Original subtitles

THE SECOND HEIMAT

CHRONICLE OF A GENERATION IN 13 FILMS

10 - The End ofthe Future - Reinhard 1966

Reinhard came back from South America a sick man.

Montezuma's revenge, the doctor called the bug...

that infested his intestines.

He'd been back in Munich for 11 hours.

For a year, he'd looked at the world with a fiImmaker's eyes.’

Brazil, Peru, El Salvador, Mexico...

countries that grew the cotton he'd been sent to document.

With Rob's help, he'd captured on film...

everything the German chemical company wanted.’

history, economy, technology, climate, culture.

An understandable world.

Reinhard knew how much his film left unsaid.

If only he could see his friends again.

For weeks he'd tell them of the mysteries he'd seen.

He was laden with the immensity of the world...

and had no one to share his burden.

Rob, it's me.

Listen, Foxholes is gone. Gone, disappeared without trace....

In the phone box in Hollandstrasse.

Have you still got the camera?

There must be some film left.

Bring it here, right now. I must get to the bottom ofthis.

Why the camera? So I can understand what's happened, damn it!

Right, I'll wait outside.

It's really gone, honestly.

Do you live here?

As you see.

Can you help me?

If you're looking for number 21...

you're too late. It's gone.

-Since when? -Since last Thursday.

In four hours they knocked the whole thing flat. The rubble went yesterday.

Quicker than in the war, even.

With these modern machines....

Friends of mine used to live here.

Well, we're not leaving.

We refuse to budge. And so far, we're winning.

See that bulldozer over there?

Like a tank about to attack?

They want to knock our house down, too.

My wife was born here. Next month...

we're planting a hedge all the way round. That's a promise.

You own the house?

I wish we did.

Both ofthem were sold to Munich Building Enterprises.

Didn't you know? That's their sign on the corner.

Take a good look.

It shows the office block they want to put up over our heads.

We'll be filming here in a moment.

Can we interview you?

For TV?

No, a documentary.

I've put my foot in it often enough. I'd rather not.

Do you know where the owner, Fraulein Cerphal, lives now?

Is this part ofthe interview?

All I know is she sold up.

500 marks per square metre. Amazing, eh?

We've already survived two eviction orders.

The greed of some people, you've no idea!

But we're planting our hedge and that's that!

The present...

the future.

Let's try and get some shots that remind us ofthe house.

Look. Look at that.

It's incredible.

Here!

So you want to push it aside, or install it right here, or....

And the gate!

Reinhard.

What will a pan tell us?

Let me tell you what I see, okay?

I see a felled tree...

three oil tanks...

a TV aerial on the ground...

a cellar wa||.... And now somebody's in the way.

Rob! Speculation! Devastation!

The spirits ofthe place banished and driven away.

The ancients believed in that.

Every place has its gods. |fthey're angered...

-they turn nasty! -And you want to use this as commentary?

It's what I want to capture.

The house has gone, as though it's been stolen.

-Even the space it took up has gone. -The space.

You can't put space on film. See for yourself.

All this bloody glass eye can do is goggle.

No hope, no fee|ing....

Nothing is stupider than a camera.

You're right.

There's almost nothing to remind us of Foxholes.

The villa was so much bigger than this hole!

It couldn't have fitted in here.

Hang on. One, two, three, four....

Impossible. Just 130 square meters!

That's nothing. Just a hut.

Reinhard, our villa was a hut.

It's impossible, isn't it?

It's those goddamn cramps again.

What did the doctor say?

-Montezuma's revenge. -What?

Come on, lie down.

Rob, is it you?

You're back!

-Is Reinhard here, too? -Yes, in a moment.

Reinhard, Hermann's here.

Is that your kid?

Yes, that's Lulu.

-I don't believe it. -Did you know it was gone?

It's been boarded up for months. No curtains in the windows.

I tried to find out what they did with the piano, but I couldn't get in.

-It's tearing my guts apart. -Fancy meeting you here.

Do you know what happened?

Fraulein Cerphal sold the house.

They say she's travelling the world.

She's spending her money with Gattinger.

You know, we were happy in that house.

I always thought I didn't really belong.

But now....

What about the others? Do you ever see them?

You've been away a long time.

Remember that story about Helga?

How she came home after a year, and the doorbell still didn't work?

You get around, you see the world.

You realise how much you can do in one day.

Then you come home, and time has stood still.

They haven't even repaired the doorbell.

Then you know you're home.

I've always hated that feeling of being home.

But it all revolved around you.

In the villa? That was just chance.

Half a year in South America. You come home...

and Munich is a village.

The capital of Bavaria.

We moved six times before I was 16.

We never stayed anywhere longer than two years.

Five new schools, five new sets of teachers to hate.

If I only knew what happened to the piano.

It wasn't bad at all.

It had a special sound.

Cool, but rounded.

You had to like it or it wouldn't respond.

How can you think ofthis stupid piano?

The vi||a's gone and you don't give a damn.

I've got to go. She's getting hungry.

Marriage makes us all materialists.

Shall I drive you? I've got the car.

Aren't you filming?

Are you happy, Hermann? With a wife and child and home?

And an alarm clock beside the bed?

Things have changed.

That's just what I said.

You don't like children, do you?

You're under the weather, Reinhard. Go home.

RENATE'S U-BOAT

Hi. Good evening.

Nice to see you again.

Have a look around. Yesterday we were closed, today we're open.

Now for our latest cocktail:

O|ga's Tears.

Freshly squeezed.

What are you writing?

"Every finite thing is determined by other finite things.

"None has God...

"as it's proximate course."

And that's O|ga's Tears for you.

"The question is:

"What links the infinite number of substances...

"to the infinity of God?"

Did you know that Foxholes is gone?

Yes. Spinoza has an explanation for that, too.

Every house is defined by the neighbouring houses...

every demolition by neighbouring demolitions.

Can you look after the guests? I'm on in a moment.

Well, globetrotter, let's have a look at you.

Your eyes have changed.

I realised today that I can look back on 33 years.

Can you imagine? It's incredible.

Same age as Jesus.

Time to do something for your immortality.

I nearly died in Mexico.

Ladies and gentlemen, in honour of Poseidon, god ofthe sea...

we present the poem, The Night Song of the Fish.

How can you stand it, Alex?

Everyone off in his own little corner?

"There is no centre in this world of monads.

"We're closed off from the outside, windowless."

As Leibniz says.

You look unwell, and unhappy.

"Pain is localised sorrow."

-As Spinoza says. -Stuff Spinoza!

I want to know what's wrong with us.

The same thing that's wrong with everyone.

We are mirror images ofthe whole.

You drive me nuts!

I'm not going to play this game, this solitude game.

I want to belong, to be needed. Understand?

Reinhard D6rr here. The cutting room, please.

Dagmar? It's me.

No, it's a Mexican record.

I just wanted to say I'll be late.

Trixi, what are you doing here?

-Can I come in? -Sure.

Are you skipping school?

Have you seen Dagmar at the studio? Does she know you're here?

-Where did you get my address? -I know everything.

Well, what do you want?

I want to be in films.

That's why you're skipping school.

-You're writing a film, aren't you? -I plan to.

What's it to do with you?

Lots! I want to play the lead.

You have to know me better, so you can write it for me.

I'm 5'5". I like dancing...

and nice clothes, and I'm good at kissing.

I see myself as a dip|omat's daughter or a Hollywood belle.

Do you know Brigitte Bardot?

I travel the world, and men worship me. In the film, I mean.

If you only knew.

Please, Herr D6rr, let me be in it.

Why so formal?

You're at least 10 years older than me. And a director.

Ofthe New German Cinema.

Shit, don't make me laugh.

Want some?

Now, listen. I've onlyjust started writing.

At the moment, I'm just sad...

and that's why I'm writing.

I'm looking for images that make me sad.

I'm often sad.

37 days ago, I was in Tampico.

Can you imagine? On the coast of Mexico.

A famous Western's set there.

My God, and now I'm back here.

Is your film a Western?

It's about a man travelling through the wilderness.

One day he gets homesick, and wants to be back with his friends.

But, when he gets home...

the house is gone. Get it?

Burnt down by Apaches?

Yes, if it was a Western.

But this is a modern story.

Now the wilderness is the city.

There are no more horses, only cars.

No more killers and outlaws...

only respectable citizens, businesspeople, developers.

Too bad.

VVhy?

Horses and Indians, the desert and the prairie, they're much more fun.

Well, I don't know what'|| become ofthis story...

or how it'll turn out.

-Is that your sister's lipstick? -Very funny.

Anyway, I've no idea where the money's coming from.

I'll put in for a grant, but....

It's just an idea, that's all.

Take me with you.

-Where? -Everywhere.

We'll write together and go to movies.

We'll think up a good story and be sad together.

Please, I'm not a kid anymore, honestly.

Sometimes I feel ancient, and I'm only 33.

I always thought the older you got, the sadder you got.

With my sadness, I ought to be 1,000.

You're lonely, I can tell.

I'm off.

Bad conscience?

You know what Dagmar says?

-What? -When I'm dead...

my finger will grow out of my grave like this.

And threaten you.

-That's creepy. -My sister believes that stuff.

|won't tell her, I promise.

-Good morning. -Good morning.

Can we run the sequence?

Was that my little sister out there? I heard her voice.

-Why didn't she come in? -Your sister?

Don't look so innocent. I know she's after you.

Be careful, she's a little hussy, our Trixi.

Runs in the family.

Remember that?

That was the morning we got lost.

We came down from Tampico in that old Land Rover.

An armyjeep, full of bullet holes.

The night before, Rob met this guy, Don Gustavo...

who insisted on fixing him up with a Mexican girl.

When I see these pictures, it all comes back to me.

In those subtropical places...

at sunrise, it's still hot from the day before.

And so damp, you think you've got TB.

You sweat all night.

The dew's not cool, just sticky.

And Don Gustavo says, "Before you leave...

"you must have a Mexican girl.

"Then you'll come back again."

-And will you? -Sure.

Look at this.

Know who that was, Dagmar?

-The man with the red flag? -Now listen to me.

You can't cut a film this way.

For three weeks, all I've heard is memories ofthese pictures.

Let me tell you, you can forget your memories.

-You mean, the film's no good? -I didn't say that.

There are good shots, they may make a good film.

And the cotton theme is fine.

But there's nothing in here of your memories.

Nothing of all that personal stuff.

We must forget all that, Dagmar's right.

Forget it? Never! What are you talking about?

That trip was the high point of my life. Every day was a jewel.

But we didn't bring the jewels home.

I brought myself home. What if it isn't in the film?

It's here in my head, every image forever and ever!

Run it all again.

So you've heard about it, too?

Jean-Marie told me.

I couldn't believe it.

That's why I'm here.

It looks so empty.

I can't imagine the house ever stood here.

And it's all somehow shrunk, don't you agree?

How are you?

It's been nearly two years.

This is Lulu.

I heard that you're expecting a baby.

It's overdue.

All I can do is wait.

Are you happy about it?

Perhaps. They say the hormones make you happy.

A lovely child.

-She has your eyes. -I don't know.

I'd like to think so.

After Berg's heroine.

Schntisschen doesn't like the name.

But you do?

Lulu was a wicked woman, you realise that?

One day she'll make men suffer.

It's funny, meeting like this. I wasn't expecting you at all.

What about your music?

It's taking a break.

Can it?

I'm a woman.

I'm going to marry Volker.

So I heard.

How are things, otherwise?

I'm writing a requiem: Farewell to Foxholes.

I'm going now.

So am I.

I'll see you.

You can't skip school every day and come here. What is it now?

I have a great secret. I couldn't wait. Can I tell you?

Go ahead.

You need money, right?

Yes, lots.

But don't you know anyone rich?

No, I'll have to marry a rich widow.

Reinhard, I am so excited. Have you got a cigarette?

What's up? Are we going to rob a bank?

You told me how much that woman made.

The one whose house was torn down.

Don't you get it?

You know her and she is rich. Filthy rich.

Go and tell her your idea. She'll give you the money...

and you can make the film.

And I'll play the lead.

What did you say?

It'll work, you are such a great storyteller.

Tell it to her like you told me in the car. She'll lap it up.

She has got millions. And she is probably bored stiff.

You better hurry, other people may be after her, too.

Trixi, you're sweet.

Undo these.

Do you really think rich people are like that?

Not all. But maybe one. One is enough.

-What gave you the idea? -Mary Queen of Scots.

I suddenly thought, "What a noble woman."

Maybe there's one around today who'd pay for your film.

-You've got a funny mind. -Are you disappointed?

I don't even know where Fraulein Cerphal is.

Find her, then.

CERPHAL PUBLISHERS

I know another person who has a claim on the house.

-Evelyne? -Maybe.

But someone else as well.

What?

If I tell you, you'll have to go to Venice.

Venice?

I had scribbled down my Foxholes Requiem in a few days...

feeling irritable and unable to concentrate.

Lulu had an ear infection, and kept me awake at night.

Schniisschen wanted to give up herjob...

and was pressing me to earn money with my music, at last.

Reinhard needed someone to write the music for his cotton film...

and my friends only reluctantly agreed to join a Requiem parade.

We marched down the street, dressed up and determined...

but we hadn't rehearsed.

With every step, our music sounded worse.

I was ashamed.

But played through to the end.

What now? A funeral meal? A glass of wine at Renate's?

Can you feel the spirits?

They still haunt the place.

I've got gooseflesh.

I am sure the little fellow in there sensed something.

Did he give any sign?

He doesn't like music, he goes all quiet when he hears it.

I think he is unmusical.

Thank God.

Let him find another torment.

It could mean just the opposite.

Anyway, I think he's a she.

Juan, are you really going back to South America?

Yes. I have no luck in your country.

You are the only one of us who still lives alone.

In a way, I envy you.

Volker says we are like ships on the high seas...

that have to sail under someone's flag.

It's all a question of whose: O|ga's...

or He|ga's...

or Schni,isschen's.

Well, comrade?

Will he be a Lichtblau or a Schimmelpfennig?

In other words, when's the wedding?

She's still against it and I must admit, Lichtblau is a nicer name.

There's not enough marrying.

In May, I sail from Genoa...

in a beautiful white Italian ship.

On the journey over I found an eternal love on that ship.

It lasted 11 days and nights.

As long as the crossing.

That won't happen again.

You are leaving in May?

I love you all.

I'd like to invite you home.

Schntisschen would love to see you.

I liked your Requiem.

I recognised the Wolves motif.

Are you crazy?

Where have you been, anyway? Stop that bloody thing at once!

Get out, it's dangerous.

I'll flatten you all.

You and your sentimental crap.

I know how you feel, Juan. For three months....

I've been in a play and none of our dear friends has shown up.

Happy families.

I have an appointment. Got to go.

Peace, friends.

Why don't we all go and see O|ga's play?

Why is everybody so touchy?

I arranged this. I composed this piece out of friendship.

Out of friendship.

-And to mark this occasion. -What's past is past.

I know that.

Foxholes was only a house, the place where we used to meet.

But we have our whole lives ahead of us, damn it.

You act as if everything is lost. Nothing is lost.

Just open your eyes and ears.

And why doesn't anybody say what they thought of my Requiem?

I told you I liked it, at the rehearsal.

Music isn't my field but it was moving, here on this site.

Olga, wait, I am coming.

I've had enough. I am sorry, but this is all complete shit.

I am going for a beer with my musicians.

Your wife lets you out for the day?

-I shall escort you to the theatre. -You don't have to, Alex.

-I insist. -Really?

Let me be your only admirer, just for today.

What's wrong?

A terrible headache.

-Do you get them often? -Recently.

It'll pass.

I am going mad.

You are a genius, that's all.

Right, Trixi. Time to get off. It's about to leave.