completely gone
from years of drinking too much.
So I decided to come here.
Work is the best remedy.
I'll restore this house, and no
more drinking for me.
Doctor's orders.
One last time, Seryozha.
No, don't drink!
Just a last toast to our reunion.
How beautiful the world is!
Hello? Sasha!
I'm the big bad wolf!
My daughter Sasha.
And my son Vladimir. He's in high
school.
How they've grown.
Try and catch me!
I'll catch you, wait and see!
I'll get you!
Who's that?
The forester's daughter.
Olenka Skvortsova.
- Is she the one you talked about?
- That's her.
She certainly looks pretty to make
her acquaintance.
You're right, Sergey Petrovich,
she's a remarkable girl.
And which one is the count?
The little man there,
with handlebar mustaches.
Hello! A storm coming!
Seryozha! Seryozha!
This is a real catastrophe!
We're being carried away!
I love the storm in early May,
With first spring thunder rolling!
- Is it good?
- Very good.
Good boy.
Go upstairs.
Please.
Come, sit with us.
May I introduce myself?
Sergey Petrovich Kamyshev.
My friend, Count Karneyev.
And this is... Kalidis.
Polychrony Arkadievich.
Shall I put the samovar on?
- Would you like some tea?
- Why not?
Excuse us
for bursting in on you like this.
The climate, you know.
The elements, so to speak.
You didn't expect it?
Poor little soaked sparrow.
Little soaked sparrow?
My compliments, Pyotr Yegorovich!
Bravo!
Good for you! Right to the point.
The figure belongs to the landowner
Madame Shaffer, our neighbour.
The head is mine. I pasted it on.
Do you like it?
Very much. Very, very much.
I'm afraid.
My mother was killed by lightning.
- Allow me to assist you.
- No, no, I can manage myself.
They even wrote about it
in the papers.
She was walking on the road crying.
She didn't have a very happy life
on this earth.
And God took pity on her and killed
her with His heavenly electricity.
How do you know
there's electricity there?
I went to school.
I know some French too.
And I also know that anybody who
is killed by lightning, or in a war,
or dies in childbirth,
goes to heaven.
That isn't written in any book,
but it's true.
My mother is up in heaven now.
You know, I feel I'll get killed by
a thunderbolt too some day,
and I'll also go to heaven.
- Are you an educated man?
- More or less.
You won't make fun of me, will you?
I'll tell you how I would like to die.
I'd put on a very expensive
fashionable dress
like the one I've seen on
the wealthy proprietress Shaffer.
I'd have rings on and bracelets.
I'd go up to the top of a high cliff
and let myself be hit by a stroke
of lightning.
So that all the people would see
my death and hear the thunder.
What a weird fantasy!
But you wouldn't want to die
in an ordinary dress?
No! Never!
And the people have to see me die.
Your coach has arrived, Your
Excellency, if you wish to leave.
- Who sent for the coach?
- I did, sir.
Oh, you did...
Alex!
It's a pity.
Au revoir, Mademoiselle.
Au revoir, Monsieur le Comte.
Time to go.
This way, please.
Pyotr Yegorovich did get rid of us,
didn't he? He looked dead jealous.
Yes, he called the coach
because he was jealous of us.
Snow on the roof, but hellfire
blazing in the house. After you.
And how did you like
her "guarding angel"?
A real hell-hound. She'd make a great
jail-keeper in our prisons.
Drive on.
Well, Seryozha...
This will be my very last
performance in your honour.
Not bad, eh?
Is that you, Tina?
Drink a little, Tina.
Accept it from a kind master.
Come on, Karpov!
Play something sad, Karpov.
Oh, my dear Polychrony Arkadievich...
Do you feel how life is deserting us,
a drop at a time?
Drip... drip... drip...
And all that's left to us
is these last few dregs.
Your Slavic soul is organized
so unwisely, Alexei Yurievich.
Very unwisely.
Light of my life...
Delight of my eyes...
Come to me,
come, come with me.
Olia!
Olia! Come to us!
Come with us!