Time and space are not
homogeneous.
In the life of every
civilization, every country,
every nation and every person
there are special places and
special points of time -
unusually important, crucial
points.
In my life this special moment,
which I'll never forget,
happened in Moscow, Russia, in
the spring of 1992,
right after the fall of
Communism.
I came back to my native town after
Moscow was in turmoil, so was I.
Allow me to introduce myself:
Alexander Greenberg.
That spring I was turning 50 -
time to gather stones.
And it just so happened that at
an International Congress on the
"structure of the universe"
was taking place in Moscow at
the moment.
I am an astrophysicist, so are
most of the people important for me.
My entire tiny little world was
getting together in the city of
my youth.
So I've decided to come to the
city to face my past
and to reevaluate my life.
At the point it seemed to be a
sound idea.
I was eager to reevaluate.
Reevaluate everything.
Not only my own life but also
life of all the other beings
populating our planet.
After lunch we will begin our
regular sessions, but right now,
before we take a break, we would
like to show you a short film.
This film is not a scientific
film,
but it does include some footage
of our space research,
as well as some visual
references
abstracted from the works of
numerous astrophysicists.
May we have the shades drawn,
please.
Let me introduce to you the main
characters of our story.
That woman who keeps looking my
way is Helen.
She is my wife. Or, if you
prefer, ex-wife.
In any event, she is always
threatening to leave me.
I need a life. I need a real
life before I am too old.
What's so bad about our life?
You call this a life? Right!
And sometimes she does leave,
for a time.
But it looks like she still
cares for me.
My drinking seems to worry her.
Well, she had never seen me
drinking so much before.
The creator of the film you are
about to see,
Jill Stratton, is with us today.
Do you see the beautiful lady
standing by the camera?
That is miss Stratton herself.
"The beautiful lady standing by
the camera" is my lover, Jill.
Not that we're really lovers.
Not now, anyway.
Sasha, what's the matter? I
don't understand.
Don't you?
And that is Natasha. In a way,
she is also my lover. Ex.
Go. Leave Russia. Your place is
out there.
What about you?
What about me?
Even though we are very old friends,
our intimate relationship was
brief.
As for the past seventeen years,
we not only haven't seen each other,
but have not even corresponded.
But I didn't correspond with
anyone in Russia.
While the room is being engulfed
by darkness,
I would like to read a brief
passage from John Milton's
"Paradise Lost".
In this passage, the angel Raphael
is speaking to Adam and Eve.
The imposing gentleman at the podium,
is my professor, Doctor Gross.
I have not seen Henrich Gross
for the past 17 years either.
"...To ask or search I blame
thee not;
for Heaven Is as the Book of God
before thee set,
Wherein to read his wondrous
works, and learn His seasons,
hours, or days, or months, or
years.
the rest from Man or Angel the
great Architect
Did wisely to conceal, to move
His laughter at their quaint
opinions wide Hereafter,
when they come to model Heaven,
And calculate the stars."
I remember one of my last
meetings with Gross
before I left Russia.
Continue your cosmological
research for God, and make the
bomb - for Caesar.
Well for the last seventeen years
both of us each in the country
of his choice
kept calculating the stars for
God and building bombs for the
Caesars of our choice.
In the past two decades,
a microscopic flash of time,
we have been able to reveal so
many secrets of the Great Architect
that we cannot look at footage
reflecting the results
of this change without utter
fascination.
It is debatable how long the
Great Architect can continue to
conceal his secrets.
If we may remind him of the old
saying: "He who laughs last
laughs longest."
As in the old days Gross was
challenging God himself.
I must admit, I was surprised to
see how little he has changed.
Perhaps he has discovered the
fountain of youth.
The city beyond the windows is
my city,
although until the commencement
of our story
I have been away from it for
seventeen years.
I was born in this city, and I
lived here for many years.
It is a living entity to me, so
I hope you are not surprised
that I introduce it as one of
the characters of this film.
And this is my planet - Earth.
On the grand astrophysical
scale,
a place just as small and cozy
as one's home town.
Earth is also one of our
characters.
Ah, Home, Sweet Home. One does
not choose one's homeland.
Our Universe. The way we "model
heaven and calculate the stars"
on our computers.
I have spent my whole life
trying to understand what limits
there are,
and what lies beyond them.
Striving to break through the
Iron Curtain hung by God Himself.
Why did you walk out on my film?
I have seen it many times
before.
Why did you walk out on your own
film?
I have seen it too. You're
trying to escape so you can keep
getting drunk?
You promised to come help me at
the studio.
But you're shooting.
I'm done for the day. Wait here,
I'll tell Lynn to pack up alone.
Sasha? Sasha Greenberg?
Oh, you don't recognize me!
It's me - Kostya Ruemin!
Remember?
It's a shame to forget your
friends!
Let's get together! My wife will make
a good dinner. We'll have a good time.
Excuse me. I am sorry. We
haven't been introduced, but I
know who you are.
I need to discuss something with
you. My name is Victor Krymsky.
They're all are over him.
I'm afraid he's going to drink
himself into oblivion, and his
speech is tomorrow.
It's wonderful
Sasha, how's tomorrow?
He said he'd come to the studio
with me. To help me negotiate
to the Head of production.
OK, if he's with you, he'll be
fine.
Okay, Sasha, let's go.
Hello. My name is Victor
Krymsky.
I have a business proposal to
discuss with Mister Greenberg.
Sasha!! I heard you were here.
I just dropped everything and
here I am!
That's great! That's great!
Don't forget. Tomorrow!
Sasha, we really have to go.
We'll miss the Head of production.
I'm the president of
cooperative"Knowledge".
Do you have a car?
I'll drive you.
We would like to discuss the
possibility of working with you.
Excuse me, mister Greenberg is
going to a very important
meeting right now.
Sasha, How's tomorrow?
I'm Lomova! Asya Lomova! Could
I really have aged so much?
This is my second day in Moscow.
So far, I haven't managed to
sleep a wink, or to have a
single moment to myself.
Helen and I were met at the airport
by my old friends Tolik and
Natasha, and, also, Jill.
Jill was already deep into her new
environmental documentary project,
so she came to Moscow earlier
than last week in search of
footage and co-producers.
The whole gang is so excited!
Greenberg is coming!
He was the first we knew who
emigrated, and now he is the
first who came back.
Hard to believe it is really
happening.
It seems as if all of Moscow has
nothing else to talk about.
Natasha was the prettiest girl
in the entire physics department
so, obviously, everybody
gravitated towards her.
Every holiday we would gather at
her parents' house.
Each of us fell in love with
her, more or less.
Oh, It's rare for a woman to be
studying physics.
Especially one like you...
It was the same at Harvard.
My parents are still alive, they
remember you.
They want to have a party
Wednesday for the whole gang in
honor of your visit.
Like old times.
When I left Moscow 17 years
before this moment
I had no inkling or even hope that
I would come back here for a visit.
Back then for the first time in
decades,
a door had been cracked open in
the Soviet Union's Iron Curtain.
Of all the soviet citizens some Jews
were allowed to leave the country
to supposedly to unite with
their families in Israel.
And everybody knew if you were
lucky and could leave,
you'd become "an emigrant" to
those left behind.
Officially this word sounded
like "An enemy of Russia".
You would never be able to see your
birthplace and your friends again.
But recently, under
"Perestroika" (Restructuring)
my friends were permitted again
to consider me their friend.
Hello.
It's for you. You've been
traced, already.
The following day consisted of
three dinners and four suppers.
Everybody wanted to see the man
returned from beyond.
From where no one they knew had
ever returned before.
They wanted to see but strangely
enough not to hear.
They were no longer interested
in the outside world.
Too many things were happening
in their own.
They just elected the first
president of Russia Boris Yeltsin
and said good-bye to the father
of "Perestroika"
the president of disintegrated
USSR Mikhail Gorbachev.
Did you vote for Yeltsin?
Yes...
How could you?! Just wait till
you've made him a dictator,
he'll show you.
You have a better alternative?
You fear there may be a civil
war. Well, it's already here.
Gorbachev was the greatest
leader of our time!
Look at what he's done in
Eastern Europe!
Gorbachev is the same as the
rest, only weaker!
He couldn't revive the economy, he
couldn't give freedom to the republics!
Gorbachev is a man of compromise,
a politician without principle.
He cannot be trusted. I don't know
why Americans are so fond of him!
Americans consider compromise a
virtue.
Anyway imagine if Gorbachev went
ahead with his reforms without
compromise, and we'd have chaos.
It seems to me we are on the
verge of a collapse.
Perestroika is dead!
Perestroika has just begun.
Perestroika never had a chance.
No one knows how to work
anymore.
Lazy, spoiled slaves, all of
them!
Master.
All day I waited for your call -
it never came.
Tried calling - No answer.
If the mountain won't come to Mohammed,
Mohammed will come to the mountain.
Give me a hug. Ahh.
What's this?
Couldn't we just unplug it?
No, you're not in America.
Telephones do not unplug here.
That would create too much
difficulty for those listening in.
So, disciple?
Do you think you've won our
argument?
Do you think the time has come
for the rats to return from
"unexplored space"?
They certainly think so and they
get so exited.
A human person has broken an
"iron curtain" twice.
Fourth and back! This is an
event.
And, it is morning, and it is
officially your birthday.
Congratulations.
Gross was not your average
Soviet physicist.
He had come from America.
He had participated in the
creation of the nuclear bomb.
America dropped this bomb on the
Japanese.
It was the age of McCarthyism
Gross did not wish to serve the
imperialist war mongers.
In 1948 he escaped to a "free
country" - the Soviet Union.
The "free country" at that time
had twenty million of its
citizens imprisoned in labor camps.
Gross managed to avoid the labor
camp only because the "free country"
desperately needed those who
knew how to build bombs.
Of course, physicists did not
defect from the Soviet Union.
The borders of the "free
country" were well guarded.
After six months in the Soviet
Union, Gross married his housekeeper -
a virtually illiterate country
woman.
His colleagues were shocked by
the marriage.
But Gross lived with her for
many years
and always seemed perfectly
satisfied with the union.
Good coffee demands precise
preparation.
If, for example, you grind it
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?
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
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!
I'm so pleased you've come to
help your girl-friend, but, as
you can see,
it is not an interpreter she needs.
I know enough English for that.
It is a more delicate matter,
She wants to do a co-production.
Okay. Great. I'm all for a
co-production.
She needs some specific
documentary material.
Fine. We'll get it for her, but
not all of it. But something.
But now she's asking to see our
copyright to this material.
What copyright?
I talked to every attorney in
Moscow - no one knows whether we
have this copyright or not.
What's a copyright anyway?
Don't take it personal, but it's
so difficult to work with Americans!
Sex and Jews are our two most
popular subjects today.
Everyone wants to film what used
to be forbidden.
These Jewish looking actors
never used to have any work -
now they're all hot property.
Everyone of them is under three
or four contracts at once.
They're the envy of all other
actors.
Unfortunately, I have to tell you
that there is no mistake in our lists.
You have not been accepted to
the Physics/Math Department.
But isn't there a law that says
everyone graduating high school
with a gold medal
must be accepted without
entrance examinations?
Why wasn't I accepted? Because
I am a Jew?
Have enough courage to tell me
the truth!
Sit down. You snotnose!!
I am not the least bit afraid to
tell you that you weren't
accepted because you're a Jew.
Because we have twice as many
applicants like you - Jews with
gold medals -
than there are spots available
at the University!
And even if I followed the law
and turned this institution one
hundred percent Jewish,
there would still be no place
for you, personally.
I am prepared to take the
examinations along with the
other applicants.
That I cannot forbid you to do.
May I answer right away, without
preparation?
Are you sure you do not want to
think over your answer first?
I got lucky.
I pulled my favorite question.
Well, what is that question?
The modern concept of the
structure of the Universe.
All right, then. Let's hear
what you know about this.
The modern concept of the
structure of the Universe
is based upon Einstein's general
theory of relativity.
In 1917, the same year that the
Great October Revolution took
place in our own country,
another revolution also took
place.
Einstein claimed that all three
of the space Dimensions were curved
and that a spaceship travelling
in the same direction for a long
enough period of time
would return to its point of
origin.
In 1922, the Soviet
mathematician Alexander Friedman
offered another model.
In his model, the Universe
expands.
Expansion began at a point.
All of of today's models allow
for an expanding Universe.
Although I must add that not all
scientists are pleased with this.
I am not sure I like it either.
The idea of the Universe
appearing from nothing
and perishing into collapse is
somewhat unnerving to me.
How is it possible?
Did the Universe begin at the
point?
Did matter evolve from nothing?
What was there before the
creation of the Universe?
Do you know, young man, that
that particular question has
already been answered?
Long before the birth of Albert
Einstein.
No, I didn't. By whom?
By St. Augustine.
And what, in his opinion, was there
before the creation of the Universe?
In his opinion, before the
creation of the Universe
there was already a hell for
those asking such questions.
But you are a world-renowned
physicist.
So what? There are no positions
available at the University for
head of project.
Shiffman will not have me.
He has already let too many Jews
into his school,
he's a Jew himself, he's afraid
to let anyone else in.
Logov has never let Jews in and
is not about to start now
and Sarkisian is far too poor.
I will not be able to continue
my research there.
There really is no place for me
to go.
The only one who wants me is
Burkov.
So, where is the problem?
Go work for Burkov.
He has plenty of money and
you'll be able to continue your
research.
Burkov is making the bomb.
And what of that?
Do you really believe that if
you refuse to make it, it will
not be made?
I suffered under that illusion
in my youth as well,
the end result of which was that
I helped build the bomb both
here and over there.
You cannot stop progress, Sasha.
There will always be someone
willing to use scientific discovery
to further causes of evil.
What does that mean?
That science should be outlawed?
Do you think that if you don't
work for Burkov now,
some other Burkov in the future
will not find a way
to use your achievements for
more efficient warfare?
Or something even worse?
If that's the case, why not just
quit altogether?
I am only interested in the
structure of the Universe.
Why can't I be left alone to
study it?
Be left alone - in Burkov's
employ.
Even Christ, that shining beacon
of morality,
preached to "render unto Caesar
the things which are Caesar's
and unto God the things which
are God's".
Continue your cosmological
research for God,
and make the bomb - for Caesar.
I had another alternative in
mind - emigration.
At nights, I wandered the
streets,
saying goodbye to my beloved
city.
That summer in Moscow was hit
with an unprecedented heat wave.
The sidewalks practically melted
under one's feet.
The streets in Moscow were
swirled in acrid smog.
All around the city underground
swamps were on fire.
The "refusniks" would jokingly
remark that the Egyptian plagues
had begun.
Applying for emigration was
risky.
One might never get permission
to leave and be forced to remain
in Russia an outlaw -
"a refusnik" with your career
and life ruined.
Still I wasn't afraid. Somehow I
was sure of my luck.
Our committee reviewed your
application to change your
permanent place of residence
to the country of Israel and
decided that permission should
not be granted.
On what grounds?
On the grounds that you were
involved in classified work.
But the Institute where I worked
was not classified.
You cannot know that.
Our committee only can know
which organizations are
classified and which aren't.
I suggest you find some other
work.
You may return to us in not less
than three years.
What will happen if I find work
and in three years
you again decide that it is
classified?
Then you will again be refused.
The woman who works for me has all
the footage you are looking for.
She shot it herself, so there won't
be any problem with the copyright.
Let's go right now to the
editing room in my church.
In 15 minutes we are expected to
be at the Congress banquet.
Then you'll come to my place tomorrow
first thing in the morning. Agree?
Ladies and gentlemen! We have a
very special guest with us today!
For those of you who don't know,
he like many others,
had to leave us during the years
of stagnation.
And he is the first of
immigrants we knew, who has come
back to visit us.
It is Sasha Greenberg!
This is especially difficult for
me,
as you all know Greenberg is my
pupil.
But treason is treason.
Therefore, we'll all have to
tear the traitor from our hearts.
I confess I should have
exercised more foresight,
I should have recognized
Greenberg as a future traitor
right away. I am guilty.
I only hope never to repeat this
mistake.
We are proud of Sasha's success
in America,
his achievements are ours, for
he is flesh of our flesh and
blood of our blood.
All the more joyous this day,
when we can again be together.
Sasha, come over to my house!
You can't refuse, I've already
got a lamb!
Does anyone else want to say
anything?
Comrades, comrades, what is
happening here?
Greenberg wants to emigrate to
Israel
and professor Gross can find
nothing better than to accuse
him of treason?!
Of course, we all know that
Greenberg is a traitor.
Our nation fed him, nourished
Greenberg, spent money for his
education,
and now he wants to emigrate to
Israel,
to give his knowledge to our
imperialistic enemies,
to the enemies of the all
progressive humankind!
Comrades, I think we should
petition the authorities not to
allow this!
Greenberg's place is not Israel,
it's prison!
What do you think about that?
You, Tolik Gurov!
You used to be his friend!
Come up here!
Tell us what you think!
This is true. Sasha was my
friend... I am sorry...
Who could have known?
Who could have guessed?
I will try to not have friends
again... I mean, such friends.
This is better, with the water.
In case it's bugged.
You're not mad at me, are you?
He just left me no choice.
It doesn't matter what I say.
You're leaving anyway.
I'm the one who has to stay
here...
Maybe I should leave too?
What do you think?
Just because Galileo publicly
denied his beliefs,
the Earth did not stop orbiting
the Sun.
It is all, like Hamlet said,
words, words, words.
Thanks.
For what?
For being the only one to not
say anything.
Was I?
Yes.
It's alright. It's just a
ritual, anyway. No one really
thinks like that.
Yeah. Right.
Want to come over? I have some
vodka... OK? Let's go.
No shame! No shame at all!
Now they're bringing men to the rooms...
Oh, wait till I call the police.
Don't pay any attention.
She's totally harmless.
You know, I was in love with you
our freshmen year.
I suspected it.
Why didn't you say something?
Everybody was in love with you.
Swarms of Casanovas...
I was too shy.
Shall we drink to your
departure, yeah?
It's a little strange -
everybody wanted to be with you
and you're still not married.
Yeah, I'm too picky.
Why aren't you married?
I guess I'm too picky also.
To the picky ones.
You may stay here, if you want.
It's hard to believe you're
leaving us.
We'll never see each other
again. "Never".
Never-never-never-never
It's a strange word...Never.
It's not definite yet.
I'm the first PhD physicist to
apply for emigration. They may
not let me out.
Oh, you will leave.
And a good thing too.
You'll be happy there...
Just don't try being noble right
now and asking me to marry you
so we could leave together.
My life's already planned out.
I'll never make a good wife, I'm afraid.
I can't serve astrophysics and a
man too at the same time.
I would like to have a baby,
though...
and I think sometimes: what if I
pick one of you guys, one of the
best, and get pregnant.
I would hide it from the father,
of course.
It's easier to care for a child without
having to care for a man too, huh?
So, there is theory in your
solitude.
Well, then, in mine too.
I have thought of leaving many
times,
I just couldn't figure out how.
I've thought of defecting even.
What would I do with a wife?
It's just pure luck for me that
emigration started when it did...
What? Oh, are you afraid I'm going
to try and get pregnant right now?
Don't worry. Not tonight.
Do you like her?
She is my daughter.
You see, I did it.
I had a child and I raised her
without a husband.
I had this certain plan.
Sasha knew about it.
Doesn't her father know he has a
daughter?
I didn't tell him.
And her?
I didn't tell her either.
Once, when she got especially
persistent, I told her she
couldn't meet him anyway.
She wanted to know why. I said,
"because he is an American".
She got stuck on the idea, she tells
everyone her father is an American,
she speaks to everybody in
English...
So it goes.
Is he actually American?
In a way.
Let me introduce you two.
Sasha, Jill, this is Elena.
Elena, as you know, Sasha is my
old friend.
Mom has told me lots about you.
And not just Mom.
You're sort of a legend around
here.
To my surprise, I am discovering
this for myself.
As well as some other things.
Why did you name her Elena?
Why not?
I see you've met my namesake.
We've become quite good friends
in the past few days.
I don't have any friends!
I'm sorry.
Don't take it personally.
I really don't have any friends.
Why don't you have friends,
Elena?
Do you?
As a matter of fact, yes.
That's just because you're
American.
Around here, we don't do that.
What nonsense you're saying!
Don't you know how many friends
I have?
I know. That's why I said it.
She's so difficult lately.
Adolescence, you know.
Comrades! Comrades! Ladies and
Gentlemen!
Sasha Greenberg is not the only
old friend we are greeting today
after years of separation!
There is another person, well
known to most of you here,
whom we haven't seen in just as
many years as Sasha.
Friends, let us drink to the
ever beautiful Helen of Troy!
Excuse me, are you... Helen
Preston?
Yes, yes I am.
You called... Asked me to
come... Here I am.
I am Sasha Greenberg.
Of course! Of course! You're
the famous Greenberg!
Famous? How?
The first physicist refusenik.
The freedom fighter.
So, you came over from America
on an exchange program?
Citizen, you are violating laws
here.
Let's see your pass!
You've been fired from this
institute.
You should've turned in your
pass a long time ago.
I'll be leaving in a few
minutes.
What few minutes?
Chromov, Come on, take his other
arm!
Sasha!
This is a serious offense.
This is a scientific facility, we
have classified information here.
Lucky for us, a comrade called
and informed us.
Otherwise, we'd be taking the
heat for this.
Is that the spy?
Let's have him!
Sasha, I will be behind you.
You're Greenberg?
I am.
You can go.
Why was I detained?
Why don't you ask your buddies
at the institute.
Suddenly, there's this racket -
spy, spy, spy!
The director of the institute
says "he's no spy".
So go on, get out of here before
someone else gives an opinion!
Oh, thank God, it's you!
I called the embassy, I called
Gross.
I guess Gross he must have got
through to them. Thanks.
Did you know this could happen
if you showed up?
I didn't entirely discount the
possibility.
So why did you come?
You asked me to.
Until the end of last century,
Moscow was a completely unique city.
All green and white, yellow and
gold.
Hills were covered with gardens,
white and yellow mansions
and palaces with green roofs
drowning in the gardens,
golden domes crowning churches
and cathedrals..
So, you were saying that your
experiments support my hypothesis?
Now, if gamma is less than one
you must increase the mass by a
factor of two.
Right. But gamma is more than
one in this case.
Can we see your house from here?
My house? Ah, it's over there.
You see the yellow high-rises
right behind there.
Let's go there?
God, I've never felt so happy.
Happy Birthday!
You gonna let me in?
Of course... Come in, I didn't
invite anyone.
Didn't plan anything.
Thanks for remembering.
You're not supposed to invite
anyone.
A birthday party should only be
for those who remember.
You think anyone remembers me
now?
We'll see about that.
You see! And you said no one
would remember!
Oh, Sasha! Happy birthday!
Sasha, I want to make a toast!
I'd like to talk to you in
private.
Right now? OK, go ahead.
I want to make a toast!
Where's Natasha?
Where's Helen of Troy?
I'll get them.
I want to tell you I'm in love
with Sasha.
I want everything to be in the
open between us.
Wonderful! Why tell me, of all
people?
Because I thought you were
together.
Sasha and I are old friends.
If you mean sex, then, yes, we
did sleep together... once.
You have my permission.
Even if I were in love with him,
maybe even he with me,
I would still tell you to go
ahead.
Why?
Because Sasha's destiny is not
with me.
There is nothing I can do to
help him, but you can.
What about you?
Don't you wanna leave?
No, It's very hard for a woman to
attain any sort of position in science.
I've achieved a lot here and
Gross appreciates me.
And anyway where would I go?
For what?
Where the hell did everybody go?
I want to make a toast already.
Your application is accepted.
The trial period is three
months.
Come back in three months and we
will marry you.
Three months! What do you mean,
in three months?
Her visa expires in two weeks!
Couldn't you speed it up, in
view of the circumstances?
Young man, we do not make
exceptions or "speed things up"!
The law is the same for
everybody!
I know their tricks. You won't
be able to get a visa for longer
than a month
and we'll never be able to get
married.
Fine! I'll contact the Senate.
I'm going to get you out of here!
The American Senate? What does
it have to do with anything?
Everything.
Sasha, this is Rabbi Katz, this
is Sasha.
Shalom.
Shalom.
The rabbi has kindly agreed to
marry us.
But you're not even Jewish!
Now I am. I converted.
Soviet authorities will not
recognize a marriage performed
by an American rabbi.
But the American Senate will, and
I think the American people will.
And then we'll see what your
authorities will have to say.
It was my mother's...
Who knows what's hidden inside
this little figurine.
Who is this?
That was my father. He was killed
in 1945. That's his last picture.
Pictures of military uniforms are
forbidden to leave the country.
But it's from World War Two!
I don't make up the laws. You can
leave it behind or I can cut it.
Go ahead. Cut.
Do you think you've outwitted
the experimenters and returned
from unexplored space?
I wasn't thinking that at all,
Master.
On the contrary, you were right
all along:
one does not return from
unexplored space.
I have merely made another pass
into a new unexplored space.
How long's it been since you've
been here?
Seventeen years.
I'll bet you can't wait to see
your friends!
I can't.
They're gonna tell you how great
everything has become, how
things have changed.
Don't believe them. Our lives
are still pretty hard.
You're a guest? Go right ahead,
I'm not even going to open it.
Go on, your friends are waiting.
Your labyrinth has changed so much,
I can't keep a sense of reality.
I have a persistent feeling I'm
in a dream.
Reality can get a little hazy
when one consumes such vast
amounts of alcohol.
That's why I drink, partially,
to regain a sense of reality.
Reality!
Obviously this word still had
some clear meaning for Gross.
As for me, all such words as
reality, logic, sanity,
time, place lost their sense a
long time ago.
It's amazing. Can I really live here?
Can you really be my wife?
I'm really your wife, and I have
some news for you.
We're going to have a baby!
She found him? Thank God.
Where was he?
What happened?
Brenda lost the baby!
She found him.
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
I'm coming.
I'm going to have to quit my
job.
If that's what you really want.
I don't think I have a choice.
I, I used to get so angry
whenever people said
women they only go to college to
get husbands,
but, maybe, they were right.
Daddy has to stay home and work
today and tomorrow too...OK?
We'll play later. I have to work
on the phone.
Anything?
No, it's useless. There are no
open positions anywhere.
How about universities? They are
always looking for someone.
Not all universities have the
means and facilities I need to
continue working on my model.
So, now what?
I don't know.
Hughes wants to hire me.
He keeps calling back.
He's got tons of money.
I remember once you preferred
emigration
to working for the military.
Yes, I had somewhere to emigrate
then.
Oh well, if it's a chance for
you to keep working on your
model, how can I say "no"?
By the way, he is paying triple
of what I get now.
I'm, I'm so tired. So much work
in the house.
God, if you only knew how much I
hate you!
I hate your face, I hate your
voice, I hate the air you breathe!
But most of all I hate that
Universe of yours that consumes
absolutely everything.
It sucked away every single drop
of my life! I've had it.
You go sacrifice somebody else's
life for it.
Just go! Worship it.
Go, go! Fuck it for all I care!
Have fun!
I love you. You know that.
Me?! You love me?!
The only thing you worship is
your Universe and your own mind.
Yes? Yes, this is... Sasha
Greenberg.
You called before, right?
I remember.
You're making a film about
science.
Your wife?
Umm... maybe not.
What does that mean?
It means that I am not sure.
I am afraid I can't give you
definite answers on everything,
not even science.
So, be forewarned.
Scientific progress is a pretty
ambiguous concept.
After Hiroshima, it is very
fashionable to give up science.
It may have been a sixties'
cliche.
But you didn't give up?
I know that and smoking and
drinking are bad for me, but I
haven't given them up.
Besides, I've already mentioned
an ambiguity, an uncertainty.
Science has done a lot of good
too.
So, if I understand you
correctly,
that a science is much like the
presence of your wife:
a definite "maybe". Agree?
Agree. What're you. Would you
like to have dinner with me?
Maybe... There is a certain ambiguity
involved here, an uncertainty.
And you do not approve?
Strangely enough, I kind of like
it.
The Universe is boundless.
Imagine that on a small planet
orbiting a tertiary star,
one of billions of such stars in
an insignificant galaxy,
a group of microscopic creatures
dares to grasp in their minds
the entire extent of the
Universe!
Let us drink to ourselves,
friends,
the most daring representatives
of the daring race of humankind!
What's there to be proud of?
Man's a dirty animal!
The only species with the bent
and ability to self-destruct,
taking the rest of the planet
with it!
I know, I know. Our atmosphere
is polluted.
Our waters are poisoned.
Entire species of animals are
being annihilated!
We are living on a bomb with the
lit fuse, and still we dare to
be proud of ourselves!
And all human family values and
social traditions have collapsed.
For real, do you have a wife or
not?
In the past two years, she's
left four times and come back
three times.
And why?
Why did she come back? We have
a son together, I asked her to...
and, I guess, she does love me.
Why'd she leave?
She says I ruined her career.
She was a scientist before I...
before she had the baby and quit
work to stay home.
You're a male chauvinist?!
Bullshit! I hate those labels!
For the past two years she's
been working anyway.
And before that she's always
done what she's wanted.
I've yet to see a married woman
who does whatever she wants!
You two should get along
splendidly.
My God! You're so beautiful!
Are you Helen?
Nice to meet you. I'm Jill.
In eighteen years, he's never once
said thank you for anything I've done!
What're you talking about?
Did you thank me every time I
came home with a paycheck?
It's ridiculous.
No, it's not. You earned your
paycheck doing what you loved best!
What did I get for my work?!
You've done what women have done
for centuries.
You're such a Male chauvinist!
I never asked for your
sacrifices.
You wanted me to give up my
career!
To compromise all my principles
and live on blood money you got
for making bombs!
Nobody, absolutely nobody forced
you into any of it!
Besides, if you want to talk
about sacrifices, you should
try eating one of your dinners!
I'm an astrophysicist Sasha.
I'm not your cook!
So be an astrophysicist!
Nobody's stopping you.
Professor, you know how much
respect I have for you,
but there is something I wish to
steal.
It is Sasha?
The very one.
Will you permit me?
What can I do?
I can refuse you nothing.
Thank you, professor.
It's so stuffy in here. Let's go
outside for a few minutes.
Come on, let's go.
We'll be back in a minute.
It's right around here.
Moscow. The familiar city of my youth,
and at the same time completely
different.
We've been driving for half an
hour.
A whole half hour without
alcohol.
It might actually be good for
your health.
I hoped to find here the answers
to the questions
I am struggling with, instead
I've got more questions.
Will I manage to find answers to
them?
And this is where we live these
days.
When my daughter was born, I
applied for a new place.
It took three years. You remember
my old communal apartment -
what a rough time I had with
Elena there.
Now we have two rooms. It's
pretty far, but it's alright.
The Metro is fast.
Is Elena coming right back?
Uh uh. She is spending the
night at her grandparents'.
There's your vodka.
Is she my daughter?
What difference does it make?
What do you mean, what
difference? I want to know.
Don't bother asking, I'm not
going to tell you anyway.
Let's drink to the mysteries in
life, um?
Natasha, wait...
Don't say a word, Sasha. I am
not blind, I have seen your
harem of women.
Look at me. Look at me.
My body is just as good as
twenty years ago.
Aren't you happy I brought you
here?
Tomorrow we'll dance the tango
at my parents'.
You won't believe this. All the
old records are still there.
Nothing has changed at their
house.
Do you remember the old church
next door?
The one that used to be all
nailed up?
We used to sneak in at night?
It's being restored.
It looks like new.
We'll go there,
I'll show you around.
Mom! It's me.
This girl. She did not even
exist when I left.
Everyone hardly changed at all,
but out of nowhere,
as if out of sea foam - there
she was.
There was something mystical
about that.
Don't come in here.
I am not alone.
I know you're not.
Why did you come back then?
It's my house too.
It is. Now go to sleep, darling.
All my days in Moscow I couldn't
stop thinking about Elena
and, look, here she was.
Now she will move furniture all
night long.
The presence of this girl
was definitely changing my
perception of the world.
Do you know how it is in science
fiction,
when you return from a trip to
the past
to find out you accidentally
changed something?
Both your past and your present
are no longer yours.
They may seem the same at first
glance,
but you look closer and no -
there is this girl.
So, you inevitably start
re-examining everything else,
including yourself.
We cannot be the same, life
cannot go on as before.
Good morning.
Good morning. Although I am not
sure it is morning yet.
I've wanted to talk to you.
Let's walk.
Sure, let's. After all, what
else is there to do around here
at this time?
Oh, sure. In America, you can
probably go to a cafe at three
in the morning,
at 5 in the morning, at 7
o'clock.
Yes.
I hate it! I hate all of this.
Because there aren't any cafes?
Because there isn't any life.
Don't make jokes, sir.
Do you think you're my father?
I don't really know.
What do you think?
I don't know. But I don't think
so.
According to my papers, I am
sixteen.
Which means that you left at least
six months before she got pregnant.
Of course, she could've forged
them.
Who?
My mother. She can do anything.
You're so harsh.
I hate her.
She is an old lying bitch.
Well, obviously our perspectives
are a little different.
Want to know what I think of
your mother?
Yeah.
She's a lovely, talented woman.
A hard worker. Alone, she
managed not only to have a
career in science,
but to raise you as well.
That's a miracle in itself.
Through all this she's retained
a youthful sense of romanticism.
You call her a liar, but I'd
rather think of her as romantic.
Because she lies? Yeah?
We were talking about tomorrow.
You know what she wants to do?
She was dreaming of showing me
an old church.
I'm sure. She takes all her men
to that stupid church.
She's been there a thousand
times.
You are cruel.
You're cruel! Don't you see?
If you loved her even a little
bit, you wouldn't make her sound
like such a saint.
I don't think I understand.
And what do you do understand?
I want to tell you about myself.
I grew up under the portrait of
a man I never met.
He was a hero, they said.
A man who wasn't afraid to apply
for emigration when his chances
were nil.
But mostly, he was going to
conquer the Universe.
A genius. The new Einstein.
Kiss me.
Not like that. For real.
Elena.
You're supposed to know how to
take a risk.
This is my cab. Yours is the
next one. See you tomorrow.
Hi.
Morning.
Were you waiting for me?
Yeah. You want to get some
sleep?
It's already morning.
Why bother?
What do you want most of all
right now?
Seriously?
Absolutely.
An interesting question.
There's no rush.
Think about it.
I'd really like to see the house
where I grew up.
Something has definitely changed
here.
I can't believe this.
We're finally alone.
To think that, in this yard, I
spent several thousand of my
childhood days.
I recognize it, but, at the same
time, I don't.
I have this strange feeling I'm going
to wake up in New York any minute now.
You know, I can't find our
windows.
It's as if they disappeared.
Maybe I am sleeping?
Or losing my mind.
The window has been bricked up. The
building was remodeled five years ago.
They were going to tear it down,
but changed their minds.
Stop, kike!
Stop. kike! Stop kike!
Kike-take a hike!
We've got you now!
Ugh! I smell garlic!
Ugh! The kike stinks of garlic!
You're Sasha Greenberg, aren't
you?
Yes, I am.
I'm Volodya Listov.
We've got you now, you dirty
kike!
On your knees, kike!
Down, I said!
Do you recognize me?
We haven't seen each other in,
what, since we were twelve or
so, when you moved away.
I recognized you, though.
We used to be friends when we
were kids.
When we were little, we used to fight,
of course, but kids are supposed to.
Repeat after me:
"I am a dirty kike..."
I am a dirty kike...
"I stink."
I stink.
"I am gross."
I am gross.
"I am begging you to beat the
shit out of me."
I am begging you to beat me.
Then we used to share a desk at
school.
I, a young pioneer of the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics,
here, before my comrades, do
solemnly swear to always uphold
the ideals of Lenin and Stalin
and to fight for Victory of
Communism everywhere.
To fight for the ideals of Lenin
and Stalin. Be prepared!
Always prepared!
You're lucky you ran into me. I am
the only one left of the old tenants.
Everyone's been moved out to the
new developments.
The building's not the same,
either.
All the walls have been moved
around.
I can't even show you your old apartment
- it doesn't exist anymore.
I am the only one who could get
a place here after they renovated.
And that, um, only because it was mainly
my efforts that saved the building.
You must be pretty powerful to
be able to save buildings.
Don't you know? I'm a writer.
Pretty famous too, in a way.
Where do you live, What do you do?
I live in America. I'm in
cosmology -
that's a science about how the
Universe works.
Interesting stuff! Do you want
to come in for a while?
We can talk, have a drink over
old times.
I really don't think so.
We're on a very tight schedule.
We have to meet someone in a
half hour.
Krymsky. At his church. Then
Sasha has to give his report.
Krymsky, the millionaire? I know
him a little. If you don't mind,
I'd like to join you.
Morning. Hello.
Hello. Good morning.
Ah, my worst enemy!
Good of you to join us!
What brings you here?
I've long been curious to see what
you do here. You have an objection?
Not at all! Welcome, welcome.
Any tongue-lashing by your magazine
is just free publicity for us.
You see, he calls me his worst enemy!
And he's not far from the truth.
Why, of course, I am.
Look! He's turned God's house into
a honky-tonk, for Christ's sake!
You people want me to be happy
about it?
Would you prefer if it were
still a warehouse for boots?
I didn't turn it into a
warehouse.
I would prefer it to still be a
house of God.
Him and his lot, you wait,
they'll be calling me a
reactionary and an anti-Semite.
Well, if you want, I am a
reactionary.
Now they're poisoning our youth
with this rock'n'roll crap.
By "they" you mean Jews, of
course?
You see, what did I tell you?
You know, there are Jews and
there are Jews.
I have friends who are Jews.
A profiteer like him, who's
Russian,
why, he's just as revolting to
me as a Jew profiteer.
Anyway, nobody can deny that
there's a disproportionately
large amount of Jews
in this new "private sector". Just
as there was in the revolution.
And just who do you think made
warehouses out of churches?
Jews are so overly sensitive to
criticism.
At Nuremberg they tried such
critics! Understand?
Yes, no doubt Russia of 1992
was drastically different from
Russia prior to Perestroika.
In the churches boot warehouses
were replaced with
freedom-loving rock singers,
and Krimsky was running business
activities which in the Russia I left
were punishable by years of
imprisonment or even execution
by firing squads.
So, what does your company
really do?
Are you a scientific research facility,
a film studio, or a rock theatre?
It's like a daisy flower
- in the center is the main enterprise
from which sprout separate
ventures and petals.
Our major petal I'll be showing
you tomorrow.
Site seeing tours of Moscow on
"troikas" with gypsies.
"Troikas"? What's "troikas"?
They're carriages drawn by three
horses together.
Very Russian.
Very Russian.
They're waiting for us in the editing
room, ready to start, I believe.
And now we were going to see footage,
that not long ago was banned
from any screening at all.
So why didn't all these changes
in Russia thrill me?
This is just raw footage.
I understand you're gathering footage
like that from all over the world.
I'll comment as we go along.
Every year Soviet factories release
over sixty million tons of pollutants.
In sixty-eight different
industrial centers,
the air pollution level exceeds
the norm by 100 times.
Twenty percent of Soviet citizens
live in ecologically critical areas
and another thirty five to forty
percent in areas "ecologically unsafe".
This is about 175 million people
- approximately eight times the
population of Canada.
The Black sea is overloaded with
pollutants.
Every year they dump 30 tons of
mercury in there,
not to mention about dozens of
other poisons. The sea is dying.
Two and a half million dolphins
that used to live here not long ago,
are now survived by only eighty
thousand.
The great Russian Volga river, it
contains approximately 700 times
the allowed con-centration of
oil-industry wastes.
Most of Soviet rivers are in
much worse condition.
A farmer passing by threw his
cigarette butt in this river.
Is anyone tired? Should I stop?
These things aren't only
happening in Russia.
I'd like to show you some of my
footage.
"The time is out of joint" -
Shakespeare said it half a
millennium ago
and we are happily repeating it
century after century
and keep switching it out of
joint endlessly.
How long can it go on?
The planet life was healthier in
the time of Shakespeare.
And family life is definitely
deteriorated since then.
I hate you. I hate your face, I hate
your voice, I hate the air you breathe.
At least if I judge by mine.
Sasha, marry me!
You know... I love Helen.
It's crazy! You told me you've
never had sex like this before!
With anybody!
And I'll say it again.
You said you couldn't live with
Helen.
I did.
And she left you?
She did.
Then marry me... I'll stop
making films if you want.
I can be a really good wife.
I'll make breakfast for you
every morning. Want me to?
No.
Why?
Because this is like a deja-vu!
Because I've been through this
with Helen!
And the recurrence of this
pattern scares the hell out of me.
Helen and I have been through
enough insanity.
I don't want that for you.
But I won't be like that.
If you marry me you will.
I know.
Why?
Because the world's gone crazy!
Because the traditional family
has crumbled and there's nothing
left to replace it!
Everyone - women, nations,
Soviet physicists - everyone
wants freedom
but, sometimes, the price of
freedom is collapse.
Before I deliver my paper, I
would like to say a few words.
The world is changing at an
incredible pace.
When I was younger, scientists were
the undisputed heroes of my time.
The 19th century philosophy still
prevailed, war, famine, and disease
would all magically disappear if we
could only educate people properly.
The Biblical parable of Adam and
Eve's banishment from the garden
of Eden after
eating forbidden fruit from the
tree of knowledge was reduced to
a silly fairy tale.
The very thought that knowledge
could bring anything except
absolute bliss was laughable.
The curiosity that is the essential
characteristic of every scientist
was regarded as a moral virtue.
It was referred to as "sacred
curiosity".
My own professor, Doctor
Heinrich Gross,
would do everything in his power to
instill this quality into his students.
I do the same thing now, with my
new students!
It is the only moral basis of
humanity,
the only thing that separates us from
the animals, this sacred curiosity!
This is correct. Animals do not
have this quality.
Perhaps that is why animals haven't
tried to annihilate the human race,
and humans, are even now,
successfully ridding the planet
of all animal life.
My friends, tell me honestly,
have you ever thought that man
is the plague of the Universe?
God's punishment, an implement
of death and destruction,
something akin to a virus or a
cancerous growth that exists
only to destroy all life?
Demagogy!
Do not fear, Master, I am not
calling for the banishment of science.
I felt I had to say these words.
Thank you for indulging me.
Ah, let's now get down to
business.
How close is your model to a final
understanding of the Universe?
I feel it's very close.
Excuse me, I think I missed
something:
does your theory offer an
immediate solution for any of
today's problems?
I need a drink.
You need some sleep.
Do you really think I could
sleep? I need a drink first.
You should try. Call room
service.
But you probably won't get it
until tomorrow.
Was I really that bad?
Everyone seemed to like it.
I feel horrible.
Get some sleep, Sasha.
If I don't have a drink I'm
going to throw up.
I heard your parents are giving
a party for Sasha this evening.
Um um. Yes, they are.
Are you expecting a lot of
people?
A dozen or so...
We're going to have a trial run
of our Moscow tours on troikas
with gypsies right now,
and I would like to invite your
group.
Sasha and Jill are coming.
Thank you.
I'd also like to ask if you
would invite us to your little
gathering this evening.
Eh.
Thanks. Yeah.
It was awful. Just awful.
Sasha, you're a hero here and
you want to be one.
I guess you had to think of
something to impress the little girl!
Now, why did you say that?
Supposedly, you brought me up
here with good intentions.
Weren't you trying to help, not
make it worse?
Cut it out! I am not your
mother! I'm not even your wife.
Leave, then.
Fine!
Come in!
What happened to you? The
gypsies are waiting!
Stop here for one second. I see
they just got a vodka delivery.
What, are all these grandmothers
alcoholics or something?
They get forty rubles a month
pension.
If you remember, we paid thirty
for a bottle of vodka the other day.
Tonight, each of them will sell
a bottle and raise their
standard of living almost twice.
It's called survival.
Forty rubles! That's enough for
one dinner at a restaurant!
With no drinks. But why would
grandmothers go to restaurants anyway?
Aye, brave beautiful new world!
We are worrying about having too
much freedom
and the old ladies are fighting
to survive on the monthly pension
that can't buy one diner in a
restaurant!
Where are we headed?
More sanctions they are imposing
on us!
A month ago, they permitted
selling at the Rizhsky Market,
and now they're forbidding it
again!
What are people supposed to do
with all the goods they
manufactured to sell there?
How's anyone going to make any
money this way?
That's a weak government for
you.
Those helpless liberals don't know
whether they're coming or going.
If it were up to me, I'd shut that
Rizhsky Market down once and for all.
It's a joke! A fur hat costs
three times my pension!
Who's going to buy it? Only
another speculator, like themselves!
So! In a government store you'd
never even see a hat!
So, who needs hats anyway!
First it was the party bigwigs
who went around in fur hats, now
it's the speculators.
It's never the plain folk.
I don't care if I'm being
exploited by Brezhnev or a
speculator - it's all the same!
We need justice, equality.
Everyone should be the same.
There! The true voice of Russia!
Wait a minute! If you don't let
anyone make the hats, you'll all
be going around bareheaded!
Better without hats than without
justice!
Where did you get that?
We'll spare no expense when it
comes to our own flesh and blood!
You bought it at a private
market. You can't get piglets at
a government store.
So let them grow pigs!
But not at these prices!
What prices?!
They start from nothing!
If they don't survive, you'll
never see any piglets at all!
During Stalin you could get
piglets in the stores!
During Stalin twenty million
were slaving away in labor camps!
And if you were ten minutes late
for work they'd put you away too!
At least there was order.
You see! I rest my case!
Chaos! Disaster! We're headed
for civil war!
I must say, I don't envy Gorbachev.
Trying to get this country to budge.
You've budged it enough.
Fortunately it won't be much longer.
What's that supposed to mean?
We're going to set things
straight.
And who died and left you boss?
We don't need your blessing. As
soon as these liberals bring the
country to complete collapse,
it will fall into our hands,
like a ripe fruit.
May I have this dance?
I can't dance to this.
Oh, it's simple. Come, come,
I'll show you. Come.
What is the reason for all this
gloom?
It's all so boring. All these
stupid arguments and now this
ridiculous tango.
You can leave if you're bored.
No one's keeping you from being
with kids your own age.
Kids my own age! What a joke!
Professor, you're a wise man.
Tell me, why is it all so awful?
Why is everybody so mean?
Whenever I tell someone I want
to go to America, they tell
"it's no better over there"!
Like they want to leave you
nothing to hope for.
In Chekhov's play, the three sisters
want to get away from the boonies,
they keep saying "we want to go
to Moscow",
and in the whole play there's no
villain mean enough to tell them
"it sucks there too".
Happiness is not found in Moscow
or New York. It's here.
You just need time to find it.
Have you?
I have.
Want to go see the old church?
What's the matter?
My mother's interest in
architecture is amazing!
She has just invited Greenberg
to see an old church!
A church! What church?
Where is it?
That's right! There's a famous
old church near here.
Let's all go see it together!
Many years past since this
glorious morning in Moscow,
but I still remember it as it
happened only yesterday.
You seem troubled, my man. What
have you to be troubled about?
Master, life has somehow lost
much of its luster.
It's called a mid-life crisis.
It's much similar to adolescence.
It's a troubled time. Difficult.
But It will pass. You'll get
over it. Everyone does.
I feel like my mid-life crisis
is also happening to Russia,
to America, to the whole human
race.
And if you believe the theory that
man is a reflection of the Universe,
than, it's also happening to the
Universe.
I don't understand this world,
this life.
There's a story, of a woman who
asked Thomas Alva Edison to
explain electricity
because she did not understand
it.
He answered, that he didn't
understand it either and told
her to "Just use it!"
Here it is called "perestroika"
- the restructuring.
Although some people seem to think
it's a complete collapse, an end.
If you look at the film Jill is
making you'd think the whole
planet was doomed for sure.
You tell me it's only a phase,
that I'm going through a
"restructuring" of my own,
but I feel like my life is
ending.
Adolescents feel that way. Some
of them even go so far as to
actually commit suicide.
But there are few of those.
Most restructure and survive.
Look at Elena. How she suffers!
That's also a "perestroika", of sorts.
And it's not so bad. It's, in
fact, what makes her so attractive.
To you, for example.
Master, I am old enough to be
her father!
So what?
Why do you tell me all this?
To ease your conscience about
your attraction to Elena.
It's not so easy! It's quite possible,
you know, that she is my daughter.
No, she is not.
What makes you so sure?
Because she is my daughter.
My loss, your luck.
Enjoying the architecture?
There is something interesting I
can show you, even my mother
doesn't know about it.
Interested? Let's go.
I come up here a lot. At dawn.
Alone. I like to be alone.
You know, Professor Gross told
me that happiness must be found
within oneself. Do you agree?
I guess.
Did you find it?
I'm afraid not.
Why not?
I don't know.
Maybe it's my fault.
Sometimes it's like some outer
force prevents it:
how can I be happy when the
world's gone mad and everything
around me is collapsing.
Is it the people? Why they don't
want to understand? Why they
don't want to hear?
Yes.
They don't hear. Not you, not
each other. Not themselves.
Nobody listens. But we can make
them hear!
Come on! Help me! You said you
heard me!