Original subtitles

[ART TO THE MASSES]

What's there?

Where are you going?

Hey!

[Apartments index]

Latunsky

Hey!

Why are you standing still??

Comrade Latunsky, open the door!

Do something!

Step aside…

Don’t break anything!

What’s happening here?!

You’re flooding us, that’s what is happening!

When will there be peace and quiet in this building?!

Call the police!

Mom!

Hush

Don’t be afraid

Don’t be afraid, little one

It’s some boys breaking windows

Ma’am…

Ah?

Where are you?

I’m nowhere

I’m your dream

Lie down now, put your hand under your cheek

and I’ll tell you a story

Once there was a certain lady...

And she had no children,

and generally no happiness either

And so first she cried for a long time,

and then she became wicked

Margarita quietly placed the hammer on the window-sill and flew out the window

There was turmoil by the building

On the asphalt pavement strewn with broken glass,

people were running and shouting something….

shouting something.

In the building on the other side of the street

behind all the windows dark silhouettes of the tenants appeared,

trying to understand....

You’re still going on writing, huh

Is it about love at least?

Not only about it

Lie down

Oh, it’s good it’s about love

You’re in there too, Praskovia Fyodorovna

You don’t say?

And is Dr Stravinski in there?

Of course. How are we gonna do without him?

He has a whole plot line with the patients

Which patients? You?

With one proletarian poet

Lately here it’s been another day — another poet

It’s not a madhouse anymore, it’s…

What do they call it on the radio?..

The Union of Writers

Quiet, quiet…

Give it to me to read!

I’m curious what you have scribbled about us there

Of course! I only need to finish, it’s not much

Here you go…

Rest

Oh, I’m such a klutz!

He’s been writing and writing…

That’s okay, we’ll read everything…

sleep was just about to come over the poet,

when the grille suddenly moved noiselessly aside,

and a mysterious figure appeared on the balcony,

bathing in the moonlight,

and shook its finger at Ivan.

Shhh!

May I sit down?

Your profession?

Poet

And what is your name?

Bezdomny

Oh-oh…

What, you mean you dislike my poetry?

I dislike it terribly

And what have you read?

So, how did you wind up here?

The thing is that a year ago I wrote a novel about Pontius Pilate

You’re a writer?

I’m a master

She sewed it for me with her own hands

She?

And what is your name?

I no longer have a name

I renounced it,

as I generally did everything in life

A year ago

Oh, good afternoon!

Good afternoon!

Pilate

Will you sign it, please?

Are you interested in modern drama?

Aha

Gala

Oh, Gala!

Well, it’s the main show of the season

I haven’t been in Moscow long,

and by the way I’m an actress

I wanna work in your theater

It’s not really my theater

Have a good day!

Good afternoon!

I’m sorry for being so forward…

Are you in the Union of Writers?

So what?

Tonight at their restaurant they’re playing real American jazz

-Hello! -Hello!

Greetings!

You probably want me to invite you?

I do

Hello!

Moscow is your city!

Thank you!

The guard is tired, comrade playwright

Hello!

Excuse me

See you tonight! It starts at 8 p.m

Everyone’s waiting for you!

Is Efim Romanovich here already?

He won’t be here

Hello

-And how are we gonna rehearse without the director? -I’ll come back later

Actors learnt their lines,

and you as an author will correct them if something is wrong

You know better

Pilate is already on the stage, waiting

Hegemon,

it’s the accused from Galilee

Move it, the accused, move it!

So it was you, Yeshua Ha-Nozri,

who incited the people to destroy the temple of Yershalaim?

Good man! Believe me…

The Roman procurator is called Hegemon

Do you understand me, or do I hit you?

I speak your language, Hegemon

Good

So it was you who was going to destroy the temple building

and called on the people to do that?

Never, good…

Never, Hegemon, never in my life was I going to destroy the temple building,

nor did I incite anyone to this senseless act

You’re a liar

People have testified to it

These good people, Hegemon, have confused everything I told them

Generally, I’m beginning to be afraid that this confusion may go on for a very long time

Stop pretending that you’re a madman

There’s enough written in your record to hang you

No, no, Hegemon

There’s one with a goatskin parchment who follows me and keeps writing all the time

But once I peeked into this parchment and was horrified

I said decidedly nothing of what’s written there

And what was it in any case that you said about the temple to the crowd in the bazaar?

I said, Hegemon,

that the temple of the old faith would fall

and a new temple of truth would be built

What is truth?

The truth is

that your head aches,

and aches so badly

that you’re having faint-hearted thoughts of death

You lost faith in people

But your suffering will soon be over,

your headache will go away

Well, there, it’s all over

And I’m extremely glad of it

Unbind his hands

Sorry

What? Sorry, what’s this?

Huh?

Comrades, what’s happening?

Don’t you see we’re rehearsing?

We’ve been told the performance won’t happen

What? I don’t understand! How can it be possible?

Good people, put the props back!

Have you gone crazy?!

Don’t you see there’s a People’s Artist of USSR on the stage?!

What’s happening?!

We’ve been told to dismantle the set

What?!

Who told you this?

Here, comrade Rimsky

Of first freshness

Grigory Danilovich!

It’s okay

They are dismantling the set right now there

The play was shut down by order of Narkomprom

But we passed all the commissions

Don’t worry that much

Today it was shut down, tomorrow they’ll bring it back

But what’s the reason?

I'm only in charge of the financial part

Comrade Rimsky…

Oh, yeah yeah

Go to comrade Likhodeev

Yeah, but he’s not at the office

He’s on a business trip

[he's binge drinking]

Again?

For one week and a half

How do I find him?

You know the building on Sadovaya street

Apartment 50

Thanks even for that

Fear, you white bastards!

The day of reckoning has come!

Fire!

You’ll remember commander Sitnik

Load!

Fire!

I’ve come to see Stepan Bogdanovich

Comrade Likhodeev isn’t here.

I’ve been told he’s here

He isn’t. He’s in Yalta

Grunya! Water!

Stepan Bogdanovich!

Grunya!

He took some time off

Water!

Grunya!

Water!

[incoherent drunken mumbling]

Mikhail Alexandrovich

How did you find out I live here?

I didn’t, I came to see Likhodeev

I’m neighbors with him now

The manager of the theater and your editor live in the same apartment,

how convenient!

He took some time off

Off what?

Off his ass?

Made a real den of horrors here

Why are you sitting?

The session begins soon

What session?

Ah, this one

I moved in recently

Previous tenants moved out to somewhere

And you will move out soon, you scabby intelligents,

having hogged three rooms!

That’s okay, you won’t be all comfy here for much longer!

It’s a wicked apartment. Wi-cked

It's Annushka, mad woman

Took the proletarian struggle personally

Mikhail Alexandrovich, ‘Pilate’ was shut down

Don’t you worry!

Us and theaters have always been different departments!

If a performance is shut down,

everyone will rush to read a play it was based on

And here you have it, dear comrades!

In the latest issue of our magazine

With all responsibility, as the chairman of the Union,

I’m telling you: if you had problems

I would be the first to know

Bravo!

We thank you, Nastasia Lukinishna,

for your report about work on the collection of sea stories

‘The Navigator George’

We can’t wait to read it

The next matter on the agenda…

The dispute about the artistic and political component of the play ‘Pilate’

We welcome the author to the stage

Please, take a seat

This one?

Yes

We welcome critic Osaf Semenovich Latunsky to the stage

Before I start,

I’d like to remind

all the comrades writers present here

that the main goal of the Soviet criticism is

to reveal the objective, class meaning of literary works

And now to the actual point

While the Party and the Government are putting incredible efforts

into rid the country of reactionary and religious prejudices

once and for all

a member of the Union of Soviet Writers

is engaged in creating an apology for religious obscurantism

He writes a play

about Pontius Pilate and Jesus Christ

who he bashfully refers to as Yeshua Ha-Nozri

Thus by hiding behind the historical material,

he criticizes the Soviet government

Let me…

I’m not finished

Sit down, please

I will quote this Ha-Nozri

“All authority is violence over people.”

What does the author mean by this?

That the power of the proletarian dictatorship is violence too?

Yes, it is

But it is forced

and necessary

And it's like that throughout, comrades

‘Pilate’ is a politically harmful and extremely dangerous work

that doesn’t belong in Soviet literature

Bravo!

We’re continuing the debate

Comrades! A small impromptu!

Once our Pilate Went for work to Narkomat

Tra-ta-ta Ta-ra-tam-tam

Comrade Bezdomny, we don’t have time for impromptus,

we have an approved schedule of the session

Okay, one more very quick

Why do we need heaven If we can go to the Crimea region!

What about vouchers to Crimea?

Comrades, I’d like to get more clarity on the housing issue…

Oplykhin, will you calm down or do we need to remove you?

I’m calming down…

Thank you

We’re continuing the debate

Boris Petrovich Meigel has the floor

How did it happen that a reactionary play ‘Pilate’

was published

and then — staged?

Because beggars cannot be Pilatees

But our mission is not to ban it only to bring joy to our enemies

who can't wait to get the proof that there’s no freedom of speech in the USSR

Our mission is to help the author,

guide the author to the right path towards serving working people

What did comrade Lenin say?

“The smart one is not the one who does not make any mistakes.

The smart one is the one who can quickly fix them.”

Comrade Meigel! Comrade Meigel!

Let me speak

Please, comrade Berlioz

First of all, as the editor

who allowed this play to be published,

I would like to extend my sincere apologies to my colleagues

for exercising political

shortsightedness

Forgive me

I’m offering to withdraw the circulation of the issue at once

I’m sure that by properly working with the author,

we’ll be able to refine the play

in order to achieve the ideologically correct direction

Bravo!

That’s right!

Now the only thing remained is to hear the author's opinion

Mine?

I can speak?

Of course

Please, speak up

Well, I’ve already written my play

Very well

Why won’t you use your talent to write something

that will actually catch the Soviet readers’ interest?

For example, something about a labor feat of the people?

Well, it just happened that I haven’t worked in a factory or mines

I haven’t mowed oats

How am I supposed to write about something that I don’t know?

As far as I know, you haven’t been to Ancient Judea either

Well, if you don’t mind, I’m a historian

Then write us the history of the revolution

I’m afraid you won’t like it either

Comrades, I have another short impromptu!

Comrade Bezdomny, will you stop?

But it’s short!

A Soviet poet isn’t interested in Christ

A Soviet poet is interested in a pump!

Gasification, electrification, oil production

That's our spiritual nourishment!

Quiet, comrades!

Comrade!

Where are you going?

There

Buddy!

Everything you said is right

I wanted to step up for you but didn’t make it on time

That was powerful

Or stupid

Huh?

Depending on how you look at it

Dialectics

Don’t look at it!

Well, if they nail you,

write them a novel about a collective farm

‘How the rye was harvested’

I think you can whip up something like that in a week

Huh?

Wow, you have a real resort here

People back then knew how to live!

Ha, what a fat cat!

tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk

What’s its name? Bourgeois?

Behemoth

Yours?

He visits me sometimes

Just like me!

Watch your head

And in my communal apartment they hung up a crapper schedule

Can you imagine?

And I’m an artist, I can’t go to the crapper on schedule!

You have a writer’s heaven here

I’m afraid after today’s purgatory

they won’t even let me translate poems for kids

And I won’t have anything to pay for heaven

But please, don’t bury yourself too soon

Their strength lies in our fear

In a week or two everyone will forget about everything

You just need a distraction

For example, tonight at the restaurant they play… this…

tss tss tss

Jazz

Jazz!

Ah, I promised to take her there

Who?

One extremely ambitious young actress

who came to conquer the capital

My favorite type…

But not mine…

I’ll save you

I’ll take over

What you won’t do for a friend!

Please, welcome Harlem Swing with the song ‘Hallelujah’!

-Good evening! -Good evening!

Good evening! Please, come in

Hello!

This is Aloizy Mogarych, a movie playwright

and this is Gala

Pleased to meet you

The pleasure is all mine

Please, sit

Champagne?

Yes, but only a little bit,

If I drink too much champagne,

demons take over my mind

I’m ready to take my chances!

Please, wait for us for a couple of brief moments

Champagne, please!

Listen, I whispered around here,

everyone’s literally shocked

There’s a lot of sympathizers

In short,

a suggestion to go out was raised

Go out where?

To the protest against censorship

For freedom of literary creativity

I'm sorry, I stand by you

Thank you

Tomorrow at 10 a.m. in front of the Union’s building

But tomorrow at 10 a.m. there’s the May Day, God forgive me, Parade

Exactly! When, if not now?

If we don’t say anything now, it’ll happen to everyone

How Dumas said,

‘Un pour tous, tous pour un!’

Let's drink to our beauty which is the only thing

that can surpass our talent!

Everyone, drink!

Oh, it’s the manager of your theater?

Likhodeev?

Yeah, it’s Stepan Bogdanovich

Hallelujah!!

I just need to talk to him

Comrade!

Show your card

Starting today, it’s nullified

I’m asking you to leave

What do you mean?..

I’m asking you to leave

Thank you

Are you by any chance a writer?

I’ve been told that it’s a restaurant for writers

I am

And you are from Germany, judging by your accent?

Yes, and from Germany too

So what are you doing here?

I’ve come to learn about this fascinating Soviet experiment of yours

Is it for your work or for your soul?

It’s the same thing to me

Tough day?

My play was shut down today

The magazine where the play was published is withdrawn

And they just took away from me my Union of Writers card

But otherwise everything is fine

For what did they do this to you?

For what was permitted yesterday and today already isn’t

New country, new rules

And what about people?

Are they all new?

New people…

New people are well-forgotten old ones

You know, as far as I know no country in the whole history of humankind

has tried to get rid of god and to build a society

that would preach atheism as a religion

It has to change people somehow, don’t you think?

I can imagine now how it all looks through the foreigner’s eyes

Now imagine how it all looks from there

Or from there

Kha! It could be a great plot for a story

Devil in whom no one believes decides to visit Moscow

He would restore the order!

They will never publish it

For whom should I write?

Write not to be published but to be republished

You know who you remind me of?

Good night!

Professor, we should go

I’m coming, comrade Koroviev

By the way, don’t you wanna go with me to the party?

Not today, if you don’t mind

That’s too bad

I’d love to talk to you more on occasion

Think about it

I’m planning to be in Moscow for a while

Are you coming with us?

Where’s everyone?

Everyone promised to come…

One for all, all for one...

Probably, they’re sleeping off after yesterday

I’ll come by your place soon

So I was walking along this May boulevard,

and thoughts were racing in my head

Maybe I should start writing opera librettos?

Well, so be it…

I bitterly regretted that I had abandoned science

and condemned myself to a miserable existence

But God knows

only my love for literature was the reason for it

Sorry, can I get through there?

Tverskaya street is occupied until the parade is over

A flag or a flower?

Pass

Maybe I should write a letter so they’ll allow me to leave the country?

Why will they keep a writer whose works can’t exist in the USSR?

The passage is closed

Yeah, but the thing is…

The passage is closed

No writer can be silenced

If they can, it means they weren't a real writer

And if a real one shuts up, they die

Catch him!

Comrade, stop!

Imagine that thousands of people were walking along Tverskaya,

but I can assure you that she saw me alone,

and looked not really alarmed, but even as if in pain.

And I was struck not so much by her beauty

as by an extraordinary loneliness in her eyes,

such as no one had ever seen before

Do you like my flowers?

No, I don't

You don’t like flowers at all?

I do like flowers

But not this kind

What else do you like?

Sea

Though I’ve never been to one

How can you love something you’ve never seen?

Are you a writer?

You guessed right

And who are you?

An angel?

An angel…

More like a witch

And I suddenly understood

that I had never liked and would never like anyone precisely like this woman

I knew it that same day when, without having noticed the city

we found ourselves by the Kremlin wall on the embankment,

and talked as if we had parted only the day before,

as if we had known each other for many years

Aren’t you afraid of telling this to a stranger?

To speak the truth is easy

and pleasant

So, you’re a writer

What do you write?

Now — nothing

I have an idea… But…

But?

It’s foredoomed

It makes it more interesting

Will you tell me about it?

It’s one of my most favorite places in Moscow

But soon it’ll change too

Imagine when all these great constructions end

there will be enormous buildings and monuments

And there, on Bronnaya, they will launch trams

And right here, along the new Patriarch’s Ponds,

are walking an editor of a literary magazine Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz

and his young companion, a poet Ivan Ponyrev

who writes under a pseudonym Bezdomny

After we walked through Alexander’s garden, I invited her to the Patriarch’s Ponds

The Patriarch’s Ponds!!

Hush!

That’s the place where it all happened

What exactly?

We met him there

A consultant

I’m begging you, tell me everything

They are walking up to the water booth

They want to buy seltzer, there’s no seltzer

They’re drinking an apricot soda

And here they are meeting him

Who is he?

The thing is that long before Jesus had been born lots of…

Berlioz had commissioned from the poet a long anti-religious poem

for the next issue of his magazine

He was now giving the poet something of a lecture on Jesus

to provide the poet with some kind of guidance

None of these ancient historians never mentioned a word about Christ

even though they lived allegedly at the same time

There’s not a single Eastern religion in which, as a rule,

an immaculate virgin did not give birth to a god

And in just the same way, without inventing anything new,

the Christians created their Jesus, who in fact never lived

It’s on this that the main emphasis should be placed!

You’ve opened up my eyes!

I will rewrite everything!

Excuse me,

kha,

please,

Excuse me, please,

if not being your acquaintance, I allow myself...

but the subject of your learned conversation is so interesting that I just couldn't…

May I sit down?

Unless I heard wrong,

you were pleased to say that Jesus never existed?

No, you did not hear wrong

That is precisely what we were talking about

Ah, how interesting!

And you were agreeing with your interlocutor?

A hundred per cent!

Amazing!

So it means you both are…

...atheists?

But of course!

We’re atheists

Allow me to thank you with all my heart and soul!

Wait, what are you thanking him for?

For some very important information,

which is of great interest to me as a traveler

What, then, about the proofs of God’s existence,

of which, as is known, there are exactly

fünf?

five

Kant’s proof!

But it is equally unconvincing

They ought to take this Kant

and give him a three-year stretch in Solovki for such proofs!

Ivan! Hush!

No no no, he’s right!

Send him to Solovki!

But if you say that there is no God,

then who governs human life and,

in general, the whole order of things on earth?

Man governs it himself! With his own hands!

Man? Come on!

Man isn’t able to plan anything for certain,

at least somewhat decent length of time, let’s say, a thousand years

He cannot even vouch for his own tomorrow

Imagine that you got sick

Let’s say it's...

[creepy Woland sounds]

lungkhhhh cancer

And now you’re not having much fun

Sometimes it’s worse:

the man slips and

tsak!

Falls under a tram-car

Are you going to say it was he who governed himself that way?

Man is mortal!

No one disputes that

Of course, of course man is mortal,

but that would be only half the trouble

The worst of it is that he’s sometimes unexpectedly mortal!

And he has no idea what he’s going to do this same evening

Well, there’s some exaggeration here

About this same evening I do know more or less certainly

It goes without saying,

if a brick should fall on my head on Bronnaya…

A brick, ha-ha!

No, nothing will ever fall on your head

so don’t you worry

You will die a different death

Maybe you know what kind precisely?

Head…

Your head will be cut off!

By whom?

Enemies?

Interventionists?

Tonight I’ll stop by my place on Sadovaya…

No, that’s out of question

Why?

Because Annushka has already bought the sunflower oil,

and has not only bought it,

but has already spilled it

What has sunflower oil got to do with it...

and which Annushka?

Listen, Misha…

Comrade, have you ever happened to be in

a hospital for the mentally ill?

Yes! Yes, I have, Ivan Nikolaevich

How do you know my name?

Gracious, Ivan Nikolaevich, who doesn’t know you?

You’d like to smoke, I see?

What do you prefer?

Our Brand, blue ones

So what?

You're welcome

That’s when I thought that this consultant was no foreign tourist

but a spy

Are you German?

You speak Russian well!

And what is your field?

Where are you staying?

Where are you gonna live?

In your apartment

And there’s no devil either?

Enough already!

There isn’t any devil!

That is positively interesting!

What is it with you — no matter what one asks for

there isn’t any!

Professor, please, sit here for a minute with comrade Bezdomny,

and I’ll just make a quick phone call

And then we’ll take you wherever you like

Of course, of course go make your call

But before you go, I’ll tell you:

the devil does exist, believe me

I no longer ask you for anything more

Mind you, there exists a seventh proof of it

And it is going to be presented to you right now

Very well!

Keep an eye on him,

I’ll go make a quick call and get help

Looking for the turnstile, citizen?

This way, please!

Straight on and you’ll get where you’re going

Straight on, straight on!

Straight on!

How about a little pint pot for my information?

Move, you fool!

The head had bounced so far away they found it only when it got dark

Thanks!

You weren’t lying, you indeed have a rich imagination

What’s next?

Next, next…

I haven’t come up with it yet

You just have to write it

Thanks for walking me home

Wait!

I live on Mansurovski alleway, there’s this wooden house,

it’s the only one…

I’m married

…the entrance is through the gates...

Keep writing

Keep writing

Chapter 1. Never talk with stranger

At the hour of the hot spring sunset in Moscow

two citizens appeared at the Patriarch’s Ponds...

One of them, approximately forty years old…

Chapter 4. The chase.

…The poet had rushed to the turnstile as soon as he heard the first scream…

Step aside! Step aside!

I rushed to the turnstile as soon as I heard the first scream!

Of course, I forgot about the mad German

and tried to figure out one thing only: how it could be

that I had just been talking to Berlioz,

and a moment later — the head…

Citizens!

Citizens!

Have you seen the head?

Has anyone seen the head?

Someone spilled the oil around the turnstiles

It’s Misha!

Don't come close to the body!

5 metres!

It’s Misha!

Go the hell away from here!

It’s him! There!

It’s the consultant!

He killed him!

Catch him! Catch him!

Why are you standing still?

Quiet!

We need to catch him! Police!

He is getting away!

Stop!

Stop!

You stop!

Citizens! He’s getting away!

Stop him!

Stop!

There he is! There he is!

Here’s my ticket…

No cats allowed! Scat!

Get off, or I’ll call the police!

Rude

No, you’re rude! Where are you going?!

There’s a cat on the top!

You have a cat on the top!

Stop! There's a cat!

Stop! It’s a spy!

Stop!

Comrades! Help! A spy!

Catch up and overtake, young man.

Comrades! Comrades!

Let me in!

Quiet!

How did the police let him walk like that?

He has appeared…

Who has appeared, comrade Bezdomny?

The consultant

And this consultant

just killed Misha Berlioz

at the Patriarch’s Ponds

He killed our Misha!

Mikhail Alexandrovich died?

He was killed!

We need to catch the consultant, do you understand?!

He is going to cause indescribable troubles!

I’m sorry, can you be more precise?

What do you mean — ‘kill’?

Who killed?

The consultant!

He has to be caught!

And you are sitting around here! Dancing!

Here’s what, citizens:

call the police at once,

demand to send out five motorcycles with machine-guns…

Comrade Bezdomny, calm down…

I’m calm

Pardon me…

No, anyone else, but you

I will not pardon

And that’s my brothers in literature!

That’s how I wound up here

You yourself, dear heart, are to blame for it all

You shouldn’t have behaved so casually

and even impertinently with him

But who is he, finally?

Yesterday at the Patriarch’s Ponds

you met Satan

No, it can’t be!

Satan doesn’t exist

Anyone else might say that, but not you

You’re, as you yourself understand, in a mental hospital

yet you keep saying he doesn’t exist

But he’ll be up to devil knows what here!

We have to catch him somehow!

You’ve already tried,

and that will do for you

And as for being up to something, rest assured,

he will be!

But how annoying that it was you who met him and not I

But what do you need him for?

I’m coming!

So?

Are you writing?

I am

I just finished a new chapter

We have construction going on here…

Well, there's construction going on everywhere

And here we have roses

Sorry, it’s this way

Downstairs

Sorry for the mess

Would you like some tea?

Okay, I don’t have tea…

I’m out of tea

Will you let me read it?

As you will!

Have you come up with the title?

For now it’s ‘The Dark Lord’

It’s good it’s for now

The Grand Chancellor?

I’ll think more about it

I know why you called him Woland

It’s from Goethe’s, one of the Mefistofel’s names

I’m a part of that power which still

Produceth good, whilst ever scheming ill

I’ll leave you to it

Excuse me, please

if, not being your acquaintance, I allow myself...

but the subject of your learned conversation is so interesting that…

...their Jesus, who in fact never lived...

Please, take it

Bear in mind that Jesus did exist

But there’s need for some proof!

There’s no need for any proofs. It’s all very simple:

In a white cloak with blood-red lining,

with the shuffling gait of a cavalryman,

early in the morning of the fourteenth day of the spring month of Nissan

there came out to the covered colonnade

between the two wings of the palace of Herod the Great

the procurator of Judea,

Pontius Pilate…

Four criminals,

arrested in Yershalaim

for murder,

incitement to rebellion,

and outrages against the laws and the faith,

have been sentenced to a shameful execution —

by hanging on posts!..

So which of the two criminals the Sanhedrin intended to set free:

Bar-Rabban

or Ha-Nozri?

…And this execution will presently be carried out on Bald Mountain

The names of the criminals are

Dysmas,

Gestas,

Bar-Rabban

and Ha-Nozri

Bar-Rabban! Bar-Rabban! Bar-Rabban!

What is truth?

Are you a great physician?

No, I am not a physician

And now tell me,

why is it that you use the words “good people” all the time?

Do you call everyone that, or what?

Everyone

There are no evil people in the world

But only three of them will be executed,

for, in accordance with law and custom,

in honor of the feast of Passover,

to one of the condemned,

as chosen by the Lesser Sanhedrin

and confirmed by Roman authority,

the magnanimous emperor Caesar

will return his contemptible life

The Sanhedrin asks that Bar-Rabban be released

Their crimes are quite incomparable in their gravity

If one is guilty of murder,

the other one, Yeshua Ha-Nozri,

is only guilty of uttering preposterous things

It’s sultry today, isn’t it?

Do you know a certain Judas from Kiriath?

Yes, I met Judas from Kiriath

He is a very good and inquisitive person

The name of the one who will now be set free before you is…

What? Even after my intercession?

And a third time I repeat that we are setting Bar-Rabban free

So what did you say about the temple to the crowd at the bazaar?

Among other things I said that

all authority is violence over people,

and that a time will come

when there will be no authority of the Caesars,

nor any other authority

…Bar-Rabban!

Your story is extremely interesting,

though it does not coincide at all with the Gospel stories

You know, I was personally present at it all,

only secretly, incognito, so to speak,

and therefore I beg you — not a word to anyone, total secrecy

Shh!

Seems like he’s a bit shy in front of you

When they don’t want to upset an author,

they usually say ‘they’ve done a great job’

Yershalaim, Pontius Pilate popped in out of nowhere...

You haven’t told me about him

It’s from my play, it’s called ‘Pilate’

After our meeting I thought it was all connected so…

Weird, right?

It’s weird, yes

Do you know how it all will end?

I have no idea

I have some thoughts about a new chapter

but I haven’t thought that far ahead

I’m listening

Yes, it’s me

When?

Okay, I’ll be there

They asked me to be at the theater asap

Seems like they decided to bring the play back

Let me walk you to the theater, then

And you’ll tell me about the new chapter

By the way, the next chapter is related to the theater

To be more precise, to Stepan Bogdanovich Likhodeev

Once he came to his senses in his apartment in this building —

ex-owners were compacted

and now there are communal apartments for modern elites

It must be said that this apartment had long had,

if not a bad, at least a strange reputation

Two years ago people began to disappear from this apartment without a trace

Disappear?

So this chapter will be dedicated to

the mysterious Stepan Bogdanovich Likhodeev’s disappearance

from the wicked apartment

A heavy bell was booming in his head,

he was nauseous, and this nausea, as it seemed to him,

was connected with the sounds of some importunate gramophone.

Styopa passed his trembling hand down his hip to determine

whether he had his trousers on or not,

but failed.

Grunya….

Grunya….

Why no one’s home…

Guten Tag, my most sympathetic Stepan Bogdanovichhhhhhh!

I am so sorry for my appearance…

Voilà!

Follow the wise old rule

Cure like with like

Voilà!

Oh….

Sausages?..

Op-la...

I’m sorry

Ew, Stepan!

Dear Stepan Bogdanovich,

I get the feeling that you followed vodka

with some port wine, didn’t you?

- I'm sorry - Tsk tsk tsk

I didn't mean to…

I hope now you remembered who I am

Woland

Professor of black magic

We signed a contract for seven performances yesterday,

and agreed on meeting at 10 a.m.

And, as you can see,

ta-da-da-dam!

I have come

Yes?

Stepan Bogdanovich?

Yeah, it's me

There’s a certain matter...

I have this...

artiste...

Woland sitting here...

asking about tonight

Bonjour!

Grunya..?

I’ll be there in half an hour

Don't worry, Stepan Bogdanovich

The cat is mine

Grunya..?

Ah, yes

Grunya's not here

I sent her away to her hometown

She complained

you diddled her out of a vacation

That’s better

Comrade!

COMRADE!

AY!

Are you blind?!

No...

Watch yourself!

I see you’re somewhat surprised,

my dearest Stepan Bogdanovich?

And yet there’s nothing to be surprised at

This is mon entourage

And this retinue requires room

so there’s just one too many of us in the apartment

And it seems to me

that this one too many is

precisely you!

Yes, that's them!

They've been up to some terrible swinishness lately

Drinking,

using their position to have liaisons with women,

because they don’t know anything

of what they’re supposed to do!

Drive around in an official state car…

I don’t understand how he got to be a manager

He's as much a manager as I am a bishop

Time to vacate the living space

Allow me, Messire,

to chuck him the devil out of Moscow?

I allow :)

Meow

Meow!

Scat! Get away from me, unclean power!

Everything’s fine, calm down!

I’m begging you, tell me, where am I?

Comrade, you’re in Dr Stravisnki’s hospital…

What city is this?

Yalta

Come on, Alexander Nikolaevich…

[patient screaming in the background: I'm healthy! They don't treat!..

50 in a week!..

[unintelligible]

Rubles! Dollars! Rubles!

Professor!

Professor, I’ve never in my life seen that money!

Today I also need to go the Commitee, you know that?

Are our rooms...

I see, you’re not going to take off your hat

Praskovia Fedorovna, let’s double the dose

Symptoms of schizophrenia don’t go away

Do you understand they need to catch him?

He’ll kill someone else!

And who’s this newbie?

A poet!

Stepan Bogdanovich,

how do you like our Yalta?

Why Yalta?

When Lihodeev is gone on a drinking binge,

he says to everyone he went to Yalta

Woland was kinder to him than to Berlioz

Stepan Bogdanovich deserves some mercy

He drinks only not to see everything that’s happening to the theater

Well, here we go…

I’m so sorry

But now you can dedicate all your time to this novel

Maybe, let’s have dinner?

Breakfast

I’ll be back in the morning to read the new chapter

Here,

here

and here

What is this?

Your fee

And he dares to be discontent!

They don’t always pay you

when a play is shut down before the premiere

And you received at least something

For a half a year's work?

One second

Ivan Savelevich…

Tickets to the premiere

No, thank you

Tickets are impossible to get

You can

profitably sell them

Yeah, full Sytinskaya...

You can put it down next to mine so it won't get dirty

Thank you

This way, stand here

I thought why not have dinner in the morning?

Where does all this luxury come from?

Let’s say…

I won a lottery

I never would have thought you could dance

I thought you knew everything about me

After all, you’re a witch

Careful

Our family legend says that my grand-grand-grandmother

was put on trial for relations with the devil

Oh!

I can imagine how you’re flying over Moscow at night

On a broomstick?

Let’s say yes

What if I’m shot down as an enemy flying object

by our valiant Soviet aviation?

Well, to them you’re invisible

So, it means you don’t see me neither?

Well, I see you

And you're...

...naked

What if I make you a character in my novel?

Well, it won’t really be you,

but she will have the name Margarita

Then let her have a paramour

A writer who writes a novel about Pontius Pilate

Is he a good…

writer?

She likes him

That’s the most important thing

She has a husband?

Aha

He’s a prominent specialist

who made a big discovery of national importance

Young, handsome

Kind, honest

Adores her

But she’s never loved him

Button it up

And one more thing

That day they met…

she wanted to kill herself

I need to go

Soon, very soon,

this woman became my secret wife

She was coming to me in the morning,

and leaving me in sunsets

Her first action on arrival was to put on an apron,

and she was cooking breakfast in the cramped hall…

The administrator was agitated and full of energy.

After the insolent phone call he had no doubts

that it was a band of hooligans playing nasty tricks,

and that these tricks were connected with the disappearance of Likhodeev…

…Nobody knew about our liaison,

I can swear to that

Her husband didn't know,

her friends didn't know

When the May storms blew

and the water slashed noisily past the dim little windows,

threatening to flood my last home,

we stoked up the stove

I wrote, and she re-read what had been written

She was reading out in a loud sing-song

random sentences that pleased her

...with the shuffling gait of a cavalryman...

I don't know, something different

She was promising me glory and hurrying me up

That was when she started calling me

master

She was saying that the novel was her life

We loved each other so strongly

that we became utterly inseparable

We were sure that fate had brought us together

on the corner of the Tverskaya and that side-street,

and that we were made for each other for eternity

Pilatism

What is it?

Reviews of Soviet critics on my works

Why do you collect them?

I’m proud of them!

They’ve never written so much about me

The icon-dauber under the guise of a writer

O. Latunsky

That’s my favorite!

With a hot iron we must burn out of the Soviet media

this ugly abscess of the disgusting White Guard,

covered with a fig leaf of literature

Do you know where he lives?

Who?

Latunsky

In the Writers’ Building on Lavrushinsky alleway

Why?

Margarita Nikolaevna!

What are you going to do?

Going to break Latunsky’s windows

With a hammer?

What if he lives on a high floor?

You can't take offense at critics and executioners

He isn’t malicious, he is just doing his job

What are we supposed to do then?

Write a funny scene about him?

That’s actually a great idea

You have your methods, I have mine

Margarita Nikolaevna!

I hope he’s at home

Good afternoon!

Meet each other

This is Aloisy, a playwright

A screenwriter

Margarita is…

A mistress

A muse

I wonder what novels you can write with such a muse…

Did he try to preach anything in the soldiers’ presence?

The only thing he said was that among human vices

he considered cowardice one of the first

He has to be buried in a secret place

This land is full of superstitions

They expect a messiah every other day here

You’re no doubt right

And so, the second question

It concerns Judas of Kiriath

He is responsible for Yeshua’s detention

I have received information that

this Judas is going to be stabbed tonight

Tonight?

Tonight.

Therefore I ask you to occupy yourself with this matter

that is, to take all measures to protect Judas of Kiriath

Understood.

But tonight…

I’m pretty sure he’ll be stabbed tonight

I’m counting on you

The third squatted down by the murdered man and looked at his face.

A few seconds later there was not a living man on the road.

The lifeless body lay with outstretched arms.

It’s not just about Ancient Judea…

It’s all about now.

That’s how they talk.

They understand each other with a half-word.

Well,

it’s obviously clear who is the head of the secret service

And is Pilate..?

Well…

People disappear every day from our studio

No one asks anything,

they are too scared

Maybe he got sick?..

Just like in your wicked apartment

In your place I wouldn’t read this out to anyone else

You never know what might happen

Even to you?

Listen,

do you wanna read my new script?

Of course, it’s the director’s idea

but I managed to come up with something really interesting

It’s a musical comedy about a collective farm

Hollywood style

Are you listening?

Oh yeah, so what’s that about?

A young tractor driver falls in love with a milkmaid

She sings in the local singing and

dancing group

But suddenly an audit committee

arrives at the village…

…everyone is dekulakizated

and they all dance merrily at the end

Huh?

I hear you.

Not everyone can afford being so relentless

You don’t have to pay alimony

I’m sorry!

Maybe you want to go to the theater this Sunday?

Instead of my ‘Pilate’

they perform a musical ‘Forward to the future!’

For inspiration and all that

Next time

I have a deadline

Forward!

To the future

I should note that I’ve never seen

such confidence in the future

anywhere else as in this country

You can think less about the present

if you live in the future

Thank you so much for the invitation

It’s the perfect place to observe

as you now call it,

population

You are greeted by a simple machine tool worker

I’m joining the Party,

I’m the son of our Soviet country!

The old world is destroyed!

But the new one we only have yet to build

Ah, I want so much to see this new world right now!

Which year should we travel to

to see with our own eyes how our great country lives?

I’m setting 30th December 2022

Let’s go!

100 years since the foundation

of our great and indestructible Soviet Union!

Dear girls,

where are we now?

In the Soviet Union of People's Republics!

How many republics does it have now?

All of them!

All republics of the world!

Then tell us how you live here,

in the future!

We better sing about it!

♪ You can go around everywhere ♪

♪ But you won’t find a country ♪

♪ Where people are just as equal ♪

♪ to each other as here ♪

I’ll be right back

♪ …In our magical country ♪

♪ We have enough of everything… ♪

♪ We have everything equally ♪

♪ We have everything... ♪

♪ Both what to wear and what to eat ♪

Good evening! Good evening, comrades!

What’s kickin’, chicken?

I’m sorry, who are you?

Please, read it out loud!

It’s from the Leader himself!

What?!

Here!

D-dear guests,

we have slight changes in our schedule

Now before you will perform a famous

foreign artiste monsieur Wolánd…

Wóland, Wóland, Wóland!

…with a séance of black magic.

But there’s no such thing in the world,

and Maestro Woland is simply a perfect master

of the technique of conjuring,

as we shall see from the most interesting part

that is, the exposure of this technique.

Let’s bring on Maestro Woland to start

the séance of black magic

Bravo, bravo, bravo!!

Tell me, my gentle Fagott

what do you think,

the Moscow population has changed significantly, hasn’t it?

That it has, Messire!

The city folk have changed greatly...

externally, that is,

as has the city itself, incidentally

Trams, automobiles have appeared

But I believe the question

of much greater importance is

if the city folk have changed inwardly

Yes!

Yes, that is the most important question, sir

However, we’re talking away, my dear Fagott,

and the audience is beginning to get bored

Show us some simple little thing to start with

Some simple little thing!

Yes, Messire, bravo, bravo!

So...

I see nothing

I hear nothing

Fly, little ball, fly,

bring people joy!

So...

Fly!

YES, HA-HA!

Money, money, money!

More, more!

Grab it!

Money, money, money!

Don’t be shy!

There’s enough for everyone!

Take it!

Please, stop! What are you doing?

Yesyesyesyesyesyes

Stop it!

Comrades!

You and I have just beheld

a case of so-called mass hypnosis

proving in the best way possible

that black magic isn't real....

Comrades!

Go away!

Citizens!

The notes are real

Absolutely!

This one

has annoyed me

I’m sorry?

Keeps poking his nose

where nobody’s asked him,

spoils the séance with false observations!

Citizens

what’re we going to do with him?

Imprison him!

Fire him from the theater forever!

Tear his head off!

Tear his head off!

Tear off tear off tear off

Don't worry

Step right here, on your favorite spot

Here, here

Stand here

It’s not...not funny…

Are you ready?

Always ready

Aaaaand

ein

zwei

aaaaaaaand

drei

I caught it, I caught this little head!

Azazello!

Will he lie in the future or won’t?

For God’s sake, don’t torture him!

Forgive him!

What are your orders, Messire?

Well,

they’re people like any other people

They love money,

but that has always been so...

Mercy sometimes knocks at their hearts

In general, reminiscent of the former ones

Only the housing problem has corrupted them, yeah…

​​Take my apartment,

take my paintings,

only give me back my head!

Mmm...

Put the head back on

It’s outrageous!

All righty, now that we’ve kicked that nuisance out

and you have pockets full of money,

let’s open...

a ladies’

shop!

Eleganza, magnifique…

Incroyable

Bonjour, Moscow!

Our humble boutique is offering perfectly gratis

an exchange of the ladies’ Soviet old dresses and shoes

for Parisian models of the last season

Guerlain,

Chanel No. 5,

Mitsouko,

Narcisse Noir

Evening gowns,

cocktail dresses…

Who? Don’t be shy!

Come on in our boutique!

Come on!

Me!..

It’s not worth it.

Don’t be shy!

Bravo, bravo, bravo!

Oh, we’ll turn you into a diamond!

Welcome to the stage!

Aaaand close it!

Alley-oop!

Abracadabra!

Voilà!

Please, come in

Well, please, come in

Abracadabra, voilà!

Line up!

Let me go!

What do you need?

My wife has the flu,

can I also go there?..

As you please, come in!

Alley-oop!

Alley-oop!

Alley-oop!

Alley-oop!

Alley-oop!

Wait wait!

Alley-oop!

Voilà!

Attention, monsieur and madame,

due to the late hour the shop is closing

Yes, yes, yes, it’s sad, I understand,

you didn’t have enough time but what can we do

But!

There’s some good news:

all the goods in the showcases

are yours!

Let me go, despot and philistine!

♪ We have evertyhing equally ♪

♪ We have everything, ♪

♪ Both what to wear and what to eat ♪

Yeah, but it’ll be harder for them

to get rid of money than from God

♪ We have everything equally ♪

♪ We have everything ♪

♪ Both what to wear and what to eat ♪

[Master hums along]

Wonderful!

Is that her?

Your Margarita?

She is mine from 12 a.m. to 5 p.m.

5 days a week

How can you not sing

♪ Satan is leading the ball here! ♪

How did you like ‘Forward to the future?’

They’ve done a great job

Why do you go to things like that?

To inspire myself

And this

is this for inspiration too?

But I wrote a new chapter!

Do you wanna listen to it?

Black magic!..

Let’s do it somewhere else

You need a change of

scenery

I had a dream tonight

I dreamt of a strange unfamiliar place

Half-bared trees,

and in between them there is some kind of a log cabin

And here swings open the door of this log cabin,

and you are coming out of there,

wearing ragged clothes,

with messy hair,

eyes looking ill

You’re beckoning me with your hand,

and I’m running to you across these swamp hummocks

And then I woke up

It’s just a dream

Margarita Nikolaevna, is this you?

And here I’m walking and thinking,

is this your hat or not yours

But you said...

Natasha, it’s not me

It’s some other woman that looks exactly like me

Do you understand?

It’s Natasha

Our house maid

I wish we could fly somewhere

To the sea?

To the place where there’s no one but us

Everytime I come to your place,

I’m scared

I don’t want to come here someday

and not find you

I’ve decided

I love you more than life

and I don't wanna lie anymore

I’d stay with you right now,

but I’d rather not do it that way

I'll explain myself to him

I won’t allow you to do it

Things won’t go well for me,

and I don’t want you

to perish with me

Is that the only reason?

The only one

The last thing I remember from my life is

a strip of light from my front hall,

and in that strip of light an uncurled strand of hair,

and her eyes filled with determination

‘Tomorrow morning I’ll be with you’.

We’ll fly away from here

I’ll meet you at the airport

Those were her last words in my life

I love you

What happened next??

That’s it for now

I’m emptied out

What?! No, wait!

But it’s perfect!

You just have to finish it

Maybe you could suggest what Woland would do next?

Are you asking me?

Yes

Well, I don’t know…

I think he’d throw a party that night

and bring all the sweet unclean forces together in one place

I like this idea

I know where we’ll go tonight!

To the great event

at Likhodeev’s!

No, no, please!

Yes! Yes!

For inspiration!

Not tonight…

I need to get some sleep

before tomorrow's departure

A novel requires some sacrifices

A great novel — great ones

No

Yes. Let’s go

Bonjour

Good evening!

Password?

Yalta

Stepan Bogdanovich,

meet your guests!

Your Gella is really a vampire

Dear Emma, do you like black caviar?

Very much

Then please, help yourself!

Wow

What a surprise

Why so shy, my dear fellow?

Come on in!

Take off your jackets!

Dear Gala, please take care of our guests

Comrades!

A toast!

At Styopa Likhodeev's ball,

the usual laws do not work

Hoorah, comrades!

Oh, this is Berlioz’s room!

He isn’t here?

Well, he hasn’t been with us for a long time…

I'll open

You’re talking about Hector Berlioz, aren’t you?

A French composer

who was buried in Montmartre cemetery in Paris

I don’t know any other Berlioz

Oh, Osaf, dear!

Stepan Bogdanovich!

Hello, dear!

More narcoms have gathered here

than in the Kremlin

Do you recognize this one,

behind me in the corner?

The narcom of State Security

Yes, he is

And you were worried it’d be boring

Look, comrades, who is here!

Oh, glad to see you!

Let’s go

One minute

You understand, right,

that I was just doing my job?

Nothing personal

I understand. Everything. Perfectly

A toast!

Come here

Let's drink to...

For people who are trying to destroy the bourgeoisie

they became too alike to it

What do you think?

Maybe that’s how they see communism

And one more thing!

We have a little surprise for you!

Here, right on this stage before you

will perform a new star of theater and cinema,

Lyubov…

You thought Orlova?

No, comrades

Lyubov Bengalskaya!

Let’s welcome her!

Oh, baron Meigel!

Sorry, comrade

Comrade Meigel has a very interesting story

he indeed was a baron

and rumors have it he was offered a choice:

he either spends 3 years in Solovki correctional camp

or…

Guten Abend

[embarassed Woland sounds]

There you are!

Is it our writer?

Who asked for permission to go abroad?

What does his letter say?..

He is responsible for recruiting

secret agents in the cultural community

What a character!

This is the ball of the dead

who just don’t know yet they will die soon

Gentlemen!

A toast!

Let’s drink to communism

that was built

in this particular apartment!

Bravo!

Hoorah, comrades!

The fire roared in the stove,

rain lashed at the windows.

Then the final thing happened.

Thank you, thank you for the great night!

Now I know how to finish the novel

Then write it down until you forget

That’s a good idea!

And I'll help you with packing

Tell me,

will you take little Pilate with you?

It’s not certain it’s Pilate

No one knows for sure what he looked like

This is definitely the procurator of Ancient Judea Pontius Pilate

How do you know?

How do I know?

I saw him myself.

Just like I’m seeing you now

I’m sorry!

Your novel got stuck in my head so firmly

I decided to be Woland for a bit

Are you expecting visitors?

They might be interested in your manuscripts

Comrades, hurry up!

The departure is in two minutes!

You decided to get rid of physical evidence

for anti-soviet propaganda?

It was useless

We’ve known for a long time

what was written in that manuscript of yours

You didn’t have to burn it down

We know about the tram

that cut off the chairman of the Union of Writers’ head,

and about vilification of the highest echelon

of Soviet power…

Who told you all these things?

Don’t interrupt me

Who?

Let’s say,

your mistress

What was her name?

Margarita?

That’s not true

What is truth?

The only single truth is the contents of this folder

He’s been seeming unreliable to all of us

since day one

One look at him and you can clearly see:

he’s not one of us

I had no idea it was Jesus!

Who do you think he was?

He told me it was Yeshua

I’m just an actor,

I play what I am told!

Who else is in your counterrevolutionary group?

Was it the manager of the theater Likhodeev

who talked you into writing this harmful play?

You recently visited his place?

He has nothing to do with this

I was invited by professor Woland

Stop misleading the investigation

We checked out everything,

you were alone at Likhodeev’s,

and no Woland exists in real life

Believe me, he does exist

I will simulate such madness now

that Kolyma will seem like heaven to you!

Your novel has been read

Yes

And they said only one thing:

‘Unfortunately, it’s not finished.’

I hate

this novel

I’ve suffered too much because of it

Nothing is of interest to me

Except for her

Margarita?

Yes

She told you herself that this novel was her life

And she’s right

There, the master and Margarita can be together forever

But yeah, it all depends on you

To achieve this, you need to finish the novel

Unfortunately, I’m not able to do this

You saw that I burnt it down in the stove

Manuscripts do not burn.

Who are you?

Who are you?

I’m a part of that power which still

Produceth good, whilst ever scheming ill

That’s how it goes in Wolfgang Goethe’s?

You’ve got into a very dangerous situation

Section 58

Treason and espionage

Among leaders of our country

there are people who watch

your creative work very closely

Up there…

They like to be stroked the wrong way

Key word: stroked

Understand?

You understand

We’ll restore your membership

in the Union of the Writers

You’ll get paid,

then you’ll get a summer house,

a state official car with a personal driver

You will have everything

Your sacrifice is

senseless

And yours isn’t

What?

You will be sacrificed

On the ball

What ball?

Satan’s ball

You will be the main entertainment for guests

And Queen of the Ball herself

will drink your blood

out of Berlioz’s skull

What kind of nonsense is this?

What the hell are you talking about?

Woland is already waiting

for you

You’ve gone crazy indeed

[COMPULSORY TREATMENT]

Dear fellow,

did you suffer hallucinations before?

What about those unclean forces

you wrote about in your novel?

Do you think they really exist?

Where are proofs then?

She told you herself that this novel was her life.

And she’s right.

There, the master and Margarita can be together forever.

But yeah, it all depends on you.

To achieve this, you need to finish the novel.

We’ll help you

We’ll start with 30mg of morphine

You will sleep so well tonight

You’ll feel better

Can I ask for…

What, sweetie?

A pencil and some paper

It’s not allowed

Diagnosis: dissociative personality disorder,

paranoid schizophrenia.

We prescribe a course of electroconvulsive therapy.

Let’s start with 100 Volts

Chapter 1.

Never talk with strangers

At the hour of the hot spring sunset in Moscow

two citizens appeared at the Patriarch’s Ponds.

140

It’s for your story,

so you won’t lose sheets of paper

…The poet had rushed to the turnstile

as soon as he heard the first scream... Chapter 19.

You’ll feel better.

Hide it!

That’s enough for today

The master and Margarita

She doesn’t know where I am.

And she will never know.

But you could have let her know.

Before her there would lie a letter from a madhouse.

How can one send letters from such an address..

a mental patient?

You’re joking, my friend!

I’ll see you on the parade, dear

No.

Make her unhappy?

No, I’m not capable of that.

Left, left!

1, 2, 3

Left, left!

1, 2, 3

Aloizy??

What happened to him?

I don’t understand what you’re talking about

Is he alive?

How would I know?

You told someone about the novel?

You’ve gone mad, go away

Hey, leave!

Tell me, where is he?

Praskovia Fyodorovna,

I finished it

I have one request for you:

if someday a woman comes here

and asks about me,

give this manuscript to her.

Her name is…

Margarita

And you’re the master?

I read it

Lie down

Tomorrow we’re gonna go to the procedures when you wake up…

I’ve come to you only to say farewell

Unfortunately I cannot be your neighbor any longer

I’ll keep my word,

I won’t write any more poems

I’m interested in something else now

I want to write something else

You know, while I've been here,

a lot became clear to me

Ah, but that’s good

that’s good

Do you hear?

The noise of the storm…

No

I’m being called

It’s time for me to go

Full moon, just like back then

When the full moon comes,

he is tormented by insomnia

He says one and the same thing

That even the moon gives him no peace,

and that he has a bad job

He says it every time he can't sleep

And when he sleeps,

he dreams one and the same thing:

there is a path of moonlight,

and he wants to walk down it

and talk with the prisoner Ha-Nozri,

because, as he insists,

he never finished

what he was saying that time, long ago

Now you can finish your novel with one phrase

You’re free.

I’m telling you,

your novel will bring you some surprises

You’ll see

It’s very sad.

No, it’s not sad.

It’s not sad at all.

I don't know how this hospital would do without you,

Praskovia Fyodorovna

Maybe you should become a head?

Get promoted!

Professor Stravinski!

Yes?

How did you get in here?

I’m listening to you.

You have a patient in custody

He’s a writer

I’m sorry

I forbade the disclosure of information about our patients

How did you get in here?

I really need to see him

Please!

I’m sorry, I can’t help you

I’m asking you to leave the hospital immediately

Escort her out, please

I know he’s here!

Get your hands off me!

You ruined him, didn’t you?

Insults are

the usual reward for a good job

Praskovia Fyodorvna…

I’ll be back quickly…

Wait!

I’ll escort her out, go back to work

You’re Margarita, right?

How do you know me?

I recognized you at once

I was asked to give you something

Who asked?

The master

I have to see him

Margarita Nikolaevna,

Vyacheslav Sergeevich called to say that his train will depart only tomorrow

You’re dismissed for today

Thank you, Natasha

At the hour of the hot spring sunset in Moscow

two citizens appeared at the Patriarch’s Ponds…

The thing was that the editor had commissioned

from the poet a long anti-religious poem

for the next issue of his magazine…

She was facing the Manege.

Margarita squinted in the bright sunlight

remembered how, exactly a year ago to the day and the hour,

she had sat next to him on this same bench.

A funeral procession appeared ahead.

“It would be interesting to know

who they’re burying with such surprised faces.”

Berlioz Mikhail Alexandrovich

Chairman of Massolit

So it means that those are writers following the coffin?

Well, naturally they are!

Tell me, is the critic Latunsky among them?

And I can see that you hate this Latunsky,

huh, Margarita Nikolaevna?

I’ve been sent to invite you

for a visit this evening

to a very distinguished foreigner

Not a single soul will know of this visit

And you’d better use the opportunity…

You’re hinting that I may find out about him there?

Take it

It’ll come in useful

Margarita Nikolaevna sat in front of the pier-glass,

with just a bathrobe thrown over her naked body.

On a page torn from a notebook,

she penciled a note quickly and in big letters,

without any corrections:

Forgive me and forget me as soon as possible.

I am leaving you forever.

Do not look for me, it is useless.

I have become a witch

from the grief and calamities that have struck me.

It’s time for me to go. Farewell.

Tonight, at exactly half past nine,

be so good as to take off all your clothes

and rub your face and your whole body with this ointment.

With the tip of her finger

Margarita put a small dab of the cream on her palm,

the smell of swamp grass and forest grew stronger.

The cream spread easily and,

as it seemed to Margarita, evaporated at once.

Having rubbed several times, Margarita glanced into the mirror.

Margarita Nikolaevna, is everything alright?

How?..

Allow me to introduce myself to you:

Koroviev.

You are surprised there’s no light?

Economy, so you think?

Unh-unh!

Messire simply doesn’t like electric light

Please, come on in!

No, most of all I’m struck that there’s room for all this

The most uncomplicated thing of all!

For someone well acquainted with the fifth dimension,

it costs nothing to expand space to the desired proportions.

The tradition has been established

that the hostess of the ball must without fail be named Margarita, first,

and second, she must be a native of the place

I hope you won’t refuse to take this responsibility upon yourself?

I won’t refuse.

Follow me

Messire apologizes for receiving you in his bedroom with no ceremonies.

Check

Come on in, please!

Don’t be shy!

Oooohh!

It doesn’t look well, dear Behemoth!

The situation is tough but not hopeless at all!

Please, enter the bedroom

Greetings,

my fair queen

Come on in, please

I beg you to excuse my homely attire

Greetings, Messire

Blood

Blood always has an impact

Margarita was nervous.

Her head was spinning

and she couldn’t see the surroundings clearly.

She could only discern that the room where they were preparing her for the ball

was either made of onyx or smoky stone.

It will be hard

You must be kind to them all

If you don't like anybody

you mustn't even think about it!

They'll notice it instantly

No one forgives inattention

Please, put your foot here

Your beautiful foot…

Yes, just like that!

Where are the guests?

Ten seconds to midnight

It will begin in a moment

Queen,

allow me to give the signal

Ja ja, do it!

The ball!

Monsieur Jacques and his wife!

I recommend him to you, your majesty,

a most interesting man!

He was famous for having poisoned the king's mistress in 1458

Your majesty…

You're welcome

Enchanté!

Her majesty is charmed!

Her majesty is charmed!

Signora Toffana!

She was extremely popular among the young and attractive ladies of Naple,

especially among those who were tired of their husbands.

Women do get bored with their husbands!

Well, yeah…

…Well, Signora Toffana sold them some liquid in a bladder.

A woman poured the liquid into her husband's soup

and then the lady was as free as air!

Her majesty is delighted!

Her majesty is charmed!

Enchanté!

Her majesty is charmed!

We are charmed!

This is someone new!

Fresh meat…

He wanted to get rid of a man who was threatening to denounce him.

So he made his secretary spray the other man's office walls with poison

We are delighted, Black Queen!

We are delighted! We are charmed!

Enchanté! Enchanté!

On and on poured the stream from below.

Its source — the huge fireplace — showed no sign of drying up.

An hour passed, then another.

Margarita showed no interest in the procession of dukes,

poisoners, gallows-birds, procuresses, jailers, card-sharpers,

hangmen, informers, traitors and seducers.

Her head swam with their names,

their faces merged into a great blur.

Margarita's legs were buckling

and she was afraid that she might burst into tears at any moment.

And this is Frieda.

When she worked in a cafe

the owner enticed her into the storeroom

and nine months later she gave birth to a boy,

carried him into the woods,

stuffed a handkerchief into his mouth

and then buried him.

I am so happy to be invited to the great ball of the full moon.

By the way!

Take it!

Your handkerchief!

Yes!

Please, come on in!

Frieda

Frieda!

My name is Frieda!

Lady, please, come on in, there’s champagne!

Escorted by Koroviev, Margarita returned to the ballroom,

but now the dance had stopped

and the guests were crowded between the pillars.

At the last chime of the invisible clock

silence fell on the crowd of guests.

Then Margarita saw Woland.

It all came true, Mikhail Alexandrovich!

The meeting didn't take place, didn't it?

Your head was cut off by a woman.

That is a fact.

And a fact is the most obdurate thing in the world!

You have always been a fervent proponent of the theory that

when a man's head is cut off his life stops,

and he ceases to exist.

What a stupid theory!

But one theory

deserves another.

My theory is that a man will receive his deserts

in accordance with his beliefs.

You shall depart into the void,

and I will drink to life

from a cup you will become now.

Cup!

Here he is!

I’m coming!

Where are you leading me?

Let me introduce to you,

the most sympathetic baron Meigel!

Everybody’s been waiting for you! Come on in!

Come here!

Please, come in!

By the way!

Herr Baron,

rumors have been going round that

you have an unquenchable curiosity.

What is more, tongues have let slip the words

spy and rat.

This may bring you to an unhappy end in less than a month from now.

So in order to save you

from the agonizing suspense of waiting,

we have decided to come to your help.

Ladies and gentlemen!

To your health!

Drink.

Drink! It’s wine.

Don't be afraid, my queen

The blood has long since drained away into the earth

and grapes have grown on the spot…

Please, Queen

Take a seat

Well,

was it very exhausting?

Oh no, Messire

The night of the full moon

is a night of celebration,

and I dine in the company

of my close friends and my servants

and my guests

Drink it up!

Pure alcohol…

Perhaps you want something?

No

Nothing, Messire

However, if you still need me

I am ready to do anything you wish

Bravo!

That's how you do it!

You passed the test

Remember:

you should never ask anyone for anything

Nothing, no one

Especially from those who are more powerful than yourself

They will come

and they will make the offer

So, Margot

For having been my queen tonight,

what do you want?

Don't be shy!

Speak without constraint

because I made the offer

Tell me

your wish

So, it means

I may ask for one thing…

You may demand it

I want them to stop giving Frieda back the handkerchief

she used to stifle her baby

You seem to be a good person

No, Messire

I tell you frankly that I only asked you about Frieda

because I was rash enough to give her a firm hope

All right, that didn't count

Margot,

what do you want for yourself,

you proud woman?

I want you to give me back my lover

the master

And I want everything to be as it was before

I’m asking you to bring us back to the basement on Arbat

You can't just make everything as it was before

But we’ll try

It’s you

Have no doubts,

it’s me

You’ve indeed become like a witch

I am a witch

And I’m very happy about it

Ain’t misbehaving,

ain’t bothering anybody,

just repairing my primus

And I also consider it my duty to warn you

that the cat is an ancient and inviolable animal

Well, you inviolable,

ventriloquous cat…

Come right in

Shoot him!

It’s all over,

step back from me for a second,

let me say farewell to the earth…

Bring the net!

Hey, gas will explode!

[Gas to every Soviet house!]

Such an interesting city, is it not?

I like Rome better, Messire

The darkness that came from the Mediterranean Sea

covered the city hated by the procurator…

Are all duties paid?

Yes

It’s time to go

Listen to the stillness,

listen and enjoy

what you were not given in life

peace and quiet

I’m a part of that power which still

Produceth good, whilst ever scheming ill

Translation and subtitles: tristezaeternal