"Commissioned by the Russia TV-channel in association with Cinematography service and RF Ministry of Culture present a "2-B-2" ENTERTAINMENT Studio production" "Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky" "THE IDIOT" "Yevgeny Mironov as Prince Muishkin" "List of actors:" "Vladimir MASHKOV" "Lidia VELEZHEVA" "Olga BUDINA" "Inna CHURIKOVA" "Oleg BASILASHVILI" "Vladimir ILYIN" "Alexander LAZAREV" "Andrey SMIRNOV" "Scriptwriter and director:" "Vladimir BORTKO" "Cinematographer:" "Dmitry MASS" "Production Designers:" "Vladimir SVETOZAROV Marina NIKOLAYEVA" "Music by Igor KORNELIUK" "Producer:" "Valery TODOROVSKY" "Part One that my position is absolutely intolerable." "I am to blame for everything." "But I admit:" "I don't feel remorse for my conduct. with no power over myself." "But now I wish to marry." "And the fate of this most desirable social union is in your hands." "I ask you to forgive me from the generosity of your heart." "it is definitely harder of speak of this than for Afanasy Ivanovich." "I admit your right to be the arbiter of his destiny. who cares about the fate of his eldest daughter. depends on your reply." "What do you wish me to do?" "when 5 years ago until you get married yourself." "This suggestion from me unless I note has long loved you passionately and hopes for some response. a gift" "of 75 thousand rubles." "This sum would have been left you in my will." "it is not an indemnification." "there is no reason why a man should not entertain a natural desire" "to at least somehow lighten his conscience?" "I am very happy." "And I believe the issue is closed." "but could there be a snake hidden in the flowers? that you have just bought a necklace on Nevsky at an incredible price?" "Afanasy Ivanovich." "What absolute nonsense!" "Thank God for that." "before you stands a man who in his time had abandoned himself to passion." "Does General Ivan Fyodorovich Epanchin live here?" " ls this the General's house?" " Whom should I announce?" "Prince Lev Nikolayevich Muishkin." "From abroad." " To see the general?" " Yes." " I have certain business." " I'm not interested in that." "All I have to do is announce you." "Are you actually from abroad? but refrained out of politeness." "I assure you it's true and you will not have to answer for me. my circumstances are not very rosy." "have you? I have a different matter." "and leave your bundle here." "I would rather sit here with you." "I should prefer it to sitting alone." "you are a visitor." "Wait for the secretary in the waiting room. if I could have a smoke?" "and haven't had a puff for 3 hours." "you can't smoke here." "You must be ashamed of the very suggestion." "of course!" "I'd adjourn to another room." "just as you like." "You know the saying: when in Rome..." "How on earth am I to announce a man like that?" "Leave your bundle here." "I've already thought of that." "If you don't mind." "too." "you can't go in like this." "your rooms are much warmer than abroad." "But there it's warmer outside." "A Russian can't live in their houses until he gets accustomed." " Don't they heat them?" " They do." "But the houses and stoves are different to ours." " Were you away for long?" " Four years." "in the country." "You must have forgotten what life's like here." "But I hardly knew it before." "And now they say so much has changed here." "There's a lot of talk about courts." " Really?" " Yes." "that's true enough." "How's the law over there?" "I don't know." "I've heard much good about our courts." "And there's no capital punishment here." "Is there over there?" "in Lyons." "they cut off the heads." "it's done in an instant. falls with force and weight." "in a wink of an eye." "But the preparations are dreadful. took him up the scaffold." "Imagine what must've been going on in his mind." "What convulsions his spirit must have endured." "that's what it was." "It is said "Thou shall not kill" but must he to be killed for murder?" "No!" "It is not right! and it's before my eyes this very moment." "Saw it in my dreams 5 times. when the head flies off." "didn't you?" "Everyone says the same thing!" "Everyone notices it!" "That's what the guillotine is made for!" "And then a thought came to my head." "What if it makes things worse?" "if you take torture." "bodily pain." "It distracts you from emotional suffering." "You suffer bodily pain until you die. but the certain knowledge this very instant your soul will leave your body and you'll no longer be a man." "that's the main thing." "When you place your head under that knife that quarter of a second is worst of all." "many people said the same." "I feel it so deeply that I'll tell you what I think." "To execute a man for murder than fits the crime. than committed by a criminal." "A man who is attacked by robbers hopes he can escape." "Until the very last moment." "In some cases a man hopes on even when his throat is cut." "or begs for mercy. there's the sentence." "That certainty must be the worst anguish." "And there's nothing worse than that anguish." "Our Lord Christ spoke of this anguish." "No man should be treated so. it might be managed." "under the stairs?" "But be quick." " Cold?" " Very." "I never thought it would be so cold here." "from Switzerland." "My goodness!" "I was there for my health." "What kind of malady?" "convulsive spasms." "they didn't cure me." "and we believe them." "Gospel truth." "Gospel truth." "All they do is take hold of our Russian money free." "you're quite wrong in my particular instance! but my doctor gave me money for my return journey and kept me at his own expense for nearly 2 years." "Was there no one else to pay for you? died 2 year ago. but she didn't answer." "So eventually I came back." "Whom have I the honor of talking to?" "Prince Lev Nikolayevich Muishkin." "I don't know." "Of course not!" "There are none left." "I'm the last one." " Do you know the Rogojins?" " No." "I hardly know anyone in Russia." "I'm Parfen Rogojin." "Parfen? and left 2 million and a half?" "And how do you know he left 2 million and a half? and I'm returning from Pskov with hardly a boot to my foot." "not a far thing from my mother or brother." "a million rubles." "At least. with just one bundle." "To my aunt's house." "There I fell ill with fever." "And my father went and died without me." "Of a stroke." "Eternal memory to him. if I hadn't run then." "You must have angered him. and maybe he was right." "Devil's doing." "I riled my father about Nastasia Philipovna." " Nastasia Philipovna?" " You know nothing about her!" "There are plenty of Nastasia Philipovnas!" "I thought some creature like you would hang on to me!" "And if I do know something?" "Lebedeff knows everything." "Her name is Nastasia Philipovna Barashkoff. she is. who is a close friend of General Epanchin." "The devil take him!" "How does he know that?" "all streets and corners." "I was with Lihachoff for 2 months after his father died." "He's in the debtor's prison now." "But that's not the point. and Nastasia Philipovna." "And many others." "Nastasia Philipovna?" "nothing of the sort!" "has no chance." "she's not like Armanse." "Only Totski has a chance. she sits in her own box. because there is nothing more to say!" "It's quite true. and bring 7 thousand to the Andreyeff office. but didn't go to the office." "I crossed Nevsky." "She was coming out of a shop." "At once I was all in a blaze. went straight to the English shop and got a pair of earrings." "they trusted me." "With them I went to Zalezheff and then to Nastasia Philipovna" "I didn't say right away who I was." "Zalezheff told her the earrings were from Rogojin." "Please accept in memory of his first meeting with you." "and laughed. for his kind attention." "She bowed and left." "The late Semen Rogojin would hound you to death not to speak of 10 thousand." "Hound you to death!" "What do you know about it?" "My father took me upstairs and locked me up." "And then for a whole hour... he told me." "and talk to you again." "That was when..." "I ran away to Pskov." "To my aunt's house. but I was drunk! and by nightfall was lying delirious in the streets." "In the morning I was ill with fever." "some dogs bit me." "I nearly died." "We'll make Nastasia Philipovna sing another song now." "Those earrings are nothing!" "We'll get her some proper earrings now!" "If you as much as mention believe me!" "you won't turn me away!" "Go ahead!" "You'll bind me to you with your lash." "are you a great hand with the ladies?" "No." "I couldn't - because of my illness." "I hardly know any." "for sure." "God has a liking for people like you." "It's Petersburg!" "We've arrived!" "What can I do for you?" "I have no special business." "I just wanted to make your acquaintance." "I don't know the routine here." "I've just arrived from Switzerland. it's just the pleasure of acquaintance. life's not all pleasure." "And I really cannot see what we might have in common." " Any possible reason..." " There is no reason." "for if I am that can hardly be a reason." "that is my whole motive for coming." "I have not been in Russia for 4 years." "I feel I now need a few good friends." "but I do not know whom to turn to." "I thought of you when I was passing Berlin:" "so I'll begin with them." "if they're kind people." "And I've heard you are very kind people." "thank you." "you're straight from the station with your luggage? I'll take a room in some hotel in the evening." "of course. but only upon your invitation." "But I wouldn't stay here even if you invited me." "it's contrary to my nature." "then it's just as well that I didn't invite you." "but we had better make this clear: there's not much to be said." "perhaps..." " I'd better get up and go." "I felt quite sure this visit would end exactly as it did." "I suppose it's all right." "Since my letter was not answered." "Forgive me for having disturbed you." "wait!" "Maybe my wife would like to look at a man of her own name." "if you have the time." " I have lots of time." "My time is entirely my own." "Elizabeta Prokofievna remembers I had written to her." "A little while ago your servant was suspicious that I had come to beg." "But I came to make friends. that there must be very little in common between us." "But often it just appears though actually we do." "Jealousy is the reason." "People sort each other into groups by appearances." "But I must be boring you." "And this worries me. it will be a pleasure for us to make your acquaintance." " How old are you?" " 26." "I thought you were much younger." "Just two words. or do you intend to undertake some employment?" "my dear sir!" "I esteem and understand your questions." "and no employment." "But I have a certain matter." "How do you intend to live now?" "I wish to work." "you're a philosopher!" "or ability to bring in money and bread?" "don't apologize!" "I don't think I have any talent or abilities." "I have always been an invalid." "Frequent fits have made me almost an idiot. as for bread..." "We have no one in Russia." "Absolutely no one." "but I have hope." "And I received a letter..." "Can you write correctly?" "I can." " And your handwriting?" " Excellent!" "I'm really talented." "A real calligrapher." "Let me... just to show." "Please do." "prince." "I like you very well." "Gania!" "Give the prince a piece of paper." "prince." "please." "Thank you." "What's this?" "Nastasia Philipovna!" "Did she send it herself?" "when I called in to congratulate her." "You remember about tonight?" "of course." "It's her birthday." "She's 25 years old." "you must be ready for great things. she will give her final answer tonight." " Yes or no." " She did?" "she promised." "But she asked us not to tell you about it until today. and yet even then I was to have the final word." "don't you?" " Don't misunderstand!" " What are you doing?" " I'm not rejecting her." "I should think not!" "It's a question of your readiness to receive her happily!" "Of how you receive her words." "Maybe I have expressed myself badly." "all right." "How are things at home?" "at home! sister's sulking." "But I'm master of my own destiny." "mother was present." "I still cannot understand it!" "They see it as some kind of a dishonor to them." "Why a dishonor?" "Who can reproach Nastasia Philipovna?" "Just because she had been living with Totski?" "Nonsense!" "Especially given these circumstances." "Your mother told me: you wouldn't let her come near your daughters." "That's Nina Alexandrovna!" " How can she fail to understand?" " Her position?" "She does understand." "things will calm down." "So this is Nastasia Philipovna." "How wonderfully beautiful!" "Do you already know Nastasia Philipovna?" "but I've heard of the great beauty." "A merchant told me about her in the train." "Parfen Rogojin." "That's news!" "I've heard." "she told us about it herself." "I'm afraid of some scandal. did he seem a serious man or just a rowdy fellow?" "I really don't know how to tell you." "But he seemed to me so full of passion." "Not perhaps quite healthy." "if he lives fast." "Or perhaps he won't." " What if something else happens?" " What are you smiling at?" "you're so curious!" "You actually seem glad of this merchant's arrival." "As if it's a way for you to get out of it." "No one is forcing you in a snare." "Do you understand me?" "Do you desire this arrangement or not?" "and - welcome." "I do desire it." "just look at that!" "Done in very old handwriting." "there's real talent there." "The humble abbot Pafnuty signed this." "you're an artist!" "too." "but there's a career in this." "to start with." "price." "but you'll have to be accurate." "Now as to your plans. his mother rents rooms to lodgers." "right?" "and my mother will be very glad. and I expect your salary will be sufficient." "pocket money is a necessity." "if I strongly recommend you to avoid carrying money in your pocket." "I conclude this from the way you look. permit me to press upon you these 25 rubles." "We'll settle this later." "Are you happy with this arrangement?" "general." "You have behaved very kindly to me." "I certainly didn't know where to lay my head tonight." "A while ago Rogojin asked me to come to his house. to forget about Mr. Rogojin." "And to stick to the family into which you are about to enter." "there is just one matter..." "I have no time." "I'll just tell Elizabeta Prokofievna about you." "I recommend you ingratiate yourself with her." "just look over these accounts." "Receive him?" "at once?" "he's quite a child." "He has fits of some sort." "He's arrived from Switzerland." "without a farthing." "I'd like you to feed him well." "He looks hungry." "too." " What kind of fits?" " They're not frequent." "but fairly educated. and see what he's good for." " Examine him?" " It's not that important. it's almost a good deed." "From Switzerland?" "Switzerland has nothing to do with it." "because of your family name." "Do you admire that sort of woman?" "A wonderful face." "her destiny must be extraordinary." "but she must have suffered terribly." "It's a proud face." "But I can't say whether she's kind or not." "Would you marry her?" "I can't marry." "I'm an invalid." "Would Rogojin marry her?" "He would." "murder her in a week." "What's the matter?" "please proceed to her excellency's apartments." "if she were good!" "That would make all well. when he sits at the table. that they stand behind him while he eats." "Is he quiet when he has these fits?" "he's very well brought up." "but he's a bit simple." "Here he is himself!" "Let me introduce you." "the last of the Muishkins." "of the same name." "please." "prince." "but you must excuse me." "I'm off." "We all know where." "I'm late." "Let him write something in your albums." "He's quite a calligrapher!" "Extraordinary!" "A talent!" "He has just written out for me:" "Abbot Pafnuty signed this." "Abbot Pafnuty?" "Who is this abbot?" "there was an old abbot of that name." "The count is waiting for me." "I'm late." "prince." "I know what count he's going to see." "Now then?" "What's all this about?" "What abbot?" "too." "opposite me." "In that chair." "so I might see you." "who was this about?" "Abbot Pafnuty." "That's interesting." "But who was he?" "Abbot Pafnuty was in charge of a monastery on the Volga." "went to the Golden Horde." "And signed an edict." "So I copied that signature." "I liked it and memorized it." "Pafnuty." "or I forget." "Where is this signature?" "I think it's left on the general's table." "Send for it and bring it here." "I'll write you a new one." "we're all hungry." "are you hungry?" " Very much so!" "thank you very much." "I like to see you know your manners." "You are not the kind of person as the general thought fit to describe you." "does he?" "I think he doesn't require a napkin under his chin." "then!" "prince?" "I wore one." "Now I put it on my knees." "He talks very well." "I really didn't expect him to." "prince." "And tell us about yourself." "I want to hear you speak." "if I were ordered like that." "What's so strange about it?" "He has a tongue." "Why shouldn't he tell us something?" "how well he speaks." "Tell us how you liked Switzerland." "Your first impression." "The impression was quite strong." "he has begun!" "let him speak." "The prince is not an idiot." "I saw that at once." "The first impression was very strong." "I was very ill." "without saying a word." "and alien things frightened me." "I awoke from this state for the first time when we came to Switzerland." "The bray of a donkey in the town market awoke me." "That donkey had... a staggering effect on me." "I liked him so much!" "And my head began to clear. and started to like the whole country!" "Yes!" "And my melancholy passed away!" "It's very nice of you to laugh." "I see you're a very kind-hearted young man." "I'm not always kind." "I'm kind myself." "That's my only fault." "One ought not to be always kind." "prince." "you can think of something more exciting." "Then it was very nice all the time." "I was..." "I was very happy." "Happy?" " You can be happy?" " Yes." "then." "I cannot." "I have always lived in the country and have hardly gone anywhere else." "What can I teach you?" "I always wanted to go somewhere." "I felt very restless." "I kept thinking and decided to put my fate to a test. old pines around me. and the terrible silence." "And everything seemed to call me somewhere." "that if I went straight ahead and that would be the key!" "I'd see that new life." "It would be a thousand times grander and richer!" "like Naples." "With its life and noise!" "But it doesn't matter what I imagined then." "Then I thought that life can be grand even in prison." "I once heard a story of a man but it was not worthless. and a tree that grew outside his prison window. when I was 12 years old." "You are a philosopher and have come to instruct us." "I am a philosopher." "I do wish to teach my views." "I will tell you of a man I met." "He had once been brought up to the scaffold." "He was read his death-sentence by shooting for a political crime. a different punishment was substituted." "Between the two sentences he lived in the certainty that he would soon die." "He remembered everything most accurately and distinctly." "He told me he would never forget a single second of those minutes. because there were several criminals. long white caps were pulled over their heads." "Soldiers took their stand opposite the posts. so he would have had to wait about 5 minutes." "He said those 5 minutes there was no need to think of that last moment." "So he even made several arrangements." "Two minutes for saying farewell to his companions." "Two more minutes to think about himself." "And then - the last moment to take a look around." "he asked one of them an everyday questions and was very interested in the answer." "Then began the 2 minutes he allotted for looking into himself. and in 3 minutes he would be nothing." "then who and where?" "He wanted to decide this in these 2 minutes." "A little way off stood a church." "Its gilded spire and dome glittered in the sun." "A gilded spire. and the rays of light sparking from it." "He couldn't look away and in a few minutes he would become one of them." "The uncertainty and repugnance to what would happen were terrible. the persistent thought:" ""What if I don't die now?" "What is I return to life again?" "What infinity!" "And all mine! I'd never lose an instant. not to waste an instant. hat he wished they shoot him quickly and be done with it." "Are you through?" "What?" "I am." "And why did you tell us this?" "it fitted in our conversation." "prince." "You probably wish to deduce that time cannot be reckoned in terms of money value. was given those wonderful riches of time." "And what did he do with them afterwards?" "he didn't." "many minutes." "one cannot live and count all minutes." "That is true." "one can't." "why shouldn't one do it?" "You think you could live more wisely than others?" "I have had that idea." "And you have it still?" "I have it still." "Very modest of you." "Why are you so angry?" "The prince told us a wonderful tale." "Why do you want to discourage him?" "he was laughing." "And now he is sad."