MovieChat Forums > Love and Death (1975) Discussion > Attention, Dostoevsky scholars: assistan...

Attention, Dostoevsky scholars: assistance (still) needed


Towards the end of the movie, Boris has a conversation with his father that consists entirely of Dostoevsky references. Transcribing it was tricky, because of the father's accent, but here's my best stab at it:

Father: Remember that nice boy next door, Raskolnikov?

Boris: Yeah.

Father: He killed two ladies.

Boris: What a nasty story.

Father: Bobak told it to me. He heard it from one of the Karamazov brothers.

Boris: He must have been possessed.

Father: Well, he was a raw youth.

Boris: Raw youth, he was an idiot!

Father: He acted assaulted and injured.

Boris: I heard he was a gambler.

Father: You know, he could be your double!

Boris: Really, how novel.


I have only a passing acquaintance with Dostoevsky, so I need a little help with one item: What does "assaulted and injured" reference?

The other, highlighted segments I figured out. If I've got it right, I'll post it to the quote page - given all the other entries, I'm surprised it's not included.

Thanks in advance. Thanks to JesterPepper, who pointed out it was Dostoevsky, not Tolstoy.

"Well, there it is."

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Those are Dostoevsky references. People often confuse the two writers.

Unfortunately, I've read Tolstoy, but not yet Dostoevsky, so I can't help you. :(

"Be Realistic---Demand the Impossible!"

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You're right. Thanx.

"Well, there it is."

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Actually what the actor says is 'insulted and injured'. It is the title of yet another Dostoevsky novel.

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That's an alternate title itself. Wikipedia has it as "The Insulted and Humiliated" - completely different from what I heard.



"Well, there it is."

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It refers to the "Crime And Punishment" story, in which its main-character, Raskolnikov, kills two women in the beginning of the book.

"Que medos, que sonhos, que virtudes lhes inventaram a vida em eternidade?", VergĂ­lio Ferreira

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There is also one more connection with Dostoevsky. I read somewhere that Dostoevsky survived the shooting with few other guys, after, in the last momment, they were told it has all been a mockery. Same happens in the movie, except Woody Allen dies.

Am I wrong?
-Yeah, but...
OK then.

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