Anna Karenina Page #25

No, you cannot.

INT. (ST. PETERSBURG)--NIGHT

Imperial hands (the Tsar's for all we know) place over Karenin's head a

broad red ribbon from which hangs a heavy medal. Karenin bows low.

INT. IMPERIAL SALON, ST. PETERSBURG--NIGHT

At an ornate doorway a Major-Domo announces.

MAJOR DOMO:

Their Excellencies Minister Karenin and

Madame Karenin!

Karenin, wearing his medal, and Anna smile their way into a party, to a

patter of polite applause. Further grandees are being announced, but are not

applauded . . . Prince and Princess Berghatskoy . . . Ambassador Chamber-

lain . . . Baron and Baroness Verdlov . . . Prince and Princess Tverskoy . . .

BETSY:

Alexei Aleksandrevich . . . congratulations.

You're the only man my husband would do

this for.

ANNA:

(To Prince Tverskoy)

Tell me your latest find for your library.

PRINCE TVERSKOY:

Not in front of the Princess.

111

Betsy draws Anna away for a moment.

BETSY:

I can tell you're happy. You've put on a little

weight.

ANNA:

Both true.

INT. SEROZHA'S BEDROOM, KARENIN'S HOUSE--

NIGHT:

Anna, in the same dress, kisses Serozha tenderly so as not to wake him, and

leaves the room.

INT. BEDROOM LEVEL, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME

TIME--NIGHT

Anna enters the suite where Karenin, in his dressing gown, puts down his

book. He is elated by his evening.

KARENIN:

Time for bed!

INT. BEDROOM, KARENIN HOUSE, ST. PETERSBURG--

NIGHT:

Anna is in bed. Karenin is getting ready for bed. Anna listens apprehen-

sively to the little noises of Karenin's pre-coital preparations.

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KARENIN:

. . . not that I care for decorations but . . .

ANNA:

Alexei . . . I can't . . . I'm sorry . . . But I'm

his wife now.

(she turns to him)

I am having his child.

Karenin stares at her. He turns back to the open drawer and puts things

back the way they were. He locks the drawer. He puts on his dressing gown

and leaves the room. Anna waits a moment and follows him.

INT. SITTING ROOM, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME TIME--

NIGHT:

It's dark. Anna hears the crack of his knuckles and can see him faintly,

sitting in the dark.

KARENIN:

Tell me what I did to deserve this.

EXT. HAYMAKING (KASHIN)--DAY

A prospect:
next to a country road, a large expanse of meadow is being

mown forty swathes at a time by forty mowers swinging their scythes almost

in unison.

CLOSER--Levin is suffering but keeping up, bathed in perspiration. His

place is behind an old man, Theodore, who is scything as if without effort.

Just in time for Levin, Theodore calls a halt and takes Levin's scythe to

sharpen it with a whetstone. Levin attracts a few grins and comments.

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YOUNG PEASANT:

Konstantin Dmitrich, you'll know your

rows when the field's all done!

Levin's row has stalks of differing heights between the even swathes on

either side. There is some laughter, but the men are uneasy.

EXT. HAYMAKING (KASHIN)-- SUNDOWN

It's time to stop for the day. More tomorrow. The Mowers with their scythes

walk back across the large meadow of cut swathes. From the other direc-

tion, a crowd of Village Women are coming to meet them carrying food and

drink.

EXT. HAYMAKING (KASHIN)--DUSK

A fire has been lit. The Mowers eat their meal in the company of women.

Serafina tends to a cooking pot in the firelight. Levin watches her discreetly.

He has settled down at a discreet distance from the men. His attention

is caught by a grown-up Boy and his young Wife who have chosen to sit

slightly apart. He is charmed by them, watching the girl serve her husband.

Theodore comes to Levin with a jug. Levin takes a swig.

LEVIN:

How many mowers is it, Theodore?

THEODORE:

Forty-two, master. In your father's time it

was work for two days for thirty men . . .

(SLYLY)

. . . though he never picked up a scythe

himself.

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LEVIN:

The men don't like me for it.

THEODORE:

They like what they're used to.

LEVIN:

It settles me.

THEODORE:

How is that, master?

LEVIN:

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