John Cleese – How about Russian?
In a famous scene from A Fish Called Wanda (1988), John Cleese (as Archie Leach) speaks some Italian words. “But it’s such an ugly language.” Co-star Jamie Lee Curtis (as Wanda Gershwitz) has a different opinion. Archie doesn’t see it and suggests something better. “How about… Russian?”
Lermontov
The words he speaks are from Молитва (Prayer), a short poem (1839) by Mikhail Lermontov. He starts (at 0:29) with the second stanza (Есть сила благодатная, в созвучьи слов живых) and continues with the first one – which Wanda cannot know, and apparently, it doesn’t matter much either.
“Archie? Are you rich?”
Молитва
More about the film and the poem in this article from 2013. Analysis (RU) of the poem here and here.
В минуту жизни трудную
Теснится ль в сердце грусть:
Одну молитву чудную
Твержу я наизусть.
Есть сила благодатная
В созвучьи слов живых,
И дышит непонятная,
Святая прелесть в них.
С души как бремя скатится,
Сомненье далеко –
И верится, и плачется,
И так легко, легко…
Церква євангельських християн Благодать (2013)
Учи стихи легко / Караоке (2019)
Ефимыч (2021)
Лыково Храм (2013)
More
- John Cleese Discusses Creativity, Political Correctness, Monty Python, and Artichokes (The New Yorker, 2020)
- “Just a Concoction of Nonsense”: The Oral History of A Fish Called Wanda (Vanity Fair, 2018)
- 11 Fun Facts About A Fish Called Wanda (Mental Floss, 2018)
- Did You Know That John Cleese can Speak Russian? (Monty Palin, Wattpad 2015)
- IMDb Trivia
- John Cleese on Twitter
More recitations at Живое Слово (2020). Michael Langerman (2017), Стих и Я (2017), and Стихи тут (2014).
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