The Green Elephant is an example of underground cinema. The film received many negative reviews from critics. From the audience - mostly positive. The actors of the "Green Elephant" have become popular among young people. After all, most often it is students who are fans of films in the trash genre. Who starred in the "Green Elephant"? The actors and roles of the cult film of the early 2000s are the topic of the article.
In the cell
At the heart of the film "The Green Elephant" is an acute social problem of relationships between people who are in a closed system. Actors Pakhomov and Epifantsev recreated on the screen a dialogue between two eccentric personalities.
In the center of the picture is the story of two officers who committed a violation of military order and ended up in a guardhouse. Once in a cramped cell, they experience the full range of feelings inherent in a person deprived of freedom. Oppressively green walls, poor lighting, musty smell - all this can turn the awareness of imprisonment into psychosis. The actors of the "Green Elephant" transferred to the screen the emotions of people who found themselves in a difficult, from a psychological point of view, situation. And that earns some respect. After all, one of them had nothing to do with cinema before filming in the film "The Green Elephant".
actors
The director of the infamous film is Svetlana Baskova. Actors "Green Elephant":
- Sergei Pakhomov (an officer with obvious mental disabilities).
- Vladimir Epifantsev (also an officer, quite sane at the beginning of the story).
- Alexander Maslayev (guard).
- Anatoly Osmolovsky (head of the guardhouse).
The film shocks with transcendent naturalism and the image of senseless cruelty. Its plot caused a storm of anger in cinematographic circles. What is the picture about? What philosophical meaning does the story of two officers find themselves in a guardhouse and gradually lose their minds? And finally, what do the actors of the film "The Green Elephant" think about the plot? Reviews of the picture are presented below. But first, it’s worth telling how the story ended in the cell.
Conversation in the guardhouse
Officers do not lose their fortitude and show attempts to interact. They soon strike up a conversation. The “went”, a native of the village (Sergey Pakhomov), begins to tell his “brother” (Vladimir Epifantsev) entertaining stories. He tells about his life, focusing on its brightest moments. "Brother" at first the stories of a cellmate amuse. But soon the stories of absurd behavior begin to annoy, and in a rage, he rips off the shoulder straps from the "travelled". All the following actions of the village officer only kindle the flame of anger, and the "brother" beats him severely several times. A guard comes to the cries for help and severely punishes a young officer for beating a cellmate.
Fantasies of the "traveled"
But the surprises don't end this evening. Pakhomov's hero wakes up his cellmate and invites him to taste his own feces. To the surprise of the "travelled", the proposal is rejected. Moreover, this act shocks the officer, and he begins to call for help. It is this act that becomes the prerequisite for the fatal denouement of the film.
climax
The appearance of the commander of the guardhouse only exacerbated the situation. Bullying of the personality of an officer, even if he is devoid of any mind, cannot go unnoticed, and makes a strong impression on the "brother". A further chain of events leads him to brutally kill the head of the guardhouse and commit suicide. The film is filled with violence, absurd acts and vivid dialogues.
This cult film has become a symbol of "thrash" in Russia. The picture belongs to the category "Amateur cinema" and in 2000 was awarded the "Love Cinema" award. "Green Elephant" was filmed on one video camera in two days and in two places. The name of the film is inspired by the song, which was repeatedly performed by the hero of Sergei Pakhomov. This motive became the final chord of the life of several characters and the film itself.
To the rest of the answers (most of them completely correct), I would like to add that in the "Green Elephant" one can - and should - look for meaning in addition to memeticity and absolute inhumanity. The presence of such a meaning makes it popular among those part of the audience who are inclined to look for some kind of message in film creations as a kind of art. Although, what is there, in the case of the "Green Elephant", any viewer first gets acquainted with memes, and only then with everything else. But this is the cost of the form. In my opinion, if the "Elephant" was just a set of meaningless, albeit funny, phrases, eating excrement, violence, blood and murder, it would hardly have become so popular. "Elephant" is a completely complete statement and a logical story that produces (even without blood and shit) a very depressing impression. In this regard, in my opinion, The Green Elephant can be compared with some of Balabanov's films, minus the fact that he is much more marginal.
The director of the film Svetlana Baskova (other works - "Five Bottles of Vodka", "Head", "For Marx ...", etc.) is a rather radical artist of leftist views, and in her films there is always a social subtext, expressed, as a rule, in the most trashy, thrash form. "The Green Elephant", in the words of film critic Andrei Plakhov, is "a cruel anti-militarist parable". Baskova herself expressed the same point of view in an interview, calling the film shot in 1998-1999 a reaction to the Chechen war.
On the one hand, the anti-war message is clearly visible - "Elephant" exaggeratedly depicts what people are driven to by the authorities and the atmosphere of violence. The hero of Epifantsev, Brother, at the beginning of the film is a relatively normal person, goes crazy, unable to withstand the surrounding hell, and becomes a murderer. The heroes of Osmolovsky and Maslayev (Head and Guard) are the embodiment of the abomination of power: one of them enjoys complete permissiveness and does everything that comes into his head - from lectures about the Japanese admiral Yamamoto to sexual violence, the other crawls on his knees in front of his superiors, envious him and dreaming of his impunity. The hero Pakhom, Poehavshiy, is a harmless idiot who is humiliated and bullied by everyone, and in the end he becomes a monster by the end of the picture, falling asleep among the bloodied bodies (but the only one, by the way, remains alive). All the characters are in officer uniform. It is quite clear what the army and the war have to do with it.
On the other hand, according to the same Baskova, the film, against the background of the silence of the Chechen war, was supposed to show that you need to talk about everything and in whatever language you like: "The film was shot so sincerely, with pain and valiant enthusiasm, protest that (perhaps) captivates openness and showing that there is another life." True, in the same interview, the director admits after a few sentences: "I don't know why The Green Elephant is so popular. True, I don't know."
Splatter
tragicomedy
trash
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"Green elephant"- a film in the trash genre, shot on amateur film in 1998-1999 by Russian director Svetlana Baskova. The film deals with such taboo topics as sadism, coprophilia and homosexuality. The film was awarded a 3rd degree diploma in the section of full-length feature films of the Amateur Cinema competition of the Love Cinema!-2000 festival in Moscow.
Plot
The action of the film takes place, perhaps, in 1986 - this is hinted at by a poster hanging in the room of the guard, besides, all the characters walk around in Soviet uniforms. Two junior officers fall into the guardhouse, the walls of which are painted in poisonous green, for disciplinary offenses: the “traveled” officer Sergey Pakhomov and the “brother” Vladimir Epifantsev. Upon reaching their final destination, the officers discover that the pipes in the guardhouse are leaking, and at the beginning of the film they try to fix the problem. Realizing that this problem cannot be solved by improvised means, both lieutenants begin their dialogue. The dialogue began with a discussion of various philosophical issues, as well as the army stories of two lieutenants. After doing a few push-ups on the floor of the guardhouse, the “traveled” officer begins to turn the conversation in a completely different direction, telling the “brother” about how he first had sex with a drunk woman, how he ejaculated on her, how he defecates in the sea, how he tasted feces, and also about how he was almost made lowered in the military service. At first, the "brother" laughed at the stories of the "traveled" officer, but gradually they began to bother him greatly. Noticing that the “brother” began to run out of patience, and without that it was not gigantic, the “driver” is trying in every possible way to entertain his interlocutor, offering to play cards or checkers created from mud and paper. "Brother" from such ideas becomes furious and tries to calm down the "traveled", suggesting that he just be silent. However, the "travelled" does not calm down and offers to do push-ups from the floor. The interlocutor agrees, but instead of watching, he begins to put pressure on the opponent, sentencing "the one who has gone" to do good push-ups. To the words of the interlocutor, “we are still people,” the “brother” finally loses his temper and tells the “driver” to just shut up. And this time, the "traveled" officer does not stop, repeating the phrase "we are still people." For the repeated repetition of this phrase, the "brother" rips off the shoulder straps from the interlocutor. “The one who went” begs the second officer to give him shoulder straps on the condition that he himself dances like a heron on one leg. Laughing, the "brother" agrees to the deal, but instead of giving up shoulder straps, he begins to beat his interlocutor. Despite the pain from the blows, the "traveled" offers another crazy idea - to perform an act of defecation on the floor in order to rid the "brother" of supposedly annoying flies. For this idea, the "brother" beats the interlocutor a second time. The "guard" comes to the cries of the traveler Alexander Maslaev, who sends the "brother" to "work". The job is cleaning the toilet with a fork. Not knowing how to clean the toilet with a fork, the "brother" does not cope with the task. Seeing that the "brother" is not doing his job, the guard shows how to properly clean the toilet with a fork, and leaves. But this time, the "brother" does not cope with the work, and, angry, the guard sends the prisoner back to the "traveled". The "went" asks his friend why he is so sad, and begins to sing a song composed by him about a green elephant. After that, both officers go to bed, and the action of the first part of the film ends.
Alexander Maslaev
Russia Russia
"Green elephant"- cult movie "garbage" genre, filmed on an amateur ( S-VHS, -cam) video camera in 1998-1999 by director Svetlana Baskova. The film covers such taboo topics, How sadism , coprophilia , necrophilia And homosexuality. The film was awarded the 3rd degree diploma in the section of full-length feature films of the Amateur Cinema competition of the Love Cinema!-2000 festival in Moscow.
Plot
The film takes place in a guardhouse, presumably in 1986, which is hinted at by a poster hanging in the guard's office and the clothes of all the characters in the film are Soviet uniforms. On guardhouse behind disciplinary offenses hit two junior officers: "driven" officer in green uniform ( Sergey Pakhomov) and "brother" - an officer in black ( Vladimir Epifantsev ). They are both put in a cell whose walls are painted poisonous green. The film begins with a discussion of various philosophical issues, as well as the army stories of two lieutenants. The officers take turns putting their heads under the drops of water dripping from the heating pipes, wanting to experience the long-standing belief that drops of water falling on the head cause madness over time. "Brother" declares this belief untenable, and the water he tried from the pipes - sewerage. The “driver” tells the “brother” about the first time he had sex, how he defecated in the sea drunk, how he tasted feces, and also about how he was almost made lowered in the military service. At first, the "brother" laughed at the stories of the "traveled" officer, but gradually they began to bother him greatly. Noticing that the “brother” began to run out of patience, and without that it was not gigantic, the “driver” is trying in every possible way to entertain his interlocutor, offering to play checkers made of mud and paper. "Brother" from such ideas becomes furious and tries to calm down the "traveled", suggesting that he just be silent. However, the "traveled" does not calm down and begins to do push-ups. As soon as the “driver” is on the floor, the “brother” begins to put pressure on him, telling him to do good push-ups. At the words of the interlocutor with the word “you”, the “brother” finally loses his temper and tells the “driver” to just shut up. And this time, the "traveled" officer does not stop talking, speaking incorrectly. For this, the "brother" rips off shoulder straps from the interlocutor. The “who went” begs the second officer to give him shoulder straps on the condition that he dances like a heron on one leg. Laughing, the "brother" agrees to the deal, but instead of giving shoulder straps, he hits him. Despite the pain, the "traveled" offers another idea - to perform an act of defecation on the floor in order to rid the "brother" of supposedly annoying flies. For this idea, the "brother" beats him. A security guard (Alexander Maslayev) comes to the cries of the one who has gone, who sends the “brother” to “work”. The job is cleaning the toilet with a fork. Not knowing how to clean the toilet with a fork, the "brother" does not cope with the task. Seeing that the "brother" is not doing his job, the guard shows how to properly clean the toilet with a fork, and leaves. But the "brother" refuses to clean, and, angry, the guard sends the prisoner back to the "traveled". He tries to cheer up his comrade and begins to perform a song composed by him about a green elephant. After that, both officers go to bed.
While the "brother" is sleeping, the "traveler" decides to surprise him. He defecates on a plate, smears some of the feces on the floor, some on himself, eats some, and then sculpts a rectangle of feces. Having woken up a comrade, the “traveler” offers him to taste “sweet bread” from a plate. After listening to another delirium of a cellmate, the second officer begins to shout loudly, call the authorities and forcibly forces the "traveled" to clean himself of feces. The guard again comes to the cries of "brother" and once again sends the second officer "to work" and goes to his office, where he has a snack and begins to argue that the prisoners are not worthy to wear the lieutenant's shoulder straps, as they eat their own feces. While there is no “brother” in the cell, the head of the guardhouse, a captain by rank, enters it ( Anatoly Osmolovsky), who, indignant at the nearness of the “traveled”, begins to give a lecture about Pacific theater of operations during World War II. However, he makes a mistake in the lecture in the number of Japanese aircraft that attacked Pearl Harbor, and also names Maryland as one of the sunken ships, although in reality this battleship received minor damage. After a lecture, a guard approaches the head of the guardhouse, offering tea ordered by him from the dining room. After tasting the tea, the chief says that there is "some kind of urine" in the glass, after which he pours tea on the guard, asking him to tell him that "such tea is no longer brought to him." As soon as the guard has returned, the boss asks him what he would like to do with the "traveled". Having received the answer “destroy”, the head of the guardhouse allows the guard to beat the “traveled”.
After dismantling with the "traveled", the guard takes him to a dark basement, to the "brother". Having placed the officers in a narrow pit, the head of the guardhouse begins to say that the guilty will face severe punishment, which they must know. According to the idea of the captain, the guard was supposed to leave, but he did not do this and "fell under the hot hand" of the chief warder. After that, the chief begins to mock the rest of the characters, including the guard, in every possible way, forcing them to sing and dance the dance " apple ».
After bullying, the guard goes to have a bite to eat and talks about how he will become a colonel and take revenge on the captain in full, and only two junior officers and the head of the guardhouse remain in the basement, continuing bullying. The “brother” tries to get out of the hole, then demands from the “driver” to catch him a rat, complaining of hunger. Noticing this, the boss offers to give a blowjob. "Brother" refuses and offers to perform this action with the "traveled". After the head of the guardhouse inclines the “traveled” to oral sex, the “brother”, watching this whole picture, finally goes crazy. Having got out of the pit, he grabs a piece of reinforcement, beats the captain, gnaws his throat, rapes and guts him. After that, the "brother" begins to mock the "driver", smearing blood on his face, after which he puts the trachea in his mouth, and forcing him to "trumpet". Realizing that he had just killed a man, the "brother" commits suicide by opening his veins. Only the "driver" remains alive, who tries in vain to save the dead "brother", taking senseless actions, using the captain's trachea, and also taking off his pants and trying to "peel off" the brother's legs. Realizing the futility of his actions and leaning towards the corpse of the "brother", the "driver" screams in despair. The security guard of the guardhouse returns to the blood-drenched basement and in the sea of blood finds only the one who "traveled" in the tunic alive. At the sight of the corpses, the guard also goes crazy and begins to talk nonsense that “he is a colonel”, despite the fact that he really has the captain’s uniform and colonel’s shoulder straps with him, offering the “traveled” one to be a witness and go to the ball with him , on which there will be beer and a salute in his honor, then stands on a chair and pulls a noose around his neck. The "traveled" officer, who wanted to end this madness, knocks out a chair from under the guard with the help of a torn trachea. He mocks the corpse, singing about the green elephant and imitating sex, after which he falls asleep among the dead bodies.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Sergey Pakhomov | first officer ("driven") first officer ("driven") |
| Vladimir Epifantsev | second officer ("brother") second officer ("brother") |
| Alexander Maslaev | guard ("colonel") guard ("colonel") |
| Anatoly Osmolovsky | boss guardhouses, ("captain") boss guardhouses, ("captain") |
| Oleg Mavromatti | Captain's voice at the beginning of the movie |
Ratings
Baskova herself later said:
| In the late 1990s, the guardhouse, and all the conversations of the main characters, and their sometimes not very nice actions were obvious to me. Everything came from the socio-political and personal contradictions of that time and our country of that time. The events of the Green Elephant could not have taken place anywhere else and in no other way. In this sense, I am responsible for every word I say. For every frame. Much of the material filmed at that time cost me and the actors monstrous efforts, but during the final editing it was mercilessly cut out as superfluous and unnecessary. |
The performer of one of the roles, Vladimir Epifantsev, considers his participation in the film an accident. In his own words, he didn't even watch the movie until the end: “My work in this film is an accident, because I did not even imagine that it would all look exactly like this ... The director who made this film persuaded me for a very long time. I don't know how I was hypnotized, but I did the movie anyway. But I didn't watch it. And I don't want to look.
December 2013 members of the Union of Officers of Russia community in the social network " In contact with"Sharply condemned the film and offered to check it for the presence of inciting hatred and enmity, for humiliating the dignity of people on the grounds of their belonging to the social group "officers" [the significance of the fact? ] .
Write a review on the article "Green Elephant"
Notes
- Victor Nekhezin. . Rolling stone(03/15/2013). Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- Raymond Krumgold. . Russian spring. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- Anastasia Chumak. . HSE(8.07.2015). Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- . Retrieved February 15, 2013. .
- (Russian). Russian newspaper(February 7, 2013). Retrieved February 15, 2013.
- Andrey Plakhov.(Russian) // Kommersant: newspaper. - No. 203 (November 5, 2003) . - S. 21.
- . Youtube.
- Arthur Artemov.(Russian). News portal of Ulyanovsk (April 10, 2013). Retrieved 8 July 2014.
- Musina M.(Russian). otkakva.net (November 21, 2001). Retrieved November 18, 2013.
- (Russian). reedus(December 5, 2013). Retrieved 8 July 2014.
Links
- Salnikov V.(Russian) // art magazine. - 2000. - № 30 .
- Felix Sandalov(Russian) // Poster. - 2015.
An excerpt characterizing the Green Elephant
- He's on the goats. After all, you are on the goats, Petya? Natasha screamed.Sonya busied herself without ceasing, too; but the aim of her troubles was the opposite of Natasha's. She put away those things that should have been left; wrote them down, at the request of the countess, and tried to take with her as much as possible.
At two o'clock, the four Rostovs' crews, laid down and laid down, stood at the entrance. Carts with the wounded, one after another, drove out of the yard.
The carriage in which Prince Andrei was being carried, passing by the porch, attracted the attention of Sonya, who, together with the girl, was arranging seats for the countess in her huge tall carriage, which was standing at the entrance.
Whose wheelchair is this? Sonya asked, leaning out the carriage window.
"Don't you know, young lady?" the maid replied. - The prince is wounded: he spent the night with us and they are also coming with us.
- Yes, who is it? What's the last name?
- Our very former fiance, Prince Bolkonsky! - Sighing, answered the maid. They say dying.
Sonya jumped out of the carriage and ran to the countess. The countess, already dressed for the road, in shawls and a hat, tired, walked around the living room, waiting for her family, in order to sit with closed doors and pray before leaving. Natasha was not in the room.
“Maman,” said Sonya, “Prince Andrei is here, wounded, near death. He rides with us.
The Countess opened her eyes in fright and, grabbing Sonya by the hand, looked around.
- Natasha? she said.
And for Sonya and for the countess, this news had only one meaning in the first minute. They knew their Natasha, and the horror of what would happen to her at this news drowned out for them all sympathy for the man whom they both loved.
- Natasha doesn't know yet; but he is coming with us,” said Sonya.
Are you talking about dying?
Sonya nodded her head.
The Countess hugged Sonya and wept.
"God works in mysterious ways!" she thought, feeling that in everything that was being done now, the almighty hand that had previously been hidden from the eyes of people was beginning to appear.
- Well, mom, everything is ready. What are you talking about? .. - Natasha asked with a lively face, running into the room.
“Nothing,” said the Countess. - Done, let's go. And the Countess bent over her purse to hide her upset face. Sonya hugged Natasha and kissed her.
Natasha looked at her questioningly.
- What you? What happened?
- There is nothing…
- Very bad for me? .. What is it? asked sensitive Natasha.
Sonya sighed and didn't answer. The Count, Petya, m me Schoss, Mavra Kuzminishna, and Vasilyich went into the drawing-room, and, having closed the doors, they all sat down and silently, without looking at each other, sat for a few seconds.
The count was the first to get up and, sighing loudly, began to cross himself on the icon. Everyone did the same. Then the count began to embrace Mavra Kuzminishna and Vasilich, who remained in Moscow, and, while they caught his hand and kissed him on the shoulder, lightly patted them on the back, saying something indistinct, affectionately soothing. The countess went into the figurative room, and Sonya found her there on her knees in front of the remaining icons scattered along the wall. (The most expensive images, according to family legends, were taken with them.)
On the porch and in the yard, people leaving with daggers and sabers with which Petya armed them, with trousers tucked into boots and tightly belted with belts and sashes, said goodbye to those who remained.
As always on departures, much was forgotten and not properly arranged, and for quite a long time two guides stood on both sides of the open door and the steps of the carriage, preparing to help the countess, while the girls ran with pillows, bundles from home to carriages, and a carriage , and the chaise, and back.
- Everyone will forget their age! the countess said. "You know I can't sit like this." - And Dunyasha, clenching her teeth and not answering, with an expression of reproach on her face, rushed into the carriage to remake the seat.
Ah, this people! said the Count, shaking his head.
The old coachman Yefim, with whom the countess alone dared to ride, sitting high on her goats, did not even look back at what was being done behind him. He knew with thirty years of experience that it would not be soon before he would be told “God bless!” and that when they say, they will stop him two more times and send for forgotten things, and after that they will stop him again, and the countess herself will lean out of the window to him and ask him, by God, to drive more carefully on the slopes. He knew this and therefore more patiently than his horses (especially the left red one - Sokol, who kicked and, chewing, sorted out the bit) expected what would happen. At last they all sat down; the steps gathered and threw themselves into the carriage, the door slammed shut, they sent for the casket, the countess leaned out and said that she must. Then Yefim slowly took off his hat from his head and began to make the sign of the cross. The postilion and all the people did the same.
- With God blessing! said Yefim, putting on his hat. - Pull it out! - Postilion touched. The right drawbar fell into the yoke, the high springs crunched, and the body swayed. The footman jumped on the goats on the move. The carriage shook as it left the yard onto the shaking pavement, the other carriages shook in the same way, and the train moved up the street. In the carriages, the carriage and the britzka, everyone was baptized at the church, which was opposite. The people who remained in Moscow walked on both sides of the carriages, seeing them off.
Natasha rarely experienced such a joyful feeling as the one she now felt, sitting in the carriage next to the countess and looking at the walls of abandoned, alarmed Moscow slowly moving past her. From time to time she leaned out of the carriage window and looked back and forth at the long train of wounded that preceded them. Almost ahead of everyone she could see the closed top of Prince Andrei's carriage. She did not know who was in it, and every time, thinking about the area of \u200b\u200bher convoy, she looked for this carriage with her eyes. She knew that she was ahead of everyone.
In Kudrin, from Nikitskaya, from Presnya, from Podnovinsky, several trains of the same type as the Rostov train had arrived, and carriages and carts were already traveling along Sadovaya in two rows.
Driving around the Sukharev Tower, Natasha, curiously and quickly examining the people riding and walking, suddenly cried out with joy and surprise:
- Fathers! Mom, Sonya, look, it's him!
- Who? Who?
- Look, by God, Bezukhov! - said Natasha, leaning out the window of the carriage and looking at a tall, fat man in a coachman's caftan, obviously a well-dressed gentleman in gait and posture, who, next to a yellow, beardless old man in a frieze overcoat, approached under the arch of the Sukharev Tower.
- By God, Bezukhov, in a caftan, with some old boy! By God, - said Natasha, - look, look!
- No, it's not him. Is it possible, such nonsense.
- Mom, - Natasha shouted, - I'll give you a head to cut off, that it's him! I assure you. Stop, stop! she shouted to the coachman; but the coachman could not stop, because more carts and carriages drove out of Meshchanskaya, and they shouted at the Rostovs to move off and not detain others.
Indeed, although much further away than before, all the Rostovs saw Pierre or a man unusually resembling Pierre, in a coachman's caftan, walking down the street with his head bowed and a serious face, next to a little beardless old man who looked like a footman. This old man noticed a face sticking out at him from the carriage and, respectfully touching Pierre's elbow, said something to him, pointing to the carriage. For a long time Pierre could not understand what he was saying; so he seemed to be immersed in his own thoughts. Finally, when he understood him, he looked at the instructions and, recognizing Natasha, at the same second giving himself up to the first impression, quickly went to the carriage. But after walking ten paces, he, apparently remembering something, stopped.
Natasha's face, leaning out of the carriage, shone with a mocking caress.
- Pyotr Kirilych, go! After all, we found out! It is amazing! she screamed, holding out her hand to him. – How are you? Why are you like this?
Pierre took the outstretched hand and on the move (as the carriage continued to move) awkwardly kissed her.
- What's the matter with you, Count? asked the Countess in a surprised and sympathetic voice.
- What? What? For what? Don’t ask me, ”said Pierre and looked back at Natasha, whose radiant, joyful look (he felt it without looking at her) showered him with its charm.
- What are you, or are you staying in Moscow? Pierre was silent.
- In Moscow? he said inquiringly. - Yes, in Moscow. Farewell.
“Ah, if I were a man, I would certainly stay with you. Ah, how good it is! Natasha said. - Mom, let me stay. Pierre looked absently at Natasha and wanted to say something, but the countess interrupted him:
“You were at the battle, did we hear?
“Yes, I was,” Pierre answered. “Tomorrow there will be another battle ...” he began, but Natasha interrupted him:
“But what about you, Count?” You don't look like yourself...
“Ah, don’t ask, don’t ask me, I don’t know anything myself. Tomorrow... No! Farewell, farewell,” he said, “terrible time!” - And, lagging behind the carriage, he stepped onto the sidewalk.
Natasha still leaned out of the window for a long time, beaming at him with an affectionate and slightly mocking, joyful smile.
Pierre, since his disappearance from home, had been living for the second day in the empty apartment of the late Bazdeev. Here's how it happened.
Waking up the next day after his return to Moscow and meeting with Count Rostopchin, Pierre for a long time could not understand where he was and what they wanted from him. When, among the names of other persons who were waiting for him in the waiting room, he was informed that a Frenchman was also waiting for him, who had brought a letter from Countess Elena Vasilyevna, he was suddenly overcome by that feeling of confusion and hopelessness, which he was able to succumb to. It suddenly seemed to him that everything was now over, everything was mixed up, everything had collapsed, that there was neither right nor wrong, that there would be nothing ahead and that there was no way out of this situation. He, smiling unnaturally and muttering something, then sat down on the sofa in a helpless pose, then got up, went to the door and looked through the crack into the waiting room, then, waving his hands, I returned back and took up the book. Another time, the butler came to report to Pierre that the Frenchman, who had brought a letter from the countess, really wanted to see him even for a minute, and that they had come from the widow of I. A. Bazdeev to ask to accept the books, since Ms. Bazdeeva herself had left for the village.
“Ah, yes, now, wait ... Or not ... no, go tell me that I’ll come right now,” Pierre said to the butler.
But as soon as the butler came out, Pierre took the hat that lay on the table and went out of the office through the back door. There was no one in the corridor. Pierre walked the entire length of the corridor to the stairs and, grimacing and rubbing his forehead with both hands, went down to the first platform. The porter stood at the front door. From the platform to which Pierre descended, another staircase led to the back door. Pierre followed it and went out into the yard. Nobody saw him. But in the street, as soon as he came out of the gate, the coachmen, standing with the carriages, and the janitor saw the master and took off their hats in front of him. Feeling the fixed gazes on himself, Pierre acted like an ostrich that hides its head in a bush so that it will not be seen; he lowered his head and, quickening his pace, walked down the street.
Of all the things that lay ahead of Pierre that morning, the business of dismantling the books and papers of Iosif Alekseevich seemed to him the most necessary.
He took the first cab he came across and ordered him to go to the Patriarch's Ponds, where the house of Bazdeev's widow was.
Constantly looking from all sides at the moving carts of those leaving Moscow and recovering with his fat body so as not to slip off the rattling old droshky, Pierre, experiencing a joyful feeling similar to that experienced by a boy who has run away from school, started talking with the cab driver.
The driver told him that today they were dismantling weapons in the Kremlin, and that tomorrow the whole people would be driven out beyond the Trekhgornaya outpost, and that there would be a big battle.
Arriving at Patriarch's Ponds, Pierre found Bazdeev's house, which he had not been to for a long time. He approached the gate. Gerasim, the same yellow, beardless old man whom Pierre had seen five years ago in Torzhok with Iosif Alekseevich, came out to his knock.
- At home? Pierre asked.
- Due to the current circumstances, Sofya Danilovna and the children left for the Torzhkov village, Your Excellency.
“I’ll go in anyway, I need to sort out the books,” said Pierre.
- Please, you are welcome, brother of the deceased, - the kingdom of heaven! “Makar Alekseevich remained, yes, as you please know, they are in weakness,” said the old servant.
Makar Alekseevich was, as Pierre knew, the half-mad brother of Iosif Alekseevich who drank heavily.
– Yes, yes, I know. Let's go, let's go ... - said Pierre and entered the house. A tall, bald old man in a dressing gown, with a red nose, in galoshes on his bare feet, was standing in the hallway; seeing Pierre, he angrily muttered something and went into the corridor.
“They were of great intelligence, but now, as you will see, they have weakened,” said Gerasim. - Do you want to go to the office? Pierre nodded his head. - The office was sealed as it was. Sofya Danilovna was ordered, if they come from you, then release the books.
