NOSTALGIA
Speak Italian
Sorry. We've arrived. I stopped here
so we could stretch our legs
You'll see,
it's a marvelous painting
I cried the first time I saw it
This light reminds me of certain
autumn afternoons in Moscow
Come on then
- I don't want to
- I'll wait for you inside
I don't want to!
"I'm tired of seeing these
sickeningly beautiful sights
"I want nothing more just for myself
"That's enough"
Have you come to pray for a baby too?
Or to be spared them?
I'm just looking
If there are any casual onlookers...
...who aren't supplicants...
...then nothing happens
What is supposed to happen?
Whatever you like,
whatever you need most
But you should at least kneel down
I can't
- Look at them
- They're used to it
- They have faith
- Maybe they have
May I ask you something?
Why do you think...
...it's only the women
who pray so much?
- You're asking me?
- You see so many women here
I'm only the sacristan
But you must wonder why women are
more devout than men
You should know better than I
Because I'm a woman? No, I've never
understood these things
I'm a simple man
But I think...
...a woman
is meant to have children...
...to raise them...
...with patience...
...and self-sacrifice
That's all she's meant for?
I don't know
I understand. Thank you, you've been
a great help
You asked what I thought
I don't know. You want to be happy
but there are more important things
Wait...
Merciful Mother,
compassionate Mother...
...blessed Mother,
tormented Mother...
I just don't understand you
You go on and on about
the Madonna of Childbirth
We drive halfway across Italy
in the fog
Why didn't you go in to see her?
What are you reading?
Arseny Tarkovsky's poems
In Russian?
It's a translation...
quite a good one
Throw it away
Why?
The translator's a very good poet
Poetry is untranslatable,
like all art
You may be right
that poetry is untranslatable
But what about music? Music's...
What do you mean by that?
It's a Russian song
But how could we have got to know...
...Tolstoy, Pushkin...
...and so understand Russia?
None of you understand Russia
Nor you Italy then...
...if Dante, Petrarch and
Machiavelli don't help
It's impossible for us poor devils
- How can we get to know each other?
- By destroying frontiers
Which ones?
Between states
There was a maid in Milan who
set fire to the house
- What house?
- Her employers'
Because of nostalgia for
her family in the south
So she burned the thing
that stopped her going back
Why did your musician, Sasnovsky...
...go back to Russia if he knew
he'd be a slave again?
Would you mind telling me why
you won't confide in me?
I don't understand
You read... you understand
Oh, the letter from the
Bologna Conservatory
Tell me, was Sasnovsky...
...successful when he returned
to Russia?
Was he happy?
He started drinking
And then...
- He committed suicide?
- Exactly
Forgive me, I was asleep.
Can I have your identification?
I'll go and get the keys
I hope those aren't the keys
to the other hotel?
No, they're to my house
Here are your keys
t's our best room
Good night, Andrei
Your room is on the next floor
t's nice here
t's dark now, but
the countryside's pretty
There's the river, the mushrooms...
People keep coming back,
they often fall in love here
You and your boy-friend will like it
He's not my boy-friend
Go on, he's sad because he's in love
No, his mind's on other things
- Did you knock?
- I hadn't yet
Do you want to call Moscow?
You haven't talked to your wife
for two days
Andrei, get up. We'll be eating soon!
I'll be downstairs
It's lovely. St. Catherine
used to come here, too
I'm coming...
Excuse me, what does this Russian do?
He's a poet
- What's he writing?
- The biography of a Russian musician
Why in Italy?
This musician studied in Bologna
and came to these baths
- When?
- At the end of the 1700s
- Who was it? Tchaikovsky?
- No, his name was Sasnovsky
Didn