Original subtitles

The Woman and the Stranger

Based on the story

" CarL and Anna" by Leonhard Frank

Parts of the fiLm are thanks to the support of MosfiLm Studios

WE ALL HAVE ONLY ONE WISH : VICTORY OR DEATH !

THINK OF OUR WAR ORPHANS!

CUPID ON THE DRILL GROUND

YOU ARE ASSURED THE NATION'S GRATITUDE!

GERMAN WOMEN,GERMAN FIDELITY.

Richard !

Do you hear that?

Can't you hear it?

Listen !

Goddamn it!

What's he doing?

We're prisoners. We're not at the front.

Where'd he come from and where's he going?

When she got up in the morning. . .

l Lay in our bed near the waLL, she was in front.

l didn't even notice.

Very quietLy.

You've toLd me so many times.

You onLy got up when the gas-burner began to whistLe.

Yes. l aLways wanted to fix it, but then l had to Leave.

A monotone, wasn't it?

Yes, exactLy.

How is it that. . .

her breasts are so white,

yet the body and hips so much darker?

When you have her, you don't have time to think.

Stop it!

It was aLL ages ago!

Sometimes. . .

l can't remember what Anna Looks Like.

l can't see her face anymore.

l don't see it any more, KarL. Everything's disappearing.

l know exactLy what she Looks Like and how she is.

Everything.

You're a dreamer, KarL. You've never seen her, my Anna.

When l was three years oLd,

l made a coach out of my mother's hat;

it was a kind of bonnet with Long ribbons.

Then l harnessed myseLf between the ribbons

and puLLed the hat through the puddLes in the courtyard.

l'd be with her soon with that pLane.

Just imagine: in onLy a few days, maybe even sooner.

Just Like that.

And we've been sitting here for years.

You're Lucky, Richard.

At Least you have someone who's thinking of you.

KarL, why don't l just take off?

Westward, Like the pLane. l'm sure l'd get there sometime.

You'd be shot! Or beaten to death !

An escaped prisoner-of-war? We're the Lowest of the Low!

It's a few thousand miLes to our home.

The war can't Last forever.

It may even be over by the time l get home.

Maybe it's over now,and they've forgotten us.

We'IL find out tomorrow when we get suppLies at the camp.

And the pLane. . .

Just a haLLucination.

We shouLd never have enListed ! We shouLd've gone into hiding.

You, for exampLe,under your Anna's skirt.

And me too, right there with you, if l'd known her then.

ALL the men under their wives' skirts,

and the war wouLd've never happened.

God, when l think of it!

Life under a skirt,

the. . . soft fLesh,

those sweet smeLLs,

and the heat. . . Like in a hothouse.

l couLd stay there for years.

You shouLdn't taLk Like that, KarL.

What have we Lost here?

Here, in this. . . bLoody,

forsaken, shitty wiLderness!

l'm no coward.

l'm no shirker.

If everybody's needed for the FatherLand. . .

Yes, we're brave.

SoLdiers are brave men.

Do you remember what our division chapLain said?

A soLdier shouLd. . .

shoot to kiLL.

He shouLd shove the bayonet into the enemy's ribs.

He shouLd smash the enemy with his whistLing bLade.

That is his hoLy duty.

l made a point of remembering that.

And when he's off-duty, the soLdier stands in Line

in front of the brotheL traiLer! There, we become men again.

Every one of us, for 5 minutes!

You're Like that too!

If you're so smart, why are you here?

l don't know!

l was awfuLLy scared.

But then you forget when you move forward.

You have your orders and

you turn into an animaL,Like those around you.

Obeying is easy.

Maybe Anna's died a miserabLe death.

Anna isn't dead,do you hear?!

Richard. . .

if she were here now - Anna l mean -

wouLd you Let me have her? Just once?

If she were here now. . .

Hey!

Because your goddamn need is as great as mine, KarL,

maybe just once. Maybe.

But the second time, l'd beat your skuLL in.

Besides, Anna wouLdn't do it.

She's not for others to have.

l've toLd you that before.

No, no, my friend.

She's not one of those.

But when you have her at Last. . .

Anna. . .

You aLways cLean yourseLf up when we go to the camp.

Anna wouLdn't recognize you with a fuLL beard.

ALL l'd do is remind her of something,

of the kind of thing onLy a woman's husband knows.

Here's one.

And another here. That's a LittLe bigger.

And the third birthmark is here.

And they're aLL fawn-coLored.

Because her skin is so white.

One-hundred-eighty-five. One-hundred-eighty-six.

One-hundred-eighty-seven. One-hundred-eighty-eight.

One-hundred-eighty-nine. One-hundred-ninety.

Maybe they're Leaving?

Do they Look Like it?

WeLL then. The usuaL. l'IL try to get bread and groats.

-And l turnips and potatoes. -One-hundred-ninety-nine.

Going home?

Not going home. To the East.

No, l don't beLong there!

l'm from the outpost! l have to go back!

l don't beLong here!

You. . .

You need a repLacement now for your work out there?

You have an easy Life out there.

It's Luxury. Never been used.

You're mistaking me for someone eLse.

l'm not from the outpost.

Anna !

HeLLo ELfi. This is ALma.

HeLLo ELfi. This is ALma.

HeLLo ALma. Nice of you to caLL. What're you having for supper?

Turnips, as usuaL

Same here. Turnip casseroLe and cabbage.

We're having turnip dumpLings and turnip saLad.

What eLse is new?

You get war-puLp now instead of treacLe for your jam rations.

l swapped soap for it.

Hands up. Go on, hands up!

My boys don't Like to wash, anyway.

Horst, how's LittLe Hermine to know what to do with that?

You show her how, Trude. Like this.

Look at your father,Like a baby!

Nonsense! That's not our father.

He's just screwing your mother.

Say, ELfi, l saw a new recipe: sparrows � La pigeon.

Who's that?

Anna, do you recognize me?

Who are you?

l must strip the paint off these chairs. . .

. . .and stain them.

l toLd you before l Left the varnish wouLdn't Last.

I. . . l did buy a can though.

Is it stiLL. . .

-Is it stiLL here? -It's stiLL here.

It's probabLy dried out after nearLy 4 years.

We'IL buy a new can.

You can't get any. Haven't for a Long time now.

So you didn't recognize me?

Who are you?

Your husband.

You're not my husband. You're not Richard. . .

my husband.

That's something eLse l wanted to fix,

but l had to Leave.

WeLL, Anna. So you don't beLieve me.

You're my wife.

" It is our painfuL duty. . . Warrant Officer Richard SeideL

feLL for his FatherLand on September 4, 1 914.

Honor to his memory." That's not true.

Look Anna, it's not true.

My husband died three-and-a-haLf years ago.

What they write, Anna. . .

Have you no one?

l have you, Anna.

The oLd fork with the 3 prongs,is that stiLL here?

Why do you say you're my husband?

Why do you say that?

And how come you know everything?

l was fond of Richard.

He was good to me.

Good Lord, l was the first in this neighborhood to get

a death notice. l didn't want to beLieve it.

But then the years passed.

And now you taLk Like this.

It's forbidden to sheLter strangers.

But it's Late.

Tomorrow morning when you Leave, you'IL have to register.

l have to Leave earLy. l work in an army sewing shop.

l'm turning off the Light.

l'm turning off the Light.

" l wish you Luck. When you Leave, put the key

under the doormat. Don't forget to register. -Anna"

Which of these naiLs wouLd you Like? This one, perhaps?

Or this one, for our soLdiers in the fieLd?

For 5 marks or 1 mark.

You aLways stopped in front of the shop window.

It was stiLL there.

But it's much too expensive.

Much too expensive.

l went to register and then

to the veterans' reLief office.

l got 15 Marks Homecoming Aid.

-So l bought the cLock. -You are. . .

There was a wedding.

That's not a good pLace.

HeLLo ELfi. This is ALma.

HeLLo ELfi. This is ALma.

Morning ALma. l'm up. Did you have sweet dreams?

Yes - of roast goose and red cabbage.

ShaLL we go to the movies after schooL?

If they're pLaying a romance?

-See you then. l'm coLd. -See you.

Aren't you hungry today?

Our Anna's meLanchoLic today, Like aLL of us.

MeLanchoLy is a foreign word, Baroness - you shouLdn't use it.

Anna needs a man !

Dead for 3 years, and stiLL waiting for him.

Poor girL !

They aLL have the same thing between their Legs!

If you're Lucky, they manage to get it up once a week.

-Not enough caLories, that's it. -They say some who come home

from the front can't do it at aLL.

Who're you kidding?

" . . .your son feLL for our FatherLand in

faithfuL performance of his duty."

What are you doing here?

That's no work for you !

You address me formaLLy?

If you ever say you're my husband again. . .

Listen, if you ever say that again. . .

Anna, we beLong together.

We don't beLong together at aLL.

l never saw you before in my Life.

What about yesterday?

Maybe my husband is stiLL aLive.

Maybe he's stiLL aLive and wiLL come back.

HeLLo ALma. This is ELfi.

Yes, ELfi?

It seems the stranger is Frau Anna's husband.

But he died.

Let anybody come.

But nobody wiLL come.

l fixed it today. It was onLy a LittLe cLogged.

Don't touch me.

l'IL scream.

You're. . .

It's open. Come in.

HeLLo.

l just heard, Anna.

l'm so happy for you.

So it's true.

Anna, you must be crazy with joy!

Someone comes back who was aLready dead.

Leave it, Marie.

Mr. Richard.

l couLdn't reaLLy remember you anymore.

Of course you'd just moved in then.

But that LittLe mustache. . .

l'm sorry, Anna. l didn't mean to disturb you.

But you're not disturbing us, Marie.

You're our first visitor,Fr�uLein Marie.

l can stiLL see you in my mind's eye

in your dress with the red and yeLLow fLowers.

At the train station, you had a Light green parasoL.

How stupid we were then ! We sang and threw fLowers.

l stuck a carnation in your boot, as though you were off

off to the fair!

To the first fair in peacetime! We'IL dance a waLtz together.

You'IL have to wear the red and yeLLow fLowered dress.

If onLy it were aLready here.

My God ! You don't have to go right back?

Someone who was dead,

someone who waLked thousands of miLes through Europe. . .

They'IL never get him to Leave.

Mr. Richard, weren't you a Locksmith, or a turner,

or something?

l think l know where you can get a job.

At the MunicipaL Machine Works.

My sister Trude's Horst, who Lives with her now,

he works there.

They're Looking for skiLLed workers.

War equipment production.

AdditionaL rations for heavy Labor, ration card A

and an extra ration of meat.

What's the good of an extra card if there is no meat?

Anna, you wouLdn't have to go sew any Longer.

Thanks ever so much, Fr�uLein Marie.

l'IL Leave you aLone.

Forgive me, Anna. Don't be angry.

Maybe you aLso know what l said to my girLfriend

when my husband died?

And maybe you know what happened to me

before l got married? And when l was a chiLd?

You were abLe to wait.

Didn't get impatient when your mother braided your hair.

l was impatient.

l was. . .

aLways Longing for something,

was dissatisfied.

Maybe you didn't know what Longing was. . .

untiL you got the news.

Marie tries to comfort you.

But you didn't beLieve something Like that

had happened to you.

And then came, even for you. . . this Living on,

from day to day,for nothing and again nothing.

And then Longing came.

What are you saying?

We're Longing and Longing. . .

the men out there in the trenches and prison camps,

and the women at home in their empty kitchens.

Death is powerLess against it.

You are not Richard.

Whoever you are,

you're different. EntireLy different.

Stay in bed. It's Sunday.

It's Sunday. You don't have to get up for me.

-WeLL, l'IL be off then. -ALright.

-Trude's husband is coming. -What?

Trude's husband is coming home on Leave.

And Trude?

She thinks l shouLd stay.

She thinks he'IL understand.

Maybe she's scared. Who knows how to handLe these things?

How couLd you understand?

In your pLace, l'd vanish. After aLL, he's her husband.

And the chiLd? Where wiLL the chiLd go?

We'IL just take off the body,then we'IL have the chassis.

But be carefuL, or she'IL start crying !

What wiLL become of the chiLd?

Let's go have a beer.

Why not?

You two have probLems too, don't you?

You've become distant.

Why?

It's obvious.

It'IL be aLright.

Anna.

Yes, Richard?

We never thought he wouLd react Like that.

He didn't even Let Trude expLain.

He saw the chiLd, turned around and waLked out the door.

He shouLdn't have done that. He's her husband.

When Frau Moser's husband came back, her Fritz moved out.

But Herr H�uBLer's been back 3 months and

the ration-card seLLer's stiLL there

because he can't find another room.

They're aLL 3 Living together in one room !

It's the circumstances! They're aLso to bLame!

But he'IL come back for sure.

Where shouLd he go? He's got no one eLse.

He has his buddies. He'IL be on the next train

-back to the front. -Oh my God !

Three of them. . .

ALL three of them in one room !

l want a chiLd.

A chiLd?

Yes.

Did you hear, ELfi? Frau Trude got a Letter from the miLitary.

Your mother is a concubine! Your mother is. . .

The elephant on Lake Titicaca lifts his little cock...

Trude, Trude,when l'm near you

l'm like the elephant at Titicaca.

They say it happened the day he came back from Leave.

Be quiet, ALma. Be quiet!

She drove him to death. Her own husband.

Trude, Trude, when l'm near you! Trude, Trude... Anna, Anna!

It's kicking. l think it's kicking.

It's your heart and mine.

That means peace.

An armistice, yes.

l Love you.

"Dear Anna,

Since there is peace in the East and the exchange of prisoners

has begun, l don't really know where l am.

First, the Whites took us away from the Reds,

then the Reds opened the gates, then we were

in the hands of the Whites again.

Now l'm on a ship.

You sit in the coal room and sweat.

Especially in summer and somewhere in the South.

Yesterday, the other ship hit a mine

and the whole ship was gone. Not a thing left to see.

We'll be sailing soon, always through mine-fields.

Nobody knows where they're going. l'm giving this letter to a Turk.

They say the Turks will go ashore at the next port.

So if you get this letter, l'm writing you, good old Anna, "

- good oLd Anna -

"that l'm still alive. And l love you as much as you know

and l long to be with you again at last.

Your Richard,

in the summer of 1 91 8. "

What's your name?

KarL.

Each of us bore it in our own way - the Longing,

the LoneLiness.

And he toLd me everything. Everything, Anna.

l shared it with him.

If you had been different, another woman. . .

But l knew you from the start.

l saw you, saw you more and more cLearLy before me.

l just knew everything.

l didn't Lie.

The Letter was posted months ago.

He was on a ship then.

-Maybe. . . -No. Not that.

l don't want that. ALL we can do is wait. . .

We couLd Leave. We couLd move to another town.

-We have the chiLd. Our chiLd. -. . .wait untiL Richard comes,

and then teLL him everything. If he doesn't Let me go,

l can't go on Living.

Germany.

We're in Germany!

We were asLeep when we crossed the border. We're home!

We were asLeep when we crossed the border.

Look!

Look.

My mother's eyes are in there.

My mother cried her eyes out and sent them to me

in this LittLe box.

Brown eyes.

She cried them out for me.

DON'T PICK THE CORNFLOWERS IN WARTIME

The first Soviet congress is convening in BerLin !

Workers' and SoLdiers' Soviets everywhere!

Now we'LL see some changes! Everything wiLL be different!

Now everything wiLL change.

Nothing oLd wiLL remain.

RevoLution in Russia, in Germany, in Hungary.

And soon in France too, and in Turkey, in Armenia.

The resounding bLow of worLd revoLution.

They say the Kaiser is in HoLLand.

l have a LittLe business: cigars, whoLesaLe.

Do you think the BoLsheviks wiLL. . .?

In Germany? Barking dogs seLdom bite.

10 miLLion corpses, 50 miLLion Liters of steaming human bLood.

Enough to repLace the Niagara FaLLs for an hour.

10 miLLion heads.

ALL the cars of the Prussian RaiLway couLdn't transport

10 miLLion severed heads.

Look. My mother's eyes are in there.

ALright! How Long wiLL you keep it up?

It's peacetime now!

Every mother and widow's tears deserve to be heLd

in sacred honor as a warning.

The fear of every Loving heart,

the Lament of every forLorn souL. . .

Every victim on the ravaged fieLds of Europe,

every rotting corpse and every crippLe have a right to cLaim

that from now on we strive to achieve onLy one goaL :

to free the worLd from every war, l'm teLLing you.

Nothing wiLL remain of this age of power, vioLence and Lies

save the horror and,maybe Later,

ridicuLe.

Where did you get that?

For my chiLdren. l've been keeping it for them for years.

PLease. Just Let me smeLL it,wiLL you?

l'IL just smeLL.

l don't have one of my Anna.

l often regretted it aLL these years.

Soon you'IL be hoLding her in your arms and then. . .

ALL my Life l've fucked nothing but whores.

OnLy whores in this whoLe damn war!

ALL women are whores.

Yes?

Excuse me, Frau Anna.

l wonder if you couLd Lend me a few pieces of wood?

You'IL get them back tonight. My boys are in the forest, so. . .

l hope my husband wiLL bring home a few briquettes today.

At Least a few. Wait a minute.

He was going to the cemetary after work.

ApparentLy they seLL coaL from the crematorium there.

Are you Looking for someone who Lives here?

-Yes, for my wife. HeLLo. -HeLLo.

For Anna, Anna SeideL.

Anna?

l'm here.

Your hand is Like ice.

l must have startLed you.

Too fiLthy.

Yes, the journey.

That endLess journey.

Everything's stiLL the way it used to be.

The way l aLways imagined it

for four-and-a-haLf Long years.

You foLd that fiLthy rag as though we're keeping it.

Throw it in the fire. l don't need it anymore.

WeLL. Good oLd Anna.

You waited a Long time. It Lasted a Long time.

You've set the tabLe, l see.

Richard.

The fork with the 3 prongs.

l dreamed of it sometimes.

Now you are surprised.

It's stiLL Like ice.

Something's different, though.

The gas-burner's not hissing anymore.

l'm teLLing you : he was going to his wife.

-Good evening. -Good evening, Herr Richard.

-Good evening. -Good evening.

KarL !

Come in ! Sit down !

l never thought l'd see you again, and so soon !

l just arrived myseLf.

You brought coaL. We can use it. None here.

Do you Live in town too?

When did you arrive?

Got anything in your beLLy?

Anna shouLd be back any minute.

l suppose she went out to get something.

She ran off aLL of a sudden.

The tabLe's set, though.

Laid for two.

So she must have gotten my message.

Leave it. It's warm enough, oLd boy.

You'IL be needing some for yourseLf.

Oh man, to think we survived !

What is it?

You must Let Anna go.

What?

Anna, why don't you say something?

Anna is my wife.

Oh, so that's how it is!

Stand aside, Anna.

Don't be afraid.

He sneaked in here.

Thought l wouLdn't come back, did you?

l can't stand it any Longer!

l can onLy be with him, Richard.

It just happened.

But who are you?

Anna, expLain it to me.

You. . .

you can't . . .

you can't be with me anymore.

But who is he?

l'm KarL.

He's my husband.

-But you're Anna. . . -Yes. His wife.

WeLL, then. . . l suppose l'IL have to. . .

l suppose l made a mistake.

l suppose l'm a stranger here.

You're his wife?

And he's your husband?

But then, who am I?

Then who am I?!

Yes?

Just go away.

The End.

SubtitLes by Evan Torner and Jason Doerre

C2008 DEFA FiLm Library University of Massachusetts Amherst