#i promise i'm done gonchin' after this one

[korkiekenobiconfirmed]

Okay so I found a casino deleted scene between Andrey and Katya on youtube (here) and the whole thing is just...perfect. I can't express enough how frustrated I am that it never made it into the final cut. (I suggest watching the scene before reading this post btw, it'll make more sense)

The way the opening shot is a roulette game?!? Because the visually a roulette table is similar to a clock but it's still so different. Goncharov's (indeed, all the characters') clocks are slowly counting down throughout the entire movie: inescapable, inexorable fate. But with the roulette table? There's always hope, there's always as much a chance you end up in the red as the black, and Andrey and Katya's interactions in this scene seemed more optimistic than any other point in the movie.

The lighting was honestly so beautiful. The scene was originally set right around when Andrey's beginning to fall out of favor with Goncharov, when that childhood bond is no longer enough to keep them side by side the way they should be, and for the most part Andrey's hidden in shadow. Meanwhile the casino lights, bright and multicolored, just light up Katya's face so brilliantly, hiding her flaws and highlighting her beauty. The way it all reflects in Andrey's one good eye while keeping him in darkness is also very telling... he covets Katya because she's the closest he can ever really come to having Goncharov, but in the end he'll never truly be what they are to each other.

The way Katya says Sofia's name with such goddamn gentleness was like an icepick to the heart.

When Andrey asked "How do you mourn that which you have never known?" and Katya replied "You cannot. Shedding a tear for the false memories you've spun yourself is hypocrisy of the worst kind." THE YEARNING WITH THESE TWO IS KILLING ME PLS

Speaking of good quotes... when Katya mentions how mild Naples winters are compared to Russia and Andrey just gives her that knowing little look and goes, "You've always loved the unforgiving touch of the cold" LIKE am I crazy or was he talking about Sofia? It's hinted at multiple times that he knows about everything between Sofia and Katya, but he never really says for sure.

At the 2:37 mark there's a guy in the background who looks like Mario? Was it actually him or am I making things up?? What would he have even been doing there???

Can any talented artists pls pls pls do film/lighting studies of this scene? I would ~kill~ to see such beautiful cinematography brought to a different artistic medium