Dr. Zhivago
1
What are they like, these girls?
They’re very good.
A bit wild.
Spend their money quickly, work hard.
Are they literate?
Some of them.
In and out of reformatories, jobs like this it’s degrading.
You shouldn’t use human beings to move earth.
No.
And it’s not efficient.
If they gave me two more excavators, I’d be a year ahead of the
plan.
You’re an impatient generation.
Weren’t you?
Yes, we were.
Very.
Don’t be too impatient.
We’ve come very far very fast.
Yes, I know that.
Yes, but do you know what it cost?
There were children in those days who lived off human flesh.
What is your interest in this girl, comrade General?
She may be my brother’s child.
Yuri Andreyevich?
Yes.
My half brother, I should say.
If she is, she’s also Lara’s child.
The Lara?
The Lara, yes.
This is a...
New edition of the Lara poems.
Yes, I know.
We admire your brother very much.
Yes.
Everybody seems to...
Now.
Well, we couldn’t admire him when we weren’t allowed to read
him.
No.
Come in.
I sent for you, comrade.
You’re not in any trouble.
I am General Yevgraf Andreyevich Zhivago.
I’m looking for someone.
Do you understand?
The person I’m looking for would be my niece.
Please sit down.
Your name is...
Tonya Komarova, comrade General.
They found you in Mongolia, didn’t they?
Yes, comrade General.
What were you doing there?
I was lost, comrade General.
How did you come to be lost?
I’ve forgotten.
Was Komarovsky your father’s name?
I suppose so, comrade General.
You suppose so?
It’s a common name.
Do you remember your father?
No.
Do you remember your mother?
Yes, I remember my mother.
What was her name?
Mummy.
What was she like?
I mean... What did she look like?
Big.
Big?
I was little.
She looked... big.
Can you read?
Yes.
"Lara. A cycle of poems by Y.A. Zhivago." Not me. My half brother.
The person I’m looking for... would be this man’s daughter.
This would be her mother.
Lara.
Did anybody ever call your mother Lara?
I don’t know.
I don’t think so.
She’s nice.
I’m not your niece, comrade General.
I’m nobody’s idea of an uncle, but if he were my father, I should
want to know.
Did your mother ever say your father was a poet?
My father wasn’t a poet.
What was your father?
Not a poet.
Did you like your father?
I’ve forgotten.
But you liked your mother.
Yes, of course.
Does the name Strelnikov mean anything to you?
Strelnikov?
Varykino?
That’s a place, not a person.
Gromeko?
Gromeko?
Yes.
You see... He lost his mother at about the same age you were when
your mother lost you. And in the same part of the world.
2
"Now is life’s artful triumph
"of vanities destroyed,
"for the spirit has vanished
"from its tabernacle.
"Its clay groweth back.
"The vessel is shattered,
"voiceless, emotionless, dead.
Committing which unto the grave..."
Yuri?
You and your husband will dine with us, Madame Gromeko.
Thank you, father.
Will you lie down then, Yuri?
Your mummy and I were great, great friends, you know.
Now we are going to look after you.
Thank you.
That’s mother’s.
It’s yours now.
Yes, Yuri.
Mummy left it to you.
In her will.
Do you know what a will is?
Money.
No, Yuri, just this.
Your daddy has all.
Can you play it?
I thought everybody here could play the balalaika.
You don’t live here, do you?
We live in Moscow.
That’s a long way from here.
You’ll like Moscow, won’t he?
It takes time to get used to things.
Mother could play it.
Well, your mother was an artist, Yuri.
She could make this common little instrument sound like two guitars.
Your mother had a gift.
Perhaps Yuri’s got a gift.
Would you like lessons?
I can’t play it.
Well...
Say good night to Yuri, Tonya.
He’s your brother now.
Good night, Yuri.
Good night, old chap.
Good night.
3
The Gromekos didn’t know what to make of him.
He made his reputation as a poet while he was studying medicine.
He said poetry was no more a vocation than good health.
What he needed was a job.
Pretty?
Very.
Yeah.
It’s their right to be pretty.
What will you do next year, Zhivago?
I thought of doing general practice.
Think about pure research.
It’s exciting, can be beautiful.
General practice.
Life. He wants to see life.
Well, you’ll find that pretty creatures do ugly things to people.
What’s your name?
Antipova.
Address?
15 Petrovka.
I’ll have these.
We have permission from the chief of police.
Claim them at the station.
When?
Now, if you like.
Very well.
Pasha!
He’s my brother.
Well, take him home, miss, before he gets into trouble.
Pasha, please.
It’s got to be done.
Pasha, why has it got to be done?
For them.
For the revolution.
Pasha, they don’t want a revolution.
Yes, they do.
They don’t know it yet.
Give me some, comrade.
Pasha...
Are you a Bolshevik?
No.
The Bolsheviks don’t like me, and I don’t like them.
They don’t know right from wrong.
Pasha Antipova, you’re an awful prig.
Why did you tell him I was your brother?
What else could I have told him?
You could’ve told him I was your fiancé.
Don’t be silly.
I’m...
Monsieur Komarovsky has come to see my mother on business.
Ah.
People gossip around here.
It’s the system, Lara.
People will be different after the revolution.
Will you come?
No, Pasha.
I’ve got exams to take, Pasha.
I’ve got to get my scholarship.
Hello, auntie.
There’s a letter for you.
Oh.
From Paris.
Oh.
Lovely writing.
Lovely.
She’s coming home next month.
Tonya?
Oh, that’s good.
He does seem to be very well informed.
And Sasha a handsome figure of a...
Good evening, maman, Madame.
Larissa.
You can work in there, dear.
Monsieur Komarvosky’s here.
Mm-hmm.
Good evening, Larissa.
Good evening, Monsieur.
He advises some very important people.
Yes, I know.
I believe he has government connections.
I don’t know, I’m sure.
Isn’t he very expensive?
Monsieur Komarovsky advises me Out of kindness, baroness.
He was a friend of my late husband’s.
Oh, I see.
Allow me.
4
Tuesday, if I can, my dear.
Goodbye.
Where did you get this?
A friend gave it to me.
You’re not to go to this peaceful demonstration.
No, Monsieur.
It may not be as peaceful as they think.
That’s all.
Tell your friend she’s a silly creature.
Yes, Monsieur.
How old are you now?
17, Monsieur.
Hmm.
103.
Oh, dear.
And I was so looking forward to it.
Never mind.
I’ll be all right.
You will take Lara, won’t you, Victor Yppolitovich?
So stupid of me.
It’s her first long gown.
I think we’d better call it right off.
Yes.
I’ll stay with you.
Nonsense.
I’ll be perfectly all right.
I’ve got a book.
It’s so disappointing for her.
There’s so little opportunity To mix with good society.
Very well.
Get your coat.
We’re late if we’re going.
I want to avoid Kropotkin street.
Brotherhood and freedom.
Yuri, what splendid words.
Justice, equality, and bread.
Don’t you think they’re splendid?
Yes, I do.
Brotherhood and freedom.
Brotherhood and fiddlesticks!
You’re frozen through.
You’ve no right, Annushka.
It isn’t fair.
Ah, we’d given you up, Monsieur.
My niece.
Coat, Lara.
Charmante.
Come, my dear.
How’s the foie de veau gascogne?
As always, Monsieur.
All right.
Not too much Not too much mustard.
Jambon farci on croute.
Oui, mademoiselle.
Eh, wine, Monsieur?
A little light wine, yes.
Oui, Monsieur.
Mademoiselle.
This place must be dreadfully expensive, Monsieur Komarovsky.
It is.
Why not Victor Yppolitovich?
I can’t.
Mother made this dress.
Very nice.
She’s clever, isn’t she?
Your mother?
Yes.
Fine little woman.
No doubt they’ll sing in tune after the revolution.
5
Prepare.
Mount!
Draw sabers.
Aah!
Mama!
What what?
What?
Good night, dear.
Good night...
Victor Yppolitovich.
Go inside your houses, please.
All these people will be taken care of.
Go inside, please.
All these people will be taken care of.
Go inside, please.
Get inside.
Yuri, please.
No trouble.
Inside, sir, or you’re under arrest.
Tonya’s coming home tomorrow.
6
Yuri!
Tonya!
Yuri.
Well!
Daddy!
Oh!
There now.
That’s enough.
Your mother, your mother.
Mummy!
Mummy, how are you?
Me?
Fit as a fiddle.
Turn round.
Well, they’ve taught her something.
Oh, ho!
Look at that!
Isn’t Yuri looking well, Tonya?
Yes, well, let’s get along, dear.
Yes, run along, you two.
Oh, I bought you this.
It has a piece about young Russian poets.
Oh, good.
Thank you.
Does it mention me?
It begins with you.
You’re the best.
Very intelligent nation, the French.
They have their heads together.
Yes.
They’re looking at the paper.
They’re head over heels.
Annushka, stop it!
Good marriages are made in heaven Or some Sasha place.
Victor Yppolitovich?
Pasha.
I want to talk to you.
No, Pasha.
It’s important.
All right.
Oh!
Pasha!
How did you do it?
I didn’t.
A dragoon did.
Oh, Pasha, darling.
Come, come.
Where’s your mother?
Asleep.
Oh, Pasha.
Pasha, I can’t deal with this.
Have you got iodine?
Yes, but Get it.
Aah!
Oh!
Oh, Pasha, darling.
Pasha, you must go to a hospital.
I-I daren’t for a day or two.
Will you do something for me?
Oh, yes, what?
Hide this.
Oh, throw it away!
No.
There’ll be no more peaceful demonstrations.
There were women and children, Lara, and they rode them down.
Starving women asking for bread.
And up on Tamaskaya Avenue, the pigs were eating, drinking, and
dancing.
Hide it for me.
Thanks, comrade.
Pasha, darling, I’m not your comrade.
Lara?
Yes?
Who’s there?
It’s only Pasha.
Oh.
You came in very late last night, dear.
The time went so quickly.
Good.
Are you going to church?
Yes.
Ah...
You know what our lord said to the woman taken an adultery?
Yes, father.
"Go and sin no more." And did she?
I don’t know, father.
Nobody does, child.
Flesh is not weak.
It is strong.
Only the sacrament of marriage will contain it.
Remember that.
Uh, Monsieur!
It’s number six this evening, sir.
A most important person here.
Sorry I’m late.
I’ve been waiting nearly an hour, Victor.
Have you ordered?
No.
Well...
You should have done.
You chose it, Victor.
You’ve grown up a lot, haven’t you?
Yes.
What did you tell mama tonight?
Victor, don’t.
Aw...
May I smoke?
Yes, of course.
You like it, don’t you Cigar smoke?
Come along, my dear.
Sãnté.
Sãnté.
Drink, drink, drink.
Up, up.
Up!
Up, up, up!
Where did you tell her we were going your mama?
She didn’t ask.
That’s because she knows.
She doesn’t.
You’d both swear she doesn’t, and you both know she does.
Victor, don’t.
What?
Torment me!
Torment?
What a little hypocrite it is.
I’m going now, Victor.
Well, if you like, dear.
You see, you’ll always come back.
Stay, darling.
Stay.
7
Wake up!
Take this and show it to somebody If you lose your way.
Professor Boris Kurt find him!
Go on!
Professor Boris Kurt!
But, Boris, this is genius.
Really?
I thought it was Rachmaninoff.
I’m going for a smoke.
And how’s the general practitioner?
A bit scared of his finals.
He needn’t be.
How do you like the idea of marrying a general practitioner?
I like it very much, but no general practitioner has asked me.
I thought you nomads are hot blooded.
A slow lot, these general practitioners.
Do you fancy a professor of pathology?
Does he write poetry?
Alas, no.
Then it’s out of the question.
Excuse me.
That’s a marvelous girl, Zhivago.
Yes, I’ve noticed.
It’s for you.
Thank you.
Hmm.
Would the poet like to see a bit of general practice?
Boris, thank god you’ve come.
This is good of you.
I know it is.
My assistant.
How do you do?
This way.
When did she do it?
About 8:oo this evening.
Do you know what it was?
Why didn’t you get a local doctor?
I couldn’t.
No, I suppose not.
Come on, then.
Turn her over.
All right.
Water.
Now, Yuri.
Come on, dear, come on.
Now, Yuri.
Come on, dear.
Come on, Yuri!
Sorry.
Well, my dear, that’s it.
Ahh...
That’s it!
Good!
Good!
Good!
Is she going to live?
Water.
She is, isn’t she?
Yes.
Funny thing...
There’s a man, speaks on public platforms, in with the government,
in with the liberals, in with everybody, and he risks it all...
For that!
That’s not how poets see them, is it?
That’s how GPs see them.
That’s how they are.
You know, from here she looks beautiful.
Zhivago, I think you’re a hard case.
Lara.
Lara!
There’s a child in the case.
A child, her daughter.
Oh, for heaven’s sake, Boris.
She might have thought about Lara before doing it.
Does the girl know?
I’m afraid she does.
Is she here?
Yes.
Tell her that her mother’s going to live.
Wait a minute, Victor.
Yurian.
What are we going to say about this?
Must we say anything?
I’m afraid so.
I’m taking her to hospital.
It needn’t be difficult, Boris.
What is the name of your assistant?
Zhivago.
Andreyevich?
Yes.
Why?
Do you know him?
No.
I knew his father slightly.
Right.
Cheer up, Yuri.
I’ll have the poor bitch in hospital tonight.
What’s his name?
That’s Victor Komarovsky.
He says he knows you.
He executed my father’s will.
Uncle Alex turned it down.
By Komarovsky’s account, there wasn’t much in it, and what there
was Belonged to Komarovsky.
He’s a good businessman.
I doubt if he’s crooked.
Very good company.
Knows life.
He’s had a bad scare tonight.
8
You don’t mind coming here, do you, Victor Yppolitovich?
No, no.
It reminds me of my youth.
I went to the hospital again.
And?
She wants you to forgive her for her suspicions.
Tell her the truth if you like, Larissa.
Is this him?
Yes.
He knows nothing about No!
Pasha, this is Monsieur Komarovsky.
Please.
Will you eat?
No, thank you.
I hope you don’t think this is impertinent.
Not at all.
I have advised Larissa’s mother for many years.
I’m interested in what happens to her.
I’ve something to tell you, and that is this I’m committed to the
revolution.
Nothing not even Lara has more importance for me.
You misunderstand.
Your political views do not concern me.
I’m probably more in sympathy than you suppose.
I have contacts of my own which might surprise you.
How will you live?
I’ve been offered a teaching post in Gradov.
It’s in the Urals.
Not much of a place.
It’s beautiful country, Monsieur Komarovsky.
It’ll be a quiet life.
That’s what we want.
Will, uh, you’ll excuse me...
Will your salary be adequate?
Adequate.
Not more.
Pavel Pavlovich, my chief impression is... and I mean no offense, is
you’re very young.
Monsier Komarovsky, I hope I don’t offend you.
Do people improve with age?
They grow a little more tolerant.
Because they have more to tolerate in themselves.
What do older people bring to their marriage?
A little experience.
I’m 26.
My mother died needlessly when I was 8.
My father died in prison.
I’ve fended for myself.
I’ve worked my way through university.
I’m familiar with things you couldn’t guess at.
All this is experience of a kind, certainly.
I’ve no amorous experience if that’s what you mean.
Lara’s 17.
That speaks for itself.
You probably find this situation comic.
We don’t.
We’re going to be married next year.
I hope I haven’t offended you B y speaking plainly.
Not at all.
Admirable.
A young crusader.
Oh, he’s not He’s a very fine young man.
That’s obvious.
You’re very generous, Monsieur Komarovsky.
Larissa, I want to talk to you.
Monsieur Komarovsky, if you I beg you, drop this affectation of
addressing me as Monsieur Komarovsky.
Under the circumstances, I find it rather ridiculous.
Lara...
I will save you from a dreadful error.
There are two kinds of men.
That young man is a kind.
He is high-minded and pure, a man the world pretends to look up to
And, in fact, despises.
He’s the kind of man who breeds unhappiness, particularly in
women.
Do you understand?
No.
I think you do.
There’s another kind Not high minded, not pure, but alive.
That your tastes should incline towards the juvenile is
understandable, but for you to marry that boy Would be a disaster,
because there’s two kinds of women...
And you, as we well know, are not the first kind.
You, my dear...
Are a slut.
I am not!
We’ll see.
And don’t delude yourself this was rape.
That would flatter us both.
The master is not at home, miss Lara.
Not at home?
He went to the Sventytskis’ Christmas party.
Are you going there, miss?
Please don’t say I told you!
No!
Thank you, Piotr!
Merry Christmas, Miss Lara!
Thank you, and merry Christmas to you.
Merry Christmas, Yuri Andreyevich.
Lara...
What’s the matter?
We had an appointment this evening.
Where are you going?
Haven’t you read the letter I left?
I’ve not been home.
Ere are you going?
I’ve a right to know.
Lara, what’s in this letter?
What’s in this letter?
Lara, are you breaking it?
It’s all in the letter.
What is?
Everything.
Don’t!
Yuri, there’s an extraordinary girl At this party.
I know.
I’m dancing with her.
You’re keen tonight, Victor.
I like to win.
Silence!
Silence, everybody!
Silence, please.
I have a very delightful announcement to make.
Oh, Madame Sventytski.
Yes, why not?
Aha.
I have to announce that Dr. Yuri Zhivago Yes, Dr. Zhivago.
He came third in all Moscow.
Now, listen, please.
Please.
Dr. Zhivago is betrothed in marriage to... Aah!
Victor.
My dear man.
Get her out.
What?
Get her out.
Get her out!
Yes!
I’ll get the police.
No!
I don’t want the police.
Leave me!
Just get her out!
Let her go.
Please.
My friends, please give way, yes?
Please.
Would you mind?
Would you mind?
Thank you.
Thank you.
9
Our destinies seem to be interwoven, don’t they?
Yes.
I was a close friend of your father.
I knew you were his business partner.
Rather more than that.
I was present at his death.
Also, I’m in contact with your brother.
Yevgraf?
I’m in contact with those in contact with him.
Oh, I disagree with bolshevism.
Thank you.
You seem to know your trade.
But I can still admire Bolsheviks as men.
Shall I tell you why?
Yes.
They may win.
I’d like to meet him Yevgraf.
He sent me a marvelous letter.
He likes my poetry.
That would have pleased your father.
Your father wasn’t a bad man, Yuri.
If I may call you Yuri.
I hardly knew him.
You perhaps may not credit this, but he was devoted to your mother.
Well...
I suppose I may continue to rely on your professional discretion?
Oh.
You mean, will I tell anyone the truth about...
That girl?
That’s what I mean, yes.
You may continue to rely on my professional...
Et cetera.
You are fastidious, aren’t you?
What happens to a girl like that when a man like you has finished
with her?
Interested?
I give her to you.
You shouldn’t smoke.
You’ve had a shock.
I give her to you, Yuri Andreyevich.
Wedding present.
Yuri?
Hmm?
Where have you seen that girl before?
What makes you think that?
Haven’t you?
Yes.
Where?
I’m not supposed to say.
In a case.
Don’t tell me if you’re not supposed to say.
In bourgeois terms, the war was between the allies and Germany.
In Bolshevik terms, it was between allied and German upper classes,
and which of them won was a matter of indifference.
The party ordered me to enlist.
I gave my name as Petrov.
They were shouting for victory all over Europe, praying for victory to
the same god.
My task, the party’s task, was to organize defeat.
From defeat would spring the revolution, and the revolution would be
victory for us.
The party looked to the conscript peasants, most of them wearing
their first good boots.
When the boots wore out, they’d be ready to listen.
When the time came, I took three battalions with me from the front
line.
Best day’s work I ever did.
But for the moment, nothing could be done.
There were too many volunteers like me.
Mostly it was mere hysteria.
There were men with better motives, who saw the times were critical
and wanted a man’s part.
Good men, wasted.
Unhappy men, too.
Unhappy in their jobs, unhappy with their wives, doubting
themselves.
Happy men don’t volunteer.
They wait their turn and thank god if their age or work delays it.
The ones who returned at the price of an arm, eye, or leg were the
lucky ones.
Even comrade Lenin underestimated both the anguish of that 900mile-long front and our cursed capacity for suffering.
By the second winter of the war, the boots had worn out...
But the line still held.
Their greatcoats fell to pieces on their backs.
Their rations were irregular.
Half of them went into action without arms, led by men they didn’t
trust.
Come on, you bastards!
And those they did trust...
Come on, comrades!
Come on!
Come on!
Come on!
Come on!
Come on!
Come on!
Comrades!
Earthshakers!
Show them!
Charge!
At last, they did what all the armies dreamed of doing. They began to
go home.
That was the beginning of the revolution.
Deserters.
Replacements.
Tote arms!
Come back!
Stick together!
Stick together, and we’ll be all right...
And be ready for them.
Turn round, lads.
Come on, lads, turn around.
Pigs to the slaughter.
Turn round, lads!
Don’t listen to them!
Get back in your ranks!
Get back in your ranks!
Don’t pay attention to those cowards!
Listen, lads...
10 miles up that road are the Germans.
Rubbish!
Not rubbish!
They’re coming, and they’re coming fast.
You’ve let them in.
They’re coming for your wives, your houses, your country.
Your country, officer!
Yes, my country...
And proud...
Get back in your ranks!
Get back in your ranks, I say!
Get back!
Get back in ranks!
Yay!
Yay!
10
Are you a nurse?
Yes.
Are you all right?
Yes.
Then help me.
I’m not a trained nurse.
I’m a volunteer.
I see.
Right.
Why did you volunteer?
I came to find my husband.
Very gently.
Have you seen an operation?
Yes.
We’ll manage.
They’re in the next village, brothers. The Germans.
Your honor...
Keep still.
Did you find your husband?
No.
Your honor...
Yes, we’d better be off.
You look at me as though you knew me.
I have seen you.
Four years ago, Christmas eve.
Were you there?
No wonder you look at me.
Did you know Victor Komarovsky?
Yes, I did.
That young man who took you away...
My husband.
Lot of courage.
He made us look feeble.
I thought you both did.
Good man to shoot at.
I’d give anything never to have met him.
The Czar’s in prison.
Lenin’s in Moscow.
Civil war has started!
Good!
Civil war good?
Not good, comrade nurse.
Inevitable.
But Lenin...
In Moscow!
This...
Lenin.
Will he be the new Czar, then?
Listen, daddy.
No more Czars.
No more masters.
Only workers in a workers’ state.
How about that?
Are you a doctor?
Yes.
Follow me, please.
Whoa.
I can’t deal with this.
Order of the provisional government.
You’ll have to try, friend.
"If you saw how hard we’ve been working, "you would forgive me
For not writing regularly." When was that written?
July 20th.
Eight weeks.
"The war seems to have stopped.
"The hospital is emptying, "and I’ll have more time.
"I may even get time to write verse if I’ve not forgotten how."
Oh, I do hope so.
"Larissa Antipova is still here, "and I admire her more and more.
"She seems to have that gift of healing "which doctors don’t believe
in.
"She often does the wrong things, "but it always seems to work out
right.
"How is uncle Alex?
Can he get his English tobacco?" Would that he could!
"Can Sasha say his letters?
And how is auntie Anna?" He didn’t get my letter.
"Most of all, dearest, how are you?" Strangely upsetting he doesn’t
know she’s dead.
Can’t see what difference it makes.
They’re at it again!
I wish they’d decide once and for all Which gang of hooligans
Constitutes the government of this country!
Cheer up, sergei.
Don’t you want to go home?
There’s fighting at home, your honor, and I’ve had enough.
Red guards and white guards...
The old man’s had enough.
Your honor is a kind gentleman.
And the nurse is a kind lady.
Finished?
Just about.
Soon you’ll be with your little girl.
If I can get on a train.
I want to be with Katya more than anything.
Yes, of course.
But now that we’re going, I feel sad.
Sad.
Really sad.
Well, we’ve been here some time.
Yes.
This must have been a lovely house once.
Don’t you think?
What are you going to do?
In Gradov?
Yes.
I’ll be all right.
I wish I could think so.
You could run a laundry.
What will you do?
I suppose I’ll go back to the hospital.
It’s funny to think of you there.
I used to pass it on my way to school.
Do you ever come to Moscow?
From Gradov?
If only there were someone to look after you.
Of course, if there were, I’d be destroyed by jealousy.
Zhivago, don’t.
My dear...
Don’t, please.
Now look what you’ve made me do.
Yuri...
We’ve been together six months, on the road and here, and we’ve
not done anything you’ll have to lie about to Tonya.
I don’t want you to have to lie about me.
You understand that, Yuri?
You understand everything.
Come on, comrades.
I’m in a hurry.
Going home, Kuril?
Home, your Excellency?
Petrograd.
I’m joining the red guard.
What about your wife?
Sometimes, comrade nurse, women have to wait.
Right.
Goodbye, honored doctor.
Want some advice?
Said the millstone to the barley.
That’s right.
Adapt yourself.
Goodbye, Ivanov.
Goodbye, your honor.
Goodbye, Andre.
Goodbye, Singyon.
I’ll never forget your honor.
Never.
Goodbye, Zhivago.
Goodbye.
Thank you.
Pilenko.
Goodbye, brothers.
The doctor’s a gentleman.
Right.
Written all over him.
He’s a good man.
God rot good men.
11
Yuri!
Yuri...
This is comrade Yelkin, our local delegate.
He lives here.
How do you do?
Welcome.
Comrade Kaprugina.
Welcome.
It’s not for you to welcome us, comrade.
Comrade Kaprugina is the chairman of the residents’ committee.
Yes, of course.
Your discharge papers.
Oh, yes.
I signed them myself, I’m afraid.
"holy cross..." What?
Holy Cross Hospital.
It’s now the second reformed hospital.
Uh... Good. It needed reforming.
Medicals report to their place of work at once.
Yes, I believe there’s typhus.
You’ve been listening to rumormongers, comrade.
There’s no typhus in our city.
Well, that’s good news.
I’ll report tomorrow.
When you’ve started work, you’ll get a ration book.
I’ve always worked.
Whatever’s the matter?
You are.
There was living space for 13 families in this one house.
Yes.
Yes, this is a better arrangement, comrades.
More just.
But it is more just.
Why does it sound so funny?
Is it good to be home?
Ohh...
Sasha?
Who else?
This is your daddy, Sasha.
Sasha.
Sasha!
Naughty boy.
No.
Don’t say that.
May I come in?
Watch carefully.
I’m about to ignite the last half of the last cigar in Moscow.
Good meal?
Very.
Say something.
That was very good, Tonya.
Oh, that was nothing.
She’s saved that salami for months.
I got it for a clock.
She’s a marvel.
Coffee, you observe.
Stop it, daddy.
He knows I’m a marvel.
Did you write any poetry?
Quite a lot.
Is it good?
Yes.
I think so.
Can I see it?
Well, of course.
What happened to nurse Antipova?
Your letters were full of her.
Yes, I suppose they were.
That’s the girl who shot friend Komarovsky, isn’t it?
Yes.
You know it is.
She’s gone home to her little girl.
We shan’t see her, then?
No.
What a pity.
Farewell, the pleasures of the flesh.
What I don’t understand Is how we’re going to stay alive this
winter.
You have no right whatever to call me from work.
As a soviet deputy that gives you the power, not the right.
It’s noticed, you know.
Your attitude is noticed.
You should have called the area doctor.
I want this done quietly.
Why?
What is it?
Typhus?
I’ll take him away.
Get me some transport.
It isn’t typhus.
It’s another disease we don’t have in Moscow, starvation.
That gives you satisfaction?
It would give me satisfaction to hear you admit it.
Why?
Because it is so.
Your attitude is noticed, you know?
Oh, yes.
It’s been noticed.
Yuri!
Hello.
The stove’s out.
Tonya?
The stove’s out!
What’s the matter with you?
No wonder he’s losing weight.
She lets it out as soon as you’ve gone, and she lights it before you
come home.
We haven’t enough fuel.
I told myself it was beneath my dignity to arrest a man for pilfering
firewood.
But nothing ordered by the party is beneath the dignity of any man,
and the party was right.
One man desperate for fuel is pathetic.
Five million people desperate for fuel will destroy a city.
That was the first time I ever saw my brother.
But I knew him, and I knew that I would disobey the party.
Perhaps it was our blood ties, but I doubt it.
We were only half tied, and brothers betray brothers.
As a policeman I would say, "get hold of a man’s brother, and you’
re halfway home." Nor was it admiration for a better man.
I did admire him, but I didn’t think him a better man.
Besides, I’ve executed better men than me with a small pistol.
Now you have to live like the rest of us, doctor.
Bring it back.
Bring that back.
Oh, listen to his excellency!
I want no anarchy!
I want this carried out correctly!
What are you doing?
Reallocation of living space, comrade doctor.
50 square meters for families under five persons.
Whose house is this, anyway?
Father, be quiet!
All right.
50 square meters.
What about my things?
They’re being stored.
They’re being stolen.
Yuri!
Just a minute!
Where did you get this?
I pulled it out of a fence.
I told them who I was.
The old man was hostile, the girl cautious.
My brother...
Seemed very pleased.
I think the girl was the only one who guessed at their position.
You’re just as I imagined.
You’re my political conscience.
I asked him, hadn’t he one of his own?
He talked about the revolution.
You lay life on a table and cut out all the tumors of injustice.
I told him he should join the party.
Cutting out the tumors of injustice that’s a deep operation.
Someone must keep life alive by living.
Isn’t that right?
I thought it was wrong.
He told me his thoughts about the party, and I trembled for him.
He approved of us, but for reasons which were subtle, like his verse.
Approval like his could vanish overnight.
I told him so.
I can’t approve tonight something you may do tomorrow.
He had a noose around his neck and didn’t know, so I told him what
I’d heard about his poems.
Not liked?
Not liked by whom?
Why not liked?
So I told him that.
Do you think it’s personal, petit bourgeois, and self-indulgent?
I lied, but he believed me, and it struck me through to see that my
opinion mattered.
The girl knew what it meant.
They couldn’t survive what was coming in the city.
I urged them to leave and live obscurely in the country where they
could keep themselves alive.
We had an estate At Varykino near Yuriatin.
People know us there.
He didn’t resist.
I offered to obtain permits, passes, warrants, told them what to take
and what to leave behind.
I had the impertinence to ask for a volume of his poems, and so we
parted.
I think I even told him that we would meet again in better times, but
perhaps I didn’t.
12
Don’t push!
50 persons!
50 persons only!
Tonya!
50 persons!
Tonya!
Yes!
Tonya, here!
50 persons only!
50 persons only!
50 persons!
50 persons!
Only 50 persons!
Charming accommodation.
Charming accommodation.
That’s very good.
I’m an intellectual.
Shut up, you intellectual.
Shut up, you lickspittle.
Tchoo!
Forced labor.
Attention, comrades.
Your train will leave tomorrow morning.
Health regulations for the journey night soil will be emptied every
morning, straw to be replaced at 10-day intervals, the old straw
burned.
In the event of fresh straw being unavailable, old straw to be turned.
This is disinfectant.
Use it.
This wagon holds a detachment of voluntary labor.
Liar.
You’re required by the military committee to show them all
assistance.
One carriage is occupied by sailors of the heroic Kronstadt sailors’
soviet, so you’ll be in good hands.
They’re idiots.
Attention, comrades.
In approximately 11 days’ time, you’ll pass through the Urals
province, where white guard units, aided by foreign interventionists
and other criminal reactionary elements, have recently been active.
The military committee assures you that the criminals have been
completely routed there By red guard units under the command of
people’s commander Strelnikov.
There’s a man.
Clap him.
The line is definitely clear.
Long live the revolution.
Long live anarchy!
Lickspittle!
Bureaucrat!
13
Is that necessary?
Six volunteers I signed for, and six I’ll deliver.
I’m a free man, lickspittle.
There’s nothing you can do about it.
I’m the only free man on this train.
The rest of you are cattle!
Ha ha ha.
Ha ha ha.
Ha ha ha.
Help me, brothers, for the love of god!
Come on!
Aah!
Yuri, the child is dead.
It wasn’t my child, dear, and his little soul’s in heaven now.
That’s certain.
Who did it, comrade, the whites?
The whites?
No.
Strelnikov.
Well, then, you must have done something.
It wasn’t us, comrade.
The commander said we sold horses to the whites.
It was those pigs in Kuniko.
He didn’t believe us.
I expect you were lying.
As god’s my witness.
But he isn’t.
Commander Strelnikov is a great man...
A commander, Sasha, and he lives on bread and water.
Does he?
I don’t know.
They say so.
It’s true.
Nobody knows where he comes from, and they never know where he
is.
He’s back up the line.
Yes?
Oh, someone’s for it, eh?
Oh, really, not again.
What this time?
Never mind, father.
Get a good night’s sleep.
I know what I’m going to do.
14
Look.
The Urals.
Look, Sasha.
Look.
That’s where we’re going, darling Through the mountains And into
the forest.
Then it’ll be much warmer still.
Will there be wolves in the forest?
Strelnikov!
Strelnikov!
Yes...
That’s Strelnikov.
Daddy.
What’s that noise?
It’s only a waterfall.
No, the other noise.
Guns, Sasha.
Are they fighting?
They must be.
It’s a long way away.
Let’s go to sleep.
Get him!
Aah!
Look...
Is that all?
That’s all.
Bring him.
Who sent you here, Zhivago?
No one, commander.
I’m going to Yuriatin with my wife and child.
They’re on the train from Moscow.
Yes.
We’ve checked that.
Then?
You put your knife with a fork and spoon, it looks quite innocuous.
Perhaps that’s why you travel with a family.
No.
Yuriatin’s occupied by white guards.
Is that why you’re going there?
No.
We’re going on to Varykino.
Not through Yuriatin.
It’s under shellfire.
Commander, I’m not a white agent.
No, I don’t think you are.
All right, Kolya.
Thank you, comrades.
Sit down, doctor.
Take it.
It’s not as silly as it seems.
There have been one or two attempts.
Are you the poet?
Yes.
I used to admire your poetry.
Thank you.
I shouldn’t admire it now.
I should find it absurdly personal.
Don’t you agree?
Feelings, insights, affections.
It’s suddenly trivial now.
You don’t agree.
You’re wrong.
The personal life is dead in Russia.
History has killed it.
I can see how you might hate me.
I hate everything you say, but not enough to kill you for it.
You have a brother.
Yevgraf.
Yevgraf, yes.
The policeman.
I didn’t know that.
Perhaps not.
A secret policeman.
Did he send you here?
Yevgraf?
No.
Yevgraf’s a Bolshevik!
I don’t know anything about...
These things.
You know a great deal.
When you came in, you recognized me.
How?
Has someone shown you photographs?
No.
I am certain that you recognized me.
I’ve seen you before, commander.
When?
Six years ago.
Go on.
Christmas eve.
You were there, or has someone told you this?
I attended to the man who was injured by your wife.
Why do you call her my wife?
I met her again.
We served together in the Ukrainian front.
If she’s here, I’m sure she’ll vouch for me.
I haven’t seen her since the war.
She’s in Yuriatin.
Yuriatin?
The private life is dead for a man with any manhood.
We saw samples of your manhood a place called Mink.
They’d been selling horses to the whites.
You burned the wrong village.
What does it matter?
A village betrays us.
It’s burned.
The point’s made.
Your point, their village.
Kolya!
And what will you do with your wife and child in Varykino?
Just live.
Take him away.
He’s innocent.
You’re lucky.
All aboard!
We’ve been diverted.
Do you know where we’re going?
Yes.
Varykino halt.
15
Hello!
Hello!
How lovely!
Oh, how lovely!
Hello.
Hello.
Alexander Maximiovich?
Yes.
It’s me, Petya.
Your honor.
Now, now, now.
That’s all done with, you know.
How do we get to the house, Petya?
As you always did, your honor.
Look, Sasha.
What is it, Petya?
Forest fire?
Forest fire, your honor?
That’s Yuriatin.
Poor souls.
First the reds, then the whites.
Now the reds again.
That Strelnikov...
His heart must be dead.
Get up!
We’ll soon be there now, Sasha.
Another five miles.
Is it that far?
One forgets!
How is the place?
Oh, well enough, your honor.
It’s all locked up, you know.
Varykino!
All locked up, you see?
A body, styling itself The Yuriatin committee of revolutionary justice,
has expropriated my house in the name of the people.
Very well!
I’m one of the people, too!
Don’t!
They’d call it counterrevolution!
Out of my way!
Father, don’t!
Petya brought us here.
That makes him a counterrevolutionary, too.
They shoot counterrevolutionaries!
It’s not the reds in the town, it’s the reds in the forest.
Partisans.
Here?
They go and do what they want.
All we need is a roof.
And a bit of garden.
Is there nowhere?
They didn’t lock the cottage.
Oh, yes.
We can manage here.
Uh, the stove works.
I’ll find you a few sticks of furniture.
And some seed potatoes?
I’m afraid the garden is dreadfully run back.
Yes.
Thank you.
Well done, my boy!
I must say, scratch a Russian, you’ll find a peasant.
I’ve always said so.
Well, you’re wrong.
He works like one, but he isn’t one.
I don’t mind, Tonya.
Really.
It’s a good life.
I wouldn’t be surprised If you two didn’t look back on this time As
one of your best.
Awfully glad About the expected new arrival, Yuri.
Anna was born here, you know.
No.
I didn’t.
Well, I’m terribly glad.
Aha!
Here’s winged mercury.
Looks a bit down in the mouth.
Petya.
What news from Yuriatin?
Uh, no lard, no sugar, oil next week, perhaps.
Uh, flour, salt, coffee, and nails.
Bad news?
Uh...
Oh, lord!
Not another purge!
No.
Strelnikov’s gone.
Oh, that’s not bad news.
No.
He’s in Manchuria, they say.
That’s the news.
They’ve shot the Czar.
And all his family.
Oh, that’s a savage deed.
What’s it for?
It’s to show there’s no going back.
Yuri?
Why don’t you go to Yuriatin?
Yes, why don’t you, my boy?
It will do you good.
Why?
What’s in Yuriatin?
It isn’t Petersburg.
A very decent little library, if it’s still there.
I wish you would.
No.
I don’t think so.
Anyway, the roads are blocked.
16
Zhivago?
Yes.
How are you?
What are you doing here?
We’re at Varykino.
Varykino?
Why Varykino?
Why not?
We had to go somewhere.
But...
Here!
I came to find my husband, the one who was reported killed.
Strelnikov.
I met him.
Met him?
Yes.
How long have you been living here?
About a year.
Alone?
With Katya.
Where’s Katya now?
At school.
Is Tonya with you?
Yes.
Sasha?
Of course.
What are we going to do?
I don’t know.
Yuri?
It’s awfully early, isn’t it?
Half past 6:00.
What are you doing?
Nothing.
I couldn’t sleep.
Is anything the matter?
No.
Shall I get some tea?
Yes, do.
Hello.
You are silly.
We called and called.
I didn’t hear.
Well, we did.
Hello, Lara.
Hello.
How’s Olya Petrovna?
She gets worse and worse.
She gave us C.I. and arithmetic all morning.
C.I.?
Civic Instruction.
Look.
That’s very good, Katya.
Thank you.
It’s the Czar.
Oh.
The Czar was an enemy of the people.
He didn’t know he was an enemy of the people.
Well, he should have known.
Yes, he should.
Fancy not knowing C.I.
Doesn’t your little boy go to school?
Lunch!
Good.
Come on, you!
17
Smell.
What?
Oh!
Oh, this one’s a prizefighter.
Yuri.
Wait a minute.
There.
I’m going into Yuriatin, darling.
What?
Now?
Yes, I want to get some morphine, disinfectant.
I don’t need morphine.
You never know.
I shan’t need it today.
But it’s pretty close.
I hadn’t realized it.
You’ll be back before it’s dark?
Long before.
Yes, my darling.
Do what’s best.
I am not coming back.
I understand.
But never, Lara.
Do you understand?
Do you believe me?
Comrade doctor, I need a medical officer.
I have a wife and child.
And a mistress in Yuriatin.
Comrade medical officer, we are red partisans, and we shoot
deserters.
Where are you taking me?
To the front.
And where is the front?
Good question, doctor.
The front is wherever there are enemies of the revolution, wherever
there are white guards or foreign interventionists.
Wherever there is one resentful bourgeois, one unreliable
schoolmaster, one dubious poet hugging his private life.
That, too, is the front.
How long are you going to keep me?
As long as we need you.
Now!
Charge!
Well, that was easy.
Come, doctor.
Let’s see what we’ve done.
"St. Michael’s military school." You old bastard!
It doesn’t matter.
Did you ever love a woman, Razin?
I once had a wife and four children.
He’s been a good comrade.
A good medical officer.
We took him from his family.
None of this matters.
What does matter, comrade commissar?
Tell me.
I’ve forgotten.
This is contemptible.
The doctor stays.
I command this unit!
We command jointly.
The party bulletin expressly states I could have you taken out and
shot.
Could you have the party taken out and shot?
Try to understand.
As the military struggle abates, the political struggle intensifies.
In Victory, the military will have served its purpose.
Men will then be judged politically, regardless of their military record.
Meanwhile, there are still white units in this area.
The doctor stays.
That concludes the meeting.
Comrade, where are you going?
Are you running away, comrade?
Soldiers.
Red soldiers or white soldiers?
Soldiers.
18
Tonya?
Tonya!
Sasha!
Tonya!
Tonya!
Tonya!
Hey!
Tonya!
Tonya!
This is Yuriatin?
Yes.
Yuriatin.
What’s happened at Varykino?
The Moscow folks?
Yes.
They’ve gone away.
There’s nobody at Varykino.
"Lord, what happiness!
"They say you’re alive.
"Someone saw you near town.
"You’ve probably gone to Varykino.
"I’m going there myself with Katya, "but just in case, I’ve left a
little food.
"Cover it, or the rats will get it.
I’m mad with joy!"
Tonya.
Tonya!
Yuri.
Tonya!
Yuri.
Yuri, darling.
It’s all right, Yuri.
They’re safe.
They’re in Moscow.
In Moscow?
Yes.
Tonya?
All of them.
They’re safe.
Safe...
Firing squad.
Shh.
Better.
What?
I’ve got a letter for you.
I’ve had it three months.
And it was three months getting here.
It’s from Moscow.
I think it’s from Tonya.
It’s addressed to you, care of me.
She came into Yuriatin to find you when you vanished.
Someone sent her here.
You met?
She’s very fine.
"My dearest dear, "I’m sending this to Larissa Antipova’s "because
if you are alive, which god grant, "I think that is where you will go.
"We have a little daughter, Yuri.
"Did you know?
"Her name’s Anna.
"Father sends greetings.
"Sasha has grown quite a lot.
"He’s quite big now.
"Whenever we speak of you, "he weeps and won’t be comforted.
"This is what I have to tell you.
"We are being deported from Russia.
"We can’t make out "if you will be allowed to join us.
"One organization in Paris will know where we are, "but nothing is
certain, and there is little time.
"I’m writing this in haste.
"They’re coming for us now.
"God bless you.
"I must honestly admit that Antipova is a good person."
Yuri, when they got away to Moscow, she left something here.
19
Yuri...
May I come in?
Yuri Andreyevich, you’ve changed, I think.
Oh, yes.
Decidedly.
Larissa...
Remarkably the same.
I came from Moscow.
I’m on my way to Vladivostok.
I’m here to offer you my help.
We don’t want it.
Speak for yourself.
We don’t want it.
Yuri Andreyevich, you spent two years with the partisans.
You have no discharge, so you’re a deserter.
Your family in Paris is involved in an emigre organization.
Now all these are technicalities, but your style of life, everything you
say and think, your published writings, are all flagrantly subversive.
Your days are numbered...
Unless I help you.
Do you want my help?
No.
Wait, Yuri.
Larissa, three glasses.
No.
Yuri, you must see how serious this is.
Please don’t underestimate me, practically or morally.
I’m not the man you take me for.
How do you know all this?
How can you help?
I do, and I can.
Isn’t that sufficient?
No.
Sante, Larissa.
Our eastern seaboard is an undeveloped area.
The commissariat of foreign affairs Wants to establish an Antipova
state there.
With the outside world.
I have good contacts in the Far East.
I’ve been appointed the minister of justice.
The Bolsheviks trust you?
They trust no one.
They found me useful.
Here’s how I can help you.
You...
You come with me to the pacific coast.
From there you can go where you like.
To Paris... or not.
I think you’d better go.
Your rarefied selfishness is intolerable.
Larissa’s in danger, too.
By association with me?
No.
Not by association with you.
You’re a small fry.
By association with Strelnikov.
I’ve never met Strelnikov.
You’re married to Strelnikov.
I was married to Pasha Antipova.
I understand, I understand.
But they don’t.
You’re being watched.
Do you know why?
A husband is a sticky commodity, my dear.
Go away.
More of your high-minded lunacy?
You have a child to think of.
Look here.
Here.
That’s sugar for the child.
I don’t want it.
You’d refuse my sugar?
Who are you to refuse me anything?
Now you go.
I came…
Go!
Go!
I came to you in good faith.
You stay here, then, and get your dessert!
Your desserts, do you hear me?
You think you’re immaculate.
You’re not immaculate!
I know you!
Do you hear me?
We’re all made of the same clay, you know.
Clay!
Clay!
Lara.
Hmm?
He’s rubbish, Lara.
Yes, rubbish.
I wish he’d never happened.
Does it matter?
Doesn’t it?
Not to me.
Ohh, what shall we do?
Can we get on a train?
They’ll arrest us on the spot.
I don’t want to stay here and wait.
No.
Listen.
We could go to Varykino.
They’d find out sooner or later.
Yes, but later.
If our days are really numbered, Yuri Yes.
We’d better live them...
Before we’re parted.
Yes.
20
Yo-ho!
Yo-ho!
Ho, ho, ho, I love the snow. One, two, three.
Anna taught me to write at this desk.
This isn’t me, Yuri.
Yes, it is.
No.
It’s you.
"Lara." Yuri.
Yuri, there’s a wolf howling.
Oh, yes, I’ve I’ve seen them.
They’re frightened.
They won’t harm us.
Yes.
I know.
I’m sorry.
It’s Oh, lord, this is an awful time to be alive.
No.
It is.
It is.
No.
No.
Wouldn’t it have been lovely if we’d met before?
Before we did.
Yes.
We’d have gotten married, had a house and children.
If we’d had children, Yuri, would you have liked a boy or a girl?
I think we may go mad if we think about all that.
I shall always think about it.
Will you write today?
No, not today.
21
Whoa!
Katya!
Come to me, darling.
Victor!
We thought it was quite.
Would you mind, comrades?
There’s a government train standing in Yuriatin.
It has a carriage for myself and assistants.
You would travel in comfort and safety.
I’m not going with you.
I’m not going without you.
There’s an end to it.
Then I’ll have to speak to Yuri Andreyevich in private.
Strelnikov is dead.
What?
Spare me your expressions of regret.
He was a murderous neurotic and no loss to anyone.
Do you see how this affects Larissa?
You don’t.
You're a fool.
She’s Strelnikov’s wife.
Why do you think they haven't arrested her?
Why do you think they watched her at Yuriatin?
They were waiting for Strelnikov.
If they thought Strelnikov would run to his wife, they didn't know
him.
They knew him well enough.
They caught him five miles from here.
He didn’t conceal his identity.
He insisted they call him Pavel Antipova, which is his right name, and
refused to answer to the name of Strelnikov.
Before they could execute him, he blew his own brains out.
Oh, my god.
Don’t tell Lara this.
I know Lara as well as you.
But don’t you see?
She’s served her purpose.
These men that came as an escort will come for her and the child
tomorrow as a firing squad.
I know what you think of me and why.
If you don’t come with me, she won’t come.
So are you coming with me?
Do you accept the protection of this ignoble Caliban On any terms
that Caliban cares to make?
Or is your delicacy so exorbitant that you’d sacrifice a woman and
child to it?
There are some bags to carry, comrades.
Get In.
Come.
How many?
All of us.
Sorry.
Not enough room.
There’s got to be room.
It’s OK I have to bring our sledge.
Well, hurry.
This train can’t wait.
You start.
I’ll catch up.
Right, comrades.
We’ll see you.
Hurry!
That’s it, my dear.
Your young man’s not coming.
You fool.
Did you really think he would come with you?
The man’s an idiot.
From Mongolia he could have gone to china.
From china he’ll never leave Russia.
You’ve come with me, haven’t you?
Yes.
It was your duty as a mother.
That’s right, Victor.
I’m carrying Yuri’s child.
22
I was born out there in the far east somewhere.
I think Mongolia.
I don’t remember.
You were born in Mongolia that very year.
So were a lot of other children.
Not called Tonya, bearing the name Komarov.
Komarov’s a common name.
With fair hair, blue eyes, lost at age 8 during the civil war In the far
east.
Tonya, how did you come to be lost?
I can’t remember.
You must remember something.
No.
Shall I tell you how I met your mother?
If she was my mother.
I picked my brother up on a Moscow street.
He had a fourth-class ration book, and he was undernourished.
He didn’t seem to mind that.
I thought he was a happier man than me.
He suffered me to buy him a suit and to get him work at his old
hospital.
I saw him off to work.
This was eight years after he and Lara parted.
So he never saw her again?
Thank you.
You’ve been very kind.
He must have known how ill he was.
The walls of his heart were like paper.
But he kept it to himself.
He kept a lot to himself.
Please.
I was astonished at the extent of his reputation.
His work was unobtainable at the time.
It was disapproved of by the party.
But if people love poetry, they love poets.
Nobody loves poetry like a Russian.
Excuse me, comrade.
Are you Yevgraf?
My name is Lara.
I knew her name from the Lara poems which I’d found among my
brother’s manuscripts.
I knew your brother.
I need your help.
She’d come to Moscow to look for her child.
I helped her as far as I could.
But I knew it was hopeless.
I think I was a little in love with her.
One day she went away and didn’t come back.
She died or vanished somewhere in one of the labor camps, a
nameless number on a list that was afterwards mislaid.
That was quite common In those days.
Tonya, how did you come to be lost?
We were running on a street.
We?
My father.
Not your father.
Komarovsky.
I don’t know.
The street was under fire.
There were explosions, and the houses were falling down, and he He
let go of my hand.
He let go of my hand...
And I was lost.
Would a father have do that?
Oh, yes.
People will do anything.
It was Komarovsky.
This man...
Was your father.
Why won’t you believe it?
Don’t you want to believe it?
Not if it isn’t true.
That’s inherited.
Comrade General, when I was a child, I wanted parents.
You can imagine how I wanted parents.
I wanted to die when I was a child, you know?
Now I don’t know.
I can’t be of any use to them now, can I?
I was hoping I might be of some use to you.
Will you think about it?
It’s all right, David.
Do you work here?
Yes, comrade General.
I’m an operator.
What do you operate?
That.
Hmm.
You’ve promised to think about it.
Tonya!
Can you play the balalaika?
Can she play?
She’s an artist!
An artist?
Who taught you?
No one taught her.
Ah.
Then it’s a gift.