born yet.
I would sooner feel affection
for my husband
when I see his likeness
in a child, his flesh and blood.
Help me, O Lord, help me...
To admit these feelings for
the father of my future child...
It's a sin! A sin!
- Have you delivered mail?
- Just as you said, sir.
- Is Masha in her room?
- She went up to the children's room.
Did you call me, father?
I was playing in the garden.
Sit down, Masha.
Prince Sergey Grigorievich Volkonsky
asks for your hand.
The prince is a fine man,
from a good family.
I'm sure you'll be happy with him.
I gave him my consent and I hope
you'll do likewise.
- But, father, I don't know him.
- The wedding's in a month. Now go.
My son is happy.
My husband is unhappy.
My place is beside my husband.
Marie!
What will happen to father, Marie?
What have we done to deserve all this?
I will curse you,
if you don't come back in a year.
Come back soon!
We all will be waiting for you, Masha!
She has shed not one tear.
She's the most remarkable woman
I've ever known.
Why not retire
and enjoy the family life,
raising children?
Dear Serge!
I haven't seen the Emperor
for a while, and I must admit
that my feelings toward him
have changed.
Should you see him, tell him
the princess remembers him.
You got more cheerful, dear cousin.
When you arrived in Italy,
you looked so sad.
Russian women
don't like to travel.
The Russian woman's attachment to
her home is unequaled.
The hot springs of Italy
did you a lot of good.
You won't believe me, but the doctor
has been so reassuring.
If we're to believe him, it won't be
a year before I can give Sergey
a little angel.
I'll pray for you.
...Tomorrow, my dear guest,
you must hear his opera.
Did you want to see me?
Here I am!
- I hope I didn't disturb you?
- No, I've finished already.
Don't forget: tonight
we're invited to the duchess.
Why sit here for no purpose?
He is not at home!
Whenever His Excellency gets ill,
he stays at his doctor's.
Getting all kinds of rubbings-in and
poultices. He can't travel after that.
He must be staying overnight there,
or he would've been here already.
You shouldn't have waited, Your
Excellency, it's night already.
Montesquieu. "Persian Letters".
I would have brought it to you.
Please!
Too bad I couldn't receive you again.
I'm not well, I only got up
because of an urgent matter.
Besides, as you know,
the Emperor's answer hasn't yet...
All right... all right...
I have no good news for you, Princess.
If I'm not mistaken, this is your
tenth visit here, isn't it?
Excuse me, the eleventh.
You see?.
Where's my letter, General?
Where's the paper I signed?
- Couldn't the answer get mislaid?
- Oh, no, the courier...
You see?
God knows I didn't want
to bother the Empress.
Pafnuti!
- The paper?
- Waiting, as you said.
Send it this week.
No, next week.
Shall I send it on Tuesday?
Friday.
Friday will be just right.
It will be just right on Friday.
Yes, yes, yes...
Friday is just right.
Or take the varieties
of Little Russia...
Or rennet, for example...
This was planted exactly in the year
that Masha was born.
What did my sister's nail mark here?
It's better to doubt nobility
than virtuousness.
A coal-miner's wife deserves more
respect than a prince's mistress.
How did you like the prince?
You aren't matchmaking for me,
dear brother, or are you?
Well, Prince Volkonsky is one of
the best eligible bachelors in Russia.
Maybe I'd better wait for a more
modest suitor. Why hurry?
I'd sooner run away than become
the wife of a titled dandy.
Grief's constant sister...
Grief's constant sister...
Hope is high...
Hope...
Hope...
Hope.
Doesn't he love his Fatherland who
makes sacrifices for his convictions,
who is ready to mount the scaffold
for them?
Doesn't he command respect
for the only reason
that he ventured a new
cause before its time came?
Let's go, Your Excellency.
Get in, be so kind.
Your Excellency!
I was ordered