Vasily Shukshin - red viburnum. Viburnum red Viburnum red briefli

Vasily Shukshin's film "Kalina Krasnaya" was the last work of the director and immediately became the favorite picture of many Soviet viewers. The reason for such success lies in the vitality of this film, in the simplicity and sincerity with which the talented director endowed his heroes, and in the excellent acting of the actors. The film was the first work of Shukshin, which was shot on color film.

The history of the film

The actors of the film "Kalina Krasnaya" were personally selected by Shukshin himself. Vasily Makarovich has long dreamed of making a movie about a folk hero. He was attracted by the idea of ​​making a film about Stepan Razin, but officials from Goskino suggested that he first make a film about our contemporaries. The script for the film was written based on the story of the same name by Vasily Makarovich, published in the magazine Our Contemporary.

The premiere took place in 1974, and the picture was named the best film of the year, and Vasily Shukshin was recognized as the best actor. "Kalina Krasnaya" became the leader of the box office and collected a record 62.5 million viewers for Soviet cinemas. But, unfortunately, Vasily Shukshin did not have time to shoot the planned film about Stepan Razin.

Fates and roles

The main female role was played by Lydia Fedoseeva-Shukshina, the wife of the great folk director. It should be noted that Shukshin liked to shoot his wife in his films: in almost every film there was a character who was ideally suited to the type of actress.

The actors of the film "Kalina Krasnaya" recalled the time of working on the film as a difficult, but still very interesting period of their lives. Working with a talented director was not always easy: Vasily Makarovich was distinguished by a tough character and knew how to get the actors from the game that he needed to fully reveal the images.

The name of the film is not accidental: the song with that name was sung to Shukshin by his wife Lydia, when their relationship was just beginning.

The plot of the picture

The recidivist and thief Yegor Prokudin, played by the director himself, after leaving the colony decides to go to his pen pal Lyuba (Lydia Fedoseyeva-Shukshina). The woman's parents are at first very wary of such a guest. But the former criminal wants to change his life, and gradually relations with the bride's family are getting better. And yet the past does not want to leave Yegor. His criminal buddies find him there too. They are trying in a good way to persuade Yegor Prokudin to return to the gang, and having received a categorical refusal, they decide to kill.

Actors of the film "Kalina Krasnaya"

Alexey Vanin, Lev Durov, Zhanna Prokhorenko, Nikolai Grabbe - this is not a complete list of actors who took part in the creation of the film. In the role of the leader of the gang of thieves, Guboshlep, a good friend of Vasily Makarovich Shukshin, Georgy Burkov, starred.

At first, the actor did not really want to play the role of a criminal, but Vasily Makarovich managed to persuade his friend, and after a well-played role, he received invitations from other directors, and George's career went uphill. Then there were such films as "Garage", "Cruel Romance", "Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!". Burkov got used to the role of Guboshlep so much that after the release of the picture on the screen, former criminals approached him, mistaking him for their own.

Supporting roles

Ivan Ryzhov, who by that time was already a famous actor, played the role of Lyuba's father, but Efimiya Bystrov, who was not an actress, played Yegor Prokudin's mother. The fate of this simple peasant woman from the village of Sadovoye strongly resembled the fate of the main character's mother. She did not even play a role, but simply talked about her sons to the main character of the picture, Lyuba. This episode was filmed with a hidden camera so as not to disturb the old woman. It should be noted that Vasily Makarovich often attracted ordinary villagers for filming in his paintings, and this added realism to his paintings.

Lev Durov starred as a waiter, and Natalia Gvozdikova played a young telephone operator. But in the role of a prison entertainer, the deputy director of the picture was filmed, while Iya Arepina played the sister of Yegor Prokudin.

Film Reel Awards

No one, including Shukshin himself, expected such recognition of the picture from ordinary citizens. "Kalina Krasnaya" was successfully shown in all cinemas of the country, and later, having appeared on TV screens, it became one of the most beloved films of this director. Too bad it's the last...

The film also received international recognition. In 1973, he was awarded the Warsaw Siren Award, which is presented by Polish film critics. The director himself was awarded the prize "For originality and directorial talent" at the festival in Baku. 16 years after the premiere, "Kalina Krasnaya" was included in the program of the International Berlin Film Festival in the Retrospective section.

A difficult film about ordinary people

In the process of working on the film, I had to make changes both to the storyline and to the replicas of the characters. The relevant authorities monitored the process of work and all the time tried to correct the work of the director. After numerous alterations, Vasily Makarovich went to the hospital with an ulcer attack, his condition was so severe that the cinema officials retreated, fearing that the director might not live to see the premiere.

The script, directing and the main role took away the last strength and health from Shukshin, because this person did not know how to work at half strength. The actors of the film "Kalina Krasnaya" were very worried about the director's health and tried to follow all the instructions that Vasily Makarovich gave on the set.

The talented director and actor died a year after the release of his film, on the set of the film "They Fought for the Motherland."

Yegor Prokudin leaves the zone. His dream is to start his own business. He has to meet his future wife. Egor and Lyubov Fedorovna know each other only by correspondence.

Yegor meets with his friends, who are once again preparing for a robbery. Grief, as Yegor's friends call him, does not want to participate in all this. Soon it turns out that everyone needs to scatter, as the police caught their accomplices.

Egor meets with Any. She introduces him to her parents. Love knows everything about the future husband. She knows that Yegor is a recidivist thief, but she listens to the fairy tale that he was an accountant and ended up in prison by accident. The father of the bride asks Yegor, to which he reacts with mockery and nervousness. Brother Lyubov is very indifferent to both Yegor and his past. Everyone seems to be unhappy with the girl's choice. Egor leaves, telling Lyuba that he himself does not know whether he will return or not. It seems to him that his friends are chasing him. The hero leads a strange life. He drinks, treats strangers, throws money down the drain.

Lyuba arranges for her fiancé to be a driver on a farm, but he leaves work a day later. Egor goes with Lyuba to his mother. One day, Lyubov's ex-husband comes drunk to her. Yegor gets into a fight with him and his friends. Yegor works in the field. Former buddies are taking Yegor to the forest for disassembly. Lyuba finds him seriously wounded. Yegor is dying. Petro catches up with friends and copes with them.

Picture or drawing Viburnum red

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Shukshin Vasily

Red viburnum

Vasily Shukshin

Red viburnum

This story began in a corrective labor camp, north of the city of N., in beautiful and strict places.

It was evening after a hard day's work.

People gathered in the club...

A broad-shouldered man with a weather-beaten face stepped onto the stage and announced:

And now the choir of former repeat offenders will sing for us the thoughtful song "Evening Bells"!

Members of the choir began to enter the stage from behind the scenes - one by one. They became so that they formed two groups - large and small. The choristers were all far from "melodious" in appearance.

The choir sang. That is, they brought in a small group, and in a large group they bent their heads and at the right moment hit with feeling:

Bom, bom...

In the "bom-bom" group, we also see our hero - Yegor Prokudin, forty years old, with a short haircut. He tried in earnest, and when they "rang," he wrinkled his brow and shook his round peasant head, so that it looked like the sound of the bell was floating and swaying in the evening air.

Thus ended the last term of Yegor Prokudin. Ahead - will.

In the morning in the office of one of the chiefs the following conversation took place:

Well, tell me, how do you think to live, Prokudin? asked the boss. He, apparently, asked this many, many times - painfully, his words came out somehow ready-made.

Honestly! - Egor hurried with the answer, also, presumably, ready, because the answer jumped out amazingly easily.

Yes, I understand this ... But how? How do you imagine it?

I'm thinking of taking up agriculture, Citizen Chief.

Comrade.

BUT? Egor didn't understand.

Now for you everything is comrades, - the chief-nick reminded.

Ah! Prokudin recalled with pleasure. He even laughed at his forgetfulness. - Yes, yes ... There will be many comrades!

What drew you to agriculture? the boss asked sincerely.

So I'm a peasant! Kind of. In general, I love nature. I'll buy a cow...

cow? the boss was surprised.

cow. Here with such an outcrop. Yegor showed his hands.

A cow should not be chosen according to its udder. If she is still young, what kind of udder does she have? And you choose the old one, she really has such an udder ... What's the point? A cow should be... slender.

So what is it then - on the legs? - Yegor coaxed with a question.

Choose something. Legs, right?

Why on the legs? By breed. There are breeds - such and such a breed ... For example, Kholmogory ... - The chief did not know more.

I adore cows,” Yegor said once again with force. "I'll bring her to the stall... I'll put her down..."

The boss and Yegor were silent for a while, looking at each other.

The cow is good, - the chief agreed. - Only ... well, you will deal with one cow? Do you have any profession?

I have many professions.

For example?

Egor thought, as if he were choosing from his many professions the least ... how should I put it - the least suitable for thieves' purposes.

Locksmith...

The phone rang. The boss picked up the phone.

Yes. Yes. And what was the lesson? What is the topic? "Eugene Onegin"? So, who are they asking questions about? Tatyana? And what is it that they do not understand about Tatyana? What, I say, is there for them ... - The head listened for some time to a thin, noisy voice in the receiver, while reproachfully looking at Yegor and slightly nodding his head: they say, everything is clear. - Let ... Listen here: let them not engage in demagogy there! What does it mean - there will be children, there will be no children?! About this, or something, a poem is written! And then I'll explain to them! You tell them ... Okay, wait, Nikolaev will come to you. The boss hung up and picked up another. While dialing the number, he said displeasedly: - Associate professors to me ... Nikolaev? There, the teacher of literature disrupted the lesson: they began to ask questions. BUT? "Eugene Onegin". Yes, not about Onegin, but about Tatyana: will she have children from the old man or not? Go find out. Let's. In, associate professors, you understand! said the boss, hanging up the phone. - Questions began to be asked.

Yegor laughed as he introduced this literature lesson.

Want to know...

Do you have a wife? the chief asked sternly.

Yegor took a photograph from his breast pocket and handed it to the chief. He took it and looked.

Is it your wife? he asked, not hiding his surprise.

The photo showed a rather beautiful young woman, kind and clear.

Future, - said Yegor. He did not like that the chief was surprised. -- Is waiting for me. But I never saw her live.

Like this?

Correspondence student. Yegor reached out and took the photograph. - Excuse me. - And he himself stared at the sweet, simple Russian face. Baikalova Lyubov Fedorovna. What confidence on the face, ah! It's amazing, right? Looks like a cashier.

And what does she write?

He writes that he understands all my misfortune ... But, he says, I don’t understand how you thought of ending up in prison? Good letters. Peace from them... My husband was a drunkard - he kicked me out. And she still didn't get mad at people.

Do you understand what you're getting into? asked the chief in a low voice and seriously.

I understand, - Yegor also said quietly and hid the photograph.

First, dress appropriately. Where are you like that ... Vanka from Presnya will show up. The chief looked at Yegor with displeasure. - What is this ... why is he dressed like that?

Yegor was in boots, a kosovorotka shirt, a sweatshirt and some kind of uniform cap - either a rural driver or a plumber, with a slight hint of participation in amateur art activities.

Egor glanced at himself, grinned.

So it was necessary for the role. And then I didn’t have time to change clothes.

Artists ... - only the chief said and laughed. He was not an evil man, and he never ceased to amaze people whose ingenuity knows no limits.

And here it is - the will!

This means that the door slammed behind Yegor, and he found himself on the street of a small village. He took a deep breath of spring air, closed his eyes and shook his head. Walked a little and leaned against the fence. Some old woman with a handbag was walking past, stopped.

You feel bad?

I feel good, mother, - said Yegor. - It's good that I sat down in the spring. You should always plant in the spring.

Where to sit? The old woman didn't understand.

To jail.

The old woman only now realized who she was talking to. Opa-plum pulled back and minced further. She looked at the fence she was walking past. She looked back at Yegor.

And Yegor raised his hand towards the Volga. "Volga" stopped. Yegor began to negotiate with the driver. At first, the driver did not agree to drive, Yegor took out a wad of money from his pocket, showed it to the hall ... and went to sit next to the driver.

At this time, an old woman approached them, who showed concern for Yegor - she was not too lazy to cross the street.

Film company The country

USSR USSR

Language Year IMDb The release of the film "Kalina Krasnaya" K: 1974 Movies

Plot

Leaving the colony, the recidivist thief Yegor Prokudin, nicknamed Grief, decides to go to the village where the blue-eyed stranger Lyuba lives, with whom he corresponded - after all, you need to wait a bit and look around. But life in the village ruins all of Yegor's plans, and he decides to break with the past forever. Now he has friends, a job, a beloved woman. However, the criminals, Yegor's former friends, are not going to put up with his new way of life.

Cast

• Vasily Shukshin - Egor Prokudin
• Lydia Fedoseeva-Shukshina - Luba Baikalova
• Ivan Ryzhov - Fyodor Baikalov, Lyuba's father
• Maria Skvortsova - Luba's mother
• Alexey Vanin - Petro, Luba's brother
• Maria Vinogradova - Zoya, Peter's wife
• Efimiya Bystrova - Kudelikh, Yegor's mother
• Zhanna Prokhorenko - investigator
• Lev Durov - Sergei Mikhailovich, waiter
• Alexander Gorbenko - Kolya, Lyuba's ex-husband
• Nicholas Grabbe - head of the colony
• Nikolai Pogodin - state farm director
• Georgy Burkov - Lipslap
• Tatyana Gavrilova - Lucien
• Artur Makarov - bulldy
• Oleg Korchikov - Shurka
• Natalya Gvozdikova - telephone operator
• Iya Arepina - Yegor's sister
• Alexander Sarantsev - Sasha, a guest at the Baikalovs
• Natalya Krachkovskaya - guest at the "celebration of life"(uncredited)
• Margarita Zharova - waitress(uncredited)

film crew

• Screenwriter: Vasily Shukshin
• Director: Vasily Shukshin
• Cinematographer: Anatoly Zabolotsky
• Artist: Ippolit Novoderezhkin
• Composer: Pavel Chekalov

Fees

• Vasily Shukshin - 2250 rubles for directing plus 2000 rubles for the script
• Ivan Ryzhov - 1102 rubles
• Lydia Fedoseeva-Shukshina - 965 rubles
• Alexey Vanin - 547 rubles. 50 kop.
• Georgy Burkov - 285 rubles

Prizes

• The main prize at the All-Union Film Festival in Baku ()
• Polish Film Critics' Prize "Warsaw Siren" for the best foreign film of 1973 shown in Poland.

• The name "Kalina Krasnaya", in relation to the film, was suggested by Lidia Fedoseeva-Shukshina. Taken from the song of the same name, which she sang to Shukshin during the first meeting.
• After long unsuccessful attempts to launch a film about Stepan Razin, Shukshin came to the Mosfilm film studio, where part of the employment contract was the launch of a film about Soviet modernity. This film was the film "Kalina Krasnaya".
• The German film director and screenwriter R. V. Fassbinder included the picture "Kalina Krasnaya" among his ten favorite films.
• In the role of Kudelikha, Yegor's mother, a resident of the village of Merinovo, now Sadovaya, a peasant woman, Efimiya Bystrov, starred, whose life story coincided with the script. The old woman did not play a role during the filming, but simply told Lydia Fedoseeva-Shukshina about her sons. In 2003, her fellow villagers erected a monument with a photograph from the film on her grave.
• In the episodic role of the entertainer of the prison concert, the deputy director of the picture starred.
• In a conversation with Yegor, Lyuba's father mentions the name of a fellow villager who returned from the resort with experience, but without money: Vaska Belov. Most likely, the village writer Vasily Belov is mentioned, who was born in the Vologda region.
• After viewing the finished film by the Goskino commission and demanding numerous corrections, Shukshin was hospitalized due to an exacerbation of a stomach ulcer. After lying for some time, he escaped from there to do some editing. The number of corrections made did not satisfy the management, but the picture was released because the commission was afraid of the director's death, having learned the circumstances of his illness. In addition, this coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Mosfilm film studio, during the celebration of which Politburo member Nikolai Podgorny made a speech about supporting realism in Soviet cinema.
• After the premiere, the director received several letters from thieves in law who criticized him for being unreliable. These letters refuted the opinion that former "colleagues" kill those who have retired from the life of thieves.
• On July 2, 2009, on the route Barnaul - Biysk in the Altai Territory, a fast suburban train "Kalina Krasnaya" was put into circulation.

Filming Locations

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Notes

Literature

• Fedor Razzakov. The death of Soviet cinema. The secret behind the scenes war 1973-1991. - M .: Eksmo, 2008. - 1170 p. - ISBN 978-5-699-26831-3.

Links

• - Magazine "Spark", No. 10 (5088), 07/20/2009

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An excerpt characterizing Kalina Krasnaya (film)

He went up to Prince Vasily.
- Well, hello, hello; glad to see.
“For a dear friend, seven miles is not a suburb,” Prince Vasily spoke, as always, quickly, self-confidently and familiarly. - Here is my second, please love and favor.
Prince Nikolai Andreevich looked at Anatole. - Well done, well done! - he said, - well, go kiss - and he turned his cheek to him.
Anatole kissed the old man and looked at him curiously and completely calmly, waiting to see if the eccentric promised by his father would soon happen from him.
Prince Nikolai Andreevich sat down in his usual place in the corner of the sofa, pulled up an armchair for Prince Vasily, pointed to it and began to ask about political affairs and news. He listened as if with attention to the story of Prince Vasily, but incessantly glanced at Princess Marya.
- So they write from Potsdam? - he repeated the last words of Prince Vasily, and suddenly, getting up, he went up to his daughter.
- You cleaned up for the guests like that, huh? - he said. - Good, very good. You have your hair done in a new way in front of the guests, and I tell you in front of the guests that you don’t dare to change clothes without my asking.
“It’s me, mon pire, [father] is to blame,” blushing, interceded the little princess.
“You have complete freedom,” said Prince Nikolai Andreevich, bowing in front of his daughter-in-law, “but she has nothing to disfigure herself - and she is so bad.
And he again sat down in his place, no longer paying attention to his daughter, brought to tears.
“On the contrary, this hairstyle suits the princess very well,” said Prince Vasily.
- Well, father, young prince, what is his name? - said Prince Nikolai Andreevich, turning to Anatoly, - come here, we'll talk, we'll get to know each other.
"That's when the fun begins," thought Anatole, and sat down with the old prince with a smile.
- Well, here's what: you, my dear, they say, were brought up abroad. Not the way the deacon taught us to read and write with your father. Tell me, my dear, are you now serving in the Horse Guards? asked the old man, looking closely and intently at Anatole.
“No, I joined the army,” answered Anatole, barely able to keep from laughing.
- BUT! good deal. Well, do you want, my dear, to serve the king and the fatherland? Military time. Such a young man must serve, must serve. Well, in the front?
- No, prince. Our regiment set out. And I'm counting. What am I, dad? Anatole turned to his father with a laugh.
- Nice service, nice. What do I count! Ha ha ha! Prince Nikolai Andreevich laughed.
And Anatole laughed even louder. Suddenly Prince Nikolai Andreevich frowned.
“Well, go ahead,” he said to Anatole.
Anatole again approached the ladies with a smile.
- After all, you brought them up abroad, Prince Vasily? BUT? - the old prince turned to Prince Vasily.
- I did what I could; and I will tell you that the upbringing there is much better than ours.
– Yes, now everything is different, everything is new. Well done little one! well done! Well, come to me.
He took Prince Vasily by the arm and led him into the office.
Prince Vasily, left alone with the prince, immediately announced to him his desire and hopes.
“What do you think,” the old prince said angrily, “that I am holding her, that I cannot part with her? Imagine! he said angrily. - To me at least tomorrow! I'll just tell you that I want to know my son-in-law better. You know my rules: everything is open! Tomorrow I'll ask you in front of you: if she wants, then let him live. Let him live, I'll see. The prince snorted.
“Let him go, I don’t care,” he shouted in that piercing voice with which he shouted at parting with his son.
“I’ll tell you straight out,” said Prince Vasily in the tone of a cunning man who was convinced of the need to cunning in front of the insight of his interlocutor. You can see right through people. Anatole is not a genius, but an honest, kind fellow, a wonderful son and dear.
- Well, well, well, we'll see.
As it always happens for single women who have lived for a long time without male society, when Anatole appeared, all three women in the house of Prince Nikolai Andreevich equally felt that their life had not been life before that time. The power to think, to feel, to observe instantly multiplied tenfold in all of them, and as if until now it had taken place in darkness, their life was suddenly lit up with a new light full of meaning.
Princess Mary did not think at all and did not remember her face and hairstyle. The handsome, open face of the man who might be her husband consumed all her attention. He seemed to her kind, brave, resolute, courageous and generous. She was convinced of it. Thousands of dreams about a future family life constantly arose in her imagination. She drove away and tried to hide them.
“But am I too cold with him? thought Princess Mary. - I try to restrain myself, because deep down I feel too close to him; but he does not know all that I think of him, and can imagine that he is unpleasant to me.
And Princess Mary tried and did not know how to be amiable with the new guest. "La pauvre fille! Elle est diablement laide," [Poor girl, she is devilishly ugly,] Anatole thought of her.
M lle Bourienne, also cocked by Anatole's arrival to a high degree of excitement, thought in a different way. Of course, a beautiful young girl without a certain position in the world, without relatives and friends, and even a homeland, did not think to devote her life to the services of Prince Nikolai Andreevich, reading books to him and friendship with Princess Mary. M lle Bourienne has long been waiting for that Russian prince who will immediately be able to appreciate her superiority over Russian, bad, badly dressed, awkward princesses, fall in love with her and take her away; and this Russian prince finally arrived. M lle Bourienne had a story she heard from her aunt, finished by herself, which she liked to repeat in her imagination. It was a story about how a seduced girl imagined her poor mother, sa pauvre mere, and reproached her for having given herself to a man without marriage. M lle Bourienne often moved to tears, in her imagination telling him, the seducer, this story. Now this he, the real Russian prince, has appeared. He will take her away, then ma pauvre mere will appear, and he will marry her. This is how m lle Bourienne's whole future history took shape in her head, at the very time she was talking to him about Paris. It was not calculations that guided m lle Bourienne (she did not even think for a minute about what she should do), but all this had long been ready in her and now it was only grouped around the appeared Anatole, whom she wished and tried to please as much as possible.
The little princess, like an old regimental horse, having heard the sound of a trumpet, unconsciously and forgetting her position, prepared for the usual gallop of coquetry, without any ulterior motive or struggle, but with naive, frivolous fun.
Despite the fact that Anatole in women's society usually put himself in the position of a man who was tired of women running after him, he felt conceited pleasure, seeing his influence on these three women. In addition, he began to feel for the pretty and defiant Bourienne that passionate, bestial feeling, which came over him with extreme speed and prompted him to the most rude and daring deeds.
After tea, the company moved into the sofa room, and the princess was asked to play the clavichord. Anatole leaned his elbows in front of her beside m lle Bourienne, and his eyes, laughing and rejoicing, looked at Princess Marya. Princess Mary, with painful and joyful excitement, felt his gaze on her. Her favorite sonata transported her to the most sincerely poetic world, and the look she felt on herself gave this world even greater poetry. But Anatole's gaze, although fixed on her, did not refer to her, but to the movements of m lle Bourienne's foot, which at that time he was touching with his foot under the piano. M lle Bourienne also looked at the princess, and in her beautiful eyes there was also an expression of frightened joy and hope, new to Princess Mary.
“How she loves me! thought Princess Mary. How happy I am now, and how happy I can be with such a friend and such a husband! Really a husband? she thought, not daring to look at his face, feeling the same gaze fixed on herself.
In the evening, when after dinner they began to disperse, Anatole kissed the hand of the princess. She herself did not know how she had the courage, but she looked directly at the beautiful face that approached her short-sighted eyes. After the princess, he went up to the hand of m lle Bourienne (it was indecent, but he did everything so confidently and simply), and m lle Bourienne flushed and looked frightened at the princess.
"Quelle delicatesse" [What a delicacy,] - thought the princess. - Does Ame (that was the name of m lle Bourienne) really think that I can be jealous of her and not appreciate her pure tenderness and devotion to me. She went up to m lle Bourienne and kissed her hard. Anatole went up to the hand of the little princess.
– Non, non, non! Quand votre pere m "ecrira, que vous vous conduisez bien, je vous donnerai ma main a baiser. Pas avant. [No, no, no! When your father writes to me that you are behaving well, then I will let you kiss my hand. Not before.] - And, raising her finger and smiling, she left the room.

The narration is in the third person. Lots of dialogue. The plot is dynamic, eventful, melodramatic in many respects.

The last evening of Yegor Prokudin in the zone has ended. In the morning the chief admonishes him. We learn that Egor dreams of his farm, a cow. His future wife is Baikalova Lyubov Fedorovna. He has never seen her, they know each other only by correspondence. The boss advises to dress better.

After leaving prison, Prokudin enjoys the spring, feels a surge of strength, rejoices in the feeling of life. In the regional center, Yegor comes to his comrades "at the hut." There are many young people there. Among others - Guboslap, Bulldog, Lucien. They are waiting for a call from their accomplices: they are committing another robbery. Egor (there his name is Gore) does not want to talk about the zone, he wants to take a break from cruelty. They dance with Lucienne. It is felt that no one shares Yegor's mood, even Lucien (who understands better than others the vileness of their occupation and Yegor's inner purity). Guboslap is nervous, Lucien is a little jealous of Yegor. The bell rings: the accomplices are covered by the police, everyone needs to scatter. Egor also runs, although it is risky for him. He tries to find his acquaintances in the city, but they do not want to answer him.

“And so the district bus brought Yegor to the village of Yasnoye” - to Lyuba. She meets him at the bus stop. In the tea shop, he says that he was an accountant, he ended up in prison by accident. Lyuba knows that he is a recidivist thief, but hopes that Yegor will find his way back to normal life. She introduces him to her parents. Lyuba uses Egor's "legend" about the accountant so as not to frighten her parents. But when Yegor is left alone with them, Lyuba's father (his wife calls him Mikitka) begins to "interrogate" Yegor. He sarcastically replies: they say, he killed seven, the eighth did not work. Egor believes that everyone can end up in prison (ironically reminds the old man about the years of the civil war, collectivization), and there is nothing to torment a person if he decided to start a new life. Egor tries on the mask of a public figure, a communist, "denounces" the "backward" old people.

Egor meets Peter, Lyuba's brother. Petro and Yegor go to the bathhouse. Petro is indifferent both to the hero's past and to himself: he does not want to get acquainted, communicate. Yegor does not like to feel like a poor relative, to smile at everyone and at the same time feel distrust of himself. Petro does not react to Yegor's grievances, and after a while Yegor realizes that Petro has no prejudices: he is simply taciturn.

Zoya, Peter's wife, and Lyuba's mother discuss Yegor with her. Lyuba express disapproval. Women express the general opinion of the whole village. Suddenly, Luba is protected by her father. Peter's cry is heard. Egor accidentally scalded him with boiling water. Zoya is horrified, Lyuba's father grabbed the ax - but everything was a joke. Neighbors on the street are actively discussing what happened.

The evening in the Baikalovs' house passes peacefully and calmly. The old people remember some old relatives, Lyuba shows photos, Yegor and Petro peacefully joke about the incident in the bathhouse. Egor can't sleep at night, he wants to talk to Lyuba, she sends him out with the approval of his mother, but he also can't fall asleep.

Yegor leaves for the regional center. He honestly says to Lyuba: “Maybe I’ll be back. Maybe not." On the way, he imagines that his friends are coming back for him. He thinks of Lipslap. In the district center, he goes to the telegraph office and sends him money. At this time, a friend at work, Varya, advises Lyuba to leave Yegor and take back her ex-husband, Kolka. It is obvious that the fellow villagers do not like Lyuba's act, not because Yegor may turn out to be unreliable, but because Lyuba does not behave like everyone else. Varya begins to cheerfully tell how wonderful it is for her to live with her alcoholic husband, whom she beats with a rolling pin.

Egor goes to a restaurant where he arranges a "picnic". He feeds and waters strangers. The most drunken men gather. Egor spends a lot of money. He calls Lyuba and says that he needs to stay for the night - he did not settle the issues with the military registration and enlistment office. At this time, the mother incredulously asks Lyuba where Egor is. Again, the father protects his daughter and helps to believe in the next "legend" of Yegor.

Yegor continues to “debauchery” (the word Shukshin): he drinks, sings, dances, makes speeches full of life-affirming pathos. In the end, Egor distributes the remaining money, takes cognac and chocolate, gets into a taxi and goes to Yasnoye. Comes to Peter, offers to drink in the bath. In this "cramped black world" they drink cognac and greet the dawn with the song "I'm sitting behind bars in a damp dungeon."

In the morning he accompanies Lyuba to the farm. They chat along the way. Among other things, Lyuba mentions her ex-husband Kolka, who constantly drinks. Yegor recalls his childhood, his mother and the cow Manka. Lyuba introduces Yegor to the director of the farm, Dmitry Vladimirovich. She arranges Yegor as a driver on the farm: the director urgently needed a driver. Egor did not like the director: "smooth, contented." Director Yegor also does not like it: "senselessly obstinate."

The director gives the task - to pick up the foreman Savelyev in the village of Sosnovka. Egor completes the task, but, returning, refuses to continue work. It's easier on a tractor.

Egor asks Peter for a dump truck and takes Lyuba with him. On the way, he explains to her that he wants to call on one old woman - Kudelikh. Allegedly, a friend asked him to find out about her health. Lyuba needs to introduce herself as an employee of the district security service and ask about her. The old woman tells about herself, that the children are all confused. Love comforts her. Yegor sits silently, wearing dark glasses. When they drive off, he tells Luba that this is his mother.

At home, Lyuba comes to her ex-husband with three friends. Egor drags him out of the house. They retreat to the trees, a fight begins. Kolka with a drink, so there remains a bit. Another one rushes at Yegor - Yegor stops with one blow. Kolka runs away, grabs a stake, goes to Yegor - Yegor stops him with a look.

In the morning Egor made the first furrow in his life (on a tractor). He breathes the smell of plowed land and feels joy from it.

Shura, one of his former accomplices, comes to Yegor. They are talking about something, Shura transfers money from Guboshlep (so that Egor has something to return to them), but Egor throws this money in Shura's face. He is leaving. Lyuba is worried, Yegor is trying to calm her down, but it is clear that he himself is not in a good mood.

The next day they work in the field. It's already planted. Yegor notices that a black Volga is standing near the forest. He sees Lipslap, Bulldy and Lucien there. Goes to them. Lucien, meanwhile, demands that Guboshlyop not touch Yegor. But Guboshlep emotionally expresses his position: he does not like that Yegor is now almost a saint, and only they are sinners. We learn that danger looms over Guboshlep and therefore he wants to have time to deal with Yegor.

Lyuba sees how Yegor went to the forest with someone. She runs home - it turns out that her father even explained to them how to get there. Here Lyuba stops Petro's dump truck, they drive towards the forest. The criminals see this, they call Lipslap - he runs out of the forest, hides something under his clothes and they leave.

Egor is seriously wounded. Lyuba and Petro put him in a dump truck, quickly driven. But then Yegor feels that he is dying and asks to be put on the ground. He asks Lyuba to take his money and give it to his mother.

“And he lay, a Russian peasant, in his native steppe, close to home ... He lay with his cheek pressed to the ground, as if he was listening to something that he alone could hear. So he clung to the poles as a child.

Petro catches up with the Volga. People run away. The fate of the criminals is sealed.