Nostalgia

Speak Italian

We've arrived. I stopped here

so we could stretch our legs

It's a marvelous painting

I cried the first time I saw it

This light reminds me

of the autumn in Moscow

Come on.

-I don't want to

I'll wait for you inside.

-I don't want to!

"I'm tired of seeing these

sickeningly beautiful sights"

"I want nothing more

just for myself"

"That's enough"

Have you come to pray for a

baby too? Or to be spared them?

I'm just looking

If there are any casual onlookers

who aren't supplicants

then nothing happens

What is supposed to happen?

Whatever you like,

whatever you need most

But you should at least kneel down

I can't.

-They're used to it

They're used to it

They have faith.

-Probably

Can I ask you something?

Why do you think

it's only the women

who pray so much?

You're asking me?

You see so many women here

I'm only the sacristan

But you must wonder why

women are more devout than men

You should know

Because you're a woman?

No, I've never understood

these things

I'm a simple man

But I think

a woman is meant to have children

to raise them

with patience

and self-sacrifice

That's all she's meant for?

I don't know.

-Thank you

You've been a great help

You asked what I thought

You want to be happy

There are more important things

Wait!

Pitiful Mother, merciful Mother

Painful Mother, tormented Mother

Merciful Mother,

compassionate Mother

Anxious Mother, blessed Mother

Loving Mother, bright Mother

Mortified Mother, holy Mother

Painful Mother, proud Mother

Inspired Mother, bright Mother

Mother of all mothers, who knows

the pain of being a mother

Mother of all mothers, who knows

the joy of being a mother

Mother of all children, who

knows the joy of having a child

Mother of all children, who knows

the pain of not having a child

Mother who understands all, help

your daughter to become a mother

I just don't understand you

You go on and on about

the Madonna of Childbirth!

We drive halfway across Italy

in the fog

And you don't go in to see her

What are you reading?

Arseni Tarkovsky's poems

In Russian?

It's a translation

Quite a good one

Throw it away

Why?

The translator's a very good poet

Poetry is untranslatable,

like the whole of art

You may be right that poetry

is untranslatable

But music?

What is it?

Oriental music

But how could we have got to know

Tolstoy, Pushkin

and so understand Russia?

None of you understand Russia

Nor you Italy then

If Dante, Petrarch

and Machiavelli don't help

It's impossible for us poor devils

How can we get to know each other?

By abolishing the frontiers

Which?

Between states

Hello

You know a maid in Milan

set fire to the house?

Which house?

-Her employers' house

She missed her home

and family down South

So she burned the thing

that stopped her going back

Why did your musician, Sosnovsky

go back to Russia if he knew

he'd be a slave again?

Why won't you confide in me?

Read this.

You understand

What?

The letter from

the Bologna Conservatory?

Yes. Was Sosnovsky

successful when he returned

to Russia?

Was he happy?

He started drinking

and then

He committed suicide?

-Exactly

I'm sorry, I was asleep

Do you have any identification?

I'll go and get the keys

Those aren't the other

hotel keys, I hope?

No, they're to my house

Here's your key

It's our best room

Good night, Andrei

Your room is on the next floor

It's nice here

The countryside's pretty too

There's the river, the mushrooms

People keep coming back,

they often fall in love here

You and your boyfriend

will like it

He's not my boyfriend

Go on, he's sad

because he's in love

No, his mind's on other things

Did you knock?

-I hadn't yet

Do you want to call Moscow?

You haven't talked

to your wife for 2 days

No, thanks

One, two, three

Andrei

Andrei, get up.

We'll be eating soon!

I'll be downstairs.

It's lovely here

St. Catherine used to come too!

I'm coming

What does this Russian do?

He's a poet.

-What's he writing?

A biography of a Russian musician

In Italy?

-This musician studied in Bologna

and came to these baths

When?

-At the end of the 1700s

Was it Tchaikovsky?

No, his name was Sosnovsky

Didn't he marry a local woman?

No, he was in love with

a Russian slave and died for her

What's the hurry?

Does your poet like Italy?

Too much so

What's this strange music

we keep hearing day in and day out?

Wonderful music!

Beats Verdi any time

Hands off Verdi.

This is Chinese stuff

A different civilization

with no sentimental wails

Voice of God, of nature

Pretend they're not there

Just go on your way

It's gotten into my mouth.

Move slowly

What does it taste like?

-It's a liquid sulfur!

So it's good for the skin.

-Disgusting!

I'm fine.

I'm falling asleep

In the 60's a drowned body

was found here

Don't talk about it

otherwise I get scared

In the war I've seen

thousands of dead soldiers

Now listen, it's never

too late to learn

Whatever happens, don't interfere

Have you heard their talk,

what they're interested in?

You've got to be different

You know why they're in the water?

They want to live forever

Look who's here!

Look at them!

My cigar's gone out,

anyone got a light?

Why do they make fun of him?

He shut himself up in the house

with his family

for 7 years to wait

for the end of the world

A religious fit, they say

Nonsense

He was jealous of his wife

Later she ran off with the children

Jealous my foot, he's nuts

That's not it, he was just scared

Scared of what?

Everything

You're wrong, he's a man

of great faith

And how, he kept his family

locked up for 7 years!

When they broke down the door

his kid shot out like a rat

and he chased after him

We thought he wanted to kill him!

Here's the Russian poet!

Miss, I don't smoke

but could I have a cigarette?

Of course, as you don't smoke

It's gone out.

-So it has

Thank you

Never forget what he said to her

He who?

And her?

Saint Catherine!

So what did God say

to St. Catherine?

"You are she who is not"

"but I am he who is"

Did you hear that?

Bravo, Domenico!

Did he speak to St. Catherine

himself?

Don't tease him

Domenico has a degree!

In what?

What is "faith"?

Even your Italian was better

when you first came

What does "faith" mean?

In Russian it's "vera"

Why do they say he's mad?

He's not mad.

He has faith

There are lots of these lunatics

at large in Italy

Asylums have been closed down

but the families won't have them

What is madness?

They're troublesome, inconvenient

We refuse to understand them

They're alone

But they're certainly

closer to the truth

He has another fixation now

What?

He gets into the pool with

a lighted candle

Everyone's afraid he wants

to drown himself

so they throw him out and save him

I don't believe it

Ask them

Can we ask him to have lunch

with us?

When?

-Now!

Now - you don't know what time is it

What time is it?

-It's 7 in the morning!

In the morning?

Does that man with the wet shoes

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