Original subtitles

It gets dislocated...

Isn't the physio coming today? - No.

Thursday, tomorrow.

This is good. - Potatoes aren't bad like that.

They're better with the skins. - I've never prepared them with skins.

All the vitamins are in the skin.

You can barely taste it.

It's really thin.

It's too loud. - What do you want to turn it up, down?

Or turn it off. - Like this. - Like this?

So, do I know how to cook? - Yes, you know!

You think I'm good for nothing!

Not at all! You know all sorts of things others don't know.

Even how to cook.

Did you call for your ears? - I did.

When is he coming? - Tomorrow. I left him a message,

he's supposed to call back.

He hasn't called back yet.

So if he doesn't this afternoon, I'll call him again.

It's good, isn't it? - Mommy,

it's delicious. It is. Look, I'm eating like a horse.

I've eaten all the meat.

You must eat meat, it's protein.

It gives you muscles.

I don't eat much but I eat every day.

But you've hardly touched anything, That's too little maybe.

Maybe!

I wanted to taste it first. It's really good.

Eat! After that, it will dry up.

Do you have a shammy cloth, here?

No, I don't.

There are all sorts of dust cloths,

but I don't even know where she keeps them.

Mommy. - She's filming you!

Move back, Mommy, I see only your hair!

Wait, Chantal.

Further back! - Wait.

We just got home.

There we go, Mommy. How are you?

I was just calling you, writing you a little message.

What? - We went out for a little walk.

We walked. I'm tired now. - It's hot! It's hot!

It's very stuffy. - I went to swim in the lake.

I went swimming in the lake!

You went swimming in the lake?

Yes. We're on our way to the airport,

and we stopped at a lake along the way.

Wonderful.

Do you have the right to do that? - Of course we do!

Tell me, why are you filming me like that?

Because I want to show that there is no distance in the world.

You're in Brussels and I'm in Oklahoma. Look, there is no more distance,

That's wonderful. - Do you understand?

You have always such ideas! -Don't you, sweetheart?

My love. - Yes, yes.

When I see you like that I want to squeeze you in my arms.

But you know I'm coming the third week of September.

The first? - The third, Mommy.

The third, very good!

Very very good. Wonderful.

Kiss you, Mommy. - Kiss you too, darling.

See you soon. - Kisses!

Bye sweety. - Bye Mommy.

Bye again.

Turn it off.

Bye Mommy.

Bye Clara. - Bye Chantal. Thanks for calling. Hanging up now!

They were a couple that despite everything, was working.

But each in his own way.

Yes, he was at the synagogue and mother was at home with her sisters.

And she went to the movies. - And she went out.

And she went dancing. - No!

That you don't know. It was even said she had a lover.

She never went dancing. - But she had a man who loved her.

Who said that? - Ethy.

Ethy said there was always a man who'd come to see your mother.

So I'm not saying she had a lover, but a man did love her.

Listen, there was a man who helped us to get papers to come to Belgium.

He was a lawyer of some kind. - And he was madly in love with her.

He had a lot of friendship for her.

A lot of friendship that looked like love.

She didn't do anything, but in her head, she did everything.

But he was... Well, he did our papers, and when we arrived here,

everything was in perfect order.

For all the good it did!

It was useless. - Two years!

Yes, it would have been better to come much sooner without papers.

Your mother was a feminist ahead of her times.

She was... And they lived in harmony, they liked each other.

Because my father was so handsome. So handsome!

He would let us cuddle him us, his two little daughters,

Sonia and me. We were on his knees. We'd twist his mustache,

wed' bother him,

pull his beard... and he let himself touched like that.

He never bothered us. He'd never say, that's enough.

But when we wouldn't study, then he said: Chiffrah, come now!

Because they don't want to study!

So she had to slap us. He just couldn't.

What did you have to study? - He'd call our mother to slap us.

And what did you have to study? Prayers?

We had to study every day.

To pray. - Pray, yes.

But not just pray. Did he explain the Bible a little?

A bit, but not much. I'd ask him what this and that meant.

But it wasn't in the Hebrew. It was the old one.

How do you say? - Chaldean.

This was...

Hebrew of the Ashkenazi. - Yes, the prayers.

Hebrew of the prayers, not modern Hebrew.

And you still remember those prayers? - From time to time, yes.

When we go to the synagogue, I still can follow a little bit.

Sometimes I get confused with the pinteles.

What prayer do you know the best? The Sabbath prayer?

Yeah, listen.

That's the one to eat the bread.

And that's the one to drink. - For the wine.

And for the hands, when we were washing our hands?

I can�t remember.

Because we always had to wash our hands. - Now that you are talking about it.

Since I fell,

and broke my bone here, I also hit my head,

I have memory lapses. - It will come back.

I no longer spoke a word of Hebrew,

and then Ethy comes, and I talk to her as if it came naturally.

And I only studied Hebrew for three years.

Because Daddy pulled me out of the Jewish school.

That was a bad idea. - Very bad.

You know that the director, when he was still alive,

we ran into him one day, and he said,

you did something, you took Chantal away from me.

He felt so sorry about that.

Daddy thought that... I'm not sure why.

Because he was sick of all those Orthodox people.

He was already... When Grandad died, he wanted to break free from.

So first thing, with me. He pulled me out of school.

He said, if you're top of your class, the school is worthless.

Do you remember?

I do. - And every day, we fought in the schoolyard.

We'd climb on the shoulders of boys, and we'd slam into each other.

You remember how I'd come back home? - In such a state...

You'd come back with your shoelaces undone,

your socks all screwed up,

dirty, with ink-stained fingers.

Listen...

we had to pick you up like that, give you a bath, change your clothes.

I still have my shoelaces undone.

But you were so cute, so cute, beautiful.

Such a beautiful little girl, I was proud.

Me too, I was proud of you.

You were the most beautiful mother. The most beautiful woman.

I was very proud when you came to pick me up at the kindergarten.

I'd hold your hand, and I was proud to walk by your side.

And to everybody, I would say, this is my mother.

It was the same in Knokke. Do you remember Knokke?

Everyone was always telling me, such beautiful eyes, such beauty.

And in your stroller still,

everyone would lean over to look at your eyes.

They haven't changed that much.

They haven't changed. Mine have changed.

They have become lighter. - Lighter.

Isn't it odd? - Yes, it's the pigmentation.

It's just like hair going white.

It's true, eyes change too. - You lose your pigmentation.

So I noticed that one day, you know there, in the hallway,

there's this mirror with the neon light around it,

and I wash my hands

and then I look in the mirror, and I see my eyes.

I said: where are my brown eyes?

Where did they go? They turned green.

Where is your beautiful black hair? - And my black hair...

That's life, me too, I hardly have any black hair left.

Only a few.

It was so great to have you here.

I haven't gone yet.

How did it turn out? - Well, I decided to skip school.

It has always suited me fine, not to go to school. Since I was a child.

But now you are going to go.

I will go later, in November.

Should I take one?

Not now. - No.

Go get some rest, and it will be all tidied up when you wake up.

The house will be clean.

There we go.

It's going to be cold, you had so many things going.

No. - Is it ok?

It's still warm.

It's true they're not very pretty. The napkins aren't very pretty.

We're out of mustard, so...

What? - We're out of mustard. - We're out?

In any case, I can't see any.

There's mayonnaise, I don't want any. There are pickles.

Little pickles.

With that, it's good.

Is that all you're eating? - Don't interfere.

I don't take care of you. You gave me such shit when I was little.

Listen, you didn't eat at all.

You ate one banana the whole day.

That's all I needed.

I ate what I needed.

You could have eaten a bit more.

It was really pitiful. As soon as you saw me prepare your soup, you cried.

It wouldn't go down my throat.

I still remember going to Nanny's, Daddy's mother,

and having some chicken soup, and there were meatballs in it,

it would get stuck in my throat.

From anxiety. From seeing her, she scared me...

She scared you? - Yes, with her hair like that.

She was already ill, and I was too little to understand. - Of course.

At that time, it was the menopause that made her ill.

There were no remedies back then. - Now there's everything.

But it wasn't just the menopause, Mommy, it was diabetes,

it was the effects of the war. She was so strong during the war.

Daddy would go out to work every day, she was afraid.

When the war ended, she was broke down. - Yes.

That's what it was.

And when you met her?

She was still well.

Me, I was afraid of her. Her hair...

Her hair was messy. - It was.

I remember Sabine would take care of her, bathe her, comb her hair.

Sabine was sad when I said she looked crazy.

But a child sees what a child sees.

You know a child sees what a child sees. It's not the same.

I didn't know her the way Sabine did.

Grandad would get on your nerves, but didn't bother me.

He didn't bother me at all. I bothered him.

Your Grandad? - Yes.

He didn't bother me that much.

Bless you!

No.

He watched everything you did to make sure it was kosher.

It was normal. I went along with it, like before...

It wasn't a drama for me.

But Daddy couldn't stand it.

From one day to the next, we stopped celebrating Sabbath.

From one day to the next, Mommy.

When he was gone.

It seems we rejected everything. - We did.

But not in my heart.

Daddy wasn't he a bit of a socialists from the Dror!

Yes!

He was fed up with all those old stories.

But he respected his father a lot, and we did everything we had to.

Because in the Jewish religion

we say you don't have to love your parents, but respect them.

Which is a brilliant idea.

It's Ethy who told me this.

She didn't have the gestures of love.

Yes. You see.

One day, I was visiting Tante Gusta in hospital, she'd had a hip operation.

I held her in my arms, gave her a kiss.

She said: but really, I never did that to my mother.

In her own way, she did love her anyway, you know.

This was probably because of the father who was a German Jew.

Probably. - And a Communist.

I don't know. I had no idea.

He wrote for a communist paper.

I don't know anything about that. - Ethy told me about it.

I know they had a furniture store in Magdeburg.

But fortunately... In any case, they saved Ethy,

and Gusta in a way too.

How did they make it here from Germany?

Grandad went to the border with a smuggler.

He brought her over.

He at least understood what was going on.

Because it was 1939 at that moment.

He had already understood.

There were a lot of people who took much longer to understand.

We thought we were safe here, in Belgium.

We were naive, weren't we? - And everyone was coming over.

The Germans came, at the beginning... - Like a knife through butter.

Not just like through butter, but they were nice.

They were likeable everywhere, they went to shops, bought things,

paid with their funny money.

And we thought, all right, we're at war,

like everyone else, you have to manage to find food,

for this, for that but then, they started very slowly.

Little by little, like... - Like perverts.

Terrible, they got us.

If we had known from the start, everyone would have left long ago.

Left for America, Argentina, anywhere. - Yes, people would have gone anywhere.

And here, it was just insidious.

One day, we were told we needed to put down "Jew" on our identity cards.

But you see, Daddy didn't want to do it.

Daddy didn't want to wear the yellow star.

He had understood.

He'd been in Belgium longer, so he had understood more.

When he'd first arrived in Belgium, he'd already seen

for-rent signs that said: "No dogs or Jews".

So he didn't trust the Belgians either.

Now they have asked for forgiveness.

Only now.

Because the government helped the Nazis.

Yes, but the king was a Nazi.

The king was a Nazi, Mommy.

Yes, Leopold.

He sided with the Germans.

This is why Baudouin became king, afterward.

I'm not sure about that.

But I think that... - They were Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

He wasn't a Nazi.

But, pro-German, call it what you will.

That is why he was forced to step down.

So, the little king, who was eight years old, was sent to Switzerland,

so he'd become king later on.

In the meantime, there was a period of regency.

And the regent was the brother.

Mommy. - Yes, hello!

How are you?

This is Mom. - But I said, Mommy.

Mommy. - How are you, darling?

It's you who called me now. - Yes, Mommy.

Because by the time I could press the button, it was gone.

Now here you are again.

How are you? - And you?

I can't see you, how come? - Let me see, wait just a second.

Your camera, every time.

Because I want to show how small the world is.

What are you doing for...

Are you still working on your documentary?

No, I'm in New York now.

Why are you filming me?

I film everybody, Mommy.

Of course, you especially, more than others.

That's nice. Clara takes photos of me all the time with her cellphone.

She is photographing me from all sides.

Even when I'm asleep, she took a photo in my bed, when I was sleeping.

So, have you spoken to Sylviane?

Sylviane called me. The wedding is tonight.

I'm going today to the Bris for Beto's sister's baby.

What is it? The baby is born? - Yes, I'm going to the Bris.

It's a little boy? - Yes.

So he must be eight days old already. - I guess.

So you will see Nathalie? - Yes.

Beto, and everybody, because they will be there.

Give them a kiss for me.

Wish them good luck for me. Mazel tov.

You'll say it's from me? - But of course.

You know, I still think all the time about Ida and Isy.

I was so happy you could go to see them, that you made the effort to go there.

Well, I think they enjoyed it too.

You did really well

because we are the only ones left now.

The two of them, me, and Sabine. - Yes.

We mustn't forget them.

I went there right away, as soon as I heard he was ill.

You're the one who visits the most often.

Yes, I went to see them last September.

Sylviane said she'd go too, if she can.

But it just coincided with the wedding and the baby, and all that.

It's very hot over there, 41�C - Don't move too much.

Where they are, people wear hats. Have you seen them?

Yes, I have. I also bought a hat. Would you like to see it?

I also bought a hat.

Yes? - Would you like to see it?

No. - You don't want to see my hat?

But I can't see it. - Hold on just a second, I'll be back.

Listen, Mommy, I have to do my bills now.

And then I have a student coming over.

I have to do my bills.

My bills!

But I can still see my face here in the corner.

I said I have to do my bills.

So I can't stay with you any longer.

I'd better do them soon, at one o'clock I have a student coming over.

Very well... - I'll call you back later.

You don' have to explain. We say goodbye and that's it.

Yes, big kiss, and that's it.

Well, what do you expect? If you're busy, you're busy.

You know I'm not going to bug you. - I do.

The last thing I want is to bug you. I want us to enjoy our conversations.

I any case, it's always a pleasure.

Now go, kisses, my love. - Yes.

I wish you all the best. - Yes.

I wish to see you soon. - I will be there on September 20th.

Oh, I'm so happy.

I'll be there for Yom Kippur.

That's wonderful.

That's great.

Well, Mommy, I'll let you go now. Big kisses.

I don't like being photographed.

It's very blurry, so don't worry.

Well, here, how do you like my hat?

I saw it, it's superb.

Don't pull it back like that, pull it over your eyes to protect them.

Like this?

There you go. Like this. Very well.

there is so much light, Mommy.

There is so much light in New your, that there's no other way. - Yes.

The sun is very bright. - What is it like in Brussels?

Today is a bit better.

There is some fresh air, a bit of breeze.

The temperature has dropped.

I went out for a walk with Maya.

But since I hadn't left the house in three days, I was exhausted.

I said, I'm going back to get some rest, and she did too,

and now we are back home.

Okay, Mommy, big kisses now. - To you too.

Big kisses Mommy.

When I see your smile, it makes me happy.

I'm in a very, very good mood.

In a good mood? - Yes.

There you go. - Let's enjoy it, it's not that common.

Go now, my darling. - Big kisses, Mommy.

You too, I send you a big kiss. - Yes.

See you. - Talk to you later.

Till tomorrow.

Big hugs, Mommy. Bye bye. Big kisses.

How do I look? - Very well.

How do I look? - To me you are the most beautiful.

My darling... - A slight exaggeration, don't you think?

No. I'm certainly not exaggerating. I'd like to say even more,

but when I think that someone else will hear it, I don't want to.

I don't want everyone to hear what I want to say to you.

What you tell me is not so bad, is it?

Well, Mommy, I'll let you go now, I have to do some work.

Go work.

You have such a beautiful smile. - See you soon.

I'd like to keep this photo and look at you.

See you soon, Mommy darling. - Bye, sweetheart.

Bye, Mommy. - Bye, sweetheart.

Big kisses, I send you a big hug. Take care.

And try to go out a little, go out now that the weather's nicer.

But we did just go out with Maya. - Yes.

We went for a little walk, I just got back, and now I'm very tired.

As usual. - Now I need to rest.

Okay, Mommy, big kisses. - Yes, dear.

Good luck, work hard.

See you soon. - See you soon, darling.

You see,

I'm trying to use this arm to eat. - That's good.

This is as far as it will go.

Before, you couldn't move it at all.

Somebody shut the... Like they turned the lights on and off.

Shut the... - Turn off the light?

Draw the curtains shut.

You saw? - Yes!

All of a sudden, it's dark!

Chantal, when she talks like that... you don't eat very well.

When she says things, and you are getting more anxious.

She knows you are anxious, she doesn't know it's because of her.

I'm not hungry.

I would like to, but I can't.

I can't do this to her because it would make her sick.

Sabine called, but for the moment she doesn�t want to know anything about it.

I need to leave her alone.

I need to leave her alone.

Did you like it, Mommy? - It was delicious.

I'm good.

Thank you dear, thank you.

And Andree who made this wonderful fish!

Both of you, you've done wonders.

Wonders.

I would like to go out in a little while. At least for half an hour.

Yes, let's go. - Let's go.

Now that there's a bit of sun.

Yes, it'll be good to... - Get some fresh air, go for a walk.

We'll be back in half an hour, sweetheart. - Yes, Mommy.

I don't need my purse, do I? - No.

Patricia will come soon to clean.

You will open the door? - Yes, Mom.

And we are going around the block. - Go, Mommy, go!

Go even further.

I'll wear my scarf. - Yes, always.

I'm taking my wallet. - Yes!

But I won't need to carry my purse. - Yes, you've got...

My money here. - Your money, just in case.

One can't go out without money. - No!

Only my keys, and that's it.

So, Patricia is going to come by. - Yes, I told her.

Chantal will let her in. - Let's go.

See you later. - See you later.

See you later. - See you soon.

See you soon.

Bye bye.

You'll knock something over.

But it's next to it.

Do you see how dark it is?

I'm tired too.

Be careful if you have got the flu.

Isn't there anything preventive?

Yesterday, I was with Josef.

You're sick, Richard who's sick too.

And on top of that, you take the tramway.

There's nothing you can do. Maybe you want an aspirin or something.

No, it's okay.

You don't know how? - I'll find it, I had a small piece of...

I had something.

It's written so small.

The fuses had blown, but I reset them.

The fuses.

I reset the fuses.

It's Chantal.

You have a cough, Mom.

No, no, gently.

You have to breathe when you eat.

Sit up straight, you always sit straight.

Straight! Now that's better.

All at once, you're sneezing, coughing, all at once.

It's nothing. Here's your napkin.

Are you better now?

Are you better?

Better now.

It's difficult to swallow.

You have to be more alert when you eat.

Yes!

Eat.

Breathe!

I'm going to lie down. - No, you're not going to lie down now.

Why? You're exaggerating today.

Chantal is here just for a day. You can't stay in bed all day she's here.

She's leaving tomorrow.

So, don't go to bed.

Listen to her stories. - No, no!

I'm going to take a nap for half an hour, then she's going to tell me her stories.

I want to know everything.

She never really talked to me. - She never talks? She never stops talking.

She doesn't talk. - She talks a lot.

Yes, she does.

She talks, but she never tells me anything important.

I want to know how things went in Berlin,

in New York.

Everything interesting that goes on in her life.

did you hear, Chantal? - You say I talk too much, sylviane.

No, but you don't tell her what interests her.

I don't know what to do.

We're kidding, Chantal.

Next month, she's going to Venice.

In September.

Chantal, she's going to Venice.

Do you remember, two years ago, we were all together in Venice?

At the festival. Do you remember?

We dressed her to the nines.

We made her wear a tuxedo.

Don't you remember? Didn't we tell you? Of course we did. In Venice.

Before Venice.

In Venice, we joined Chantal.

Ah, yes, then... - And now she's going again.

Mommy? - Yes.

Mommy, are you okay? Tell us a story.

I want a story, tell us one.

Chantal...

You see. I'll put this thing on the carpet.

Mommy. Tell me a story.

Mommy. Don't sleep sweetheart...

Wake up and talk to us.

Where are you going?

Where am I going? You told me to come closer.

What did she say?

Wasn't it you who told me to come closer?

No, Sylviane asked you to tell us a story.

And not to sleep.

What did you do yesterday, Mommy?

Tell her where we went yesterday.

Mom.

Mommy.

Mommy, don't sleep.

Mommy.

What did we do yesterday?

Where did you go yesterday?

To a cafe?

We were...

We were in the Bascule. - No.

No, we didn't go to the Bascule.

We went to the brasserie.

To the brasserie. - Yes.

Which brasserie?

To the brasserie Saint Georges.

We had a coffee there.

You had something else than a coffee.

What did you have?

You had a big ice cream.

Don't you remember?

She invited us.

Yes, she invited me to the Georges Brasserie.

the waiter recognized you.

The waiter asked you to finish the whole ice-cream.

I'm listening,

and I understand half of what you say.

And there was a strange woman there. Mommy.

With her dog against her giant breast.

Do you remember?

She put her little dog against her breast.

That's not it. It was a party.

What? - There was a party.

No, she had a tiny little dog.

And she had such a huge breast.

And she'd put it right here, remember?

She had the dog on her, and the dog was licking her, disgusting.

She had a whole bottle of champagne all by herself.

Do you remember? - Yes.

What happened to her in the end?

She left. She finished the bottle and left.

With her dog on her. Disgusting.

Yes, she really contaminated half of Brussels.

And really, I don't know where is she now.

I like animals but you shouldn't exaggerate.

Really.

I am fond of animals.

But we have to try to...

She shouldn't fall asleep.

Sometimes she is just tired.

It's just tiredness that's all. - I'm also feeling sleepy.

It's the wine.

Sit in the chair and take a little nap.

Don't fall.

I'm fed up with one of you

that keeps falling.

I wouldn't mind a nap either.

Do you have any brothers? - Me?

No, no brothers.

Only Sylviane.

My sister. - Ah, sister. Only the two of you?

Only two. - Only two.

It's little. - Little.

And it's little...

How do you say? Sad?

Sad. Sad, a little sad.

Ah, only two girls.

My father...

wanted three...

but my mother...

tired. - Tired, of course.

And your father, what is his nationality?

He is Belgian, but he came from Poland.

Ah, from Poland.

My mother too. - Your mother is also from Poland.

Ah, that's good.

She ran away because the Poles were very harsh.

Ah, it's very hard, life there.

But the people.

The people, yes...

It's very different.

So they fled over here.

But afterward, the SS

captured them, and sent them back to Poland again.

To the concentration camps. - I see.

That's why my mother is like that. - Yes.

Of course.

To Auschwitz. - Ah, the Jews.

You're not married, no children. Nothing? - No.

Nobody. Only Madame Sylviane.

I want to see you every day.

We'll see each other on Skype and I will be back in a month.

We're even closer than before.

And where is Chantal?

Subtitles: Babel Subtitling, Anne Marie-Collins. Transcribed by Inglourious @KG