Repentance (მონანიება)

“Georgia-Film“ Studio

REPENTANCE

The concluding film of a trilogy:

“A Prayer“, “The Wishing Tree“, “Repentance“

Written by

Nana DZHANEUDZE, Tenghil ABULADZE, REID KVESELAVA

Directed by Tenghiz ABULADZE

Director of Photography Mikhail AGRANOVICH

Production Designer Georgy MIKELADZE

Musical Supervision Nana DZANELIDZE

Musical pieces

by classical composers are used in this film

Starring

Avtandil MAKHARADZE as Varlam Aravidze, Abel Aravidze

lya NINIDZE as Guliko Merab NINIDZE as Tornike

Zeinab BOTSVADZE as Ketevan Barateli Ketevan ABULADZE as Nino Barateli

Edisher GIORGOBIANI as Sandro Barateli

Kakhi KAVSADZE as Mikhail Korisheli Nino ZAKARIADZE as Yelena Korisheli

Nato OCHIGAVA as Ketevan Barateli (as a child)

Dato KEMKHADZE as Abel Aravidze (as a child)

What a splendid cake, my dear Keto!

Thank you.

Oh, God! What a misfortune!

What happened, Apollon?

What a great man we have lost!

Oh, my God... Oh, God!

Was he your relative?

More than a relative!

He was my closest friend.

Lucky you!

This is the end to my luck! My dear Varlam is gone!

And still you're lucky to have known such a man.

We'll never have a mayor as good as he was.

I hope you do well in your studies?

What a man we have lost! What a great loss!

What a painful word, 'death'! What a painful word!

My condolences.

By the way, why is he not buried in the pantheon?

He must have not wanted it himself?

Good for Varlam, he was known for his modesty.

Thank you.

I commiserate with you over your loss.

Thank you, I appreciate it.

Varlam is not dead, no!

His soul is here, over us, it's hovering in the air.

Tseretso is here.

Pull yourselves together!

Thank you very much, patron. I appreciate it.

Hurray for our benefactor Tseretso! Let's give him a round of applause!

Ladies and gentlemen!

In a few minutes

the parting bell will ring

and we'll commit to the earth

the remains of a great son of his motherland, a man of a lofty soul,

a bright mind and a kind heart,

loved by everyone,

our highly esteemed Varlam Aravidze.

I think many of you have taken notice of the highly emotional

and wise inscription on the wreath from the friends of the deceased.

“One dead man is sometimes better than a thousand live ones.“

Our dear Varlam had many virtues,

it's hard to enumerate them all.

He had an extraordinary gift

to turn his enemy into his friend, and his friend into his enemy.

Indeed, this is a quality of the chosen!

A coffin, like a smorgasbord,

stands in a spacious vault.

And faces grow dim in a faded mirror.

But there's no death,

only a somersault of sinful flesh

and agonizing fear.

May you rest in peace, indefatigable toiler!

Rest in peace in your native earth.

He'll be gone, another'll come into this blooming world.

Indeed.

Why didn't your sweetheart honor the funeral with her presence?

Don't say nonsense.

Though everything went off well even without her.

Shut up, will you?

My dear boy! MY Poor orphan!

Poor Abel...

What's the matter with you? Stop clowning, it's enough.

Why is this portrait here?

Allez-hop!

Why is he howling, damn it?

Don't get up, I'll go and look.

Abel!

What's the matter? What's wrong?

It's Varlam over there! Don't go there, Abel!

Don't come near, Abel!

Abel!

- Varlam! - What?

The corpse.

- Arrest him. - Yes.

Who saw him first?

Guliko.

How are you, esteemed Guliko? When did you see him first?

I woke up this morning and saw him, poor thing, propped up against a tree.

- We'll have to arrest the deceased. - What do you mean, to arrest?

We need it for the inquiry.

In an hour you'll have your dear Varlam back safe and sound.

Go ahead, then.

But do it in gloves.

What times we're living in... They arrested Varlam himself.

- Well? - Have you been there?

- I have. - And what?

They didn't receive me.

Someone had forestalled us.

My highly esteemed neighbor Abel!

Did you really hope they would help you?

What else can I do?

- Why is he butting in? - He's a fool.

Listen to my advice:

Put an iron cage on the grave,

with a lock on the door, close it, just like that,

put the key in your pocket, and that's it, let them dig then.

The lion's in the cage. Let anyone try to touch him.

Even pharaohs never had such pyramids.

Your group goes behind that grave!

Don't make a step without my command, I'm in charge here!

And you move over here.

No smoking, no talking, keep your eyes and ears open!

Take your positions! Move!

Abel, the prefect himself is overseeing the operation.

Yes, he's a warm-hearted man, he did not abandon me in my time of misery.

Abel, do you see those brightly lit windows beyond the cemetery?

- Yes, I do. - My relative lives there.

When he learned that we'd be at a stone's throw from his house,

he had prepared a royal feast.

He'll be offended if we don't pay him a visit.

You want us to leave the grave?

No one will show up before midnight. If anything, the guards will call us.

- I don't know. Ask the prefect. - So you're for it? I'll be back.

- Philip. Meliton. - Yes, sir!

Do you see that house, with a big lamp in the window?

Yes, sir!

We're going there.

If anything happens, call us right away. Is it clear?

Yes, sir!

- When did you give up drinking? - Yesterday.

Yesterday? O Lord, may my friend Philip's soul rest in peace.

Enough, or you'll drop dead!

Boring life is not worth living.

Drink, sleep off, and drink again!

Lucretius?

I beg your pardon, dear sir! One can't do it here!

What a poet he was, eh? The king of poets!

Halt! Don't move! Or I'll fire!

I'm going to strangle you, bastard!

Let me go! Let go of me!

So it's you who's desecrating our grave, scoundrel?

Just let loose the dogs on him!

Good Lord, it's a woman!

Defendant Barateli!

During the preliminary investigation you confessed that

you had thrice dug up the deceased and carried him to the family's house.

Do you confirm that fact and do you plead guilty?

I confirm the fact, but I don't plead guilty.

But you did plead guilty during the investigation.

It's a lie, I never pleaded guilty during the investigation.

Is that your spade?

Yes, I dug up the deceased with this spade.

But where's the bullet which was extracted from my arm?

- So you did dig up the deceased? - Yes.

That's what you're guilty of, that's the fact of the crime.

Yes, I dug him up from the grave, but I don't plead guilty.

Be seated.

Please, be seated and observe the court order.

The trial has already taken place and the verdict has been passed!

Sit down!

As long as I live Varlam Aravidze will not rest in the ground.

This verdict is final, without appeal.

For it was pronounced by Providence to both of us: Aravidze and me.

I will dig him up three hundred times, not just three!

Sit down!

Your Honour, the defendant is agitated, it's only natural.

May I have the floor?

The counselor for defense may speak.

Your Honour, dear citizens!

Today we're dealing with an unprecedented case.

The deceased had been thrice dug up from his grave. Three times!

It is an indisputable fact that the motive was not robbery:

The valuables buried with the deceased had not been touched.

What was it then? What was the motive of the crime?

I tried to talk to the defendant, but she refused to speak.

Therefore, we'll have to conduct both a hearing and an investigation,

and, certainly, pass the verdict, right here.

That's why I ask this court to listen carefully to the defendant.

The defendant may speak.

Of course, all of you wonder why I'm persecuting the deceased.

It is the last thing I would want,

settling a score with a dead man.

Vengeance doesn't bring me any joy.

It's my misfortune.

My cross.

But there's no other way for me.

So, who is Varlam Aravidze?

I was eight years old when he became our mayor.

Shortly before his death, Einstein raised his voice

for the last time to tell the world of the tragedy of a modern scientist.