Stalker-2. Delivery

Comedy film with horror elements, continuation of the film by Andrei Tarkovsky

This material was published in a special tab in issue 17 “Novaya Gazeta. Magazine"

Scene 1. Dasha Darving and Courier

Moscow evening. In one of the high-rise buildings in the southwest of the capital, TikToker Dasha Darving (DD) is streaming about awareness. In the background is a neat interior, a ring lamp, and a Chihuahua in a designer lounger.

At the moment when Dasha proceeds to analyze the types of healthy eating, the stream suddenly has to be interrupted: the doorbell rings. The Courier is on the doorstep. Bald, with an irregularly shaped skull, in a tattered sweater, sad dog-like eyes, and a white waffle towel around his neck instead of a scarf. He brought the long-awaited order: complex carbohydrates, tea with Tibetan herbs and food for the Chihuahua. The blogger’s indignation knows no bounds: the dog food is the wrong brand. Dasha threatens to fire the Courier and promises that tomorrow “the entire RuNet will know about him.”

In a quiet and hoarse voice, the Courier replies that in RuNet they already know about him: but not everyone, but only the initiated. The fact is that he takes people to the most secret place on Earth - the apartment of singer Larisa Dolina, which cannot be reached in the usual way. Dasha is skeptical about the message and asks the Courier for his “data” in order to file a complaint. The courier smiles sadly and leaves his contact information for the blogger.

Dasha Darving is going to write a complaint, but a strange man haunts her. She starts Googling information about Dolina's apartment. This suddenly takes a whole sleepless night. The apartment indeed turns out to be a mysterious place, surrounded by rumors and fables. The only thing that is reliably known about it is that the singer Larisa Dolina actually lived there for some time. The rest is unverified data. Allegedly, the architect of this house committed suicide after seeing what the builders turned his plan into. Allegedly, it is still impossible to get into Dolina’s apartment, even with the right keys. Allegedly, some robbers tried to enter through the window and disappeared forever. Allegedly, the police and bailiffs tried to break down the apartment door, but goats came out to meet them, and another time, behind the door was the entrance to the Academician Fersman Mineralogical Museum, closed on Monday.

This information entertains and frightens the blogger. In the end, Dasha finds an excerpt from a humorous show online, where the hosts ironically discuss the secret of Dolina’s apartment, coming to the conclusion that “everything there is so individual that you can probably meet yourself.”

This thought strikes Dasha Darving. She understands that fate, in the person of the Courier, is sending her a unique chance - to make a stream with herself. And these are millions of views. Dasha calls the Courier and asks to arrange the promised excursion. He agrees, but for some reason makes an appointment at the Moscow Zoo - at the Children's Farm near the enclosure of the donkey Zhorik. Taking a Chihuahua, a makeup kit and a ring lamp, the blogger rushes to the zoo.

Scene 2. Introduction

Dasha arrives on time - twenty minutes before the zoo closes. Two unfamiliar men are standing near the donkey's enclosure. From their conversations, to the blogger’s surprise, it becomes clear that the men are also going to go to Dolina’s apartment.

The first - a masculine joker, young anthropologist Roman Gorilov - immediately begins to flirt with Dasha. He says that he was married four times, collects models of hearses and writes a study “New rituals and secret paths of Russian couriers.” The second is Evsei Neonovich Chugin, a gloomy elderly philosopher with a thick gray beard. He is clearly not inclined to communicate, but from his short remarks one can conclude that once in his youth he had already been to Dolina’s apartment, forgot something there, and now decided to regain what belonged to him.

Surprised, Dasha and Gorilov try to ask Chugin about what the apartment looks like and whether you can really meet yourself there, but the philosopher only repeats that “young people have nothing to do there” and they still won’t understand anything. Dasha and Gorilov suspect that Chugin wants to discourage them from traveling in order to gain all the laurels himself. Their concern is growing: the Courier is still not there, he is not answering the phone, and the zoo is about to close - a guard is already appearing in the alley.

Scene 3. “We’re going there”

Suddenly the Courier comes out of the donkey's enclosure. He commands all three to climb over the fence. The heroes are shocked, but obediently climb into the pen: each wants to show the other that they will stop at nothing to visit the Apartment. Everyone climbs over the fence and runs into the enclosure. It's semi-dark and stinky, and a donkey tied to a post is screaming and kicking. The courier says that the donkey was brought to the zoo recently, he has a difficult past and an unstable psyche: “He might throw himself.” The Courier further explains that you have to take different routes to get into the Apartment each time. Moreover, Moscow is being rebuilt every day, all roads are being rebuilt and underground communications are being tangled. Allegedly, the Apartment itself is in charge of all this - it doesn’t like people appearing in it.

The heroes hesitate - is this all a joke? - but there’s no time to think. The courier is raking a haystack: under it there is a hatch, and under the hatch cover there is a passage going into the depths. "We'll go there." At this moment, the donkey breaks the rope and rushes at the heroes. Everyone takes turns jumping into the hatch. Falling, screaming, darkness.

Scene 4. Catechon

Dasha with the dog, Gorilov, Chugin and Courier come to their senses in the underground corridor. The courier tells everyone to follow him. Dasha Darving asks: “Why is the path to the Apartment so crooked?” The courier replies: “That’s how it should be.” “How do you know?” “I’ve driven people around many times, but it’s always different.” Dasha asks how the Courier himself finds out the way to the Apartment? “Through friends,” he answers.

The anthropologist also begins to ask: how long has he been leading people, how did it all start? But the Courier answers evasively: “it started a long time ago,” “there were a lot of people,” etc. Dasha Darving asks if there is electricity in the Apartment and if it is possible to put a ring lamp there. The courier mysteriously answers: “Sometimes.” The philosopher Chugin does not ask anything - he suddenly overtakes the Courier and goes ahead. Everyone is trying to call him back, but to no avail. But a large tropical parrot suddenly flies out of the darkness and shouts: “Katekhon!” — sits on Dasha’s shoulder, scaring her almost to the point of fainting. Chihuahua barks heart-rendingly. Anthropologist Gorilov tensely jokes that the parrot is a transformed Chugin. In the end, Dasha manages to drive the bird away. The parrot hides in the darkness, and at the same time Chugin unexpectedly approaches the group from behind. Everyone is scared again. The courier strictly tells no one to go anywhere, because “everything here is constantly changing and it is very dangerous: both mentally and physically.” For the first time, Chugin seems not aloof, but extremely focused and serious. “Catechon?” - he asks the Courier. He shrugs his shoulders, as if not understanding the question.

Scene 5. Chemistry

Immediately after these words, the underground corridor suddenly fills with water. The stream becomes stronger, picks up the heroes and carries them forward: first it turns into an underground river, and then breaks out and washes people to the shore.

The courier, Chugin and the chihuahua are chosen independently. Anthropologist Gorilov carries the unconscious Dasha in his arms. On the shore, he brings her back to consciousness by performing artificial respiration. The blogger opens her eyes. They look at each other, “chemistry” arises. Then Dasha and Gorilov walk holding hands.

Scene 6. California

The heroes find themselves in an abandoned manor park. In the background you can see a huge old mansion. Everyone is amazed - after all, we were talking about the Apartment? However, the Courier convinces travelers that this is the Apartment, it’s just different every time, as he warned.

A flock of geese passes along the path: they begin to attack the Chihuahua, and it runs away. Dasha Darkwing tries to run after her pet, but the Courier holds her back and explains that nothing can be changed in this space, everything happens only as predetermined. For example, he himself becomes a Russian person here, similar to the artist Kaidanovsky, although he came from Tajikistan.

Everyone is amazed at the change in the Courier's appearance and his mysterious way of expressing himself. The apotheosis of the scene: The courier opens his box and offers the heroes sushi: “We need to have a snack and rest. The apartment should get used to you.” No one is hungry except Dasha, who asks what kind of sushi is in the box: “California” or with tuna?

Scene 7. Darving D.A.

Suddenly, the distant barking of a Chihuahua is heard from the mansion. Forgetting about sushi, Dasha Darving runs after the dog.

The interior of the mansion is reminiscent of a hospital from a Japanese horror movie: endless dimly lit corridors, on either side there are barred doors to the rooms, from behind them screams and sobs can be heard. Dasha freezes in horror, then pulls herself together and remembers that she is a popular tik-tok blogger.

The girl turns on the phone and begins to shoot a video on the go, commenting in her own manner: “It’s a brutal cringe, guys, it’s just the most brutal, fucked up, I’m shocked,” etc. Through the lens of her camera we see either a corridor with doors or her own frightened face.

Suddenly, from the depths of the room, the dog barking is heard again. Dasha runs towards the sound, approaches the room, on the door of which there is a sign with her own name and surname: “Darving D.A.” Someone's shadow darts behind the barred window. The girl unsuccessfully tries to pull the door, then hits it with her fists - and finally ends up in the ward (the door opens inward). An unknown Girl sits on a bed in the corner and strokes Dasha’s dog. The Chihuahua growls and grins at Dasha as if she were a stranger.

The blogger, horrified, asks the Girl who she is. She replies that she is the real Dasha. “I am your essence. In fact, you are just a crazy woman who lives in her inner madhouse and feeds on her own delirium.” Dasha asks in a trembling voice what the Girl did with her dog. She replies that everything is fine with the Chihuahua - “after all, this is a Chinese fighting dog; in ancient times, their claws were smeared with poison in order to throw them in the face of the enemy.” Dasha, hysterical, demands to give her the dog. “Take it!” — the Girl answers and throws the Chihuahua in the blogger’s face. Darkwing falls with a scratched face and, poisoned, dies in convulsions.

Scene 8. Grandmother's birth certificate

Dasha’s dying cry echoes throughout the park, where the men are finishing their sushi at this time. Anthropologist Gorilov jumps up in horror and runs to save the girl. The courier holds him by force, and Chugin unexpectedly joins him. They explain to Roman that it is no longer possible to help Dasha. “Besides,” Chugin adds sarcastically, “what kind of researcher are you if you interfere with the nature of what is happening? You have to be objective." Gorilov, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, shouts that “he saw all the research in a coffin, if people die here,” and admits that in fact he did not come to the Apartment for the sake of scientific work. It turns out that Gorilov is collecting a package of documents for the consulate, because he decided to leave Russia, but forgot where his grandmother’s birth certificate is, and now he wants to meet his younger self, who remembers everything. Chugin showers Gorilov with ridicule, concluding: “You won’t go anywhere. There is no turning back from here." The anthropologist rushes at Chugin, the Courier separates them. Gorilov angrily calls both "entity killers" and runs to the mansion.

Scene 9. Death notes

This time, the interior of the mansion resembles a luxurious palace: velvet curtains, stacked parquet flooring, lots of burning candles, antique furniture, etc. Somewhere the mournful and solemn music of Rachmaninov is heard: the anthropologist confidently follows the sounds and goes out into the living room. A young man plays music at the piano: Gorilov becomes convinced that it is really himself in his youth.

His double greets warmly. Gorilov asks the young man a direct question: where did his grandmother’s birth certificate go? The double reminds that the grandmother’s name was Vera Solomonovna, that she dreamed of teaching Roman music, and points with his eyes at a piece of paper standing on the piano: this is the required evidence, which young Gorilov uses as notes.

In response to Roman’s request to give him the certificate, the young man suggests that he first “play in memory of his grandmother.” Realizing that this is a test, Gorilov sits down at the piano. There are notes on the back of Vera Solomonovna's birth certificate. The anthropologist plays a melody based on them, which resonates with a sharp prick in the heart. Tears roll down his face: first regular, then bloody. Then blood begins to flow from Gorilov’s eyes. Then - from the ears and fingers. Finally, the anthropologist falls to the floor and bleeds to death. His young counterpart stands over him in silence. The piano continues to play itself.

Scene 10. “You ruined it, Evsei Neonovich”

The same music accompanies the next scene. Homestead park, a fire is burning. The Courier and the philosopher Chugin are sitting by the fire. The philosopher states: he knew that - Russia, this separate civilization, following its own path, this Katechon, called upon to save the universe, is always destroyed by some absurd incident, a misunderstanding, an ordinary Courier.

“Why are you doing this? Why are you making innocent people die?” - Chugin asks the Courier. He shrugs and replies that he is doing this simply because no one else can bring people here. Why it works this way, the Courier himself doesn’t know. One day he was called to Dolina’s apartment with a delivery, and he managed to enter. Since then, he has only been asked to show people the way here. And why no one returns from here is beyond the Courier’s understanding.

“Why are you ruining Russia?” - Chugin repeats. Unexpectedly, the Courier retorts that it was Yevsey Neonovich himself who destroyed Russia - with his obscurantism, the concept of “Eurasianism,” and the propaganda of the Russian idea and a multipolar world.

The courier reminds Chugin that he had the opportunity to take a different path, since he had indeed already been to the Apartment, but he consciously made a different choice.

Chugin, in anguish, justifies himself: he came to the Apartment many years ago, by accident - then he was young and did not understand anything about life. At that time, the Apartment looked not like a noble park, but like an ordinary St. Petersburg communal apartment, and he ended up “drunk” in it, along with equally drunk friends. That time they talked cheerfully and with inspiration about the future of Russia. “Suddenly a wind blew from the window, and I realized that he was from Kazakhstan,” recalls Chugin. “I shouted: “Close the window, it’s the poisonous wind blowing from Lake Balkhash!” There live people who worship a three-meter jungle cat!” But they hit me on the head, and I woke up in a completely different place - already an old man.”

Since then, the philosopher continues, he has been forced to write his so-called works all his life about the unique historical path of Russia and the search for a national idea. He considers them the curse of his entire life, but he cannot stop.

The courier asks Chugin: why did he come here this time? The philosopher replies that he wants to regain the lost enthusiasm, inspiration, joy and integrity of himself, and asks the Courier to take him to himself.

The courier replies that Chugin must find himself. Leaving him by the fire, the Courier takes his box and goes into the house.

Scene 11. “Get out!”

This time the mansion looks like a typical multi-room apartment of a Soviet professor or academician. On the walls are portraits of Russian writers, inventors, doctors and prominent cultural figures. The courier places the order on the floor, bows to the portraits and addresses them with a long, desperate monologue, from which it follows that he feels a sense of disappointment and the meaninglessness of what is happening. He reminds that the Apartment itself chose him as the Courier to bring people here.

- You also went through all this, you were also Couriers here! - he turns to the portraits. - Why all this? What's the point?

At the climax, the Courier suddenly sees his own portrait on the wall. However, when he tries to get closer to him, an unknown Old Woman comes out of the next room, looking like Pushkin’s nanny Arina Rodionovna.

“Why are you wandering around here, young man? - she says sternly. — Are you looking for a mug? To make your heart happier? Brought the order - and go away!

The old woman ushers the Courier out through the hallway and onto the staircase. He goes down the stairs and goes out onto an ordinary Moscow street. Evening, his bicycle is standing near the entrance. There is a sign on the house with the name of the street and the house number (this is the address of the Dolina Apartment). The courier silently gets on his bike and rides into the unknown.

Scene 12. The End

The courier drives past a dark Moscow park. A fire is burning among the trees: above it one can see the hunched silhouette of old man Chugin. The courier travels further - along the deserted embankment of the Moscow River, along the Kremlin wall, illuminated by lanterns. Suddenly a poisonous wind begins to blow from Lake Balkhash. The shadow of a bicycle courier falls on the wall, turning into the shadow of a giant jungle cat. The final credits roll across the shadows.

This material was published in the seventeenth issue of Novaya Gazeta. Magazine". You can buy it in the online store of our partners.