electrically instead of manually,
you will never achieve the
proper aroma.
Diogenes lived in a barrel.
Why should one care where one
lives!
I am convinced, however, that in
his life there were certain
elements of perfection.
Perhaps he prepared an ideal
coffee, or drank the best wine.
To attain knowledge, one does
not need to live in a palace.
One should, however,
periodically measure the quality
of one's thought process
against other paradigms of
quality.
Master, I've come to share a
secret.
I have applied for emigration.
Psychologists at Harvard once
conducted an experiment.
They took some rats and placed
them in a labyrinth with tunnels
leading to various rooms.
These rooms contained everything
essential to rat happiness.
There were rooms with food,
rooms for sex.
One of the tunnels led to a
so-called "unexplored space".
The rats had no way of knowing
what lay beyond this opening,
since no rat ever returned from
there.
Still, fifteen percent of the
rats would inevitably go into
the "unexplored space".
They were terrified of it.
They shook with fear.
Their fur would stand on end,
they would experience
uncontrollable urine releases,
they would howl - but, still,
they would go.
As it turns out both you and I
belong to this fifteen percent.
Except that in our case the
Great Experimenter has exercised
his sophisticated sense of humor
and placed two labyrinths side
by side,
calling the door connecting them
"unexplored space"..
It so happens that the presence
of rats from "unexplored space"
does not change the magical
number of fifteen percent
and what we end up with is a
perpetual exchange of
urine-releasing bravadoes...
So,if they let you go, we will
never see each other again?
Who can tell. Maybe you could
visit me there.
Or I could come here.
I think not. Rats do not return
from "unexplored space".
That's one of the givens of the
experiment.
Otherwise, how "unexplored"
would it be?
SASHA (VOICE-OVER):
Had it turned out that Gross was
wrong?
Was I really now back in Moscow?
Was I really going in the car
with my girl friend Jill to the
State Film Studio
to help her to negotiate with
the Head of the Production,
desperately desiring to get
somewhere a sip of vodka,
something that in Moscow I left
17 years ago
was in such abundance as water
in the ocean?
What's the matter?
What does all this madness about
vodka mean?
Gorbachev started a war against
Russian traditional alcoholism
and now there is something which
looks like limited prohibition.
I have with me a famous American
physicist.
Good for Russians and bad for
me.
You should have called this morning,
we could have got you a table.
We can't do anything just now. We
take reservations ten days in advance.
I wish he'd take us to the
Studio already, and disappear.
My friend! The American doesn't
wish to have a table at all.
All he wants is a bottle of vodka. And
he's willing to pay ten times your price.
Well, that's normal. That's what
everyone pays.
It's funny. When I used to live
here everybody couldn't manage
without drinking but me.
Now I am back and desperately need
a drink, there's a vodka shortage.
There you are. You can get anything
in Moscow, it just takes know-how.
Our organization is called
"Success"
and in our joint venture, we are
guaranteed success.
But I am not a businessman.
We'll put together a group of
Soviet scientists
who'll generate scientific ideas
for sale and develop ideas
generated by American clients.
We'll make lots of hard
currency.
Excuse me. Aren't we going to
the studio?
The Head of production is
expecting me there.
He'll wait. His studio is not a
private company like mine.
It's a government agency - no
one does any work there anyway.
#
They say our studio is not up to
world's standards in terms of equipment.
That is not so.
Right now, for example, we're
shooting ten films simultaneously.
Take a look at this!