"St. Petersburg has the reputation of coming in second place, after London, for its amount of rain and ghosts." "I never saw any ghosts." "But once I felt like I was being followed into a store." "To put my mind at ease, Hooked for them, but they had disappeared." "I even stood next to the door, but I didn't see them leave." "Maybe there was another exit..." "But I can tell you, it really shook me up!" "One day in autumn, I rented a room in a communal apartment on 8th Sovetskaya Street." "I lived there for several months, and photographed its occupants." "Years passed, I look at the photos." "Haunted by my form er neighbors, I return to the apartment." "A new winter has begun." "It's cold." "The heating doesn't work." "The characters from my favorite Russian novel are still there." "I'm not very presentable..." "I kept the photos." "Françoise took our pictures." "Everything is in order." "It's very hard." "Very hard." "Because... for example, I don't have any particular ﬂaw, but people who drink bother the others around them." "People who put on music whenever they want to... that's also hard to deal with." "You constantly have to fight." "You have to reprehend You have to!" "It's not easy." "That's what communal living is all about!" "But we try not to get in each other's way." "We try to respect each other." "It doesn't always work." "At times we have to be rude if we want to be understood." "But we don't have any real alcoholics or hooligans here." "For the moment, it's calm." "This place is primarily made up of people who are not from St. Petersburg." "People who have come here to study or work." "When I first came here, I was given this room." "I came here to study, and I stayed." "Some come from here." "Some were even born in this apartment." "Native St. Petersburgers... like my neighbor, Sveta, for example." "She got her own room." "It depends on the people." "I got my room differently." "I thought it would be temporary." "Under socialism, housing was free." "Those days, this room would've been free." "But there was Perestroika and then you had to pay for housing." "I was able to pay for my room." "I was lucky." "No!" "I'm not the boss, but I know how to command in life, and in general." "So I try to put things in order here" "Not everyone knows how to command." "I do." "What a question!" "A lover?" "No!" "I don't think you should." "Because there are communal rooms." "I don't want to see strangers." "I'm not the only one." "I'm against it." "We're all against it." "We try to live normally, and respect the basic rules of living together." "I've gotten used to living here." "You get used to it quickly." "It's not all bad, some is good." "I can see the armoire, the window... the table, the dresser, the chairs... and it looks very pretty!" "It's very pretty on this monitor." "Prettier than in real life." "You can't see all that stuff." "You can't see it, that's good!" "What stuff?" "The stuff on the floor" "You can't see the stuff on the ﬂoor in the monitor." "It's good." "If someone would put up some blinds, it would be even prettier." "But it's nice... yes." "When we first came here, we didn't have this problem" "When they lifted up the roof, the water leaked right through." "It poured down!" "Then, when it started drying, a part oi the ceiling fell on top oi us!" "It almost killed me!" "I'm ashamed to be living in a place like this." "I can't invite anybody over." "I do work, but not these days." "I'm waiting for the authorization." "Usually, I sell chocolate in the street, chocolate cheese cakes." "I sell in the street even when it's cold." "No, she couldn't fit in there..." "My God, where is she?" "I'm going to yell in the other hallway, maybe she went over there." "How do I look?" "Do I look okay?" "I'm going to look for Suzanne in the courtyard." "I won't shut the door, okay?" "I won't shut the door." "Okay, I'm off." "Oops!" "Mohammad Roustam Amarovitch." "My father wanted me to come here to study." "I had never thought about coming here." "I thought he was somewhere else." "He said:" ""Come and see what you can do."" "So I came." "Then I got accepted into medical school" "When I was born, I lived here for six years." "And when my mother died, I had to leave." "I didn't really want to come back." "I don't know..." "I came back." "My father called me." "I got accepted..." "I'm in my 4th year." "When my mother lived here, I was little." "I can remember every last detail." "I was little." "I wasn't even 6." "I remember, and then suddenly, everything fell apart." "It was hard to come back here." "Memories are painful." "Sometimes I see things here that remind me oi the past," "but otherwise, I don't remember anything." "I like Roustam very much." "I remember when he was only 5 years old, and he was living here with his mother." "I got along with her well." "His mother died when he was very young." "His grandfather raised him in Batoumi, in Georgia." "After his schooling, he came here for university." "He only has his father." "Where is he from ?" "Georgian mother, Afghan father." "Mixing blood was also socialism!" "No, he's not my child, but I get along with him well." "A boy..." "a child who lives next to you, who needs attention, why wouldn't you help him?" "I'm not the only one who helps him." "We all do." "That's one oi the qualities oi communal living." "When you have someone in front of you, day after day, you know right away if he's hungry or not, if he has done what he wanted." "That's life in a kommunalka!" "In independent living, you're not aware oi that." "Here, everyone sees everything." "With every step, you see your neighbor." "That is the reason why the positive qualities are stronger here." "You get to know the people here immediately." "You understand the way they operate." "You're in front oi each other twenty-four hours a day." "It's hard, but it's an experience." "In my opinion, it's a great human lesson." "Yesterday, she made fish soup." "That's good." "Did she scold you for being late?" "No." " Pacha waited for you ?" " Yes." " Did he get his candy?" " Yes." " Did he thank Aunt Sveta?" " Yes." "That's good." " How are you doing?" " So-so." "Liocha wants me to come by at 2 o'clock." "I might start working again" "But it's so cold." "They're expecting frost." "But you still have to work" "You still have to work" "Our pension is so meager, it's not enough." "With what we receive, you can only live on bread and tea!" "You can't afford anything." "No pleasures..." "That's how it is these days!" "Apparently, we're supposed to get more." "They're talking about January." "I don't know if it's true." "They have to increase it!" "In any case, that's what they're saying." "Anatoly told me about it." "You know, the man with the dog." "It's still busy." "Someone hanged himself with the phone!" "I don't want to go for nothing..." "It's a long walk up." "Their 3rd ﬂoor is as high as a 4th ﬂoor." "Liocha!" "You're over doing it now!" "It's crazy!" "All the time on the telephone!" "It's always busy at their place." "Then they say that they were calling me!" "And according to them, my line is always busy." "Liocha called to say that he's running late." "So what does he think?" "Is he going to hire you or not?" "Are they hiring you?" " Shh..." "It's a secret!" "It is?" "The neighbors..." " What?" " It's none of their business." "What?" "It's none of the neighbors' business." "I don't know if it's going to work." "I was very young when I worked for the trains." "I was 20 when I started and I left when I was 24" "It was a good period, even if it was really tough over there." "Those days, I still had hope, then hope disappeared." "It disappeared for a long time." "The work here is less interesting... and not paid as well as before." "Before, I earned just enough to eat and to buy clothes." "Now, it wouldn't be enough since they've lowered our wages." "Oh yeah, trying to get paid!" "That was funny." "People would stand in a long line from the street to the reserve." "There were arm ed security guards so we wouldn't fight." "The pay was distributed over 2 or 3 days, after that, it went back to the depot" "And if you didn't get it then, you'd have to wait a whole month." "We all tried to get paid!" "There were nearly 1500 oi us." "You can't imagine!" "What a horde!" "Everyone would stand and wait" "People would scream, yell, and curse." "It was lovely!" "I actually liked working over there." "Since I did well in my work," "I felt capable of doing a lot more." "I thought: "One day I'll quit and I'll start a new life. "" "Unfortunately, there was the 1998 crisis." "And after that" "all my plans fell apart." "I wanted to take night classes at the railway school to get a diploma." "But they lowered our wages." "And after that, it was just a question of survival" "Just trying to live." "That's all" "In my day, I used to live in the city oi Kazan." "I came to live here in 1992." "I had already been here several times." "I knew it." "I regret having come." "I have nobody here." "It's pretty sure that I'm going to move to be closer to my loved-ones." "I used to work for a newspaper in Kazan." "I also worked as a setter and engineer." "I'm retired now." "I have been for 7 years." "My pension is not high..." "They need to raise it." "Goods are more and more expensive, and pensions barely get increased, do you understand?" "I buy cologne," "I wear cologne." "Before, it used to cost 10 roubles, but now it costs 35 roubles!" "That's how it is." "And not just cologne... all types of things have become expensive." "We don't know why..." "Everything is expensive." "I'm not happy about it." "The dog?" "He barks and bites..." "He's a loyal dog, he always defends me." "There are people on the street who want to buy him from me." "My Barbos." "If a woman talks to him nicely, or wants to look at him, he'll jump on her." "He's a mean dog, but very loyal." "He is old." "He just turned thirteen, so soon we'll have to separate." "Or maybe not." "I hope he'll live a bit longer." "Tell me, in France, do you have kommunalkas like we do?" "Communal apartments?" "No?" "That's really good." "In my opinion, it's against nature." "Completely different people thrown together in one apartment." "That's why there is crime." "Statistics show that most crime takes place in kommunalkas." "Completely different people constantly in each other's faces... and only one kitchen." "You understand?" "If you want it or not..." "Our kommunalka is very big." "It's split in two, did you know that?" "There's a door separating us and twenty people live on our side." "Nearly twenty people." "One kitchen, one shower..." "That's how it is." "Obviously there are problems." "Sakharov!" "I admire him greatly." "He's a remarkable man." "I always bring this picture with me when I go somewhere." "These are my parents." "My father's name was Yakov, and my mother, Elena." "He was an officer" "This picture was taken before the war." "When it was taken, he hadn't been exiled yet." "He was exiled later, after the war." "You can't see him very well, but that's my brother." "He died last year." "We buried him." "He was athletic, and had a healthy lifestyle." "He didn't drink, and he never smoked." "He ran every day." "One day, while he was running, he died." "He had a problem with his heart." "This is my grandmother's silhouette, my father's mother." "I didn't know her." "She died during the siege oi Leningrad." " What was her name?" " Sofia." "This is also my father, one of his last photos" "He also died young." "He had just turned sixty." "That was a long time ago." "He was an officer, an army medical officer." "Here's his story:" "He studied military medicine in Leningrad, in St. Petersburg." "Then he lived in Georgia, where he served for ten years." "He learned how to speak Georgian." "Then he returned to teach at the school he studied at." "Then, the NKVD called him." "Do you know the NKVD?" "They offered him to be... an informer." "What were they called?" "Seskot secret collaborators." "They would talk with people, and then denounce them to the NKVD." "My father refused." "Not long after, he was sent beyond Baikal, to Tchita." "To Siberia." "He met my mother, and then my brother and I were born." "How can she still be alive at 93?" "She's always in bed." "It's a good thing they put her in a kommunalka." "I wouldn't want to live to 93." "That's for sure..." "I wouldn't want to live to be so old!" "The shelves are full." "I don't know where to hang all oi this." "Why are you turning it off?" "I'm going to rinse" "There, I left it on!" "Only the cold?" " The hot is hard to turn on." " It's not!" "Now it's cold..." "Look, the ceiling has all dried up." "I'm going to get the kettle." "I'm going to redo my make-up, put more lipstick on... and brush my hair a bit." "These days are difficult" "Yes, VET!" "" "How much does your room cost?" "You know, I have debts." "The heat costs me more than the rent" "And since Kolia is no longer here, I pay more." "How much?" "1,120 roubles." " For the room?" " With the heat." "Otherwise, it's 500." "My boss promised to help me." "But keep this for yourself, okay?" "I want to get him registered here for 1 year, without him living here." "And he'll pay my debts." "Isn't he already registered?" "He was registered in the suburbs, but it expired." "He's a Russian citizen." "He has a passport." "I'm finally presentable!" "I could've worn a different blouse with a broche..." "But Françoise chose this." " When did Nikolaï' die?" " October 30th." "This year?" "It'll be one year on October 30th." " What did he have?" " Lung cancer." "He became so thin." "He didn't even complain." "His chest was hurting and he died the same afternoon" "It was the day?" "I held him in my arms and his heart was beating..." "That was it." "I tried in vain to give him CPR." "And the hospital?" "They don't keep cancer patients After 4 days, he was out." "And a week later, it was over." "He lost so much weight he kept falling." "It had metastasized to his head." "At the time, I was working." "I had to." "When I got home, the neighbors said:" ""He fell near the toilets."" " Here?" " Yes." "How long were you together?" "Thirty years." " Thirty years?" " Yes." " Were you married?" " No." " Concubines?" " Yes." " For thirty years?" " Thirty years." "That's a lot." "He was..." "You knew him." "He was charming, wasn't he?" "He was tan, with brown eyes and Brejnev's eyebrows." "He shaved them!" "They grew because he shaved them." "Where is he buried?" "In Oukhta, you know in the Gueorgueivskoe cemetery." "Near the church, next to the entrance, there's a plot for his family." "Mother, father, grandparents..." "They're all in there." "They took off his father's tombstone and put it there." "It cost 1,600 roubles" "Do you know how much cremations and funeral services cost?" "26,000 roubles just for the priest" "26,000 roubles?" " Yes, 26,000!" "And the funeral?" "60,000 roubles." "60,000" "Doesn't the municipality help?" "I don't know." "I borrowed money, and his brother helped" "The funeral service was well done." "It was nice." "So how are we going to cut it?" "Would you like a rose?" " It doesn't matter." " Here, a rose." "Wow!" "Now that's what I call a piece!" "Yesterday, Svetlana and I... the one whose husband isn't Russian..." "We were speaking loudly and we didn't realize it was already 11:30 p.m." " What time?" "11:30." "Anna Stepanovna heard us and she yelled:" ""I can't sleep because oi you!" ""You sleep all day long because you don't work."" "She made a scandal!" "I said:" ""Anna Stepanovna, we're sorry!"" "I came here in 1993." "Before I was living in Poti." "My son came for me." "He took me with him and brought me here" "So I've been here since 1993." "I planted flowers, and trees." "I weeded." "I took care oi the flowers." "Now everything is destroyed over there." "You need a visa." "They won't let you through." "Georgia got its independence from Russia and now we can't go there any more." "You have to have a lot of money." "No, I don't go there." "My son used to live in this room, and he brought me here to Leningrad." "I don't know anyone in Moscow." "I had a son here." "Everything is good." "It's a very beautiful city." "There's verdure, theaters..." "To be honest, I don't go anywhere." "My legs can't carry me far any more, and I'm afraid to get lost because this city is so big." "Here's my darling son." "His name is Kolia." "We lived here together for three years." "And then he died." "I'm all alone now." "In the summer, I go to the cemetery." "I go quite often" "Even though it's far..." "It takes a half-hour by foot." "What can I do?" "I'll continue going as long as my legs carry me." "It's hard for me to talk about it..." "He was working at a construction site." "They are the ones who gave him this room." "It's said that a man eats 2kg of lipstick in his lifetime." " It depends who!" " An ordinary man." "Some even more." "When there's a lot, it's easy to swallow." "That's true!" "It's chemical, toxic..." "No, it's good for you!" "You should work..." "You're not going to work?" "Yes, I'm going." "Where to?" "Wherever my homeland sends me To the astronauts!" "The astronauts?" "They're not hiring." "Yes they are, they need potato peelers!" "Really?" "I want to become an astronaut!" "What for?" "They don't get to ﬂy any more." "I'm talking about the ones who stay on the ground." "Is it for the day or night?" "For the next 24 hours!" "What class!" "How much do you weigh?" "45, 41 kg..." " How much?" "45, 47 kg." "And last year?" " The same." "No more, no less?" "This Pouchkine is no good!" "Why not?" "This one's no good." "I think they're all the same." "No, they're different." "Want to switch?" "Yours has cognac in it." "Mine is plain." "So, how is Moscow?" "Still standing?" "Still standing." "What a hive!" ""'8 tops!" "I'm loyal." "It's true, I don't have anyone." "You had 2 Natachas." "One wife and one mistress" "That's the past" "Things change with the years." "A whim..." " Are you happy?" " Yes." " Yes?" " Yes." "Stories like that just complicate life." "Of course!" "I used to have a different life." "I no longer have time for all that" "You know, Heel that in Russia you don't have enough time for your private life." "It doesn't exist!" "It doesn't exist, quite simply." "Life, where are you?" "Where are you?" "Come let me bite your neck" "With my sharp teeth" "Who do you keep calling?" "Is it your business?" "I'm curious." "Where?" "Are you screwing with me?" "Why the hell are you lying?" "Why did he leave?" "What do you mean he left for the army?" "Are you serious?" "So I won't see him again?" "Have you lost your mind or what?" "Yes, great..." "Look, he'll call one day to tell you where he is." "Who's gone off to war?" "Dima has left." "Where did he go?" "He joined the navy, dammit!" " Where?" " The navy!" "What do you mean "the navy"?" "He's going to serve his country!" "Where?" "He's gone to serve his country, son of a bitch!" " I don't get it." " Only my balls get it." "When I was a kid, I spent my summers in Byelorussia." "Before school, my grandfather would take me there in the winter." "It was lovely there." "The Dnieper riverbanks, the fresh air." "These memories bring tears to my eyes." "I always dream oi going back there..." "I remember how my grandfather, when I was a little girl, would carry me on his shoulders." "And in the spring, there were huge puddles..." "Zhlobin, in the region of Gomel, is a county-town." "We had our little house on the Dnieper riverbanks." "A pig, some chickens." "A large vegetable garden." "A path leading to the river." "My grandfather would fish." "We'd help him." "When he'd come back, the whole family would go greet him." "My grandfather was a fisherman." "We ate all types of fish." "These memories make me cry." "They're wonderful memories" "Losing my brother was very hard." "I weep for my father and the others, but we only have one life." "This lodging was given to me when I was working at the children 's hospital." "How to say?" "I'm happy it's mine." "I own it." "I organized it." "I have a 9m2 room, and a 5m2 room." "It's tiny, but everyone likes it." "They say that they feel good here." "Ah, here's my Guenna, my better half!" "My better half is home!" "My lovely man!" "With eyebrows like Brejnev!" "My workaholic." "Poor guy, he's coming home from work." "Sit down!" "It's a tight fit!" "Take your coat off." "Get comfortable." "You're running, as usual." "He runs when he leaves home and when he comes back!" "I'm tired oi waiting for the bus." "I say to him: "Guenna, why are you always running?" ""Why are you in such a hurry?" It's become a habit." "When did you start working?" "At fourteen, or younger?" "My better half" "Jura?" "Well, she's ten years old." "She understands everything." "She's a very intelligent dog, a Pekingese, a Chinese race." "She has her own little corner in the room." "She loves to play." "She runs." "In the street, she likes to run." "She plays, she rolls around in the snow and sleeps on the bed." "I was born in Odessa." "I studied dance at the Opera's choreographic school." "I was fourteen when the war started." "At the theatre, they started recruiting ballerinas because all the dancers had left" "The theater had been evacuated." "We had to work!" "We had to live, eat something." "I danced in that theater until 1943 when our troops entered Odessa." "And then, everything stopped." "Then in 1946, when the war was finally over," "I was arrested because I had worked in the theater during the Occupation." "I was put into jail." "And after I was sent to a camp for eight years." "I was freed when Stalin died." "They ended up freeing everyone who wasn't... let's say, "dangerous" for the State!" "Like ballerinas!" "So, I was freed." "Everything was very unexpected, very strange..." "I never thought it could happen to me." "Everything was really wonderful." "My husband was doing business..." "We had a beautiful apartment, a nice car, everything was luxurious." "But..." "When he was killed with his own gun, you can imagine, it was a real shock." "It was..." "Time passed..." "I can speak about it calmly now." "Well, "calmly" is an overstatement." "It's very difficult" "I was told:" ""You should be happy, you're still alive. "" "They assassinated Edik." "My husband's name was Edouard," "Edik Tartakovsky." "The entire Tartakovsky family was killed:" "his grandmother, his mother, Edik..." "People say: "Thank the heavens, you weren't buried with him."" "That's how it happened." "It's hard... to lose the man you love." "To leave everything and jump into the unknown." "When you're in a precarious situation, surrounded by people who are all strangers... it's not very pleasant." "To be honest," "I understand it quite well:" "being a single woman is not well-considered in our society, it's not normal." "When you're alone people judge you" "They believe that nobody wants to have anything to do with you." "Of course, I know it's time to meet someone new, but..." "I don't know how it will be..." "It's like the saying:" "" Man disposes..."" "No, no, it's:" "" Man proposes, God disposes. "" "Show me Tyson, please." "It was an amazing story that could only happen to me!" "It's the story of my love" "The strongest and most important of my entire life." "We were in ninth grade and some friends and I went to see a classmate." "When we left her house, on her landing, there were broken mailboxes," "and there was a letter on the ﬂoor." "I don't know if I was imagining it, but the letter seemed to be glowing." "I opened it." "It was the last letter from the army, from a boy who wasn't even twenty yet." "But he seemed like an adult and I still understand why..." "It was a letter from Germany." "He served in the GDR." "His name was Dima." "Well, about four years passed and I didn't see Dima." "No... three years." "And when I finally went to see him..." "I was overcome with unforgettable sensations... that will stay with me for the rest oi my life." "He looked at me like a little fool!" "I saw him three times." "Then I made him a tape declaring my love, and said goodbye." "That's how it ended." "I never saw him again." "Perhaps he still lives in the same place." "I'm sick of being at home." "I want to work." "I want to be outside!" "I have wool felt boots and a fur coat." "When I work, I dress like Philipok!" "Hello, yes?" "She lives on the other side." "My friend doesn't come to see me." "It's true, she works." "She promised to come this weekend." "The last time she came to see me was when I was sick." "I told her:" ""I can't get up, I keep coughing."" "I also had a fever." "And she never came back!" "She doesn't even work this weekend." "And you call that a friend!" "When I have money, she comes to see me." "And when I don't have any:" ""I want this, I want that."" "I fed her for a long time" "That's her gratitude!" "And you call that a friend!" "No, I don't have others." "There's one woman, but she is..." "Besides Kolia, I didn't have any friends." "Yes, yes!" "It's Anna Stepanovna!" "She didn't like one thing and told him to get lost!" "You know... she's old." "Be careful, she might be back!" "She sure has a character." "She told him:" ""Get out, I want you out of this room."" "It had to do with money..." "I don't know." "A nice boy..." "Is she back?" "You have to be careful, the walls have ears." "This is the time she comes home." "We have to talk softly." "What did she say?" "Yes, softly." "I heard it's because he brought a girl into his room." "That's why she kicked him out." "It's Tanka, Tania was jealous!" "That's for sure." "Is Tania here today?" "Have you seen her?" "I think she's working for two days." "Yes, she made such a scandal!" "They fought over there." "He brought home a very pretty girl." "It's true, not very tall." "He is very tall." "She was small with long hair." "A pretty girl." "Tania wasn't happy about it." "She was jealous." "What did that fright imagine?" "That he'd throw himself at her?" "When he already had a pretty girlfriend?" "If you only knew how mean she is!" "She said to me:" "" How much do you earn?" ""I earn 12,000 roubles, and you only earn kopecks."" "I told her: "Each to his own."" "She didn't work for a long time." "Have you seen Tania today?" "No?" "That means she's working." "Counting today, she's been working for three days." "Praise the Lord!" "She's working!" "We're better off without her." "There you have it..." "How do I live here?" "I live terribly." "Obviously." "There is absolutely no privacy." "You wake up in a bad mood, you bump into someone you don't like, and then it gets worse!" "You go make some coffee in the kitchen, you see another person you don't like... your mood worsens." "Yes, it's very tough to live here." "But sometimes, you make coffee and you meet someone who says sweet things to you, and then suddenly, you feel better!" "It's life, but..." "It would be better to live in our own apartments." "That's for sure." "But there are some positive aspects." "If you're sick, they help you." "Someone will go shopping for you, call emergency." "There are good sides." "But living here is difficult for me and for everyone else." "And yet, some people were born here and they don't want to leave." "It's their psychology!" "I've been living here 20 years and many have left." "They received free housing." "Now, we have an even more serious problem." "People are going to die here." "Those who weren't able to buy a place." "It's inevitable these days." "People have no hope, no future!" "Anna Stepanovna can't buy a place and nobody is going to give her one." "There's no future for our Sveta who drinks." "The other Svetlana could buy something, but at such a cost!" "People are doomed to live here, it's terrible." "Twenty years ago it was different" "It used to be temporary housing." "It was temporary for me too." "It was for 2, 3, 5 years maximum." "That's over now." "In a kommunalka, there are all types of people." "There are not many like me." "For the most part, they more or less adapt." "I can't." "There's no way out." "To leave you have to do something real." "I haven't done anything." "Being a character in this film is quite logical." "I'm the perfect representative of what can happen here." "You can live your life in vain." "Translation by Karen Nathanson"