I fratelli Karamazov 1969 [EP1] - Ivan & Smerdjakov + at Katja's, the beginning of the three thousand rubles affair
As a farewell to 2023 and to a happy new year, I bring you... some more Karamazovian dramatics!
part one | part two | part three (you are here!)
Some sparse notes before the translated transcripts start under the cut: 1. usual disclaimer that I'm not a professional, just an amateur, and am doing this out of pure insanity -- if you want to discuss translation related things or have some corrections, my inbox is open and your thoughts are welcomed <3; 2. mild trigger warnings for (time appropriate): strongly implied slut shaming and more vague possibly mysoginistic remarks made by Smerdjakov about Grušen’ka -- i feel like Smerdjakov himself is sometimes made to fit into the evil gay "advisor" stereotype and that might not be everyone's cup of tea -- while I don't think these bits take anything away from the writing and actually contribute to paint a more vivid picture of the society and the time the work is set in, we must keep in mind that this is a 1969 adaptation of a 1860s novel and that there are things about it that might squick some nowdays; 3. I'm actually really sorry that this took me so long to finish, I've had the dialogues written down and a rough sketch of the translation sitting around for months and polishing it turned out to be an harder task that what I thought it would be. There's still some sentences I'm not 100% sure about, but done in this case is better than perfect, and it doesn't matter how much I mourn the formal you in english, I gotta learn to work without it; 4. that said, this time I relied in a couple of scene on a lot more stage directions than last time, I felt that some more prominent acting/staging choices, especially in the Ivan & Smerdjakov bit, were important enough to warrant a description -- Katja and Dmitrij's interaction I feel instead it relies on more subtle choices for its effect, that are harder to describe, especially on Katja's side, so left it more barebones to give the dialogue more space (so you should watch it to get the full effect, wink wink nudge nudge); 5. enjoy the insanity <33
Interpreters: Umberto Orsini as Ivan Karamazov, Antonio Salines as Smerdjakov, Neda Naldi as M. Chochlakova, Maria Grazia Antonini as Lisa Chochlakova, Carla Gravina as Katerina Ivanovna and Corrado Pani as Dmitrij Karamazov.
Original script by Diego Fabbri, directed by Sandro Bolchi.
You can follow watch the drama here on YT or here on RaiPlay -- I suggest the latter, it's free and it's the original source, but youtube's still there if you prefer.
[INT. – AT THE KARAMAZOV’S/IVAN’S ROOM] min. 14:19
(Ivan snaps his fingers from behind a screen – Smerdjakov enters: he’s here to help Ivan get dressed)
Smerdjakov: (with a servile tone – to keep in mind for all his dialogues: he never drops it) I’m not allowed to say certain things, as I’m just a servant who should only thank his master’s benevolence, but if I may risk a word it’s only because I’m devoted to you, Ivan Fëdorovič…
Ivan: (with a harsh tone – emphasis on devoted; he keeps up the commanding/angry tone until stated otherwise) I sincerely don’t understand why you should be devoted to me! – As you put it.
Smerdjakov: I like to hear you talk, Ivan Fëdorovič… when you’re arguing, downstairs, with your father–
Ivan: That’s rare!
Smerdjakov: (cont. – must note: as Smerdjakov is helping Ivan button the back of his waistcoat, they are talking in front of a mirror and the last piece of this line is spoken while they’re both looking at their reflection) Well, those times I… I never miss a word. Sometimes I even hide, I must confess, to not lose the flow of the conversation… and I can say that you don’t converse: you reason.
Ivan: Is the frac ready? – Did you iron the frac?!
Smerdjakov: Ironed, Ivan Fëdorovič: I overlooked the ironing myself because I don’t trust that muddler, Marfa, nor that hick Grigorj.
Ivan: (amused/sardonic – he’s putting on the cuntiest little round glasses) What is it – what would you have told me if you were allowed to speak freely?
Smerdjakov: Well, now maybe… I wouldn’t dare…
Ivan: You’re allowed! And don’t make me beg you…(grabs Smerdjakov by his hair and pulls him close) you’re cunning.
Smerdjakov: But maybe you already know, Ivan Fëdorovič–
Ivan: What should I know? (he releases Smerdjakov)
Smerdjakov: Dmitrij’s new sudden infatuation for Agrafena Aleksandrovna… they’re talking about it, in town, because Agrafena Aleksandrovna – Grušen’ka, you understand? – she has her own history, and those who have their own history are on everyone’s lips.
Ivan: It’ll be my brother Dmitrij’s usual whim.
Smerdjakov: Well… It may be something more. Certainly something different.
Ivan: Dmitrij has a fiancée.
Smerdjakov: The noble miss Katerina Ivanovna.
Ivan: (with a softer tone, almost dreamily, clearly he’s thinking about Katja) …and there is not a girl more fine nor fascinating – (back to the harsh tone; note that after this rise he softens a bit) so?!
Smerdjakov: And who might say the contrary… but this Grušen’ka, as those who know her say, looks like she might have other… other requirements. I’ve told you she has a history and, for a man as intelligent as you are, it’s all said.
Ivan: (laughs) The shoes – get the bone shoe horn, the long one.
Smerdjakov: (kneeling to put the shoes on Ivan, who is sitting on the bed) And then there’s more that’s riling Dmitrij up, there’s almost a challenge.
Ivan: The gossiper that you are…
Smerdjakov: (laughs) If it were gossip, I wouldn’t speak, Ivan Fëdorovič, but I can always stop here, if you prefer.
Ivan: And speak, then, say what you want to say.
Smerdjakov: For… this Grušen’ka has, how can I say it – given his age, fallen in love is a kind term, is it? – the master fell for her, too.
Ivan: What master?
Smerdjakov: (Smerdjakov looks up to Ivan) Ours – (he looks at the shoe he’s putting on Ivan) mine. Fëdor Pavlovič, you father, sir. (laughs) He’s fallen madly in love!
Ivan: (as he kicks Smerdjakov away, sending him sprawling on the ground) You’re a reptile!
Smerdjakov: I swear on everything I believe that this is the truth!
Ivan: And since you don’t believe in anything, you perjure!
Smerdjakov: (as he gets up to his feet) I guarantee you, Ivan Fëdorovič – the master confided in me, and I already had to run some tasks for him at that lady’s… I don’t badmouth: I confide in you, if you allow me, of course… Fëdor Pavlovič, despite his age, is gone for her to the point he even wishes to marry her – (reaching for Ivan) to this, we’ve come!
Ivan: (he gets up, puts distance between him and Smerdjakov again) Do the two know?
Smerdjakov: The two? – you mean, the father and the son? (as he gets Ivan’s frac and helps him wear it) I believe so, and this is, I think, the true reason for the hatred: no more the heritage. And it’s not yet said that the older one won’t have it his way, Dmitrij’s impetus notwithstanding – and I find him a handsome young man, a young man who should be liked, on the contrary: who is liked, undoubtedly; but this time, in this challenge, eh!, who knows? Because it looks like this Grušen’ka lights, how can I say, lights the amorous fantasy in more mature… elderly men; it’s one of her particularities, they say.
Ivan: (angry) Stop it! – (then, distraught) I have no more need for you, I’m ready.
Smerdjakov: The coat is downstairs, in the wardrobe. I’m sorry I upset you, Ivan Fëdorovič.
Ivan: (still distraught, upset) I’m only thinking about poor Katerina Ivanovna; ignorant, I suppose… (he scratches at the door frame with his fingernails) that upsets me.
*
[INT. – AT KATERINA IVANOVNA’S/BALLROOM] min. 19:52
(the scene opens with the camera following a waiter carrying a teacups tray through a moderately crowded ballroom; he stops by M. Chochlakova and Lisa)
Waiter: Please, madame.
M. Chochlakova: (takes one of the offered teacups) Thank you.
Waiter: Some tea, miss?
(Lisa shakes her head; the camera returns to following the movement of the waiter amongst Katja’s guests, until he passes by Katerina herself and Ivan and focuses on them – note: Ivan isn’t wearing his cunty glasses anymore, but he’s cuntily holding a cigarette)
Ivan: Yes, I am… I am worried for Dmitrij, the argument with my father over that damned heritage is exasperating him: he withdraws, he hides; we can’t find him for days and days. Do you see him?
Katja: I was hoping to have him with us today, I had a note delivered to his domicile but… who knows if he’ll show up. However, you don’t have to worry so, Ivan Fëdorovič: I know Dmitrij, I know what is troubling him at this moment. We need to let his agitation placate naturally. Why did he target his father so intensely – because now he needs money and he doesn’t have any, and he’s so proud he won’t borrow from anyone: and so he gets exasperated.
Ivan: So you think, Katerina Ivanovna, that money might pacify him.
Katja: No, it’s not the money that gives him peace. Dmitrij is the most generous man I have ever known, money obsesses him only because it lets him act fully free.
Ivan: (smiles) Mh, I admire your intelligence and your… extraordinary lucidity; I did not think that a woman in love could see with such clarity the man she loves.
Katja: I believe it is love that makes me see so clearly, for Mitja’s sake. I know the situation I find myself in.
Ivan: Do you know about… the news, too?
Katja: I know the news, too. (she spots Dmitrij, who just entered) There he is! (she turns back to Ivan, their faces are very close) He came.
(the camera cuts to Dmitrij, standing very still; at Katja’s aunt’s call he comes towards her and kisses her hand)
Katja’s aunt: Dmitrij Fëdorovič, don’t pretend to be a statue, come closer!
Lisa: I hoped you would bring along your brother Alëša…
Dmitrij: Don’t you know he walks a different path than us? And he’s serious about it, my little brother – he’s not like us, he doesn’t mistake the devil for holy water (he spots Ivan and Katja sitting together) Anyway, I see another member of the Karamazov family already preceded me, and is already here.
(to Katja’s aunt) You really want us all, eh?
Katja’s aunt: We would really like to have you all – because you’re pleasant, you Karamazovs.
Katja: (she stands up and walks towards her aunt) Aunt, I’ll let you have him all for yourself later, but may I speak to him for a moment first?
Katja’s aunt: Youths and feelings’ rights, I’ve always respected.
Katja: Dmitrij Fëdorovič, if you’ll follow me. (she exits with Dmitrij following)
(the scene cuts off with a shot of Ivan pensively about to take a drag of his cigarette, he seems to be following Katja and Dmitrij with his gaze)
[INT. – AT KATERINA IVANOVNA’S/KATJA’S ROOM] min. 23:07
Katja: Come, Mitja, come.
Dmitrij: Will it be a long talk? Maybe an explanation?
Katja: (rummaging through a vanity) No. No, I just have a favour to ask you Mitja; you should send this parcel to Moscow for me, to my sister Agaf’ja Ivanovna. It’s not urgent but… you really must be the one doing it, Mitja, because no-one in the house should know.
Dmitrij: Would it be a secret, then?
Katja: There are three thousand rubles inside, my sister needs them, or her husband does, I didn’t understand very well. In any case, I’m sending them personally; there (she hands him the parcel) I told you you can do it at your leisure, then you’ll give me the receipt, but… it has to remain between us, understood?
Dmitrij: I’ll do it right now, I’ll bring you the receipt immediately – (he makes for a side door) can I leave from here? I’d rather not pass through the ballroom.
Katja: But why, Mitja, what are they going to say about this sudden escape?
Dmitrij: They’ll say… they’ll say you asked me to tend to an urgent and delicate matter. Isn’t it the truth, Katja? And then, you won’t be alone: someone from the family will keep you in good company – actually, I’m wondering, why didn’t you ask Ivan for this favour? He would’ve been happy to make himself useful.
Katja: What you’re saying isn’t worthy of you, Mitja. Maybe you don’t even really think it, but… you want to hurt me, I feel it.Dmitrij: Is there anything I’m not worthy of? What is it that’s not worthy of me? Come on, Katja, you know very well how low I can go. I’ll do what you asked me to, and without anyone knowing. (he leaves)
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wow. i’ve been co-conscious before over the past few months (years? it’s a little hard to tell when i’m in the inner world) but this is my first time actually inhabiting the body in like... a long time. at least tumblr hasn’t really changed that much shdkjsdjkdhs
After being overly greedy with theirs and other people's food, Arti goes to sleep that night and wakes up to the scientist Sam offering them as much food as they want. After they strap them to a chair and run them through their feeding machine for hours, Sam remarks that Arti "doesn't even look half full". Hopefully Arti doesn't get peckish after being let go or they may just finally burst...
This is the first in a new series I'm doing based on my own and suggestions of people's 'kink awakenings' as in the moments from our past that awakened our eventual love for the kinks we have today. I have many more planned so I hope you enjoy this first one!
This is based on the Merrie Melodies short 'Pigs is Pigs' for those wanting to check out the original!
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so, about that italian karamazov thing. I finished all my exams today while in hysterics (unrelated to the mentioned above though. sadly.) and to chill tonight I decided to look for the full series on yt to watch - and i found it! around 20mins in and its making me insane again.
a few insights tumblr peeps might find interesting about it:
it's from 1969 (funny number always funny) and yes all in b/w. seeing the old rai logo is a trip
haven't properly looked it up, but it had to be a decent high value production, just the costumes and the settings are stunning, and some of the actors are quite known names
I'm a bit on the fence about a couple of adaptation choices they've made, ex. it does obviously skip the family history chapters, but it doesn't start with the meeting with father zosima but some time before - so we get to see the brothers interact a bit more AND Dmitrij meeting Grusha for the first time (this is actually the very second scene in the first episode. you can pause the screen and see the exact moment Grusha decides she's gonna ruin his life), but it also has Fëdor Pavlovič as the one to suggest to see Father Zosima (although while drunk, although obviously mocking Alyosha's faith) and this is not a change I think works well with the themes of the novel - but we'll see how they handled the actual meeting.
smerdyakov helps ivan get dressed to go to a soirée and they have an homoerotic very very long moment. smerdyakov also says he thinks dmitrij is hot. haven't yet processed the information.
ivan is talking to katya at the soirée when dmitrij enters the room, lise is also at the soirée and asks him why he didn't also bring alyosha. to which dmitrij answers saying "lo sai che mio fratello batte altre strade" which means roughly that she should know alyoshas not interested in mundanity but also "battere le strade" can also mean whoring oneself out and I'm in stitches. I don't think it was an intentional joke btw.
worth mentioning is also I think the actor who plays alyosha looks like young Italian mark hamill
bonus, a screen of smerdyakov (left) and ivan (right) during the dressing scene - the moment before this when they're talking and moving around the room but the camera is focusing on the mirror with ivans profile and smerdyakov in background is also insane. behold:
you can find the first episode here - I renew my past plea: please please give it a go. I'm willing to translate if you don't speak Italian we can get on discord and do it live or whatever. I'm begging you give it a chance
might be the upcoming exams (monday) and the dread incoming but i’m feeling positively unwell - i found a beautiful rendition of ivan’s great inquisitor dialogue. it grabbed me by the throat and made me choke on my soul.
it’s quite simplistic, overall, in staging and directing - it’s in black and white, and it’s part of an old tv series - but it just stands there on its own like a piece out of time.
it’s the little details, ivan’s fiddling with the knife - passing its point on his own lips, then forehead - alyosha’s smile that starts earnest and grows worries as ivan becomes his own character and he has to carry christ’s part.
it’s in alyosha rebutting ivan and ivan saying he’s going to steal his lines to put in them in christ’s mouth, it’s alyosha plagarizing the end of the poem with that final forgiving kiss.
it’s in the action -- i felt it, that act of loving actively that dostoevskij described, in these two brothers desperately trying to understand each other.
please please i know i’m not making any sense but watch it if you can, i know its long (18 mins), i know it’s in italian but please give it a chance. i’m willing to try my hand at english transcription -- you can find it here.
