arm.

I'll keep it for myself then.

My daughter, you bit my elbow.

Anyway, I'll get you, though you're stronger than me.

Don't you fall, my little shed.

Don't chase me...

...my dark-haired boy.

Just pull it down.

We'll pull down the fence when the cabbages have gone.

There are no cabbages. - But there is beetroot.

What beetroot? It's been pulled out already.

Let the cows have the rest. - No way! We haven't even...

...started on the beetroot yet.

The Czar came to check my work.

Peter the Great!

You say: ''Never mind me. I've suffered.''

''But my grandchildren will have a better life.'' No, I totally disagree.

They'll live in a different world. They'll build their own.

You say: ''I'll give a sweet to my child rather than eating it myself.''

No! I say. You've got to eat it.

Later on, he won't want your sweets, or even chocolate.

Misha... - What?

Can you cut my hair, please? Look how long it's grown.

What will the brothers say? I look like a bear.

As I was saying...

Pass me the hammer, please.

You say: ''You must live and I will die for you.''

I want to smash this theory. Right down to the root.

My God. - You've only been given this one life.

There's no second person like you.

Right?

So why die for someone else?

Then what's the point of being born?

You are unique in this world.

I fight for the individual, not for the community.

Why do you think the question of capital punishment is raised?

You see...

I abolish capital punishment.

I abolish it.

If you can prove the opposite, go ahead! OK. I'm all ears.

People always refer to the State. I don't.

The State is you and me.

I asked Yeltsin: ''Are you the State?''

He said: ''No. I've got a mother and father.''

So tell me, what exactly is the State?

You and me, both of us together. And that's it.

You know what?

I would prohibit the State from making toys for children.

Then a girl would make her own doll. I would give her the cloth.

If she gets a doll from the shop, she would break it.

And the boys could construct something.

There's big potential there.

I am proposing a perfect ideology.

To prohibit toy production and promote consumer goods.

Hey, you all must look at me! What a nice bum you can see!

At the present stage of civilization...

...we don't realize that we are destroying ourselves.

Why is a man not happy with his wife?

An other woman looks better and tastes sweeter.

Why?

Explain, pussy.

Anna, you've become an old lady.

Your path gets shorter every day.

My blessed darlings, my sweet ones. Come to your Granny.

I will give you some water and then I want to live a week longer.

My sweet ones.

Hey, monkey, drink up quickly or he'll drink yours.

You are always so slow.

My darling.

''So the people were herded together in the city to count the stones...''

You rascal!

While you were gawping, he's taken it away from you.

How many times have I told you to be more canny?

Eat quickly or you end up with nothing.

Here.

My darling son, I received your letter.

Thank you very much.

I am sending you some blueberries and a bit of...

...bee's oil for your cold.

Rub it on the bridge of your nose to stop it getting blocked.

Keep your feet warm, especially the heels. Make mustard baths for your dear legs.

Please look after yourself, my dearest and sweetest little boy.

My precious little baby.

I've lived my life. What does it matter if I die?

Take care of your family. May you all live in peace.

Give my love to Galya. And good health.

Look after Yuri. Cherish him as your best friend.

Take care of him.

You know what my life is like so I won't write about it.

It's not so easy getting here.

Look how much dust you've kicked up.

Hello. - Good day to you.

Let me put my black dress on.

Can you believe it! She wants her black dress on.

Hello, you, the self-exiled farmer!

Voluntarily exiled for drinking too much.

Not because of disrespect for your parents!

BROTHERS

It's our task...

To take care of the body and God will take care of the soul.

Come and have some tea with us.

I don't drink tea. - What do you drink? Water?

Come on, we want you here, at the table. - I drink nothing but vodka.

Misha, sit down here. Don't you want to sit next to me?

Take a seat next to me, my sweet, so that our hearts won't bleed.

I understand.

Sit down and have some tea.

This is of no moral value.

There he goes again. Just now we've poured your tea.

Is that the time? Twenty past ten already. - We often stay up till well past midnight.

It's time to go to bed. - Not yet. You come to see us so rarely.

Drink up your tea, you tadpole.

Please don't shout. - I meant it affectionately. Drink up.

You always speak so loudly.

Listen, Vasiliy Fyodorovich... - We can all hear you without shouting.

You won't persuade anyone by shouting. By shouting, you just prove...

...your inadequacy. - You are the one who's shouting.

Misha...

You won't persuade anyone by shouting. - Look who's talking.

Who can tell me what the scale of suffering is?

How can you measure it?

In litres, kilograms, or grams?

Centimetres, millimetres?

Unfortunately they haven't discovered a measure yet.

But that measure affects your health...

...and it wears people out, even to death.

It causes more deaths than anything else.

I want to know what the measure is.

Excuse me, but have you seen the film...

I don't know the director's name or the scriptwriter.

It's called ''The Quagmire''.

Did you see it? - Go and put the tractor away.

It applies here as well.

Brothers, allow me...

Our family is just like that quagmire.

Look how close your elbow is, yet you can't bite it.

All the old units of measurement... - I asked you not to shout.

Vasiliy, I've delivered many lectures.

I have the gifts of an orator.

Pass me the scissors. - I got 10 roubles an hour in old money.

He's given more lectures than you, but he keeps his voice down.

If you want to say something, say it, please. Don't shout.

My eardrums will burst. - OK. I'll try.

I don't want to criticize anyone. Everyone has their own destiny.

Put the tractor away. Have some tea with a sweet.

You know what, Vasiliy Fyodorovich?

Sergey Fyodorovich knows more about life than you do.

You know what? He knows life better than you do.

Sergey can't hear your praise. His mind is miles away.

Maybe the Soviet government hasn't influenced him deeply enough.

And what have you got against it?

He still has the old bourgeois philistine ideas.

What do you know of the old bourgeois philistine ideas? Were you alive then?

Please talk quietly, I beg you.

Let him be.

Listen...

You, Vasiliy, and you, Anna, I have to tell you to your face.

The two of you together are examples...

...of the worst aspects of Soviet...

We've heard that story before. - Don't interrupt me.

...the worst aspects and dangers of the Soviet system.

What a great university that was!

I am not your wife, so don't call me a whore.

Don't comment.

He's always calling me a whore. Doesn't he ever get bored with it?

Can you be quieter? - The bastard is always on at me.

OK. You talk. I'll listen. - Damn drunkard!

You don't have to say anything.

If people don't like what you are talking about, then you should stop.

Or speak softly when you speak.

Too late to discuss me. I'm 60 if I'm a day.

Why should you chew the same old cud all the time?

You know I lie drunk in the ditch with men queuing up. What do you want?

You dog. Idiot.

I'm not your wife for you to control. You old son of a bitch!

Have you nothing better to talk about?

You could take them berry-picking. Or to the source of the river.

All he can do is fight and rant and rave.

Now you're getting all worked up.

I don't understand why you're so agitated. - Why does he always have to start?

Take a few drops of valerian. - Let him do that. I don't swear at him.

Listen... - Here's an example.

He said ''Yeltsin is bad!'' That's what they say at every beer stand, drunken sods!

And Yeltsin, the poor man works night and day.

He travels to Italy, Germany, England and America to put things right.

And they just sit there and criticize.

I would say: 'Dear Yeltsin...' - Quiet now.

Castrate the lot of them.

They haven't been up to it since the war. Their cocks are forever at half mast.

All cold and wrinkly.

Do you realize that Gaidar killed two birds with one stone?

What you're about to say is as old as the hills.

Look how he's solving the economic problem.

He's got a sensible approach. He'll fit in to the new era.

We won't. And not because we can or can't readjust...

...but for our generation the train's already left the station.

We are too late. We can't fit in.

But we must adjust to the times.

We mustn't stand in the way of changes.

Listen, Vasiliy, my dear brother. You've got to understand...

...that Gaidar didn't fit in, and neither did your son.

Dina, Zhulenka...

What's the matter?

I just can't do it.

I can't manage.

I can't whistle today.

National education is the source of all national culture.

The source.

The Russian Empire conquered vast territories...

...dividing them in different provinces, ruling them without taking notice...

...of national feelings.

Other countries evolved historically. The Chinese have lived in China...

...and the Japanese have lived in Japan for thousands of years.

I don't know where Russia is? - Shut up, Karamazov!

You're so rude. Take no notice, he's older than you.

He lived through the siege of Leningrad as a boy.

You're such a jerk. - I didn't offend him.

Why bang your fist on the table then?

Just to make the point. - Why?

We can all bang our fist on the table. - Of course we can.

I can't talk to you when you are like this. You're banging your fists...

...spilling tea on me. - Tea? And so what?

Calm down, Vasiliy. You are brothers. I'm ashamed of you.

Our mother wouldn't recognize you. May she rest in peace!

The younger one is telling off his elders. - Quiet please.

What arguments and proofs have you got? Tell me.

Let's sit at the negotiation table. Show your papers.

I'm here as your brother, not as a negotiator.

Let's join forces at the river Elbe! It is a conversation on the river Elbe.

If you refuse to talk to me now... - No.

...as I'm speaking the truth... - No.

... I'll resort to military action.

Let's go to bed.

Hey, Lenin, go and call the dog!

To hell with the dog. - You go and I'll be a lone wolf.

Where is Anna?

Where did I see her?

What... - What are you shouting?

I'll slay you! I'll kill you, you bitch. - You just try!

Try to kill me. Try to kill me with an axe.

You are such a pig! - Maybe. But I'm right, all the same.

Put the money on the table. The money for bread.

You squander it on drink. Then you come here to bother me, you pig.

I carry billions around with me.

I bring in millions with my brain.

Billions! - Where are they, then?

Your underpants show through your trousers.

You don't believe me. - Billions!

You pig!

I shouldn't stay with you in the winter. I must try to get out alive.

You are crazy enough to kill me! - So who's going to eat the potatoes?

Stuff your own face with them! I'm leaving.

And you stay here. You're sharpening the axe to kill me.

Every day you taunt me, telling me to say my last prayer.

Telling you to ask God's forgiveness.

Yes, only God. - Why?

When it's you who is killing me? You bastard.

Pray for your sins. - Bastard.

I've never been that.

A bastard and a jerk is what you are.

Why on earth did you come here?

I've only had two days of peace.

You foul, stinking creature.

So the two drunkard brothers have decided between them...

...that the house and the cow belong to Misha, the whoremongers!

Get up. It's late.

It's time to milk the cow. Get up!

You know that Granny will see to everything.

And then I'll feel knackered all day!

I've taken care of this lousy matter.

I made a quick trip to Novgorod.

People have been sent to the city...

...and I have taken out a large mortgage on the property.

The house and the cow aren't yours. You're one who's eating my bread!

Dina is mine, not yours. All you've got is the dirty balls between your legs.

You can... - Stop clenching your teeth.

Don't you see, you have no understanding. So I must kill you.

But for what?

People like you should be eradicated from society!

You are standing in society's way. - Oh, yes?

Yes, people like you are obstacles in life.

They hinder life. - Isn't that you, not me?

Let's clear this up. What am I to do?

I found all sorts of proofs and arguments...

She doesn't get it. - What are you trying to prove?

You come home plastered and tell me what to do! I get up at six and work all day.

And so what? I don't get it.

What do you get up at six for?

To be pleased with yourself? - And what are you going to kill me for?

Because you don't know your aim in life.

Get out of my house! I want to live in peace!

Let's live by the law and follow a normal script.

All you say is that you are going to kill me and that I smell of earth and death.

It's the only way. - Bastard.

Should anyone disobey God's goddam rules...

...and break away from the natural order, I am going to eliminate them.

Your wife was right to leave you and take the child with her.

You are a bastard and everyone is sick to death of you.

You're not even embarrassed to behave the way you do before the film makers.

At least they'll get a true picture of life.

O God! Who's going to protect me?

Anna, my dear, my beloved and esteemed sister.

You are so horrible and vile...

So you'll kill me. - Whore.

So you want to kill me, don't you? - Shut up, you bitch!

I shall dance and wiggle my bottom.

Hey, you all must look at me! What a nice bum you can see!

Isn't it cold in winter, dear?

Are you, darling, happy here?

I don't mind I'm barefooted. My dear feet won't freeze at all.

Together we'll be warm.

My sweetheart danced with me.

The samovar in front, the smithy behind.

Hop hop.

My darling has curly hair. I won't swap him for all the gold in the world.

My husband is a melon and I am an apple tree.

When my husband is away I am happy and full of glee.

Don't scold me, mother dear, that I eat a lot of bread.

Will you sew me a white bag, and you won't be fed up with me.

Vetch with lentils, lentils with vetch.

A coin for the hay, two for the cart. Three roubles for a triple ride.

Isn't it cold in winter, dear?

Are you, darling, happy here?

Hark! Split I was and remade I was.

Seven times gave birth, and still a virgin I was.

The film featured Anna Fyodorovna and her brothers Vasiliy, Sergey and Michael.

Filmcrew: Kosakovski, Nikiforov, Belov, Koerasjova, Potsjeloejeva, Konovalov,

Malijev, Aloskina en Filimonov.

THE END. Studio of Documentary Films St. Petersburg. 1992

subtitles: Edward Pilitsyn & Helene Reid