Original subtitles

REQUlEM FOR A VlRGlN KlNG

PART l THE CURSE

l am posh Lola the favourte of the season

l have a pianola at home in my salon

l proclaim the curse of Lola Montez,

the cast-off mistress of Ludwig l, the grandfather.

Cursing all that follows.

The incest of the parents,

Max of Bavaria and Maria of Hohenzollern.

The birth of the second Ludwig,

the last king of Bavaria.

ln the grip of royal madness,

furor paranoicus bavariae.

The House of Prussia will come

and annex Bavaria. Found a German empire.

Curse!

A new era will come.

And with it the proletarian breed.

l hear the proletarian masses.

l see the fall of the Wittelsbachs.

King Ludwig

has no chance.

l proclaim his eternal life in the memory of the people.

l see his torment!

l see his bliss in another way.

He will return in our dreams!

The finish: Environmental pollution! - Pressure to produce!

Crimes against nature!

Over the span of years

the sore ate away the forest.

The leaves yellowed

and the tree withered away,

sadly the spring dried up.

Cursed be his descendants too.

lN THE LATTER YEARS OF HlS LlFE

lN THE LATTER YEARS OF HlS LlFE

LUDWlG ll HAD HlMSELF WASHED AND DRESSED WHEN HE ROSE lN THE EVENlNG.

HE LlVED AT NlGHT.

ON A NlGHT LlKE THlS HE SAW HlS LlFE AS THE LlFE OF ONE NlGHT

HOW BARON HlRSCHBERG FALLS lNTO DlSFAVOUR

De Varicourt, a lovely name.

Cabinet Secretary Eisenhart requests an audience.

Leave me be.

l can't stand the sight of his stupid face any more.

Whoever looks with love upon the night of death,

whoever is entrusted with her darkest secrets,

the lies of daytime, honour and glory,

power and riches, no matter how dazzling,

are all blown away

like the vain dust of suns!

ln the glare of the treacherous day

he has but one desire.

That slut Bulyowski can go to hell.

Hirschberg,

l'll make you cabinet secretary.

No, you are too pretty to be cabinet secretary.

Then l'd have to annoy you.

Shall l make you a count?

How about a villa like Wagner or Hornig?

A saddle-horse would be enough.

And a transfer to the Foreign Office.

l have no possessions.

What belongs to me belongs to everyone.

You belong to me.

l am the King; whatever l like is right and proper.

Every subject must submit to his Sovereign's will.

You must be mine.

Let them stay.

l never wish to see him again.

NEWS FROM THE COURT HAlRDRESSER, HOPPE

NEWS FROM THE COURT HAlRDRESSER, HOPPE

Without your work, l cannot enjoy my breakfast.

What's new, Hoppe?

People say that Madame Bulyowski

did not reciprocate your affection when you laid

your head on her shoulder and asked her to stroke your hair.

Apparently

at night

you sobbed the name

of Madame Bulyowski.

What do they say about my fiancee, Duchess Sophie and me?

A handsome couple.

A handsome couple

and that Wagner received her.

He is clever,

only he doesn't know

that l won't marry her.

Go on.

Go on. - Malvine Schnorr von Carolsfeld insulted

Corsima von Bulow because of her liaison with Richard Wagner.

The ''Rhine Maidens'' were referred to

as aquarium whores in the paper.

There'll be a libel suit.

Count Durckheim has been posted to the provinces;

a duel with His Highness

Prince Arnulf

over some woman.

Tell Prince Ludwig

not to keep pushing himself forward.

And Prince Luitpold shouldn't address me without being spoken to first.

l am the King.

l still am.

l'll dismiss all my father's old servants.

l want to see only young faces.

THE KlNG LOVES DE VARlCOURT AND lS DlSAPPOlNTED lN HlM

THE KlNG LOVES DE VARlCOURT AND lS DlSAPPOlNTED lN HlM

Majesty, the people's 12 oldest men are ready.

The ritual of feet washing can now begin.

lf the King can ride for 8 to 10 hours

without damaging his health,

he can also spend a few days with his army.

The princes should lower their heads more.

The Prussian State rewards Bismarck

with a million marks for every war he wins.

The loveliest death would be

to die for you.

lf only this could soon come to pass.

A death more desirable than anything this world can offer.

Varicourt,

you sleep while your King is talking to you?

Take care of him.

l have acted my role as King badly.

LET'S GO ON AND PLAY GAMES WlTH THURN AND TAXlS

LET'S GO ON AND PLAY GAMES WlTH THURN AND TAXlS

A sofa for the decrepit Hartschier.

The poor man can't stand for very long. Yes, a sofa.

Bismarck is delighted with his war with Austria;

he can at last kick her out of Germany.

l'm going to the Rose lsland.

There is no telephone there.

To play games with Thurn and Taxis.

We've been successful.

Our troops are in Thuringia,

and have already consumed 1,500 Prussian beers.

l can't stand the sight of these cropped heads any more.

Let's go.

Let us listen to their kingly babble.

Remove the sofa.

AUDlENCE

AUDlENCE

What are Gudden, Holnstein and Lutz doing?

Gudden,

a German intellectual.

Power is nothing,

but the power of seduction is, eh?

Quite correct, Majesty.

All l will say

is that Wagner's time is coming.

Lutz,

l hear that your intrigues have kept Wagner out,

with the help of the press.

But Munich's still become the leading musical centre today,

with the help of the press.

Let's make him a minister,

otherwise he won't be afraid of me and won't be able to depose me.

Holnstein,

we know each other well.

Allow me to introduce

my head stableman.

The master of my 200 horses.

My bosom friend

and betrayer.

He'll be my guardian.

The son of a bitch,

a faux pas of my great-grandfather Wittelsbach.

lt stays in the family.

My successors won't have to worry about such things.

l shan't leave any children,

apart from my castles, of course.

So, what are we going to do today?.

Bismarck said that after a successful war

there's only power and self-interest for him.

King Ludwig is a dreamer, who does he have? What does he want?

according to Bismarck from Prussia.

Don't come so close,

l have bad teeth.

Bismarck asks

how much is required?

He refers to the distribution of the Guelph treasure

if the Bavarian King offers the King of Prussia the imperial crown.

Stay there

and look into the water till it hurts your eyes.

They'll say l am mad

because of this as well.

lt's an exercise,

looking into the water facing the sun.

l want to torment you.

Gentlemen,

who's going to break into Rothschild's

in Paris, Frankfurt or Stuttgart?

Nobody?.

All right,

but we do need money.

My teeth are bad.

l know you can't understand me because l'm mumbling,

and because you are too far away.

Let the Prussian heir to the throne be punished.

He could be captured after his vacation in Montone.

He could be blinded and tortured.

But take care that he doesn't die too quickly.

But nobody will do it.

l, the mock King, want it that way.

Count Durckheim,

you have

a duel of honour with Prince Arnulf.

You will be promoted

and from today be my adjutant.

Until the end, do you understand?

Majesty, l beg of you,

you must be careful of Holnstein.

He is very controversial.

Bismarck drinks nothing but his wines,

and his trusty Great Dane, Sulte, is a gift from Holnstein.

Let him be.

Every court needs its intrigues.

lt's always been so.

Lutz,

how much beer do you drink?

Two half-litres a day.

Disgusting.

l hate Munich.

l hate this city!

l'm a very conservative person.

You take it into account with every sex offender,

predisposition and childhood, l mean.

l love the mountains,

the forest air, horses,

Richard Wagner,

Edgar Allan Poe.

l love the night,

the mystic and inexplicable

and believe in the immortality of the soul.

l'm against the pollution of the countryside by English industry,

against so-called progress,

against the Prussian Empire,

against nationalism,

against socialism

and against mass meetings of people.

We'll now go out riding.

Tell the princes to stop shooting in my forests.

l want some peace.

His eyes are incredibly beautiful.

His madness to come shines out of them.

THE BASTARD COUNT HOLNSTElN SlNGS THE SONG OF BETRAYAL

THE BASTARD COUNT HOLNSTElN SlNGS THE SONG OF BETRAYAL

l loved kissing women

l didn't ask permission

''Take them,'' l thought to myself

l am one of the King's cast-off lovers.

And that's why he needs me as a guardian.

l will be his guardian. That's how l'll get my revenge.

You must tempt him to build castles, to run into debt.

Every king falls for that.

He believes in his acquired privileges.

And then the democratic,

legal

trap will spring.

And he eats out of your hands,

whatever you want.

LEGENDS

LEGENDS

ln the mountains freedom dwells,

ln the mountains there is beauty,

Where King Ludwig's

castles tower

Much too soon he had to quit

The dearest place of all,

Neuschwanstein, proud fortress,

you were the King's most precious jewel

Greetings, friends.

The King!

Still at work so late?

300 florins

for my peasants

and a golden watch to boot.

We'll never forget this!

We will be loyal to you forever.

Till death.

They are my subjects.

They are loyal to me.

And the American widows, thanks to Mark Twain.

He spoke of me favourably.

Farewell, friends.

With bandages and chloroform

They came in person

And you had to leave your castle,

Which you will never climb again

MORBlD FEARS: THE TALE OF ANNA VOGEL, THE PEASANT

MORBlD FEARS: THE TALE OF ANNA VOGEL, THE PEASANT

The first time l saw him was in the dead of night.

l can't have been more than eight.

l was dragged out of my bed

without being told why l had been wakened.

lt must have been something very special.

There was tremendous excitement throughout the whole house.

As nobody bothered about me,

l sat by the window

and watched the torchlight

flickering among the fir trees

and lighting up my room

and casting huge shadows

on the walls.

Suddenly my mother came in

and said:

''Be a good girl, the King is driving past.''

lt was really him in his gilded sledge

drawn by six horses.

A moment later the procession halted.

His arrival cast

such a glow

that our home was illuminated

like the altar of the Blessed Virgin.

Our dogs howled and barked.

An outrider banged on our door and shouted:

''A glass of water for His Majesty!''

My mother looked for a glass

but couldn't find one

suitable for the King.

So she took a coffee cup with a rose pattern

which seemed close to being worthy of His Majesty.

She ran to the well, filled a carafe

and carried everything to the sledge.

l was alone in the room,

enchanted by the

fantastic sight.

The King used to travel in a sledge

from the era of Louis XlV.

Suddenly l made a decision

and walked down the stairs in my nightgown,

with bare feet on the cold floor;

it had been snowing both day and night.

l was entranced as l stood in front of him.

For me he was an archangel.

l only heard the stamping of the steeds,

the tinkling of their silver harnesses.

The bells on the horses' harnesses sounded like church bells.

The foam-covered beasts shook their manes.

Atop their heads plumes of white feathers danced.

l was intoxicated by that magnificent sight.

Suddenly l felt dizzy

and when l came to myself again,

l found myself

next to the King,

who looked at me with his big blue eyes, like in a fairy-tale.

He was still holding the funny cup.

He made me drink some water

and kissed me with no more ado.

Then he got out and asked to see the house.

Why is it that a woman

should have no love affairs?

No love affairs

no love affairs

lf she's pretty they will say

she's bound to have one anyway,

she's bound to have one anyway

lf not it'd be a shame

Let the human race fear the gods!

Their eternal hands hold firm the power,

which they can draw on as they like.

Let him whom they raise up be doubly afraid!

On

rocks and clouds

seats are prepared around

tables of gold.

Battistella.

Battistella.

Battistella?

A robber and murderer. His appeal lies before the King.

A dangerous type, definitely should be executed.

My dear Lutz, if l know Ludwig

he will not sign.

He is against any form of bloodshed.

l can't...

l can't...

l can't stand it any longer,

being stared at by thousands of people.

Asking people questions

that don't interest me,

and hearing answers

that have nothing to do with me.

No, no,

l can no longer leave my solitude.

Sometimes

when l've read until l am tired

and all is quiet

l need to hear a human voice.

Then l send for a lackey or a stable boy

to talk to me

about his family and his home.

Otherwise l'd lose the habit of speech.

l often send them home

so that they can tell me afterwards

what the other life outside is like.

DESCEND ON US, NlGHT OF LOVE, GlVE ME THE FORGETFULNESS THAT l MlGHT LlVE

DESCEND ON US, NlGHT OF LOVE, GlVE ME THE FORGETFULNESS THAT l MlGHT LlVE

The young King is splendid company.

l have never experienced such an urge to learn

and such eagerness to live.

At last a love affair that will not entail torments.

Could l give up women completely?.

A glance at his portrait helps me too.

What a delightful boy.

Now he is everything to me; woman, child, the world.

TO RlCHARD WAGNER:

l SHALL RAlSE YOU ABOVE WORLDLY TOlL, MY BELOVED,

l SHALL NEVER LEAVE YOU TlLL MY DEATH. LUDWlG

This ''Tristan'' will be dreadful.

They'll ban the opera

unless a bad performance makes a parody of it all.

... unless a bad performance makes a parody of it all.

Only a mediocre performance can save me.

Good performances drive people crazy.

lt's the only way.

To think that this is what l've come to.

They say that after the performance...

They say that after the performance of ''Tristan''

he stopped the night train,

got out and walked through the woods

and continued the journey in the locomotive

sitting with the stoker in front of the open firebox.

Where else could l find such a royal audience?

He ordered Cabinet Secretary Pfistermeister to find me and bring me to him.

As the first official act of his government,

he ordered Cabinet Secretary Pfistermeister to find me and bring me to him.

Even though l was an unsuccessful composer

and a revolutionary wanted by the police.

He was 18 at the time.

A king with royal presents for an artist

who from now on was to place his work at the King's service.

Unique,

saintly being,

what delight, what perfection!

So overcome by rapture!

To drown, to sink,

unconscious,

ineffable delight.

Divine work.

ELlSABETH, THE EMPRESS OF AUSTRlA, PRAYS FOR LUDWlG:

ELlSABETH, THE EMPRESS OF AUSTRlA, PRAYS FOR LUDWlG:

BEWARE, BEWARE, SOON THE NlGHT WlLL FLEE

The horizon grows ever darker, the glaring light of day

agonises unspeakably.

Joyfully l give up crown and glory.

Often l am shaken

with feverish anger

and turn away from an outside world full of wrath.

lsn't that understandable?

Perhaps l'll make my peace with the world

when all of my ideals,

when their sacred fire which l carefully feed, has perished.

May that never be.

l wish to remain a perpetual mystery to myself and others.

We two,

we can do what we like.

Poor King Ludwig.

Perhaps l ought to marry?.

Or go to war under Otto von Bismarck?

A vassal for the cousins of Prussia?

Or should l become a democrat,

l, the King?

Sometimes l think of Sitting Bull

and General Custer at Little Big Horn.

Sitting Bull

had no chance either against the progress of the Christian religion,

as his people were massacred.

But he had the sympathy due to a hero

in his defeat by railway, telephone and alcohol.

l now take photographs.

Also l want to build a flying machine

that can fly me over the Alps.

That will also get me certified as insane later.

A flying peacock throne...

l have given Wilhelm Bauer, the inventor of the submarine,

a commission.

He is underestimated.

With boats like that we can defy the Prussian fleet;

we can prevent the world war

that will greatly be due to the German fleet's arrogance.

Shakespeare's fools, too, were the only sensible people.

Tonight,

l dragged my father from his tomb.

Tonight, l slapped my father.

Tonight, l threw him down the stairs.

Tonight,

l broke a carafe over my mother's head!

Tonight,

l kicked my mother.

l kicked her in the breasts!

On a night like this,

l kicked my mother in the breasts.

On a night like this,

my mother spoiled

a performance of ''Lohengrin'' with her chatter.

Now my brother Otto is of age,

l can retire to Switzerland, to Wagner.

They can tell the public l've gone out of my mind.

MlNlSTER VON DER PFORTEN TO LUDWlG l

MlNlSTER VON DER PFORTEN TO LUDWlG l

Richard Wagner received 4,000 florins,

and then 8,000.

Also, to settle his debts; another 16,000

and then another 40,000.

Also a villa.

70,000 florins as costs for ''Tristan,''

29,000 florins for ''Tannhauser'' and ''Lohengrin,''

''Mastersingers'' 45,800 florins,

''Valkyries''

41,500 florins.

lt's for art.

No, for operas

nobody wants to see.

lt is not good music.

The people don't like this music.

They want to see the King.

And what does the King do?

He takes trips to the mountains,

organises separate theatre performances

just for him.

And he's not even musical.

lt is incestuous music,

Wagner music.

Scandalous

and amoral.

My grandson pays it out of his private purse.

The salary of a high court judge

is 2,800 florins.

That of a teacher, 2,200 florins.

That of an assistant secretary, 3,900 florins a year.

Take into account the recent rise in the price of beer

and the financial debacle after the Spitzeder scandal.

But it's for art.

Art is the serenest form of existence.

As Brecht says, or was it Goethe?

THE SUN KlNG OF BAVARlA: THE VlRGlN KlNG

THE SUN KlNG OF BAVARlA: THE VlRGlN KlNG

l, King

by the grace of God.

The impossibility of actually falling is hereby ruled out.

lf there are more kings like this,

soon there won't be any at all.

Am l right?

Of all the lovely women here my mother is the loveliest.

She receives what l have yet to give her:

love.

But she doesn't treat me like a king.

l don't like it!

l don't like it.

Hornig got married.

Majesty?.

Losing him

is worse than the whole Franco-Prussian War.

DlNER A QUATRE OR PLEASURE lS A PLEASURE

DlNER A QUATRE OR PLEASURE lS A PLEASURE

Do you know

the valleys of the Hindu Kush?

Afghanistan?

Wagner should write his most magnificent opera

on an oriental subject.

lndia and Buddhism

have for me something indescribably attractive

which evokes pleasure and longing.

lntoxication would be complete.

Pleasure

comes from pleasure

and pleasure's

a pleasure.

WAXWORKS

WAXWORKS

Richard Wagner'll have to go.

He disturbs our peace.

lf that's the future of art, we can do without it.

l have acquired some property on Lake Starnberg,

with his help,

and l'm interested in building roads along the lake.

lmpossible as long as he's king.

The industrialisation of Bavaria is on its way.

l need a branch in Berlin and some Prussian shareholders

under cheap domestic conditions.

The forest will have to go.

We need a modern Bavaria.

Trees mean too many dead leaves.

Besides, the King has the habit of greeting

trees and stone columns like people.

He chats with invisible people,

calling them Marie Antoinette and Cousin Louis.

An art exhibition for Munich and he refuses

because he wants his peace and quiet.

Exhibitions attract international royalty

and he has to retreat to the mountains to avoid receiving them. Crazy.

Rabbit and dog exhibitions, yes, but not art like Kaulbach and Piloty.

l'm a good monarchist but l love art, too.

He has no manners.

We need progress,

our Bavaria, for roads, for automobiles,

international art, connection with the Empire,

investments.

l am a man of the people.

lf you do that, gentlemen,

do you even know what this will mean for Bavaria?

This death,

it must look like a struggle

with Prof. Gudden

who had tried to hold him back.

Get hold of a boat

and four sticks.

Attach the two men's shoes to the ends

so that you can,

from inside the boat so as not to leave your own imprints,

leave imprints of a struggle in the sand.

They will lead to the spot in the lake

that you choose to be

the place where His Majesty breathed his last.

His Majesty's damaged clothing

must be recovered.

The body must be dressed in undamaged clothes.

There must be no witnesses.

l hope l have made myself clear.

Police records must be confiscated.

We will seize

His Majesty's personal archives.

Do not forget that no records,

no advice,

nothing from his architects,

no records at all that could possibly suggest

any serious work of Ludwig's must be made known to the public.

This would destroy his image

as a king of kitsch.

Ludwig can only remain harmless

as a kitsch king.

And most important of all,

don't make a martyr of him.

lncidentally,

l won't appear at all.

l have not said anything. l have not heard anything.

As Prince Regent in charge of succession,

l could easily be suspect.

l will withdraw

from this twilight of hell

and be happy in the twilight of the gods

in the solitude of the mountains.

Far from the day, the hated enemy.

Far from the daylight's torrid shine.

Far from the profane world of every day,

from the hopeless politics

which smothers me

and suffocates all poetry.

LUDWlG lN THE STUDlO OF THE SCULPTRESS ELlSABETH NEY

LUDWlG lN THE STUDlO OF THE SCULPTRESS ELlSABETH NEY

Don't make the horns of the sledge too high

or branches will catch on them.

Carve cherubs on these horns

that can hold the crown, sceptre, and the other royal regalia,

and if at all possible, the King's robes.

The nymphs drawn on the front shouldn't be holding the lamps,

or be the colours of flowers.

l want elegant herding scenes on the sides of the sledge.

Mr. Hofrat should bring all the copper engravings

in the style of Boucher, Baudoin and...

Fragonard with him to the next meeting.

The drapes hanging from the sledge shouldn't be so pointed.

They should be more like scarves

and be attached like those at the Residence Theatre.

The triton at the end of the sledge is too far away from the body.

The sledge must be kept as short as possible.

The seat held up by the triton is too high. lt'll detract from the rest.

lt is not necessary for the coachman to have a seat.

A board to stand on would be sufficient.

Send 42,000 florins

to Johann Jakob Mayr.

Words cannot describe my pain.

The old song resounds in my ears.

l forgot it and forgot it without regret,

the song which the Fates sang with horror

when Tantalus fell from his golden throne:

They suffered with their noble friend;

grim were their hearts and wild their song.

ln our youth the nurse sang it to me and my brothers and sisters.

''Let the human race fear the gods.

Their eternal hands hold firm the power,

which they can draw on as they like.

Let him whom they raise up be doubly afraid!

On rocks and clouds seats are prepared

around tables of gold.''

Lola Montez cursed me.

She hated the face of my father.

l will leave no progeny.

She is now being exhibited in a circus

as the King of Bavaria's mistress.

''When discord arises,

the guests, shamed and insulted, plunge into depths of darkness

and fettered in gloom await in vain

their just judgement.

But the others remain

at their eternal feasts at tables of gold.

They stride from peak to peak:

From yawning chasms they breathe the sulphurous breath of the Titans,

rising in light clouds

like sacrificial smoke.

The rulers turn their indulgent gaze

away from whole families

to avoid seeing in their descendants

the once mutely loved traits

of their forbears.''

Do you know what rape is?

Or a bastard son?

Women are angels with wings, aren't they?.

But you can dream of them as such.

Recite lphigenia.

''When the heavenly powers

assign to a mortal a life full of changes

and prepare for him

changes from joy to sorrow

and sorrow to joy, a deeply shattering experience:

Then they find for him

near the town or on a distant shore

to help him in moments of distress

a calm and faithful friend.''

BROTHER OTTO AND PROF. GUDDEN'S MEDlCAL NURSES

BROTHER OTTO AND PROF. GUDDEN'S MEDlCAL NURSES

l'm Albert, the court photographer.

l have a studio and over 200 employees.

l am going to photograph the King from his childhood to his deathbed.

Attention!

Thanks.

Otto,

what's left of your cheap pleasures:

The ballet, hunting, the army?.

Only evil memories torture you.

They will declare me insane

and make you king in your lunatic asylum

so that Uncle Luitpold can reign,

just as the law dictates,

and call it logic

since you have already absconded.

Alas, Shakespeare is no more.

l live in vain.

l live in vain.

END OF PART 1