Original subtitles

The only thing to fear from the past

is that it may destroy the future.

The German enemy has capitulated.

The French people send fraternal greetings...

Louder!

...to their heroic allies and their leaders,

to all the men and women

who have fought, suffered and worked,

so that justice and liberty would prevail...

How does it feel to be back in Switzerland, Ambassador?

...who have mingled their blood with ours,

and who triumph with us today.

You cut your hair short.

You look fabulous!

And you look tired!

I was so afraid.

Is Father around?

Yes, he's in the park.

But you can't see him in that state.

They just said on the radio

that they're withdrawing the entire diplomatic corps from southern Germany.

These trousers need taking in.

How come you're already back?

Heinrich?

Darn!

Wait.

I'm not used to this anymore either.

You haven't answered me yet. How come you're already back?

Don't you worry about it.

The press is always miles behind.

Did Gerber call?

No.

I haven't seen him much lately.

Dad, this is Nicolas, a friend from the choir.

Nicolas Favre.

It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Zwygart.

We don't know each other yet.

Dad, stop! You're scaring him!

Welcome to our home, Mr. Favre.

He's a nice fellow.

From a watchmaker family, he seems to be a good match.

Father?

They're beautiful.

I'm the one who took care of them.

It's good to see you again, you look fit and healthy.

I'm still here.

I can hardly find the right words

to express my relief at finding you all

healthy and well.

And at being back in my own country,

which resisted destruction and misery.

But we must never forget

the victims of this war.

And our unlucky German friends!

And even if the Swiss Federal Council

has not yet officially proclaimed freedom,

we can all be proud

of what each of us did to ensure

that Switzerland stayed as it was before, the way we know it.

It stayed away from war,

away from those injustices…

Our country owes its survival to our army!

To the mobilization of all our soldiers and reservists.

Let all of us...

give thanks to our General Guisan!

For keeping us safe

and ensuring that freedom prevailed.

Cheers!

To the General.

To the General.

You know he can't fool us.

- What do you mean? - Your father!

He sounds like all our soldiers.

- He's overestimating the role of the army. - Excuse me. Can we talk later? - Sure.

Bauer Publishing: the same office where I welcomed Rudolf Hess.

The phone number's on the card.

Sorry, could you ask Peter to put some air in the Citroen's tires? I think one's flat.

I'm afraid we had to let Peter go.

We had to cut costs.

Of course.

That's young Gilberte,

Gilberte de Courgenay.

She knows 300,000 troops and all the officers!

That's young Gilberte,

Gilberte de Courgenay.

All Switzerland and the entire army knows her!

Sorry,

- I didn't mean to startle you. - That's alright.

I'm just not used to the house anymore.

It really is a relief to have you back.

Especially for Clara.

- Do you have a moment? - Can it wait? - No. Not really.

You guaranteed Goering's trustworthiness, and now the Americans have locked him up!

Who'll guarantee the orders for our industry now?

You were the one who told me to sign with Messerschmitt.

- Not me, the trade delegation! - It's the same thing! - Not exactly.

And what about the interest-free loan you persuaded us to give to the Germans?

What are you saying? That I owe you money?

Have you any idea what the Germans' unconditional surrender would mean?

- It would release them from all obligations! - You all got rich through this war,

- now you'll have to find something else! - I was active in Germany way before the war!

Are you making me responsible for Nazi policies?

And what about the aluminum

you sold to Messerschmitt, huh?

- You think they were making canoes out of it? - That's not the point!

Oh really?

The only reason you made so much money is because you're my wife's cousin

- and I try to do right by this family! - Is that so? - Yes!

- And does she know you dragged us into this? - Don't even think about it!

I never took a single penny for me or Clara!

Impossible!

Maybe I should go straight to the minister and talk to him? - Go right ahead!

I underestimated the danger.

I should have recalled you earlier.

Yes. Rather than leaving us

in the depths of Bavaria for weeks!

I'm happy to find you back, safe and sound.

Did you clean up after yourself?

You need to be reassured?

Me, too...

What's the plan for me?

This afternoon's Council discussion

will be the most complicated of my career.

Winners or losers?

The Allies might not welcome us on their side.

I mainly fear the Americans.

The Americans are showmen.

We have to give them a show!

We've planned a huge interfaith celebration.

With marching bands,

accompanied by a children's choir...

You want to sell them a mass?

What do you suggest?

I want a seat on the Federal Council.

But not yours, don't worry!

If you support my candidacy,

I guarantee we'll come out ahead in this...

situation.

Know what they said about us in Berlin?

Six days a week, the Swiss work for Hitler,

and on the seventh, they pray for Allied victory!

I give you my assent in principle.

Everything worthy of interest

is in there.

How should we proceed?

We'll organize a grand peace ball...

at the Bellevue...

with the US 7th Army Orchestra.

They're based just outside Munich.

I'll give you all the contacts you need.

We'll set the cowboys up in the heart of Bern,

among our politicians, bankers, industrialists.

And we'll roll out the red carpet for them!

I'll never get these expenses approved!

And after this historic drinking spree,

there'll be no more doubt:

Switzerland will end the war on the winning side!

This one?

If you can't find anything, we'll call a dressmaker.

I don't feel like going.

You'll get to meet the most promising young people in Bern.

How do you find him?

We hardly talked.

We want to go to London.

I don't care about the "most promising young people."

You want to go abroad with him after just one month together?

It's him who's coming with me.

I want to be a chiropractor.

It's always the same here: anything new is condemned.

In England, it's a recognized profession!

So, you're against it, too?

Not at all. I don't know anything about it.

It's just that the last time I saw you, you were a little girl,

and now you want to live in London.

And you'll come and see us,

and it will be fantastic!

And you'll come to the ball,

and it will be fantastic!

It's very beautiful.

- You recorded it? - Yes.

In Nuremberg, in 1938.

Furtwangler conducting the Vienna Philharmonic!

Putting on shows must've been hard in '38.

Jewish artists weren't allowed on stage.

Germany has never lacked artists.

That wouldn't have bothered Wagner,

considering his love for them.

Those Germans were really good, weren't they?

Come and eat!

So, you're passionate about opera!

Yes, I really like it, especially the Italians.

Peace definitely hasn't arrived at the butcher shop yet!

The prices are still as high.

Dad, French champagne!

- What's the occasion? - I saved this

for a special day!

You should've told me about this!

Take one for yourself!

Thanks!

I am going to be a candidate for the Federal Council!

Cheers!

- Cheers! - Cheers!

Isn't that good news, Father?

Huh? What?

I'm just thinking about something else...

This doesn't seem to be knocking your socks off, Grandpa.

Maybe you have other sons running for Federal Council?

Don't be sassy, Hélène!

Let's drink to your success.

Cheers, my love.

Well done, Dad!

Congratulations, Mr. Zwygart.

What do you call a Federal Councilor's wife?

There must be a title.

I don't know either.

We can hire more help now, to relieve Babett.

Enjoy your meal!

What's the matter?

Sorry, I'm just so happy.

When you were little,

I already knew

you'd grow up to be someone important.

Do you know what this is?

No.

I found it in my napkin.

Maybe it belongs to your cousin's children, or...

or maybe to Mr. Baur's.

Yes, maybe.

- You're totally crazy! - Shh!

- If he finds you here, he'll kill me! - No.

Did you ask him your questions?

Did you talk about Berlin?

Not really.

Are you afraid of him?

Yes. He's not just anyone!

I'm sure he'll answer you,

- he has nothing to hide. - We'll see.

I didn't come here to talk about my family...

Were there other women in Berlin?

You can tell me, I would understand.

There's never been anyone else but you.

Did you equip this room yourself?

I spent a lot of time in cellars like this in Germany.

Fortunately, you never really needed yours.

The press shares your opinion, Father.

"Our units,

who stood by day and night, at great sacrifice to themselves,

deterred the Germans from occupying our country.

The Swiss people and its government

extend their gratitude to General Guisan and his army."

The same General Guisan...

who dreamed of going to Berlin

and shaking Hitler's hand.

Oh, stop it!

The commander in chief of the Swiss Army, hand in hand with the Führer!

Imagine what the Allies would make of that today!

You want to sully his name?

You?

After the defeat of France,

you were the one who wanted our army to demobilize!

For us to join forces with the Germans!

I've been in a real war!

I've seen a real army!

Not like our toy soldiers, just scuttling up and down Switzerland.

So, I'm just a toy, am I?

Christ, Father! I'm going to be a Federal Councilor!

Doesn't that mean anything to you?

You're making me tired.

You're making me tired.

Mr. Zwygart!

What the hell?

Sorry. Your wife told me you'd be here.

Alfonz Schranz, I work for Minister Gerber,

I'm his private secretary.

I'm honored to meet you at last, Mr. Zwygart.

The ball will be held as you instructed.

Your contacts have been used efficiently.

The entire Federal Council

expresses its full gratitude to you.

I've prepared a speech for our American friends.

However, the Department would prefer you

not to take part in the festivities.

There must be no slipups.

I don't understand...

There'll be different sensibilities there...

So what?

By all accounts, you went too far.

I want to talk to Gerber.

He doesn't want to. I'm sorry.

Are you kidding me?

Everything I did was government policy.

Maybe, but it makes things difficult now.

I fought for every inch of our neutrality.

A strong Switzerland is a rich Switzerland.

Our only raw material is other people's money!

That eludes guys like you,

pen-pushers!

Sign this.

Your resignation will be immediate.

We'll see about that at the ball!

You were lucky! They're marvelous!

Let Babet do her work.

We're expected at the ball tonight.

- I can't find anything in this house anymore. - We had to sell off so many things.

- Even my mother-of-pearl cufflinks? - I don't know.

You'll have to work your magic to make this young man presentable.

That won't be easy.

He doesn't have your build.

We might...

have to hire a suit.

You can take it off.

- Thanks. - Thanks.

- Here you go. - Thanks.

I'll be right back.

So?

You have nothing to tell me?

It's rather difficult...

Go ahead! Take the plunge!

I run the student newspaper at law school...

We'd really like to do a portrait of you.

A portrait?

It would be an honor.

You've met the greatest:

Goering, Goebbels, even Chancellor Hitler.

It was normal. It was my job!

So,

you arrived in Berlin in '38?

What was it like?

Hitler had just annexed Austria.

He would've attacked us

at the slightest pretext.

We had to mind everything we said.

Criticism of the Germans had to be neutralized.

What did you think of Austria's annexation?

See that uniform?

Once you put it on,

no one listens to the person,

they only listen to the function.

I'm a diplomat, my opinions are irrelevant.

Did you make the right choices in Germany?

I defended the government's line:

preserve our independence

and stay out of the conflict.

Didn't you do too much?

Meaning?

You supported Goebbels

when he wanted to ban Swiss papers in Germany.

Should I have offended Goebbels?

After the fall of France,

we were threatened on all sides.

Were refugees also a threat?

Accepting too many could have gotten us...

in trouble.

Is that why you supported

the "J" in German passports,

to mark out Jews from other refugees?

It was a government measure,

approved by the Federal Council.

You're very well informed...

Too flattering a portrait wouldn't be convincing.

Well,

I still have a lot to do before tonight.

What about the Wannsee Conference in '42?

That will do.

The extermination of the Jews?

You're fixated!

I had nothing to do with it!

Maurice Bavaud?

You know that name, don't you?

Where would the world be

if Maurice had succeeded?

Who are you?

Right, Mr. Zwygart, I'll see to you now.

- Here you are. - Thank you.

Mr. Zwygart.

Is everything alright?

Your things are ready.

- Can I have a word? - Wait!

Don't look!

Can we speak?

Sure, she doesn't understand a word of French.

I thought you didn't want to go...

If I don't, Dad won't discuss London.

We don't need his consent.

You could continue your interrogation there.

How did it go?

You're right, he's not trying to hide anything.

Neither am I.

Heinrich and I were also in London.

A long time ago! It was before the war.

- I see. - It was wonderful.

We were a little...

Wow, look!

Not bad at all!

We were your age at the time.

Please forgive me

for being so blunt last night.

I appreciate your apology.

Fine!

Let's go.

It's considerate to provide a second car.

You wait here, I'm going to take a look.

Good evening, gentlemen.

Are you driving us?

We've been ordered not let anyone leave here tonight.

Who gave that order?

- Who? - You don't need to get upset.

That's enough! I'm not going to waste time on you idiots!

Move that car right now!

Do I have to do it myself?

- Orders are orders. - What do you think?

That I'm just going to accept this? Get off my property!

- Are you crazy? - Are you out of your minds?

Do you know who this is?

Go inside, Clara. Shame on you, you brutes!

Say something, Heinrich! - Let's go inside, I'll explain everything to you.

There'll be consequences for this.

Who are those people? Who do they think they are?

There's been a misunderstanding. They're here for our safety.

Our safety? You expect us to believe that?

I'll clarify it tomorrow with the Department.

- Does it hurt? - No, not really, I just bumped my head.

Please leave us alone.

I wanted you to see this, Hélène. I'm sorry.

I love you, Dad.

I love you too, honey.

Can you tell me now what's really going on here? - Not tonight.

But the ball?

That was your idea, the whole thing was organized thanks to you.

And now you're treated like an outcast. - Stop it!

I'm sorry...

I told you...

I can't tell you anything more tonight.

Fine. We can go to bed, then.

You go. I'll come up later.

You have a visitor.

He'll have to wait.

I asked you to wait.

My apologies.

This is most impertinent.

Have you made your decision?

Did you enjoy the ball, Schranz?

Did you dance?

I don't dance.

Just a signature, Your Excellency!

It'll be a relief to you and to us too.

We only want to hear of a Switzerland

that's independent, democratic, humanitarian.

Everything else is irrelevant.

Are you listening?

Tell Gerber to order

an official investigation.

Maybe...

I'll sign it then.

I won't take the fall for others.

You want to lose everything?

Your status, your family?

Is there something I should know?

What are you doing?

What's this?

One like that cut off Maurice's head,

as you already know.

You came here to blackmail me?

You want to sell this to the press?

I'm not doing this for money.

I want you to answer for your actions.

You used my daughter to get to me, didn't you?

She doesn't know about Maurice,

but she gave me the go-ahead for the rest.

- You're lying! - Ask her!

Go ahead!

November 1938.

Maurice attends a Nazi parade in Munich.

He's in the stands.

He holds his pistol by his body.

His target: Adolf Hitler.

Maurice is about to shoot, but bam!

Rising as one,

the Nazis salute their chief as he passes.

Maurice can't shoot.

Total failure.

The next day is Kristallnacht!

A month later, he was arrested.

Look.

This is him,

with his mother, a few weeks before he left.

His parents begged you to help him!

Our military penal code

included the death penalty.

He may have met the same fate here.

You condemned him

instead of getting him home.

He was a terrorist!

Not just for the Reich!

He tried to kill a head of state!

He spent three years in solitary!

You refused to visit him in jail!

Shut up!

We did it all for your generation!

So that this country

wouldn't be like its war-torn neighbors.

Not like any of them!

I won't be judged by some ignorant little shit!

You're running away!

You have blood on your hands!

What's wrong?

Why are you yelling at him?

You really want to know?

It would be a pity if they went off.

Get them ready, I don't see why we should miss out.

It'd be a shame if you didn't taste the game you shot.

I bought it at Guyer's butcher shop.

Berlin really changed you, Heinrich.

I should never have stopped playing, my fingers are numb.

Politics and Bern...

are making you sick.

- Hush, Heinrich, my love. - Don't come any closer!

Go away!

What are you saying? No!

What did I do to you?

You're losing your mind!

This can't be happening. It's impossible.

Stand up straight.

Stand up straight.

They're all ruined.

And look who's here!

Unbelievable!

Why did you do this, you idiot?

Make it stop.

- You reek of booze! - I can't take it anymore.

It's unbearable.

I remember how I suffered...

when your mother died.

You're a total wreck!

Get a grip on yourself!

- Bauer Publishing, Klaus Bauer speaking. - It's me, Heinrich. - Hello, Heinrich.

- I have to talk to you. - About your book?

- How far are you with it? - No!

- Can you come over tonight? - How about tomorrow? - OK.

Excellency, your refusal to sign

has been considered.

The Department is offering you a post

defending German interests in Switzerland,

a job tailor-made for you.

We ask just one thing:

total silence about your mission in Berlin.

Not a word. To the end.

You'll have respect plus peace for your family.

You have 24 hours to make up your mind.

Mr. Zwygart,

I sincerely wish you would accept this offer.

- Hello. - Hello.

After you.

I'd imagined you older, Mr. Zwygart.

But you never received us:

neither me nor my husband.

You ignored us for three years.

I don't know what was hardest:

the waiting,

receiving no reply,

or the images in my head.

And then we finally received a letter.

The only letter we got from your department

was the one announcing Maurice's death.

It drove my husband insane.

The announcement of the execution

crossed with a letter he wrote to you

asking if he could send him slippers!

You let him die...

alone, in his cell.

Have you never felt any shame, Zwygart?

You've never felt any shame?

What do you want from me?

Why didn't you do anything to save him?

What are you doing here?

Answer her, Dad.

I started writing a letter...

to the German authorities...

and then I threw it in the fire.

I let your son die.

I killed his courage...

his beauty...

and everything that I was incapable of...

Forgive me.

Forgive me.

It was my son who believed in forgiveness.

I hope you suffer for the rest of your life.

He was your age.

I'll be at my sister's.

I would never have guessed that one day I'd be afraid of you.

That's a book I would've liked to publish.

This is the copy I gave you.

And? Have you written anything yet?

Where do we start? In Berlin?

Or even earlier? 1923?

Hess and Hitler's visit to Zürich.

We helped them raise money, remember?

We wanted to change the world.

And when they left,

they had enough money to get their party back on track.

But the Putsch in Munich still didn't work out.

Then prison was more of a lucky break for him.

He wrote "Mein Kampf" in there, and now everything's different.

Do you have any particular memories of Hitler?

Maybe my visit to the Berghof.

On the terrace...

maybe a dozen guests were present.

Eva Braun...

the secretary was playing with Blondie...

and in front of us the Alps.

Hitler knew every mountaintop.

That was my chance.

I said...

"In Switzerland,

we honor our mountains, too.

We even know how to make capital out of our rocks."

He was paying close attention.

But you didn't just talk about money?

You must've talked about Nietzsche, music and purebred dogs too!

Then later in the evening,

I went back outside for a smoke...

and he stepped out onto the terrace.

I instantly put out my cigarette: he hated smoking.

And when he came closer...

I went all out and said:

"What is it about power that interests you?"

He thought for a while, not long.

"Power in itself.

There's nothing more important."

Brilliant!

He was like a little old lady.

What?

Endless tea parties, cookies,

no smoking, no alcohol, no meat!

"A healthy mind in a healthy body," the motto of the Roman legionaries.

Complete nonsense!

He was full of drugs and medicine.

An entourage of doctors followed his every step.

I watched them work it, the Nazis:

destruction, death... Until the very end, until the fall.

Everyone was against him.

He didn't have a chance.

Someone who prances about on a sea of rubble must be insane.

- I don't know what you're trying to say... - Know what I've always hated here?

How we Swiss speak Standard High German,

with our dreadful accent.

You, too, Klaus.

When you speak in that wonderful tongue, I can hardly bear to listen.

You're as far away from your ideal as Hitler was from having an Aryan physique.

You're fooling yourself, Klaus.

You're just as insane as he was.

I didn't come here to be insulted. You promised me a book!

My mistake: I have nothing to tell you.

I apologize for all the trouble you've gone to.

That's it?

Monsieur summons,

Monsieur snaps his fingers and then you're excused?

You think you're better than everyone else.

But you're just a nobody now!