A film adaptation of a school program
Studio Ekran & Chief Editorial Office of Literary-Dramaturgical Programming at Central Television
Aleksandr Stepanovich Grin
ASSOL
Adapted from the novel "Scarlet Sails"
A hope aspires to find a way, but all the paths are closed.
A hope aspires to find a way where the paths are marked out.
A hope aspires to find a way; the paths are open wide.
Lengren, a sailor on the brig Orion,
had returned home after after a long voyage.
But he hadn't yet seen from afar, as he always had, his wife
Mary, running towards him
until she lost her breath.
He was met instead by his neighbour.
"Look at your daughter," she said.
"And this is your wife Mary's ring.
She's already in heaven."
And Lengren heard the sad story.
When there wasn't a crumb of food left in the house,
Mary decided to pawn her engagement ring to Menners the innkeeper.
"It's all on her," Menners explained to his wife.
"I had nothing to do with it."
And so Lengren was left alone with his daughter.
He named her Assol.
A strange name,
sounding like the whistle of an arrow
or the sound of a seashell.
Sometimes in the evenings, Assol strongly longed for her mother,
whom she had never seen.
"Lengren!" Menners called out, "Why on earth do you stand there like a stump?
Look, I'm being carried away! Throw off the mooring-rope!"
She too begged you.
Think about it, Menners, while you still are alive.
Grief and hatred burned in the heart of little Hin, Menners' son.
To comfort his daughter, Lengren made her a boat.
The flaming cheerful colour burned so brightly in Assol's hands,
as if she were holding a fire.
The shadow of alienation,
that had once fallen upon her father,
now shrouded the daughter as well.
In the forest, Assol
met a strange man.
Listen, little plant, what's your name?
Assol.
So, Assol...
One day, when you grow up, in the distant sea
a scarlet sail will sparkle in the sun.
And the shining bulk of the scarlet sails of a white ship will move,
cutting through the waves, straight to you.
And you'll see a brave handsome prince.
"Hello, Assol!" he'll say,
"Far, far away from here, I saw you in a dream and I've come to
take you away forever to my kingdom.
And there we shall live
in such friendship and joy that never will your soul know tears and sorrow.
Go.
Let there be peace in your fuzzy little head.
Listen to what I'm about to tell you!
So Assol began to tell about the wizard and his prediction.
Do you think the wizard's ship will come for me or not?
Since a wizard told you this,
it must be true.
It will come.
"All right, prissy princess," thought little Hin,
"I'm gonna get you a shipload of red
sails and an overseas prince."
From a trough and a mop Hin built a ship,
with an old rag for a scarlet sail.
Ever since then, she was nicknamed "Ship Assol".
They used to make fun of her, saying, "She's touched in the head, not in her right mind."
Assol got used to this pain as well.
Yet each time, worried and timid, she went to the seashore,
and in all seriousness looked out for a ship
with scarlet sails...
Meanwhile, the son of Menners the innkeeper was doing well,
carrying on his father's work.
Captain Arthur Gray had a hollow
yearning for no reason at all,
and could not understand what he pined for.
His father and mother were
haughty slaves to their
position: of the wealth and laws
of that society,
about which we could speak.
But their son was born with a lively soul,
not at all inclined to continue the line
of the family inscription.
Gray tirelessly studied the castle
in which he increasingly felt himself cramped,
making astonishing discoveries.
The need was awakened in him early
of taking on,
out of the countless variety of roles in life,
the most dangerous and touching one: The role of providence.
"Why did you ruin the painting?" Father asked.
"I cannot allow for there
to be nails sticking out of hands and blood flowing out, on my watch!
I do not want that."
He was already in his twelfth year
when all the hints of his soul,
all the disparate traits of his spirit came together in one powerful moment
and became the indomitable desire
to be captain.
To become the destiny,
the soul and mind of a ship.
To know danger, risk,
the light of a distant land, and a love
that blooms through brief visits and separation.
Passing the village where Assol lived,
the ship pulled into a roadstead near the lighthouse.
The awareness
that something marvellous
and extraordinary was just around the corner,
close at hand, did not leave Assol.
All that Assol had been waiting for,
so long and ardently,
was being done out there at the end of the world.
Out of the scarlet
ripples of the first rays of the sun appeared the ship.
It surfaced
and stopped in the middle of the dawn.
Spreading mirth, it sailed, its sails blazing like crimson fire.
The morning mist hid
the rising sun.
Feeling suddenly incredibly tired, Assol sank into the field of grass and fell asleep.
He didn't care where he was going.
And he began to row to where
in the thickening darkness, the shore was coming into view.
"I'm waiting, I can see, I'll soon know."
Such were the feelings that held Gray in their grip.
There was no explanation for what had happened.
But, without words or thoughts,
Assol found them
in the strange feeling that held her.
The voices of her heart
spoke prophetically:
"Yes."
And the very same did the voices of the heart repeat to Gray.
And then
Hin told Gray how seven years ago, Assol had made everyone laugh with her tale about a ship
with scarlet sails.
Arthur Gray was at that happy height of spiritual uplift
that told him what to do next.
He acted decisively
and calmly.
Gray visited several shops,
giving special importance to the
accuracy of the selection,
because he had already mentally seen the right color and shade.
Digging through the light resistance of silk,
Among the reds, the pale pinks,
the thick boiling cherry-hues
and dark red tones; among the shades
of all strengths and meanings, Gray had already
almost lost hope
of finding that
true scarlet colour
that had so clearly appeared to him
before his mental gaze.
And then, finally, it shone before him:
absolutely pure,
full of noble gaiety;
exactly the proud colour that Gray was looking for.
Meanwhile, Gray's ship was heading towards the shore at full speed,
spreading her bright scarlet sails wide,
shining with the colour of deep joy.
At the same time, in the village there was such fuss, such excitement,
such widespread confusion
as would not have been outdone by the effect
of famous earthquakes.
Now we shall take a step back from them, knowing that they need to be together alone.
I have realised one uncomplicated truth:
It's about making so-called miracles with your own hands.
When the most important thing to a person is getting a precious nickel,
it's easy to give that nickel.
But when the soul carries the seed of a fiery plant of wonder,
make that miracle for it.
That soul will be renewed, and so will yours.
On the film worked:
Assol - Yelena Zaytsyeva Assol as child - Marina Pyazantsyeva
Gray - Andrey Haritonov Gray as Child - Denis Bondar, Adryusha Govorov
Longren - Lembir Ulfsak Meri - Marina Yampolskaya
Menner - Vladimir Soshalskiy Hin - Aleksandr Litovkin Hin as Child - Andryusha Haykin, Tolya Hristyushin
Grey's parents - Natalya Vlasova, Nikolay Zabrodin
Storyteller - Igor Yasulovich Neighbor - Yelena Maksimova
In Episodes - artists from the Moscow theaters
screenwriter, director Boris Stepantsev
camera director B. Kiparisov
art director A. Oparin
animation art director Anatoliy Savchenko
musical composition V. Babushkin, A. Goldshteyn
balletmeister/choreographer N, Avaliani Pantomime director Ye. Lagovskiy
narrator Gennadiy Bortnikov
The film used the music of Benedetto Marchello
USSR State Symphony Cinema Orchestra conducted by E. Hachaturyan
Film crew
The End Subs - Eus (2024.12), Niffiwan (2025.07) Translated from anonymous Russian Subs