Bunin's story "Sukhodol", a brief summary of which is given in this article, belongs to the genre of so-called "village prose". The work was written in 1912. It is worth noting that the prose writer has addressed this topic more than once. His stories “Antonov Apples” and “Village” are also devoted to the problems of the village.
The narrator was always amazed by her affection for her small homeland, the Sukhodol estate, where she grew up as an ordinary servant. Having raised her children, she returns there.
The narrator and his sister grew up hearing stories about Sukhodol throughout their childhood. For them it was a mysterious and legendary place.
Natalia's fate
Natalya was left an orphan early. The father became a soldier, and the mother died of fear, as the author writes. So she was afraid of the wrath of her owners when all the turkey poults were killed by hail. It turned out that her parents were killed by the narrator’s grandparents.
Heroes come to Sukhodol
The narrator and his sister, as soon as they arrived, felt the charm that permeated the estate. The young Khrushchevs wandered around the garden, recognizing the places that Natalya had told them about when she was raising them. Returning late at night, they often found her in front of the image of Mercury.
History of Sukhodol
Great-grandfather Pyotr Kirillich went crazy and died at the age of 45. His grandson claimed that the cause of the madness was a shower of apples that fell on him while he was sleeping under a tree in the yard. The servants believed that he had lost his mind due to melancholy after the death of his beloved wife.
The narrator’s father recalled that at that time he was close friends with the servant Gevraska. It was believed that he was the illegitimate son of Pyotr Kirillich. The old nurse tried to look after the house, but gradually it lost its residential appearance. The summary of “Sukhodol” by I. A. Bunin describes how the area in the area was deserted.
Second life of the estate
Pyotr Petrovich breathed new life into the estate when he retired. He brought his friend Voitkovich. Life went in a lordly way.
Voitkovich liked Tonya, and Natalya fell in love with Pyotr Petrovich. One day she found a silver mirror among his things. She was captivated by the beauty of this thing. She secretly stole it and hid it in an abandoned bathhouse. Several times a day she ran into the bathhouse to admire her forbidden treasure. She dreamed that the master would pay attention to her and fall in love.
But it all ended disgracefully. Pyotr Petrovich revealed her crime. Considering it a banal theft, he ordered her to cut off her hair and exile her to a remote farm.
The estate is in the hands of Pyotr Petrovich
It was not an easy relationship with Gevraska, who humiliated his grandfather at every opportunity. The old man complained about the servant, but constantly forgave him. One night old Khrushchev went into the living room and began moving heavy furniture. He often did this at night. Gevraska shouted at him, he, overcoming his fear, tried to object, but in response received a strong blow to the chest. The old man hit his temple on the table when he fell and died.
Gevraska took the ring (golden icon) from the corpse and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Natalya returned to Sukhodol. By that time, Pyotr Petrovich had married and left for the Crimean War, where he was wounded.
The appearance of Yushka
He pretended to be a wanderer, but it turned out to be unprofitable. Then he began to vilify the laurel. He drank and smoked a lot and was extremely lustful. The young lady liked him and became her own person in Sukhodol.
Soon Yushka set his sights on Natalya, but she was disgusted with him. One night he started pestering her. Everyone in the area knew that he spent his nights in the lady’s bedroom.
For many nights Natalya gave herself to Yushka, losing consciousness from disgust and self-horror. When he got bored, he simply disappeared from the estate. And a few weeks later Natalya realized that she was pregnant.
In the fall the gentlemen returned from the war. And Natalya’s prophetic dream came true - a house in Sukhodol caught fire from lightning. That night she lost her child from fear. After that she grew old and faded. They took her to the relics, but this did not help.
The summary of “Sukhodol” by Ivan Bunin mentions that due to the Crimean War the economy was depleted. The brothers mortgaged the estate by buying horses from the gypsies. She hoped to fatten them up over the winter and sell them. But all the horses died. Pyotr Petrovich died soon after this. He was driving from a neighboring farm in winter from his mistress, he fell off his sleigh drunk, and a horse running behind him crushed his head with its hoof.
From then on, every time the young owners came to Sukhodol, Natalya told them about her lost life. And the house kept falling into disrepair. The son of Pyotr Petrovich sold land for plowing, traveled from Sukhodol and became a conductor on the railway.
The Khrushchevs of the new generation forgot about the history of their ancient family; they could no longer find the graves of their closest ancestors. All the stories that the narrator and his sister heard from Natalya seemed distant and almost impossible to them.
Analysis of the work
Reviews of Bunin's "Sukhodol" (a chapter-by-chapter summary is given in this article) were positive from both critics and readers. In this work, this is not the first time that Bunin has taken on images of the degeneration and impoverishment of the noble family.
In this case we are talking about the Khrushchev family estate. Describing this story, many researchers compare it with the great American novel “Gone with the Wind,” in which the characters were also unable to truly adapt to the changed conditions of life around them. At the same time, they remained entirely part of the past, and saw their future as very blurred.
With sincere bitterness, Bunin writes about the pathetic and unsuccessful attempts of the Khrushchev brothers to restore the family's former prosperity. But none of them have the necessary knowledge or business acumen. They do not have the ingenuity and practical mind that their ancestors had. Their horse scam goes wrong.
All their attempts to escape look pitiful and doomed. It seems that their future is already predetermined.
Geography
Sukhodol is located 6 km (by road) south of the regional center - the village of Sergievsk. The village is located on the left bank of the Surgut River (a tributary of the Soka).
Story
The settlement was first mentioned in 1849, then it was called a village Epiphany.
The status of an urban village has been since 1970.
The earliest information about the village of Bogoyavlenka (the original name of the village of Sukhodol), as a settlement that is part of the district town of Sergievsk, dates back to 1849. By that time, there were 68 households in the village, with 486 residents living in them. There was no church in the village. The nearest church was two miles away, in the village of Sergievsky Mineral Waters, where peasants went to pray. Epiphany (or Sukhodol) was located in the 2nd camp of the district on the right side of the road from Sergievskie Mineralnye Vody to Samara. The Sukhodol River flowed near the village. In 1859, the population of the village increased and reached 620 people. At the end of the 19th century, Bogoyavlenka became a village, the number of residents reached 1,149 people.
In 1910, a wooden church with a bell tower was built in the village, and a literacy school was opened at the church.
Before the revolution of 1917, the population in Bogoyavlenka increased to 1,400 people. At the end of the 20s, the church bells were dropped and the parish was closed. The wooden frame of the church (built according to the “no nails” principle) turned out to be so strong that it stood until 2000 and was dismantled, the logs were used to build a bell tower at the new church in the name of “Archangel Michael”.
After the establishment of Soviet power, the village of Bogoyavlenka was renamed Sukhodol. In 1928, the Sukhodolsky Village Council was formed. Since the late 20s, after famine and devastation, the village began to grow slowly. So in 1931, there were 248 households in the village, in which 1,268 people lived, mostly Russians. The population was mainly engaged in agriculture; they sowed rye, wheat, oats, as well as millet, peas, barley and other crops. In 1933-1934. A radio appeared in Sukhodol.
The development of oil and gas fields in the north of the province led to the fact that after the Great Patriotic War the village began to grow rapidly, technical support bases and engineering services for field development appeared. A central gas compressor station (CS) was built in the southwest of Sukhodol, providing blue fuel to the entire north of the province.
Population
Transport
The Ural federal road runs south of the village. In the village itself there is a railway station of the Samara branch of the Kuibyshev railway Sernye Vody 1 (ECR code 658806).
Media
- "Our Radio" 103.2 FM, rock station.
Bunin's story "Sukhodol", a brief summary of which is given in this article, belongs to the genre of so-called "village prose". The work was written in 1912. It is worth noting that the prose writer has addressed this topic more than once. His stories “Antonov Apples” and “Village” are also devoted to the problems of the village.
The narrator was always amazed by her affection for her small homeland, the Sukhodol estate, where she grew up as an ordinary servant. Having raised her children, she returns there.
The narrator and his sister grew up hearing stories about Sukhodol throughout their childhood. For them it was a mysterious and legendary place.
Natalia's fate
Natalya was left an orphan early. The father became a soldier, and the mother died of fear, as the author writes. So she was afraid of the wrath of her owners when all the turkey poults were killed by hail. It turned out that her parents were killed by the narrator’s grandparents.
Over time, he learns a lot about the gloomy house in Sukhodol. The Khrushchev nobles, who owned the estate, always sat down to dinner with whips in their hands in case of a quarrel.
But everyone who lived in Sukhodol never wanted to leave there. Although they often lived in terrible poverty. Everyone was drawn to Sukhodol, but since the narrator’s childhood, a major quarrel occurred between the landowners, because of which any relationship was terminated.
Heroes come to Sukhodol
The narrator and his sister, as soon as they arrived, felt the charm that permeated the estate. The young Khrushchevs wandered around the garden, recognizing the places that Natalya had told them about when she was raising them. Returning late at night, they often found her in front of the image of Mercury.
History of Sukhodol
Great-grandfather Pyotr Kirillich went crazy and died at the age of 45. His grandson claimed that the cause of the madness was a shower of apples that fell on him while he was sleeping under a tree in the yard. The servants believed that he had lost his mind due to melancholy after the death of his beloved wife.
The narrator’s father recalled that at that time he was close friends with the servant Gevraska. It was believed that he was the illegitimate son of Pyotr Kirillich. The old nurse tried to look after the house, but gradually it lost its residential appearance. The summary of “Sukhodol” by I. A. Bunin describes how the area in the area was deserted.
Second life of the estate
Pyotr Petrovich breathed new life into the estate when he retired. He brought his friend Voitkovich. Life went in a lordly way.
Voitkovich liked Tonya, and Natalya fell in love with Pyotr Petrovich. One day she found a silver mirror among his things. She was captivated by the beauty of this thing. She secretly stole it and hid it in an abandoned bathhouse. Several times a day she ran into the bathhouse to admire her forbidden treasure. She dreamed that the master would pay attention to her and fall in love.
But it all ended disgracefully. Pyotr Petrovich revealed her crime. Considering it a banal theft, he ordered her to cut off her hair and exile her to a remote farm.
The estate is in the hands of Pyotr Petrovich
It was not an easy relationship with Gevraska, who humiliated his grandfather at every opportunity. The old man complained about the servant, but constantly forgave him. One night old Khrushchev went into the living room and began moving heavy furniture. He often did this at night. Gevraska shouted at him, he, overcoming his fear, tried to object, but in response received a strong blow to the chest. The old man hit his temple on the table when he fell and died.
Gevraska took the ring (golden icon) from the corpse and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Natalya returned to Sukhodol. By that time, Pyotr Petrovich had married and left for the Crimean War, where he was wounded.
The appearance of Yushka
He pretended to be a wanderer, but it turned out to be unprofitable. Then he began to vilify the laurel. He drank and smoked a lot and was extremely lustful. The young lady liked him and became her own person in Sukhodol.
Soon Yushka set his sights on Natalya, but she was disgusted with him. One night he started pestering her. Everyone in the area knew that he spent his nights in the lady’s bedroom.
For many nights Natalya gave herself to Yushka, losing consciousness from disgust and self-horror. When he got bored, he simply disappeared from the estate. And a few weeks later Natalya realized that she was pregnant.
In the fall the gentlemen returned from the war. And Natalya’s prophetic dream came true - a house in Sukhodol caught fire from lightning. That night she lost her child from fear. After that she grew old and faded. They took her to the relics, but this did not help.
The summary of “Sukhodol” by Ivan Bunin mentions that due to the Crimean War the economy was depleted. The brothers mortgaged the estate by buying horses from the gypsies. She hoped to fatten them up over the winter and sell them. But all the horses died. Pyotr Petrovich died soon after this. He was driving from a neighboring farm in winter from his mistress, he fell off his sleigh drunk, and a horse running behind him crushed his head with its hoof.
From then on, every time the young owners came to Sukhodol, Natalya told them about her lost life. And the house kept falling into disrepair. The son of Pyotr Petrovich sold land for plowing, traveled from Sukhodol and became a conductor on the railway.
The Khrushchevs of the new generation forgot about the history of their ancient family; they could no longer find the graves of their closest ancestors. All the stories that the narrator and his sister heard from Natalya seemed distant and almost impossible to them.
Sukhodol is a description of the life of the Khrushchevs, local landowners. The story of the Khrushchev family is told by the courtyard girl Natalya, Arkady Petrovich's foster sister. Natalya raised the younger Khrushchevs, who lived in Lunevo. She lived with them for about eight years, all the time telling her pupils about their family estate in Sukhodol.
Natalya was left an orphan as a child. Her father died when he was sent to serve as a soldier, and her mother died of a broken heart at the sight of the owner’s turkey poults dying from a hailstorm. In Natalya's stories, the estate was described as a scary and gloomy house, in which they even sat down to dinner with whips, in case of a fight.
Having buried his untimely deceased wife, Pyotr Kirillovich lost his mind. The master constantly quarrels with the footman Gevraska, who is considered his illegitimate son. Feeling his impunity, the footman behaves impudently and rudely, humiliating the old man. Son Arkady and daughter Tonya are taught by French teachers discharged from the city, but only son Peter is awarded a full education.
Having retired, Peter returns to the estate along with his friend Voitkevich. Tonya has tender feelings for the young officer, but his attempts to get closer are fiercely rebuffed. Without having explained himself to the girl, the young man leaves the estate. Out of despair, the girl’s mind becomes clouded and she becomes uncontrollable. Fearing the condemnation of his neighbors, Pyotr Petrovich sends Tonya to Lunevo.
Natalya feels love for the young master. In a fit of passion, the girl stole a small mirror from her owner. Admiring herself in front of this trifle, Natalya tried to attract the attention of Pyotr Petrovich. But all her efforts only led to shame. The master, having discovered the theft, gave instructions to exile the girl to a remote farm, after cutting off her hair.
On Pokrov, Pyotr Petrovich summons all the influential people of the area to his estate, which made his grandfather incredibly happy. Presenting himself as the owner, grandfather created fuss and unnecessary troubles, causing only pity with his behavior. Pyotr Petrovich, feeling the strength of the matured lackey, praises Gevraska in every possible way in front of influential guests, offending his grandfather even more. Guests stay overnight at the estate.
In the morning, after spending a sleepless night, the grandfather began to rearrange the furniture in the living room. A servant came and started shouting at him. Grandfather wanted to put the footman in his place, but he hit the old man with force. While falling, the grandfather's temple hit the corner of the table, which was the cause of death. Having torn off the gold jewelry from the body that had not yet cooled down, Gevraska disappeared from the estate.
Tonya forces Natalya to be returned to the estate. The girl quickly adapts to the whims of the young lady, who takes it out on her by throwing various objects at her. Claudia Markovna, whom the master married, is waiting for a new addition to the family. Mad Tonya infects Natalya with her fears, who has nightmares and prophetic dreams. She does not want to get married, fearing the prophecy. The house is constantly bustling with some strangers who consider themselves God's chosen ones. Among them is Yushka, introducing himself as a former monk. The lustful and unceremonious impudent man takes possession of Natalya and disappears from the estate. Natalya remains pregnant. Soon there is a fire, and Natalya loses her child from the horror she experienced.
They are trying in every possible way to cure Tonya of her illness, but all efforts are in vain. Pyotr Petrovich, returning from a hunt, falls under a horse's hoof. In a house that has fallen into disrepair, elderly women - Tonya, Klavdia Markovna and Natalya - are whileing away their lives. Young Khrushchev only feels a connection with his ancestors in the cemetery, but he cannot find the graves of his relatives.
A person must know and remember the history of his family.
Picture or drawing of Sukhodol
Other retellings for the reader's diary
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- Brief summary of Prishvin Chicken on poles
The main characters of the story are a chicken named the Queen of Spades and her unusual children. It all started when neighbors gave one family several goose eggs. The owners put them in the nest of a black hen to hatch, and she hatched four cute goslings
- Summary of Ionesco's Rhinoceroses
In the square of a small town, a saleswoman yells after a woman with a cat. This woman was a housewife and went to another store to buy groceries. Beranger and Jean walked into a nearby cafe and sat down at the same table.
- Summary of The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf by Zhukovsky
A beautiful apple tree grew in Demyan Danilovich’s green garden. And suddenly, one day, he began to notice that there were much fewer apples on the tree. He called his sons and ordered them to take turns guarding the garden.
- Summary of the Parma Monastery of Stendhal
In the family castle of the Marquis Valserra del Dongo, a second son was born, who was named Fabrizio. The family already had an eldest son, the future heir of the marquis, and two daughters.
Recently I watched a feature film based on the story “Sukhodol” by Ivan Alekseevich Bunin. The film appeared in 2011. The very fact that based on the work of I.A. Bunin made a new film, which made me happy. In general, Bunin has been filmed quite a bit. In Soviet times, this was impossible, but in post-Soviet times there were no film adaptations either. Apparently, this is due to the fact that in the works of I.A. Bunin mostly lacks a dynamic plot. Try it, briefly retell “Sukhodol” or “The Cup of Life”, what will happen? People lived, fought, made peace, fell in love, made mistakes, grew old, died. Their home died along with them, and their way of life turned into a legend. And the remainder is only memories of a happy youth, of some silver-framed mirror and bitterness from the fleetingness and irrevocability of this happiness. How to film memories of irrevocable happiness?
Cinema has its own laws, dynamics are important here. This is probably why filmmakers did not take on Bunin so often. And from what was filmed, not everything is pleasing. Of the feature films adapted from the works of Ivan Alekseevich, I would like to note the wonderful work of director Igor Maksimchuk, the film “Cold Autumn”. This is where respect for the author's text really takes place, which, of course, is not an end in itself. It is important that the director manages to convey Bunin’s mood, some elusive nuances and features, the spirit of the times. That same bitterness from fleetingness and irrevocability. “You live, rejoice and come to me...” How sweet and painful... I think that Igor Evgenievich Maksimchuk did not set himself any super-tasks. He already had a very difficult task - to transfer Bunin’s brilliant story to the screen, preserving the atmosphere of the story. And the director did it perfectly. I love this movie.
So, having certain guidelines and expectations, subjective of course, I started watching the feature film “Sukhodol” directed by Alexandra Strelyana. It took me about ten minutes of continuous viewing, and I spent another ten minutes watching this film, which is called rewinding. In the end, irritated, he quit this activity too. Well, I didn’t find that Ivan Bunin, whom I have known for a long time and deeply respect. Hence the irritation. But after a while I still wanted to watch the film in its entirety. In the battle between hostility and curiosity, curiosity won. I wanted to understand what kind of interesting interpretation of one of my favorite works this is. At the same time, I also watched the program “Closed Screening”, in which they discuss the film by Alexandra Strelyana.
If I could describe my feelings in one word, the best word would be “bewilderment.” Do you think this is maybe banter or humor? Well, apparently not. It doesn't look like The Twelve Chairs. The author presents all this to us in all seriousness. Maybe this is a slander about our past? After watching “Closed Screening” I gave up this idea too. The director is a nice girl, I thought she was sincere, very pretty. What kind of movie did she make that turned out so cute and cute? It seems that the author is not lying about his soul. That is, a young girl, Alexandra Strelyanaya, the director of this film, believes that Russia in the 19th century was exactly the way it is shown in her film.
Now I’ll try to explain what touched me so much in this film. In the TV show “Closed Screening,” documentary director Irina Uralskaya recommended that we watch and review this film. And I actually watched some episodes several times. Because these are real pearls. The film begins with such an episode - a certain creature, apparently a woman, apparently middle-aged, is driving a cow somewhere through the dried grass. It is raining, the creature screams in an obscene voice, the cow is scared and seems surprised. Judging by the fact that there is not a single leaf on the birch trees in the frame, the time of year is late autumn, or maybe already the beginning of winter, the snow has simply not fallen yet. The cow can be understood; there is no reason to drive the unfortunate animal out of a warm stall in the rain at the end of autumn, unless there is a fire or the filming of a science-fiction film happens.
I dare to suggest that the prototype of a certain creature was Aunt Tonya from Bunin’s story. Bunin also has a scene with a cow: Arkady Petrovich Khrushchev and his family, after a serious quarrel and ten years of separation, meet his crazy sister on the highway, who is chasing a cow. The sister, that same Aunt Tonya, apparently begins to scream loudly out of excitement, frightening the barchuk with her cry: “Isn’t this Baba Yaga herself?” The interpretation of Bunin's text in this episode is too free, as in the entire film. In this episode, and in the entire film, there is neither Arkady Petrovich, nor the little barchuk, nor his sister, but this is not about interpretation. Let's skip a few minor points that made me smile sarcasticly.
But here’s what you can’t miss: just between the scenes exposing Natalya’s theft and the public announcement of her exile, there are a few seconds that sharply raise the viewer’s interest in the film. On the screen, a peasant woman is mowing the grass. It would seem that there is nothing special, well, it mows and mows, this is its purpose - to mow, plow, and breastfeed. But the fact is that this grass is not simple. No, and not magical. She is dried up and parched. There is no more sense in such mowing than in teaching aquarium fish English. Autumn dead wood can only be mowed for one purpose: to keep warm. And I am apparently very close to the truth, because in the background you can see the same birch trees, completely bare. Pre-winter, don’t let or take. It must be very cold, so the poor fellow is warming up. Why doesn't steam come out of the peasant woman's mouth? Mystery. But that's not all. It is not noticeable that the peasant woman has mowed anything; she is surrounded on all sides by tall grass. It immediately becomes clear that stern Russian women could not only stop a galloping horse, but also invented fitness long before the advent of leggings. I think that this episode is no longer just a free author’s reading, it already looks like a metaphor. Like, don’t mow, you’ll still have to starve in winter, or something like that. While we are rewinding a little, yeah, I finally found some steam. Peasant Yevsey Bodulya is warming himself by the fire, and steam is pouring out of his mouth. Winter, winter... or pre-winter!
Further, my attention was attracted by a funny episode on the distant farm of Soshki with a Zaporozhye Cossack from the time of Taras Bulba. How this character ended up as a serf to the Khrushchevs is known only to the filmmakers. For Bunin, this is simply a taciturn, middle-aged crest, gray-haired and with a short haircut. For some reason, Alexandra Strelyanaya has a shaved skull and a dashing ataman forelock. Why was this masquerade with the Cossack needed? According to this logic, a Frenchman must certainly be shown eating frogs, so that there is no doubt: eating frogs means he is definitely a Frenchman.
Do you think that's all? No! There is still a lot of interesting things ahead. Here's another interesting point. Natalya is in charge of four geese on a distant farm. He even teaches them to fly. The geese are no less outraged than that cow - they have come here in large numbers from the capitals, there is no peace. The question arises: is this again a metaphor or, perhaps, an allegory, or did the villagers not entrust the film crew with more geese? Well, the voiceover would explain that Natalya was doing the work of a poultry worker in Soshki, and everything would be clear. And now a whole bunch of unsolvable questions arise. For example, why do the Khrushchevs need a distant farm, to which they have to travel a day and another night? Four geese could be taught to fly in Sukhodol. Or for the Khrushchevs, all this agriculture with fields, mowing and distant farmsteads is just an excuse? Maybe they have some kind of criminal income, for example, an underground oil well? The Khrushchevs’ life is organized thoroughly: the furniture is antique, and they are dressed like a brand new. You can't make a living with four geese. Something is not clean there.
Here is what Ivan Alekseevich Bunin writes about the death of Natalya’s mother, also a poultry worker: “...mother did not live to live because of the master’s turkey poults. Of course, I don’t remember, sir, where I was, but the servants said: she was a poultry farmer, there were countless turkey poults under her command, a hailstorm captured them in the pasture and killed every single one of them...” Hey, filmmakers - there were countless birds, you understand! Landowners in those days were engaged in making money, in what today is called business, and not at all in training geese.
And such blunders occur throughout the film. Well, if you don’t have the opportunity to film summer in the summer, then make a chamber film. But no, they are constantly trying to surprise us with views. By the way, the landscape photography turned out to be very interesting. As the hero of Arkady Raikin said, there are no complaints about buttons. True, these landscapes have a very distant relationship with Bunin’s “Sukhodol”. Let's go back to summer. Igor Maksimchuk, for example, had no idea that summer could be filmed in winter. In his film “Cold Autumn,” he shot June in June, July in July, September in September, and October in October. This is clearly visible: in July, when the news about the beginning of the First World War is discussed, meadow flowers bloom, and when in October the news came about the death of the hero Andrei Sokolov, the leaves on the trees are yellow, red, and green somewhere else. And he filmed the Central Belt of Russia in the Central Belt of Russia. Everything is recognizable, the landscape is Bunin’s...
Ivan Alekseevich has a remarkable remark in his diary entries dated July 27, 1917: “It’s still morning, a light breeze sometimes passes through the room - all the windows are open. What is the date today? Even if I didn’t know which one, it seems I could say that it’s the end of July - I know so well all the slightest features of the air, the sun of every season... Through other windows I see, first of all, the branches and twigs of old trees - silver poplar, pines and fir trees - and the pale blue sky among them, and below, between the trunks, the village distance: the forest shaft slightly blue on the horizon, the yellowness of the fields already mown and covered with mows, closer - an estate stretching along the slope to a small river Bakhteyarov, and then, very close, the old low fence of our estate, the young fir trees running along it, and part of the yard, densely overgrown with nettles, both dull and stinging, which the sun bakes and over which a large white butterfly flies. Just by how tall the nettles are, I could accurately determine what time of summer it is. And besides, there are so many subtle, but so familiar to me, familiar from childhood, very special smells, inherent only to working time, mowing, rye heaps!”
I would like to say, gentlemen, the creators of the film “Sukhodol”, my irony is not boring. When making a film about the forties and fifties of the twentieth century, you would never think of dressing young girls in short skirts; you understand perfectly well that this is, at least, funny. In the film “Sukhodol” your liberties go much further, despite the fact that Ivan Alekseevich Bunin could not tolerate falsehood and artificiality in works of art. Bunin, in addition to all his other merits, is extremely documentary in his works. From his books one can study the history of his time.
Let's get back to the film. Next in the collection of absurdities follows a long block of popular folklore. When schoolchildren watch enough of this “Sukhodol”, they become convinced that nothing in the world exists more dreary and monotonous than Russian folk songs. And what is more boring and more “folklore” than Bunin is a writer in this world. And that Russian folk songs are sung exclusively in rattling, shrill voices and always next to the notes. All these speeches of the “Sukhodyolsk grandmothers” are summed up by the phrase of Yevsey Boduly. “How beautiful!” - he exclaims. I wonder if the creators of the film are trying to convince the viewer or are they persuading themselves that it is “beautiful”? Although I really liked the last musical number with female and male polyphony. I won’t criticize everything.
The icing on the cake in this theater of the absurd is Natalia's berry picking. Watch and review – Irina Uralskaya encourages us. I watched it five times. Laughed until I dropped. Again, Natalya walked to get the berries through the withered grass, among the bare birches, with steam coming out of her mouth. When leaving, Natalya warned the lady that I was going to get some berries. The yard also heard it. And no one stopped him, didn’t bring him to his senses: Natalya, you have a fever, you should go to bed and immediately drink some medicine, what kind of berries are they now? And Natalya went, and in all seriousness looked for berries under completely bare bushes in full screen. Fitness mowing is just flowers, there will be more serious berries. Again, a question arises for the filmmakers: gentlemen, why do you consider your viewers idiots? By all indications, you have a historical film, an adaptation. Well, what kind of berries are there in November? Rowan with rose hips, if only.
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, teaching young aspiring writers, in particular Valentin Kataev, in Odessa in 1919, instructed: in your work it is not enough to call a tree just a tree, a flower a flower, and a bird a bird, each tree has its own name, species, you need to penetrate, to find out, to understand, to study. This is Bunin. Details were important to him, accuracy of description was important, he himself would never accept such conventions. If you want to make a parable, a science fiction film, a fairy tale, a utopia, a dystopia, a fantasy film, make it, it’s all very interesting, just don’t touch Bunin. Then the viewer will have no complaints against you, and there will be no bewilderment either.
In fact, I can guess where all these fitness mowings came from in the film “Sukhodol”: the budget was minimal, there was no opportunity to move away from my native St. Petersburg, it was possible to assemble the entire film crew only by mid-autumn, so I had to go with what I had . Amazing! Remove the reference to Bunin from the credits, change the title, and everyone will be happy. Otherwise, the viewer has an irresistible desire to protect the truth and his favorite work from attacks.
I would like to say a few words about the plot and the characters and about Russia in the 19th century through the eyes of Alexandra Strelyana and her team. I have already pointed out that in the film little remains of Bunin’s text and plot. Here I cannot be as categorical as in discussing various absurdities with mowing and berries. The matter is thin. Nowadays, quite often a feature film turns out to be very far in content from the original source, from the work on which the film was based. There are many examples of such films becoming events that are much more noticeable than the original source. In itself, a new interpretation of familiar material is a common phenomenon. This is the norm. But Alexandra Strelyanaya’s film is something other than just a free interpretation. In this film, in my opinion, in addition to the obvious inconsistencies described above, there is a substitution of meaning. I'll try to explain.
I'll start from afar. The story of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin “Sukhodol”, immediately after its publication, was generally received very warmly by society, but there were also very unflattering reviews. Bunin was accused of almost sympathizing with serfdom. Of course, all of these are completely unfounded accusations. But the logic of the accusers can be understood. The reason is simple. Ivan Alekseevich describes the serf-owners, his grandfather, father, uncle, and the time of their youth, their prosperity, their dawn, with a certain nostalgia, with love. But this is love for one’s ancestors, and not at all love for serfdom. Serfdom is a complex topic. In any case, it is part of our history; you can’t go back and rewrite it completely. In the same way, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin can be recorded as a serf owner. Formally it fits. Yes, and many others. Bunin felt an inextricable connection with the time of his grandparents, the time of Pushkin, the time of his relative, the poet Zhukovsky, and naturally could not help but be nostalgic and dream about that “golden age.”
This is what Ivan Alekseevich writes about the youth of his mother, Lyudmila Aleksandrovna, in the essay “Thinking about Pushkin”: “For my childhood, adolescent dreams, nothing could have been more beautiful, more poetic than her youth and the world where she grew up, where in the estates there was There are so many wonderful albums with Pushkin’s poems, and how could I not adore Pushkin and not just adore him as a poet, but also, as it were, his own, ours?” Actually, the entire story “Sukhodol” is imbued with this adoration, and I think that it is not, and could not have been more beautiful and poetic than the times of my grandparents. But “Sukhodol” is not an oil, not a look through rose-colored glasses. “Sukhodol” is the writer’s childhood dreams. Arina Rodionovna inspired Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin to create a cycle of fairy tales, and Ivan Alekseevich had his own Arina Rodionovna. In “Ruslan and Lyudmila” there are miracles and a goblin wanders, and in “Sukhodol” there is a blackened image of Mercury of Smolensk, decapitated, with his own head in his hands, an owl hooting at night right under the windows, great thunders with fiery snakes of lightning, dark and gloomy Sukhodolsky house made of blackened oak logs, and most importantly, the inhabitants of this house, described poetically, passionately, captivatingly. We can say that this story is a chronicle of the decline of a Russian estate. And here we are talking not only about the noble family, we are talking about everyone living in the estate and the nearest village, about the servants, about the peasants.
Just like Pushkin’s novel in verse “Eugene Onegin” is not only brilliant poetry, memorable images and light, flying stanzas, it is, among other things, an encyclopedia, a historical document relating to a certain era, “Sukhodol”, in addition to its enormous artistic value, is just as important and interesting as a historical document. I repeat, this is a document, this is a chronicle, objective and detailed. And this document is about what happened to the grandchildren of the Onegins, Lenskys, Rostovs, Bolkonskys, maybe not with them, with their neighbors, but in general about how Russia, the way of life in Russia changed, about , that “in half a century, an entire class has almost disappeared from the face of the earth, so many have degenerated, gone crazy, committed suicide, drunk themselves, sank and simply got lost somewhere!” Bunin’s “Sukhodol” shows the dynamics of this self-destruction; in “Sukhodol” by Alexandra Strelyana we are talking mainly about the growing up of the servant Natalya and the apotheosis of this story, the scene of Natalya’s rape by Yushka.
I’m exaggerating, but by and large, I’m not far from the truth. Using only one plot line, out of all the variety that is in the story, is not a problem, not a tragedy, not a crime. This is common. But the fact that the meaning and message of the literary source was distorted, changed, personally offended and outraged me. Due to the simplification of the plot, some of the main characters of the story are completely absent from the film. There is no Arkady Petrovich, his father Pyotr Kirilych. These characters would greatly overload the story of Natalya's growing up. Not needed. Extra. The lackey Gervaska, the illegitimate son of Pyotr Kirilych, in the story “tortures” the master and barchuk, who “dote on him,” and, in the end, Gervaska accidentally kills Pyotr Kirilych. A complex figure, a complex history of family relationships, injustice, grievances. As a result of these grievances, Gervaskina’s rudeness and insolence towards the Khrushchevs. In general, everything is like with people - confusing and ambiguous. And in the film, Gervaska looks more like an ideological socialist revolutionary than an illegitimate person offended by his unfair lot. And, to make what is depicted seem logical, the Khrushchevs left in the film are turned into complete monsters. The result was something similar to “Mumu”. Heirs of Saltychikha, and that’s all. This, by the way, is about substituting meaning.
Here is the dialogue between Pyotr Kirilych and Gervaska: “Lackeys! Lackeys! Are you sleeping? And Gervaska raises her head from the chest and asks: “Do you want me to stuff some nettles into your bag now?” - “Who are you telling this to, you such a slacker?” - “To the brownie, sir: half asleep...” And here is a scene from the film where the gloomy Pyotr Petrovich shushes his sister Antonina: “Shout louder, you’ve become related to the slaves. Because of him, there are now many such sharp people here...” Well, one doesn’t fit with the other. For Bunin, it’s the other way around: “But the blood of the Khrushchevs has been mixed with the blood of the servants and the village since time immemorial. Who gave life to Pyotr Kirillich? Legends say different things about this. Who was the parent of Gervaska, his killer? From an early age we heard that Pyotr Kirillich. Where did such a sharp dissimilarity in the characters of the father and uncle come from? They also say different things about this. My father’s milk sister was Natalya, and he traded crosses with Gervaska... It’s long, long ago, time for Khrushchev to consider himself akin to his servants and the village!” And again: “The servants, the village and the house in Sukhodol constituted one family. Our ancestors still ruled this family. But this can be felt for a long time in the offspring. The life of a family, clan, clan is deep, knotty, mysterious, and often scary...”
There is an obvious substitution in the film. The work, which critics at one time accused of sympathy for serfdom, somehow miraculously gave birth to a film about the cruelties of serfdom, almost about a revolutionary situation, about the inevitability of revolution. No wonder one of the young spectators at the “Closed Screening” remarked: “Now I understand why the revolution happened.” But, in fact, the story “Sukhodol” is not about serf owners and their slaves. The theme of social injustice, oppression, is a very important topic, but in Bunin’s “Sukhodol” we are talking about “the life of a family, knotted and mysterious.” This story is not about the cruelties of serf owners, it is about living people for whom everything is contradictory and complex. It’s about, for example, that the Khrushchevs were the kindest in the world, but they also “drove” Natalya’s parents. In the book, Natalya says: “- A strange thing! — — Gervaska bullied the barchuk and grandfather, and the young lady bullied me. Barchuk, and, to tell the truth, grandfather themselves, doted on Gervaska, and I doted on her...”
In the film, Natalya, in her not very Orthodox-like prayer to pebbles or with pebbles, mentions the “cursed Tonya.” Bunin, by the way, has no trace of Natalya’s paganism, there is no trace of any prayers to the “krynka by the road.” Why did they drag all this into the film? Here is a quote from the story about Natalya’s attitude towards Antonina, who had been touched by her mind: “Soon after her arrival, she found out that the young lady was waiting for her “like white light”: the young lady remembered her - she looked with all her eyes to see if they were coming from Sosheki, she fervently assured everyone that she will be completely healthy as soon as Natasha returns. Natasha returned and was greeted with complete indifference. But weren’t the young lady’s tears tears of bitter disappointment? Natasha’s heart trembled when she realized all this.” There is no “damned Tony” here! In my opinion, the filmmakers shot their film based on Sukhodol, but what they ended up with was an adaptation of either Fathers and Sons or Mumu.
In fact, of the main characters in the film, only Natalya is a living and consistent, understandable image. The rest, with a few exceptions, are either monsters (the Khrushchev family) or idols (all middle-aged peasants). There is a clear contradiction between generations. In addition to Natalya, the film should evoke sympathy and understanding - Gervaska, Natalya’s helper girl, outraged by the latter’s unfair punishment, may also be the bride at the wedding, the very wedding that Evsei Bodulya admires. Evsei Bodulya himself, a middle-aged peasant, rather evokes pity - a quiet, kind man, resigned and unnoticed by the arbitrariness of the Khrushchev villains. “Everything is the master’s will.” The episode with the bride is also ambiguous: at the pre-wedding ceremony, elderly peasant women convince the bride that she definitely needs to cry before the wedding, and she asks in surprise, why, I’m going to my beloved. That is, older people are hypocrites, their traditions are dead and ossified, but the young bride is still open to the truth, and she sees the absurdity of the situation, so what happens?
This, of course, is good, but I have a question for my fellow directors and scriptwriters: is it okay that the young bride forever went to someone else’s family from her relatives, father and mother, forever went to live in someone else’s house, under the same roof not only with the groom’s parents, but also, possibly, with the sister-in-law and the husband’s daughter-in-law. And all this in a cramped hut, where, in winter, up to a dozen children and relatives and cousins could spend the night on one stove. I wrote at the beginning of my note that I had doubts whether the authors were denigrating our past. Well, our people had such a past that it is not so easy to denigrate them. The truth is harsher than any fiction. It’s no joke, in some places people lived in half-dugouts almost until the 20th century.
But we don’t need to come up with a story in fantasy style or in the form of a popular print. And there is no need to try on modern logic of thinking on people who lived one hundred and fifty years ago. There was, there was a reason for the young bride to cry herself, without reminders from senior mentors. Well, there were no mortgages and other benefits of civilization back then: subways, highways, sedans, tablets, hot aromatic coffee in a chain cafe with a small paperback book in hand. There is no need to judge those people from our bell tower. No, they already had coffee and books, but not everyone had them.
Ilya Rylshchikov
