Anna Karenina Page #3

Is this one it?

Then I'm sure it must be this one.

Come in.

- Welcome home, madam.

- Thank you, Fiodor Ivanovitch.

Mother, please, no lessons today.

I'm too busy.

His Excellency has informed me that he

wished Sergei to resume his lessons.

- But I haven't the time.

- Can't you spare a few minutes...

- for your education?

- But I was educated yesterday, all day.

I don't think he'll be much good

to you today.

Very good, madam.

I want to save yours till the last.

- Oh, soldiers. Who sent me these?

- Your Aunt Dolly.

Does Aunt Dolly think

I still play with soldiers?

- What would you like, then?

- Didn't you tell her I was a scientist?

No. I saved that information

for myself.

I suppose you're annoyed

with your mother...

for keeping you away

from your lessons.

I'll make it up.

You can never make up

a lost day, Sergei.

"Unhasting and unresting"

is my motto...

and it's a good motto

for you too, my boy.

Do I have to have a motto?

May I venture to suggest

that you're spoiling this young man?

It's only today.

I wish you could get me a day's respite

from my duties at the ministry.

However, let me assure you

I'm very happy that tonight...

you will be sitting opposite me

at dinner.

I haven't enjoyed

dining alone every night.

Tonight I shall tell you

all the gossip from Moscow.

Sergei, can you guess

what I brought you?

- A battleship.

- A battleship?

I wouldn't bring a battleship

to a scientist.

I must go now.

I have an important engagement.

Goodbye, my dear.

- Goodbye, Alexei.

- Goodbye, Sergei.

Goodbye, Father.

- Look.

- You brought me just what I wanted...

the whole world.

- Wait, let's plan a trip.

- A trip.

Here we are in St. Petersburg.

Where do you want to take me?

I should advise you to hit me.

- Should you?

- Then you'll have two shots.

You can dispose of me

and then go through the wicket.

I'll try.

I love your frown when you concentrate.

How do you expect me to make this shot

if you talk to me?

Vronsky and Madam Karenina

seem to be playing...

what you might call

a conversational game.

At this rate,

they won't finish before dark.

Possibly, that's their object.

- Is Karenin coming here?

- I always have the husband.

I'm nothing if not fair.

- Do you get a sense we're being watched?

- Watched? We're being devoured.

Shall we deprive these people

of their appetizers?

That would be cruel.

Let's be cruel.

- Bad shot.

- Not from Vronsky's point of view.

People say I'm two-faced. It's true.

To be one-faced is inadequate.

There are two sides to every question...

and really, in life,

one needs a face for each side.

- But I thought you adored Karenin.

- No, I do. He has my other face.

And here he comes,

just in time to get it.

My dear Karenin. How are you?

This can't go on, you know that.

What do you want me to do?

Go back to Moscow and marry Kitty.

She loves you.

Very well, I will.

We shall never see each other again.

That would be best.

Anna, you're all my life to me.

You know that.

You've known it from the beginning.

I have a husband and a child.

When I said I'd leave you,

I saw your eyes.

But it must end.

Very well, shall we make resolutions?

I tell you I'll never see you again...

and while I'm saying it, you know.

And you deny it?

That you and I are doomed.

- You frighten me.

- Doomed to unimaginable despair.

Or to bliss, unimaginable bliss.

You see, my dear Anna

has always been so conservative.

And when she suddenly encourages

the attentions of a man like Vronsky...

people are shocked.

It is only because I am your friend

and hers that I tell you this.

My dear Lidia,

I understand your motive perfectly...

but a woman like Anna is naturally

subject to certain attentions...

from young men whose enthusiasms

overcome their discretion.

It would be... To be disturbed by such

trivialities would be very undignified.

A splendid attitude. I congratulate you.

If Caesar's wife is above suspicion...

it is because the tone is set

by Caesar.

This is torture.

From the first, we've been surrounded

by crowds of people.

Let me see you once alone.

Too much to ask?

I feel so guilty.

So terribly guilty.

- Good afternoon, Count Vronsky.

- Your Excellency.

You are lucky, Anna,

to have the instruction...

of the finest croquet player

in St. Petersburg.

- Will you play with me?

- I'll be delighted.

You don't mind, do you, Anna?

You have rather monopolized him,

you know. Alexei.

I've been lecturing your husband, Anna.

He works too hard.

I stopped by to see if you wanted

to go home.

Lidia asked me to stay for dinner.

- Won't you stay too, Karenin?

- No, thank you.

I have a great deal of work

to get through.

- I'll stay for an hour, if you don't mind.

- As you wish, my dear.

Anna, dearest.

Why don't you speak to me?

I'm thinking of what you said to me

this afternoon.

Doomed to bliss or to despair.

It's true. I know now

that there's no escape for me.

I love you, Alexei. I love you.

Mother.

Mother.

My darling.

You didn't come in

to kiss me good night.

You know I can't go to sleep

until you kiss me good night.

I'm sorry, darling.

I'm sleepy.

Sergei, will you always love me?

Don't go away.

It'll be all right.

Don't let the nightlight dance.

It frightens me.

The dragons are dancing on the wall.

Dragons.

Sergei, you must go to sleep.

Good night.

Well, not in bed yet?

I must speak to you, Anna.

It's important.

It must be very important

to keep you up so late.

That fact is, Anna,

I feel it necessary to warn you.

Really? About what?

You are becoming...

You are becoming an object

of disagreeable gossip.

The attentions you are receiving

from Count Vronsky...

have been generally noticed.

Would you mind not doing that?

It makes me so nervous.

I beg your pardon. I...

I'm not speaking to you

as a jealous husband...

but as a man of the world who knows

there are certain rules of decorum...

which cannot be disregarded

with impunity.

This afternoon, for example,

at Lidia's...

it was obvious that your conduct

and deportment...

were not altogether

what could be desired.

I don't know what you mean.

I'm not inquiring

into your feelings, Anna.

I've no right to ferret into your soul.

I am concerned only with appearances.

You're always concerned

with appearances.

I'm working on a government bill...

which requires the concentration

of all my energies.

To subject me to annoyance at a critical

time like this is very inconsiderate.

What do you want me to do, then?

I must make you understand, first,

the importance of public opinion.

Second, the effect of scandal

on your son.

And third, the inviolability

of the marriage tie.

I'm very sleepy.

What I say, my dear, I say for you

as much as for myself.

I am your husband...

and I love you.

It isn't me you love,

it's your career and your appearances.

Very well, then.

You choose to misunderstand me.

But I beg you to remember,

if you have no regard for me...

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