# Anastasia (1997 film)

Anastasia is a 1997 animated film loosely based on the true story of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, the daughter of the last Russian czar.
    Directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Written by Susan Gauthier, Bruce Graham, Bob Tzudiker, Noni White and Eric Tuchman.

## Dowager Empress Marie

* [First lines, narrating] There was a time, not very long ago, when we lived in an enchanted world of elegant palaces and grand parties. The year was 1916 and my son, Nicholas, was the Czar of Imperial Russia. We were celebrating the 300th anniversary of our family's rule. And, that night, no star burned brighter than that of our sweet Anastasia, my youngest granddaughter. She begged me not to return to Paris, so I had a very special gift made for her, to make the separation easier, for both of us.
* [narrating] But we would never be together in Paris, for a dark shadow had descended upon the house of the Romanovs. His name was Rasputin. We thought he was a holy man, but he was a fraud; power-mad and dangerous.
* [narrating] Consumed by his hatred for Nicholas and his family, Rasputin sold his soul for the power to destroy them.
* [narrating] From that moment on, the spark of unhappiness in our country was fanned into a flame that would soon destroy our lives forever.
* [narrating] So many lives were destroyed that night. What had always been was now gone forever. And my Anastasia, my beloved grandchild...I never saw her again.
* My heart can't take it anymore. I will see no more girls claiming to be Anastasia. [looking at the photo, of young Anastasia, on the desk and places it face down]
* Dimitri, I've heard of you! You're that con man from St. Petersburg, who was holding auditions to find an Anastasia look-a-like!
* Knowing that you are alive, seeing the woman you have become, brings me joy I never thought I could feel again.

## Anya

* Men are such babies.
* [singing] Heart don't fail me now. Courage don't desert me. Don't turn back now that we're here. People always say life is full of choices, no one ever mentions fear. Or how the world can seem so vast on a journey to the past.
* This place. It's - It's like a memory from a dream.
* You bought me a...tent.
* Please, don't talk anymore, okay? It's only gonna upset me.
* [after waking up, flailing her arm and smacking Dimitri in the nose] Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone el-oh, it's you. Well, that's okay, then.
* What? Hey - why are you circling me? What were you, a vulture in another life?
* I am grateful. Grateful to get away!

## Dimitri

* [after they escape from a runaway train, uncoupled from the overheated train engine, coal tender, ruined baggage car, and separated dining car, coach, and observation car] I hate trains! Remind me never to get on the train again.
* [struggles to uncouple the baggage car from the burning locomotive] Come on! I need a wrench - an ax! Anything! [breaks a hammer while cutting the train couplings between the train engine's tender and baggage car] Come on! There's gotta be something in there better than this! [Anya hands him a dynamite] ...That'll work! [sticks the dynamite on the coupling] Go, go, go! [they hide behind boxes] What do they teach you in those orphanages? [they duck their heads as the dynamite on the coupling between the engine's tender and baggage car explodes to separate the runaway locomotive]
* [Anya just saved him from falling off the baggage car of the train chasing after the engine] If we live through this, remind me to thank you.
* [singing as Jonathan Dokuchitz] It's the rumor, the legend, the mystery. It's the Princess Anastasia who will help us fly. You and I, friend, will go down in history. We'll find a girl to play the part and teach her what to say. Dress her up and take her to Paris. Imagine the reward her dear old grandmamma will pay. Who else could pull it off but you and me?

## Dialogue

    [Grigori Rasputin crashes the celebration and Czar Nicholas II angrily confronts him]
    Nicholas II: How dare you return to the palace!
    Rasputin: But...I am your confidant.
    Nicholas II: Confidant?! Ha! You are a traitor! Get out!
    Rasputin: [growing berserk] You think you can banish the great Rasputin?! [holds up a reliquary] By the unholy powers vested in me, I banish you with a curse! [everyone gasps] Mark my words! You and your family will die within a fortnight! I WILL NOT REST UNTIL I SEE THE END OF THE ROMANOV LINE FOREVER! [shoots down a chandelier with his reliquary and it falls off the ceiling and onto the ground]
    [Young Anya and Empress Marie are stuck in Anya's room. Young Dimitri enters from a secret door in a wall]
    Marie: [as she tries to take Anya out the main door] Please, hurry.
    Young Dimitri: [stops them and drags them to the secret door] Come this way! Out the servants quarters!
    [Anya accidently drops her music box as she's being forced in the door]
    Marie: [follows Anastasia] Hurry, Anastasia!
    Bartok: [watches them escape from the bedroom window] Rasputin, she's getting away!
    Young Anya: [heads back in the room] My music box!
    Young Dimitri: [gently forces her back out the door] Go, go! [closes the door]
    [Dimitri and Vlad are holding auditions for girls to portray Anastasia]
    Dimitri: Uh, thank you. Thank you. Next, please.
    Actress: [enters and speaks in a husky voice] Grandma, it's me, Anastasia. [sways hips]
    [Vlad whimpers and drops his head on the table]
    Dimitri: [disgusted] Oh, brother.
    [Dimitri circles Anya]
    Anya: Hey, why are you circling me? Wha-What were you, a vulture in another life?!
    Dimitri: I'm sorry, Enya. [beckons Vladimir to come up]
    Anya: It-It's "Anya".
    Dimitri: Anya.
    Anya: [enunciating] An-ya.
    Dimitri: It's just - It's just that you look an awful lot like- [points to the Romanov Family Portrait; Anya looks at it, and Dimitri takes a quick look at her until she looks back at him] Uh...Never mind.
    [Dimitri and Vlad have explained to Anya about their plan and leave her to think about it]
    Vlad: Why didn't you tell her about our brilliant plan?
    Dimitri: All she wants to do is go to Paris. Why give away a third of the reward money?
    Vlad: I'm telling you: we're walking away too soon!
    Dimitri: Not to worry. I've got it all...under control. [grabs Vlad] Alright, but, walk a little slower. [they walk slow for a few seconds. Anya takes one good look at the portrait of herself and Empress Marie and has a feeling] Three...Two...One.
    Anya: [offscreen] Dimitri!
    Dimitri: [softly] Yes!
    Vlad: [softly] Ha! Right in the palms of our hands.
    Anya: Dimitri, wait!
    Dimitri: Did you call me?
    Anya: If I don't remember who I am, then who's to say I'm not a princess or a duchess or a whatever she is, right?
    Dimitri: Hmm...Go on.
    Anya: And if I'm not Anastasia, the Empress will certainly know right away...and it's all just an honest mistake.
    Dimitri: Sounds plausible.
    Vlad: But if you are the princess, then you'll finally know who you are and have your family back.
    Dimitri: You know, you know, he's right! Either way, it gets you to Paris.
    Anya: Right! [gives Dimitri a solid shake]
    Dimitri: Ow! [grabs his hand in pain] May I present...Her Royal Highness, the Grand Duchess Anastasia.
    Anya: [to her dog] Pooka, we are going to Paris!
    Dimitri: Uh, the dog stays.
    Anya: I'm talking about the dog goes.
    [Bartok is with Rasputin's reliquary at the ceiling, hearing everything]
    Dimitri: No, the dog is not going.
    Anya: I say he's going.
    Dimitri: I'm allergic to dogs.
    Bartok: [hearing Dimitri and Anya argue] Anastasia? Yeah, just one problem there, fella. Anastasia's dead. All the Romanovs are dead. They're dead. Dead, dead, dead. [to the reliquary] Am I right, my friend? I mean, how could that be Ana- [the reliquary generates a gargoyle-like Minion; Bartok cries out and hangs upside down] Oh, come on. Am I supposed to believe that thing woke up after all these years, just because some guy claims she's a Romanov? [More minions appear] Okay, okay, I get the message! Enough already with the glowing and the smoke-people! [beat] If that thing's come back to life, that must mean... [realizing] Anastasia's alive!
    Dimitri: [to Ana] Just leave the dog.
    Anya: I am not leaving the dog!
    Bartok: And that's her! [the reliquary away, taking him with it] Whoa! Mayday! Mayday! Hey! [they arrive in Rasputin's lair with a crash] Oh, boy! Ow. I tell you what. Ow.
    Rasputin: WHO DARES INTRUDE ON MY SOLITUDE?! [kicks a slab of stone] Get out! Get out! [squeezes Bartok with his hand] Out! [but suddenly realizes who it is] Bartok? Is that you?
    Bartok: Master? You're alive?
    Rasputin: [scoffs] In a manner of speaking. [his right eye falls out of its socket]
    Bartok: Whoa. That fell right out there, sir.
    Rasputin: Something has happened. [pops it back in] I can feel the dark forces stirring!
    Bartok: I'm not surprised, because I saw her, Anastasia!
    Rasputin: [his mouth falls through his beard] Anastasia? Alive?!
    Bartok: Uh, sir, your lips, they're, um...
    Rasputin: That Romanov brat!
    Bartok: [restores Rasputin's lips to their rightful place] Yeah, ain't that a kick in the head? I guess a curse just ain't what it used to be, huh, sir?
    Rasputin: That's why I'm stuck here in Limbo! My curse is unfulfilled! [stretches out his arm with Bartok in his left hand; his hand flies of his arm and hits a wall. He sees this, gasps, and begins to sob] Look at me! I'm falling apart! [sobs] I'm a wreck! [lies down on the table]
    Bartok: Actually, considering how long you've been dead, you look pretty good! [Rasputin scoffs] Sir, you do, you do.
    Rasputin: Really?
    Bartok: Sir, is this the face of a bat who would lie to you? [smiles] Come on, for a minute, you had your old spark back!
    Rasputin: If only I hadn't lost that gift from the dark forces...the key to my powers...!
    Bartok: [holds it up] What, you mean this reliquary?
    Rasputin: [gasps] Where did you get that?
    Bartok: Oh, I found it.
    Rasputin: [grabbing his reliquary and his hand] GIVE IT TO ME!
    Bartok: Alright, alright! Don't get so grabby!
    Rasputin: [screws his left hand back on] My old friend! Together again! [laughs] Now my dark purpose will be fulfilled! And the last of the Romanovs will DIE!
    [The following morning, the train, with an engine blowing its whistle, and carrying Dimitri, Anya, Pooka, and Vladmir, chugs through the snow covered Russian countryside, leaving the city of St. Petersburg behind.]
    Dimitri: Mutt gets the window seat. [sits next to Anya] Stop fiddling with that thing, and sit up straight! Remember, you're a Grand Duchess.
    Anya: How is it that you know what Grand Duchesses do or don't do?
    Dimitri: I make it my business to know.
    Anya: [sarcastically] Oh.
    Dimitri: Look, Anya, I'm just trying to help, alright?
    Anya: Dimitri, do you really think I'm royalty?
    Dimitri: You know I do.
    Anya: Then stop bossing me around!
    Vlad: She certainly has a mind of her own.
    Dimitri: Yeah, I hate that in a woman.
    [Anya sticks her tongue out at him. Vlad writes scores in his book, with Anya ahead, as the train continues onward. Later:]
    Dimitri: [sits down] Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot.
    Anya: Well, I think we did too.
    Dimitri: Okay.
    Anya: But I appreciate your apology.
    Dimitri: Apology? Who said anything about an apology? I was just saying that we-
    Anya: Please, just don't talk anymore, okay? It's only gonna upset me.
    Dimitri: Fine, I'll be quiet. I'll be quiet if you will.
    Anya: Alright, I'll be quiet.
    Dimitri: Fine.
    Anya: Fine.
    Dimitri: Fine.
    Anya: Fine. [after a pause] You think you're gonna miss it?
    Dimitri: Miss what? your talking?!
    Anya: No! Russia.
    Dimitri: Nope.
    Anya: But it was your home.
    Dimitri: It was a place I once lived. End of story.
    Anya: Well, then you must plan on making Paris your true home.
    Dimitri: What is it with you and homes?!
    Anya: Well, for one thing it's something that every normal person wants, and for another thing, it's a thing where you-
    Dimitri: What?
    Anya: Oh, just forget it!
    Dimitri: Fine!
    [Vlad enters the compartment]
    Anya: Thank goodness it's you! Just, please, remove him from my sight!
    Vlad: [to Dimitri] What have you done to her?
    Dimitri: Me? It's her!
    Anya: Ha! [leaves]
    Vlad: [to Pooka] Oh, no! An unspoken attraction?
    Dimitri: [gasps] Attraction?! For that skinny little brat?! Have you lost your mind?! [storms out]
    Vlad: I was only asking a simple question.
    Dimitri: "Attraction?" Ridiculous.
    [Rasputin's minions catch up with the train, crawl all over the train engine, and enter its boiler; the engine glows red, speeds up, and rattles as if it is about to fall apart]
    Vlad: [has just discovered that their passports are outdated] It's what I hate about this government. Everything's in red.
    Dimitri: Red?!
    Vlad: I propose we move to the baggage car, quickly, before the guards come.
    Dimitri: I propose we get off this train.
    Dimitri: [tries to wake Anya up from sleeping] Hey.
    Anya: [slugs him] Ugh!
    Dimitri: [falls backwards into the opposite seat holding his nose] Ow!
    Anya: [rises up shocked, apologizing] Sorry, I thought you were some... [finally realizing she hits Dimitri] Oh! It's you. Well, that's okay then. [starts to lie back down]
    Dimitri: [grabs Anya hand, pulling her from the bench seat toward the compartment door] C'mon, we gotta go!
    Anya: Where are we going?
    [Vlad heads down the corridor as Dimitri, Anya and Pooka exit the compartment]
    Dimitri: I think you broke my nose!
    Anya: [puts her coat on, exasperated] Men are such babies.
    [An explosion caused by Rasputin's minions has just separated the runaway locomotive and the baggage car from the dining car and coaches]
    Dimitri: What was that?!
    Vlad: I don't know! But there goes the dining car!
    Anya: [struggling] Get off of me!
    Dimitri: [struggling] I'm trying!
    Anya: Ow!
    Dimitri: Ow!
    Vlad: [goes to the front window and peers at the engine and sees sparks raining down] Uh, Dimitri?
    Dimitri: What?!
    Vlad: I think someone has flambéed our engine!
    [Anya and Dimitri move forward and see that the engine is blowing smoke and fire]
    Dimitri: [starts for the coal tender to observe] Something's not right. [climbs up the ladder on the engine's tender] Wait here, I'll check it out. [climbs on top, goes over the tender, and goes inside the engine room, only to find no one driving] Hello?! Anyone there?!
    Anya: [to Vlad] We're going way too fast!
    Dimitri: [comes back] Nobody's driving this train! We're gonna have to jump!
    Anya: Did you say "jump?!" [Dimitri opens the side door revealing that they are moving across a bridge] After you!
    Dimitri: Fine, then we'll uncouple the car. [as the minions hear this and melt the couples between the baggage and locomotive, grabs a hammer and tries to uncouple the baggage car from the burning locomotive] Come on! I need a wrench, an axe! Anything! [breaks a hammer while cutting the train couplings between the engine's tender and baggage car. Anya finds a crate full of dynamites] Come on! There's gotta be something in there better than this! [Anya hands him a dynamite] That'll work! [sticks the dynamite onto the couplings between the locomotive and baggage car] Go! Go! Go! [they take cover behind the boxes] What do they teach you in those orphanages? [they duck their heads as the dynamite on the coupling between the engine's tender and baggage explodes] Don't worry, we've got plenty of track. We'll just coast to a stop.
    [The bridge ahead has just been destroyed]
    Anya: [to Dimitri] You were saying?
    Dimitri: [grabs a chain holding down some cargo] I got an idea, Vlad, give me a hand with this. [Vladimir looses his balance and falls into a box; he edges his way out of the car. The ground whizzes by beneath him as he lowers himself underneath the baggage car] Hand me the chain! [reaches up and is stunned to see Anya over him] Not you!
    Anya: Vlad's busy at the moment! [Dimitri accepts the chain from Anya and hooks it onto the undercarriage. Twisted steel from the front of the train flies back at him. With Anya's help he yanks himself up just as the shrapnel whips by, shattering a tree. They land in near embrace, and catch their breath. Their eyes meet, stirring some distant feeling. Dimitri snaps out of it first, glancing back to the shattered tree receding in the distance] And to think, that could have been you.
    Dimitri: If we live through this, remind me to thank you. [the engine and the baggage car are in collision course with the broken bridge] Here goes nothing! Brace yourselves!
    [The chain gets caught on the tracks and pulls the baggage car around, sliding after the runaway engine]
    Anya: Well, there is our stop.
    [Anya, Dimitri, Pooka and Vlad all jump off the baggage car, screaming, and land in the snow safely. The overheated train engine and the ruined baggage car both plunge off the broken bridge, crash, and ignite into fireballs with an enormous explosion]
    Dimitri: I hate trains. Remind me never to get on the train again.
    [Rasputin is screaming and throwing a temper tantrum over an unsuccessful attempted murder of Anya]
    Bartok: Uh, wow. Take it easy there. [then Rasputin stops as his left thumb pops out] You know, sir, really you should watch your blood pressure. My nephew Izzy just keeled over one day, mid-mango. Stress, it's a killer, sir. And he's a fruit bat. No meat. No blood, even. [screws Rasputin's thumb back on to his hand]
    Rasputin: How could they let her escape?! [smashes a skull]
    Bartok: Eh, you're right, it's very upsetting, sir. I guess this reliquary's broken. [tosses the reliquary aside]
    Rasputin: YOU IDIOT! [stretches out his hand and catches it, then glares at Bartok]
    Bartok: Alright now, sir, take it easy there. Just remember what I said to you about stress.
    Rasputin: I sold my soul for this. [grabs Bartok] My life, my very existence, depends on it. And you... [chuckles, then turns angry] almost destroyed it! [slams Bartok nose-first against the reliquary]
    Bartok: I get it, I get it! You break it, you bought it!
    Rasputin: See that you remember, you miserable rodent! [throws Bartok back across the room]
    Bartok: Oh sure, blame the bat. What the heck? We're easy targets.
    Rasputin: What are you muttering about?
    Bartok: Anastasia, sir. Just wishing I could do the job for you, sir. I'd give her a HA! And a HI-YA! And then a OUU-WA! And I'd kick her, sir.
    Rasputin: Oooooh! I have something else in mind. Something more enticing. Something...really...cruel. [scratches the reliquary with his finger nail]
    [Vlad lets it slip that he, Anya and Dimitri are actually going to see the Dowager's cousin, Sophie]
    Anya: But...I thought we were going to see the Empress herself. Why are we going to see her cousin? [to Dimitri, who tries to walk away] Dimitri?
    Dimitri: [defeated] Well...nobody gets near the Dowager Empress without convincing Sophie first.
    Anya: Oh, no. Not me. No, no! Nobody ever told me I had to PROVE I was the Grand Duchess!
    Dimitri: Look, I-
    Anya: Show up? Yes. Look nice? Fine. But lie?
    Dimitri: You don't know it's a lie. What if it's true? [Anya walks away but he stops her] Okay, so you are one step closer to finding out who you really are. I just thought that you would have to see to it through to the end no matter what.
    Anya: But, look at me, Dimitri. I do not exactly look "Grand Duchess" material here!
    [Singing]
    Vlad: Next, we memorize the names of the royalty. Now here we have Kropotkin.
    Dimitri: Shot Potemkin.
    Vlad: In the Bodkin.
    Anya: Oh!
    Vlad: And dear old Uncle Vanya! loved his vodka.
    Dimitri: Got it, Anya?
    Anya: No!
    Vlad: The Baron Pushkin
    Anya: He was...?
    Dimitri: Short!
    Vlad: Count Anatoly
    Anya: Had a...?
    Dimitri: Wart!
    Vlad: Count Sergei
    Dimitri: Wore a feathered hat.
    Vlad: I hear he's gotten very fat.
    Anya: And I recall his yellow cat! [Pooka jumps into her arms]
    Vlad: [to Dimitri] I don't believe we told her that...
    Dimitri: Here, I brought you a dress.
    Anya: [Giggles] You brought me a...tent. [looks inside]
    Dimitri: [Does the same] What are you looking for?
    Anya: The Russian Circus! I think it's still in here!
    [Dimitri is dancing with Anya]
    Dimitri: That uh...dress is really beautiful.
    Anya: Do you think so?
    Dimitri: Yes. I mean it was nice in the hangar, but it looks even better on you. You sh-You should wear it.
    Anya: I am wearing it.
    Dimitri: [embarrassed] Oh, right. right, of course...you are. I'm just trying to give you a...um...
    Anya: Compliment?
    Dimitri: Of course, yes.
    Vlad: [singing] 1, 2, 3. And suddenly, I see it at a glance. She's radiant, and confidant, and born to take this chance. I taught her well. I planned it all. I just forgot romance. Vlad, how could you do this? How will we get through this? I never should have let them dance.
    Anya: I feel a little...dizzy.
    Dimitri: Kind of...light-headed?
    Anya: Yeah...
    Dimitri: Me too. Probably from all the spinning. [they stop dancing] Maybe we should stop.
    Anya: [quietly] We "have" stopped.
    Dimitri: Anya, I...
    Anya: Yes?
    [They lean in, until Pooka interrupts with his bark]
    [Dimitri rescues Anya from falling off the ship while she was sleepwalking]
    Dimitri: Anya! Anya, Anya, wake up! WAKE UP!
    Anya: [wakes up; panting and frightened] The Romanov Curse!
    Dimitri: [confused] The Romanov what?
    Anya: Curse!
    Dimitri: What-What are you talking about?
    Anya: [places her head on Dimitri's chest, hugging him and crying] I keep seeing faces; so many faces!
    Dimitri: [hugs her back] It...was a nightmare. It's alright. You're safe now.
    [Vlad nervously wanders around while Dimitri is sitting down and discovers who Anya really is]
    Dimitri: We don't have anything to be nervous about. [sadly] She's the princess.
    Vlad: [sits down] I know, I know.
    Dimitri: [gently] No, no. No, you don't know. I was the boy in the palace. The one who opened the wall. She's the real thing, Vlad.
    Vlad: [pause] That means our Anya has found her family. We have found the heir to the Russian throne! And you...
    Dimitri: Will walk out of her life forever.
    Vlad: But...
    Dimitri: Princesses don't marry kitchen boys.
    Vlad: I know! But...
    Dimitri: We're going to go through with this as if nothing's changed.
    Vlad: You have GOT to tell her.
    Anya: Tell me what?
    [Vlad and Dimitri turn around to see her and are both stunned at her beautiful appearance]
    Dimitri: [stammering] Um...Uh, how... [regains composure] How beautiful you look.
    Anya: Well, thank you.
    [Dimitri walks up with Anya and Vlad sees Sophie and bows]
    [Anya and Dimitri leave the opera box and arrive at the Dowager's box room so she can be announced]
    Dimitri: [arrives at the Dowager's box room with Anya] Wait here for just a moment. I'll go in and announce you properly. [goes to the door]
    Anya: [stops him first] Dimitri?
    Dimitri: Yes?
    Anya: [nervous] Look, we've been through a lot together.
    Dimitri: [excited] Uh-huh.
    Anya: [really nervous] And I just wanted to-
    Dimitri: [really excited] Yes?
    Anya: Well- [loses it] Thank you, I guess. Yes, thank you for everything.
    Dimitri: [turns around, disappointed, heads for the door as Anya goes the other way; turns back, nervously] Anya, I-
    Anya: [excited] Yes?
    Dimitri: [really nervous] I'm...I...Um-
    Anya: [really excited] Yes?
    Dimitri: [also loses it] I just wanted to wish you good luck, I guess. [shaking Anya's hand]
    Anya: [disappointed] Oh.
    Dimitri: Well here goes. [walks into the Dowager's box, enters Dowager's box and approaches Sophie] Please inform her majesty, The Dowanger Empress, that I have found her granddaughter... [Anya listens to him from the other side of the door] ...the Grand Duchess Anastasia. She's waiting to see her just outside the door.
    Sophie: I'm very sorry young man, but the Dowanger Empress, she will see no one.
    Marie: [overhearing this; sternly turns to Dimitri] You may tell that impertinent young man that I have seen enough Grand Duchess Anastasias to last me a lifetime.
    Sophie: [having second thoughts; forcing Dimitri to leave] Um, you better go.
    Dimitri: [nervous] Please, let me just...
    Marie: Now if you'll excuse me, I wish to live the remainder of my lonely life in peace.
    Sophie: Come, I'll see you to the door. [closing the curtains] Come, come now, come to the door.
    Dimitri: [ducking through the curtains, and appears next to Marie] Your Majesty, I intend you no harm. My name is Dimitri. I used to work in the palace.
    Marie: [sarcastically] Well, that is one I haven't heard, I must say. [starts to walk away]
    Dimitri: [walking after her] Wait! Don't go, please! [gets in her way] If you'll just hear me out-
    Marie: [snaps] I know what you're after. I've seen it before; men who train young women in the royal ways. [rings a bell]
    Dimitri: But if Your Highness will just listen-
    Marie: Haven't you been listening? I've had enough! [Anya listens to the conversation closer] I don't care how much you have fashioned this girl to look like her, sound like her, or act like her. In the end, it never is her.
    Dimitri: But this time it is her.
    Marie: [remembering] Dimitri...I've heard of you. You're that conman from St. Petersburg, who was holding auditions to find an Anastasia look-alike.
    [Anya gasps after hearing this]
    Dimitri: But, your Grace, we came all the way from Russia just to see-
    Marie: And others have come from Timbuktu.
    Dimitri: No, it's not-it's not that. It's not what you think. [tries to take her hands in compassion]
    Marie: [angrily stands up] How much pain will you inflict on an old woman for money? [Anya becomes shocked and horrified as she discovers who Dimitri really is, and the guards arrive to kick Dimitri out] Remove him at once!
    Dimitri: [struggling with the guards] But she is Anastasia, I'm telling you! She's the Grand Duchess! If you only speak with her, and you'll SEE! [gets kicked out of the Dowager's box and looks at Anya, who overheard his argument with her and she angrily confronts him after hearing who Dimitri really is]
    Anya: It was all a lie, wasn't it? [starts to walk away]
    Dimitri: [gets up and tries to reason with Anya] No, no.
    Anya: You used me? I was just part of your con to get her money?
    Dimitri: [trying to regain composure] NO! No, no, no. [Anya walks away, and he follows and stops her] Look, it may have started out that way, but everything's different now. Because you really are Anastasia. You are!
    Anya: [becoming really angry] Stop it! From the very beginning, you lied! [angrily shoves him] And I not only believed you, I actually-ARGH! [furiously walks away again]
    Dimitri: [stopping her] Anya, please! When you spoke of the hidden door in the wall opening, and the little boy - Listen to me. That was-
    Anya: NO! I don't wanna hear about anything that I said or remembered. YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! [furiously tries to walk away, but Dimitri grabs her arm and she angrily slaps him. She then furiously storms off]
    Dimitri: [tries to chase after her, but fails as he is blocked by a crowd] ANYA, PLEASE! YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE TRUTH!
    [Dimitri sneaks into the car containing Marie and drives in a fast pace to Sophie's residence]
    Marie: Ilya, slow down.
    Dimitri: [reveals himself] I am not Ilya. And I won't slow down. Not until you listen.
    Marie: [gasps] You! How dare you?! Stop this car immediately! [bangs the floor of the car with her cane through her last words] Stop this car!
    [Later, they arrive at Sophie's residence. Dimitri gets out of the car and opens Marie's door]
    Dimitri: You have to talk to her. Just look at her, please.
    Marie: I won't be badgered by you a moment longer.
    Dimitri: [shows her Anya's music box] Do you recognize this?
    Marie: [gasps as she slowly takes it] Where did you get this?
    Dimitri: I know you've been hurt, but it's just possible she's been as lost and alone as you.
    Marie: You'll stop at nothing, will you?
    Dimitri: I'm probably about as stubborn as you are. [leads her way]
    [Anya was packing to leave Paris when she hears the door knock]
    Anya: Go away, Dimitri. [the door opens and Marie comes in as she finally turns around and notice her with a gasp] Oh, sorry. I...I thought you were...
    Marie: I know very well who you thought I was. Who exactly are you?
    Anya: Eh...I...I was hoping you could tell me.
    Marie: [sighs] My dear, I'm old and I'm tired of being conned and tricked.
    Anya: I don't want to trick you.
    Marie: And I suppose the money doesn't interest you either?
    Anya: I just want to know who I am! whether or not I belong to a family;–– your family.
    Marie: You're a very good actress. The best yet, in fact. But I've had enough. [starts to leave]
    Anya: [after smelling a scent] Peppermint?
    Marie: [holds her steps, still suspicious] An oil for my hands.
    Anya: Yes. I spilled a bottle. The carpet was soaked… and it forever smelled of peppermint. Like you. I used to lie there on that rug and, oh, how I missed you when you went away. When you came here, to Paris.
    Marie: [turns and notices Anya, playing with a key around her neck] What is that?
    Anya: [holding the key] This? Well, I've always had it...Ever since before I can remember.
    Marie: [holding out her hand] May I? [Anya takes off the key and hands it to her] It was our secret. My Anastasia's and mine. [takes the music box from her bag]
    Anya: The music box. [takes the music box from Dowager Empress Marie] To sing me to sleep when you were in Paris. [takes the key and begins humming the lullaby. The the music box begins to play and she starts to sing the lullaby] Hear this song and remember.
    Anya and Dowager Empress Marie: [singing] Soon, you'll be / Home with me / Once upon a December.
    Marie: [with cracking voice] Oh, Anastasia! My Anastasia!
    [Anya and Marie throw their arms around each other in an emotional embrace, while Dimitri is on the street looking up at the window. He blows a kiss and sadly walks away]
    Rasputin: Bartok! Get me a comb! Find some cologne! I want to look my best tonight!
    Bartok: That might take some work, sir.
    Rasputin: Then snap to it! We're going to a party!
    Bartok: [excited] Oh, boy! A party in Paris! I can teach you all the latest dance moves! It starts with a woo! And then, then you get really crazy with the hips, sir. It's fun!
    Rasputin: We'll let the Grand Duchess Anastasia have her moment!
    Bartok: Who cares?
    Rasputin: And then we'll kill her!
    Bartok: Right and then we'll... Kill her?! What happened to the party idea?
    Rasputin: That's where I will kill her! [laughs as he tears up the newspaper] Crush her at the height of her glory!
    Bartok: And...we're back to the crushing. Sir, I am begging you, please, PLEASE, forget the girl and get a life!
    Rasputin: Oh, I'll get a life, Bartok! HERS! [laughs maniacally]
    Marie: [looking through her memory box] Oh look! The drawing you gave me! Remember?
    Anya: Oh yeah, Olga made me so mad; she said it looked like a pig riding a donkey! [laughs] She was right.
    Marie: [nostalgically] Ah, your laughter. Once again, I hear my Nicky, your dear father. [retrieves a tiara from her dresser] But you have the beauty of your mother, Alexandra: Empress of all Russia. [ceremoniously places tiara on Anya's head]
    Dimitri: [bows before the Dowager] You sent for me, your Grace?
    Marie: 10,000,000 rubles, as promised, with my gratitude.
    Dimitri: I accept your gratitude, your Highness, but I-I don't want your money.
    Marie: What do you want, then?
    Dimitri: Unfortunately, nothing you can give. [bows and starts to walk out]
    Marie: Young man... [Dimitri halts] Where did you get that music box? [Dimitri is speechless] You were the boy, weren't you - the servant boy who got us out? You saved her life and mine, then you restored her to me. Yet you want no reward.
    Dimitri: Not anymore.
    Marie: Why the change of mind?
    Dimitri: It was more a change of heart. I must go. [bows one last time and leaves]
    Dowager Empress Marie: [about Dimitri] My darling...He didn't take the money.
    Anya: [surprised] He didn't?
    Bartok: [as he watches Anya getting attacked] You’re on your own, sir! This can only end in tears. [shudders]
    Anya: I’m not afraid of you!
    Rasputin: I can fix that! Care for a little swim under the ice? [has Anya trapped in the falling debris of the bridge] Say your prayers, Anastasia! No one can save you!
    Dimitri: [enters] WANNA BET?! [punches Rasputin and dives down to save Anya]
    Anya: Dimitri! If we live through this, remind me to thank-
    Dimitri: You can thank me later.
    Anya: [steps on Rasputin's reliquary with each line] THIS IS FOR DIMITRI!
    Rasputin: GIVE IT BACK!
    Anya: THIS IS FOR MY FAMILY!
    Rasputin: [last words] I'LL TEAR YOU TO PIECES!
    Anya: AND THIS, THIS IS FOR YOU! DASVINDANIYA! [breaks the Reliquary completely]
    [A green bean shots down and destroys Rasputin, he screams as he was reduced to skull and bones, which immediately turned to dust and the dust blows away.]
    [After Rasputin is finally defeated, Anya checks on Dimitri, who was struck in the head by a rock]
    Anya: Dimitri?
    [He doesn't move or open his eyes, and Anya looks away and starts to cry. Pooka howls in despair. Suddenly, Dimitri moves his arm and gets up. She gasps and quickly turns, accidentally hitting him in the face]
    Dimitri: Ouch!
    Anya: DIMITRI! [happily hugs him]
    Dimitri: Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Let go, let go!
    Anya: Sorry.
    Dimitri: Yeah, I know, I know. "All men are babies." [groans]
    Anya: I thought you were going to St. Pete-
    Dimitri: I was.
    Anya: You didn't take the-
    Dimitri: I couldn't.
    Anya: Why?
    Dimitri: Because, I- [Anya puts her fingers on his lips, quieting him and they lean in for a kiss, but Pooka barks and hands them Anya's tiara; he takes it] Oh. [they both get up] They're waiting for you.
    [Anya takes the tiara and looks at Dimitri as she finally discovers the truth]
    [Marie and Sophia begin to read Anya's farewell letter]
    Anya: [voiceover] Dear Grandmama, wish me luck. We'll be together in Paris again soon. A bientot.
    Sophie: [thrilled] They've eloped! Isn't it romantic? It's a perfect ending.
    Marie: [smiles fondly] No, it's a perfect beginning.

## Cast

* Meg Ryan — Anya (speaking)
** Liz Callaway (singing)
*** Kirsten Dunst (young; speaking)
**** Lacey Chabert (young; singing)
* John Cusack — Dimitri (speaking)
** John Dokuchitz (singing)
*** Glenn Walker Harris Jr. (young)
* Kelsey Grammer — Vlad (speaking and singing)
* Christopher Lloyd — Rasputin (speaking)
** James J. Cummings (singing)
* Hank Azaria — Bartok
* Bernadette Peters — Sophie
* Angela Lansbury — Marie Fyodorovna Romanov (speaking and singing)
* Frank Welker — Pooka the Dog

## External links

* Anastasia quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Anastasia at Rotten Tomatoes
* The official Anastasia site