All language subtitles for Dark Star HR Gigers Welt (2014)

HR GIGER'S UNIVERSE

This is the oldest skull I have.

My father gave it to me.

It was sent to us

by Ciba-Geigy.

I was around six years
old at the time.

It did scare me a little.

To hold death in
your hands like that

is...

Well, it's not very pleasant.

So I pulled it along the street
on a piece of string.

I guess

I wanted to prove

that I wasn't scared of death.

What's so fascinating

is his incredible
sense of perception.

An incredibly keen
sense of perception.

He has this ability to probe
deeper into the human soul

than most people.

You see his pictures and feel
like you've known them forever.

They represent
the deepest depths of our souls.

Paul's here.

Hello, Mr Giger!

Hello.
- Hi there.

I called you.
- How are you? -Good, thanks.

Yes, exactly. Hi.
- Hello.

Happy?

That's good.

Hello.
- Are you okay?

Hi, Roger.
- Hello.

This is Mr Grof.

Stanislav.

That's just great.

We can discuss everything
in detail later.

They're ideas
from the graphic designer.

There's the cover too.

The book will be in German and English.
That's the idea for the cover.

And from that page on, you
have examples of the content.

You can have a look.

Take a look.

This is how it would look.
They're just ideas.

They'll need a bit more work.

This one isn't bad. -It just
needs to be lighter there.

PSYCHIATRIST / AUTHOR

These ones here
are really great.

They're the best I've
seen so far. -True.

Sorry?
- You want to use all of them?

We already agreed on that:
to make ten different ones.

Okay.

So he can sell these over there.

We added a silver base
to these two here.

It'll have a much finer finish.
That one too.

Only those two will
have a silver base.

Does it have to be black there?
I'd use white.

Well, I really like
that old-style patina.

POSTER DESIGNER

Waking up can be
a bitter experience sometimes.

Especially
if you're having an erotic dream

and you haven't
finished dreaming yet.

And you desperately
try to get back into your dream.

But you rarely manage
to carry on dreaming.

Pretty much everyone has dreams,

but very few people
actually dare

to tell people about them
or to try and depict them

because of their inhibitions.

As you go through life, all
sorts of things come to mind.

Some of these ideas
ended up in The Passages series.

They were based
on dreams I'd had

that were so frightening

I found it hard to breathe.

This is something

that's reflected

very strongly in my work.

His sister took him

to The Raetian Museum.

There was a mummy there,

down in the basement.

He was really scared,

but his sister Iris
laughed at him.

This really got to him

and wounded his childish pride.

So in the end, he went there on his own
every Sunday to look at the mummy.

It's part of
Hansruedi's character:

he doesn't stop
until he's reached his goal.

Either he loses his fear or he
draws until he gets it right.

He keeps on and on

until he's overcome his fear.

It's obvious that this
experience had a huge impact on him

because it's present
in all of his work.

The feminine and the sublime.
The figure of the princess.

Then you have the mummy:
that's the Egyptian element.

And then you have death:
the bones and sense of eternity

inherent in death.

I find the pictures erotic.

Firstly, they're
beautiful images

and secondly, I see the pictures

as a kind of magical depiction
of a primal force.

The phallus isn't
really the focal point.

The pictures have
this immense energy,

which makes them
incredibly striking.

Hansruedi has a great
talent for this.

He knows how to position things,
how to use symbols.

If I ask him, "What
does that mean?",

he says, "I just liked
the way it looked.

It works well."

Hansruedi has had various
assistants over the years.

I have the immense honour
to be one of them.

It's always been like
that in this house.

You deal with so many people
from around the world,

and so many different topics:
they'd never manage on their own.

We treated Giger's Necronomicon
like a bible back then.

Hi, Hansruedi.
- Hello.

Do you know about this?
- Yes.

I was 19 or 20 and people here
in Switzerland just laughed at us.

We were making really
radical music.

MUSICIAN AND ASSISTANT

There was no extreme
metal scene.

There weren't many bands
that sounded like us.

I wrote to him
in my scrawly handwriting

and told him what his
art meant to us.

I found his address
in the telephone book,

sent it off
and never thought I'd hear back.

And then, to my
surprise, he called me.

He said

he'd heard our music
and could see the connection.

The record labels never
took us seriously.

They said we had no chance:
it was just noise.

The only person who
took us seriously

was this guy who had
just won an Oscar:

HR Giger.

He took it seriously
and became our mentor back then.

It meant so much to us.
I've often...

It's 30 years ago now
and I've often tried

to tell him what
that meant to us.

But it's hard to
put it into words.

I hope he's realised it by now.

What he did for us back then
was extremely generous,

a really kind gesture.

How important I am for Tom?

We're important for each other.

Wouldn't you say?
- It's really great to hear that.

Müggi.

Good cat.

Yes.

Anything else you need me to do?

No, I don't really
need anything.

Hello.

Hello.

Just a moment.

I'm going to get changed.

It took me ages to find it!
A Linzer Torte.

It still has this
wonderful old machine.

Here's a slice for you,
Hansruedi. It's pear.

At least it's looking
good for once.

Where did you get that?

I recently told someone

that Mr Giger
was married to my daughter.

People are often curious
when they hear that.

Not so much now,
but back then, they'd ask,

"What's he like as a husband?"
They think he must be...

They see his pictures
and think of porn or something.

I said, "No, of course not!
He's just a normal guy."

"No, no, no!" They just
see his paintings and...

People asked me
questions like that.

But of course other people would
say, "I love his paintings!"

I'd say 50 percent
love his paintings

and the other half
either say nothing

or they don't like them.

But...

But my family in
Spain are huge fans!

All of them.

They tell me,

"We saw Hansruedi on
Spanish television!"

We have a lot of dealings
with Twentieth Century Fox.

Simply because...

We have to keep
track of the money.

Income and expenditure.

It was so chaotic here at first.

Things scattered all
over the place.

But you just get used to it
and it somehow becomes normal.

Would you like something to
drink while you finish up there?

No, I'm nearly done.

Twentieth Century Fox
has written to us again.

Let's wait and see
how they respond.

You know how mad it makes me.
- Yes.

Over there, for example,

you see the triptych

of birth, life and death.

Babies represent birth,
then there's life.

And then skulls for death.

And the punk group Dead Kennedys

chose this image

for their album
and they were taken to court.

The curious thing
about this story

is that at the beginning of the
trial, the jury obviously didn't realise

that it was a painting
and thought it was a photograph.

Who knows how you'd
take a photo like that!

He's painted a lot of Native
American babies with feathers.

And all of these
babies really look

like Hansruedi.

The babies
have his eyes, cheeks, forehead.

You can really see
his facial features.

What shall I say? Shall I...
- The Ringel painting?

No, your oil painting.
- Oh, my painting...

You can say it was the
result of an LSD trip.

Can I say that?
- Yes.

Oh, excellent. Great.

As you can see, the shapes
are twisted and distorted.

It was inspired
by one of his LSD trips.

I should add that he didn't go
on many of these "journeys".

And here we have a raven.

In alchemy "nigredo",
which means "blackness",

is one of the first and most
important steps in the process:

it signifies introspection,
looking within

at the dark night of the soul.

Hansruedi's art has the
same effect as "nigredo".

You have to come face-to-face
with your dark side

before you can seek the light.

What I like about Hansruedi is

he has his finger on the pulse.

He's like a seismograph,
absorbing the waves around him.

We were together for nine years.

And during this time,

a lot of things from
this relationship

found their way into my images.

It's still hard
to talk about it.

I certainly
loved and adored her very much.

And you can see that
in the pictures.

I do think

that the atmosphere at home

was laden with the
contradictions

of Catholicism.

LI TOBLER'S BROTHER

Of an extremely puritanical
upbringing. That's how it was.

And on the other hand, this
world she suddenly became part of,

where everything was permitted
and there were no taboos.

This caused her huge
psychological and emotional problems.

So many things
were bad and forbidden.

So many things were impure...

and reprehensible.

And then if you discover
a different side to yourself

and try to...

balance these two worlds
within yourself:

it's extremely hard.

We loved each other

and we were good together.

But she sometimes

suffered from bad depression.

And I didn't seem
to be able to help her much...

with my painting.

It was Whit Monday.

My dad woke me up
that morning and told me

that Li had died.

For our mother, who was
a strict Catholic,

suicide was one of the
worst things you could do.

You couldn't even
be buried in a graveyard then.

And...

I went to see Hansruedi.

And I can still remember

going into the room and seeing
the mattress she'd been lying on.

Then we went to the police
station with the gun

she'd used.

We handed it over
and then went back to the flat.

And then we went

to the room upstairs
that I showed you.

There was a big
note on the floor

and on it she'd
written, "Adieu."

When she died

it was obviously an
immense shock for me.

It was an overwhelming
experience.

I can't put it into words.

At the beginning, I felt like

I'd never be able
to cope with it.

But after a while,
I started painting again

and that helped me to...

How can I put it?

distance myself somewhat...

from her death.

And then, of course,
I had this feeling

that something could
have been done.

The fear

that maybe you're responsible
for the death of your partner:

it's a horrific experience.

He rang me and said, "Quit your
job. Hollywood just called."

EX-WIFE AND FORMER ASSISTANT

I thought it was a joke.

But he said some people from Hollywood
were coming round the day after tomorrow

to talk about a film.

He said he needed me.

He shoved this camera at me,

a thing like this,

and told me to film.

But I barely knew
how to operate the thing!

It was these eggs

where the aliens lie in wait.

I had some problems
with the producers.

Because the designs
I'd come up with...

I'd modelled the eggs myself.

They found the opening
a little obscene.

It looked too much
like a vagina.

They wanted to screen the film
in Catholic countries,

so I had to try and create

a cross shape,
rather than a crack.

So that's what I did.

Now they're doubly obscene,

specially for the
Catholic church.

We were in Dallas,

and it was incredibly hot.

Hansruedi was
having a cold bath.

Then we got a call
from reception:

a journalist wanted
to talk to Mr Giger.

I said I was sorry but he was
unavailable at the moment.

Hansruedi said,
"You talk to him,

you know all about it anyway."

So I said I'd talk to him.

So I said, "He wants to talk to you.
You have to make some time later."

Then Hansruedi sat
up in the bath

and smacked his hands on the water,
making it spray everywhere, and said,

"We're marrying
when we get home!

Then you're not a groupie
and they'll talk to you!"

That was his proposal.

I'd contracted Hepatitis C in hospital,
but no one realised it at the time.

And I was really sick.

And Hansruedi

just didn't know how
to deal with it.

One day, he was
sitting at my bed

and he put it very bluntly,

"If you're sick, I can't work
and when I can't work, I go crazy."

PSYCHIATRIST / AUTHOR

His paintings depict a lot of the
fears and realities we face in this world.

MUSICIAN AND ASSISTANT

If you ask me why I claim
to understand it all so well...

If you look at my childhood,

you'll see I had a lot of
problematic experiences.

That's probably why I'm so in
touch with this dark side.

Darkness isn't negative: it's an
endless source of fascination.

It's quite literally endless.

It's fascinated me for 50 years
and I can't see an end to it yet.

So Hansruedi's art is...

It's like a bridge
to my own images and emotions.

Have you left a spot for me?

It's like a separate universe,
a microcosm,

like nothing
you've ever experienced before.

Hansruedi often just
goes off somewhere in the house.

It's big enough for him to disappear
into one of its nooks and crannies

and become part of it.

This house is almost
like a living being.

And he's part of it.

If he wants to be seen,
you'll find him.

If not, you won't.

PLEASE PUT ALL TOOLS
BACK WHERE THEY BELONG

DON'T LEAVE
DIRTY DISHES IN THE SINK

HRG IS A SHOCKING EXAMPLE OF HOW
IT SHOULD NOT END UP. THANK YOU!

I have copies.
You can keep these.

I'll go with your mum then.

We have a letter...

I couldn't leave
you on your own.

LINZ
AUSTRIA

Let's go up.

I'm afraid we haven't
got too much time.

It's almost 6
and the opening's at 7,

where everyone's
eagerly awaiting you.

Take some time to freshen
up a bit and then...

Is it okay if I pick you up?
- Yes.

You have to go to
Lentos Art Museum.

You'll see a barrier
and you can get out there.

Can you pay for the taxi?

Hansruedi in the front?
- Yes.

Hello.

The museum is shaped
like a long bar.

It's like a gate...

Now we're walking
behind the space.

The fact that he divides

the established art scene
and popular culture...

CURATOR

is also due to the particular
dynamics of these fields.

He worked on a Hollywood film

and suddenly had huge success
across the world.

He only had a small
following before

and suddenly everyone knew him.

And the momentum
of this popularity

didn't fit well with the
structure of the art scene.

At least not at the
end of the 1970s.

The scene is structured
differently today.

And the passing of time
smooths over certain rifts.

So in the last decade,
it's been possible

for Hansruedi Giger

to make a gradual comeback
onto the art scene.

Unlike many people,
I don't believe Hansruedi's work

merely explores our dark side.

I'd almost go so far as to say

that even in his darkest images,
light shines through.

That even when he
invents creatures

that are devoid of all goodness,

he's able to look through to
the other side, as it were,

and imagine a universe
where both forces exist.

There's no doubt that the cycle

of birth, sexuality and death

is the central motif

of his entire oeuvre.

A lot of artists
explore these themes,

but with Hansruedi Giger,
they're very closely entwined.

In his case, we have images

that depict death and birth,
eros and thanatos,

coming together as one.

He's shaped and
plagued by fears,

but also feels mysteriously
drawn to the abyss and the uncanny.

I'd say he's not alone there.

Many of us feel like this,

but he's discovered a way
to find this place

and he's made himself
at home there.

He clearly doesn't go back and
forth, like some people do,

who dive in, re-emerge
and then dive in again

and survive this process or come
out damaged the other side.

He's made himself at home there.

He feels most at ease
surrounded by the uncanny.

He feels at home
in places we run from in fear.

Müggi, Müggi...

This is next on my list.

I'll put it here.

The packaging is
always so fiddly.

Here's the next one for you.

And here's the next.

You can just close the cover.
I'll go and let Roland in.

Hang on,
I'll be back in a minute.

Here's the middle one...

Then we're done.
- Just goes to show.

In the end, what it looks like
is more important than what's inside.

No! There are great things
inside and it looks good.

We have both.

So, we've done the first lot.

Okay?
- Yes, that's great.

We'll carry on...

He always wanted
to be independent

and didn't want to
hire a manager.

These days, I do a
lot of the work,

from organising exhibitions
to helping with the sales.

I help him out
wherever he needs it.

ASSISTANT,
CURATOR AND ARCHIVIST

He belongs to the war generation:
he keeps everything and has lots of stuff.

But the great thing is, if you
look through his stuff 20, 30 years later,

you find some fascinating
things, like this picture.

I found it tucked away down
there. An early sketch he did:

Doctor Cinderella's Plants,

Hansruedi Giger, 10.12.1960.

There's so much hidden away in
this house that no one's ever seen.

It's like rummaging
through a treasure trove.

What would you like?

Cake.
- Cake! Okay.

Did you make it?
- Yes, I baked it this morning.

Fabulous!

I haven't tried it yet either.
Enjoy!

Good.
- It's not bad.

Each moment was unique here.

FORMER PARTNER
AND ASSISTANT

I was never bored. Life here
was anything but normal.

His socks and underpants
were in the oven.

In the bathtub,

you'd find his books piled high.

I said to Hansruedi,

"I'm moving the books. I have a
cold and need to have a bath."

That's when I started

to tidy up and create
a library system.

Whenever I tidied up,
Hansruedi got new ideas.

One morning,

I got here and there
was an awful stench!

There was this skull
lying in the bathtub.

I think it was an
ibex with long horns.

Hansruedi had put it
in there to soak.

It was in the bath
and it was so revolting!

It was normal to come home and
find a lion skeleton in front of the door.

I could hardly get in.

He needed the spine
to create Sil,

the creature with
a lion's spine.

Hansruedi worked
with Americans a lot

and he had to talk on the phone,
so that meant working at night.

So we didn't start work
until the afternoon.

But I really need light.

And in Hansruedi's house

everything is painted black,

his pictures are everywhere,

and the shutters are closed,
so no light can get through.

At some point,
after many, many months,

I opened the shutters, the light
came in and I saw the sun.

Then he came
upstairs, had a look

and said,
"The shutters are open."

I said, "Yes, it's daytime.
That's when you open the shutters.

At night, you close them again."

He looked at me and walked off
without saying a word, and I was so happy.

I had some light again.

Marco's really tidied up.

The basement looks great.

It's all sorted by product.
- Yes.

Not like it used to
be round here, right?

Can't you find anything?

It was never really shipshape
around here. Never.

It bothers me a
little sometimes.

I don't recognise my basement anymore.
- I didn't recognise it either.

Everything is so tidy.

Box after box of lithography...

So bourgeois!
- What? Bourgeois?

Terrible!

That's tidying up for you!

FOPPA, FLIMS, SWISS ALPS

Hello, hello!

No, you can't drive any further.

You'll have to park here.

We'll give him a hand.
- Hi!

Hansruedi inherited
the houses from his parents.

After divorcing, we worked
together for a long time.

He really valued my work

and in return he
gave me the house.

Make sure you walk on the slabs.

The mist is...

Just like it was 20 years ago.
- Exactly.

It's still there.

The people of Flims
just love it!

Watch your head!

Nice.

Very nice.

Well done.
You guys did a great job.

You're looking good.
- Thanks.

You fit perfectly into...
- Into the surroundings?

I remember that
basket very well.

We've kept it there
for the wood.

As a child,

I spent all of my holidays here.

In the winter and
summer holidays,

we always came here.

Together with my
sister at first.

I always think

if I show my pictures
to my father or mother,

it'll scare them to death.

It's funny that even
though I'm so free,

I always wonder

what they think of me
when I paint pictures like that.

But I'm their child,

so what I do is
completely natural.

It comes from somewhere.

He has his mother's imagination.
- Yes.

His mother is very imaginative
and easily scared.

She sees ghosts and
things like that.

Is that so?
- Yes, you're always...

I'm easily scared,
but I don't see ghosts.

He had really great parents.

His father was always

a bit of an enigma to him.

He was a very secretive person.

He worked as a pharmacist and
was a very respected figure in Chur.

But he was closest
to his mother.

His mother supported him

with his painting
any way she could.

After he'd completed
his first really good drawing,

he showed her

and she had it put
in a golden frame.

Hansruedi meant
the world to her.

They really loved each other and
had a very strong connection.

And she was very proud of him.

It's also somehow...

His mother could have
been so different:

outraged by the
things he painted.

Nothing of the sort:
she was just so proud

and happy that her son
had made it so far.

MÜGGI III

When we got together
he'd just set up the railway

in the garden.

He'd drive around it and shout,
"Make way! Make way!"

So he's very...

young at heart.

Watch out here or you might
get the doors in your face.

Müggi, get out of
the way! Müggi!

In the garden he built the
railway he'd dreamt of as a child.

DIRECTOR, HR GIGER MUSEUM

He managed to realise
all of his dreams.

The narrow sections
here on this side...

So here's the floor plan.

That's the middle section.

The arch will go here and
we'll put something in there.

We'll use these slats to join
the inside parts together.

And they'll be fixed here,

a whole load of slats.

There are more
expensive coatings.

With marble, for example.

But this one is very special.

Whenever he has money,
he invests it in something.

He does something with it,
some sculptures,

or the fountain in the garden.

And he's certainly been lucky:

he's always had just enough.

And enough to do some
really great things.

He was lucky enough to inherit a
few plots of land from his parents.

He gradually sold them off,
which made it possible to build the bar.

The bar is worth a fortune.

It was a very
expensive business.

And each time we were always

down to our very last cent
and we just made it.

There was nothing left over.
We just pulled it off.

And the way we live now,

we just about scrape by.

But what else do we need?

We should be able to secure it
somewhere! It's not secured.

Or what are these things...?

It needs to be attached
in the middle.

There we go!

We need one of those
on the other side.

Pull it in!

It's totally different now.

I'll do it this way.
That's not how you sit at a bar.

If you look at his
childhood drawings,

you'll see that he liked drawing
ruins and especially castles.

As a small boy, he always wanted
to be the lord of the castle.

And he got both in the end:
he has a museum

and there's his castle,
his Château St. Germain.

That's really great.

Looks like it, doesn't it?

It's completely full inside.
And in the garden.

Really? Great.

Did everything go to plan?
- Yes!

Hi.
- Hi, Hansruedi.

Hi, everyone.

Very brave!

I know how you like it.

Thank you, Master!

Müggi: M-Ü-G-G-I.

He wanted to know what
the cat was called.

Wow! Well done!

He's bought things
back over the years

for several times the price
he got back then.

He had a feeling
there'd be a museum one day.

So he kept or bought back
all of his most important works

long before there was even
any talk of a museum.

The Spell Room is
my favourite space.

...the aluminium alloy is
cast in vast, chilled moulds.

It is then transformed into a
thin, smooth layer used to clad aeroplanes.

I think that when you die,
that's the end.

I don't think you
live on after death

or have another
life after death.

No!

I wouldn't enjoy that.

Having to

plough through all that again...

No, I don't want to do that.

I've seen everything
I wanted to see.

Everything I wanted
to do or show,

I've done it.

I don't need any more than that.

I'm happy with what I've done.

There you go!

Phew!

Is there a seating plan?

I'll just sit here. -Or we'll
have another Battle of Sempach!

Do you know which...?

Oh, you're taking some of ours.

Hansruedi "HR" Giger

died shortly after the end
of the shoot on 12 May 2014