Crime and Punishment (1970)

Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy: Porfiriy Petrovich

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Quotes 

• Porfiriy Petrovich : I was especially interested in a point you made toward the end. That certain individuals even have the right to break the law and commit all sorts of crimes. That the laws were not made for them. He says all humanity is divided into ordinary men and into supermen. The ordinary men must obey laws, because they're ordinary. And the supermen have the right to break the law. That's what the article says. Am I right?

• Porfiriy Petrovich : This is a fantastic, gloomy business. A modern case. Bookish dreams. A heart unsettled by theories. He forgot to close the door after him, but yet he murdered. Murdered two people for a theory. And another thing: he murdered, yet he looks upon himself as an honest man. Poses as injured innocence. It couldn't be Mikolka, my dear Rodion Romanovich. No, it couldn't be Mikolka.

  Raskolnikov : Then who is the murderer?

  Porfiriy Petrovich : What do you mean, who's the murderer? You're the murderer, Rodion Romanovich!

• Porfiriy Petrovich : You're a very young man, one could say, in the first flush of youth, and so you put human intellect above everything. Like all young people. A man's nature sometimes deceives the sharpest calculations. He can be devilishly clever in lying. He's going to triumph! And at that moment, the most interesting moment, our clever man will most scandalously faint. Why did you get so pale? Do you find it stuffy in here? Shall l open the window?

• Raskolnikov : Society is well-protected by prisons, banishment, investigators. No need to be afraid. Catch the thief.

  Porfiriy Petrovich : What if we catch him?

  Raskolnikov : it'll serve him right.

  Porfiriy Petrovich : Yes, it's logical. But what about his conscience?

  Raskolnikov : What do you care about that?

  Porfiriy Petrovich : Well, it's a question of humanity.

  Raskolnikov : Let him suffer if he has one, if he admits his fault. It'll be his punishment as much as a prison sentence.

• Porfiriy Petrovich : I see why it makes you laugh. However, it's often the case. Especially with certain kind of man, because man are so different. Evidence, my boy, can be often a two-edged sword. In any case, my dear Rodion Romanovitch, one should observe. The typical case, for which all our rules were made, does not exist. thr minute a crime has been committed, it becomes a special case bearing no relation to any precedent crime. Some cases can even be very funny. lt's imperative to know exactly what kind of man you're dealing with. Suppose l leave one man alone, l don't arrest him, don't bother him, but let him suspect that l know everything and am watching him day and night, then he will break, and will come himself. He'll keep circling and circling round me, and then fly into my mouth and l'll swallow him, and that'll be amusing.