Since we’re finally doing a Goncharov renaissance, my favorite scene was the grand opening of the casino, when the cards were being dealt, the roulette wheels turned, dice were cast, and Katya walked into the room.
The camera cuts to Goncharov, as the two make eye contact, but just behind him is Sofia. Goncharov is shocked, wary, and Sofia watches them. She’s about to reach out, pull Goncharov back to the task at hand, but Katya’s eyes flicker over to Sofia.
And Sofia is angry. She’s envious of Katya’s beauty, of how easily she captures attention, and of who she gifts that attention to. But, in that moment, in those three seconds that Katya’s eyes are on her’s, she longs. She sees and she desires. She knows that Katya would never let her close. The rules of their world, of their families, keep them apart. Yet she still wonders, if she asked, would Katya leave it all behind? Would the defacto queen of the russian underworld give it all up for her?
Maybe once-upon-a-time, she would have, but those years have long since past.
Katya looks away, un-phased by their moment frozen in time, while Sofia is left lingering in the past; in dreams that she cannot acknowledge.
It’s so quick. It’s just a handful of seconds in the film, but with everything Katya says to Sofia before this???? The way Sofia tries her best not to look???? It’s just the perfect acknowledgement, the perfect set up for the end: when, despite everything, Sofia lets Katya go.