Original subtitles

Slowly, Wozzeck... slowly!

One thing at a time! You're making me dizzy.

What will I do with the ten minutes you save me?

Wozzeck, you still have thirty beautiful years to live.

That's 360 months, and God knows how many days, hours, and minutes.

What will you do with all that time?

Get organized, Wozzeck!

Yes, Captain.

I get so frightened for the world when I think about eternity.

"Eternity"...that's eternal. You understand that.

Yet it isn't really eternal. It's just one moment.

Wozzeck, it frightens me to think the world turns around in just one day.

I can't even look at a mill wheel turning...

...without becoming melancholy.

Yes, Captain.

Wozzeck, you always look so harassed!

A good man isn't like that. A good man with a clear conscience...

...does everything slowly.

Say something, Wozzeck!

- What's the weather like today? - Very bad, Captain.

- Wind! - I feel it blowing out there!

It has the same effect on me as when I see a mouse!

I think it's coming from the south-north.

Yes, Captain.

South-north!

You're so stupid! So revoltingly stupid!

Wozzeck, you're a good man, but you have no morality.

Morality is when someone is moral.

Do you understand? It's a good word.

You have a child not blessed by the Church.

As our worthy chaplain says: "Not blessed by the Church."

Not my words.

God won't forsake the child...

...just because he was conceived before Amen was said.

The Lord said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me."

What kind of answer is that? He's confusing me!

When I say "he," I mean you!

Wretches like us, Captain, we need money!

Without it, you can't raise a child with morals. Not in this world.

Now if I were a gentleman with a top hat and a monocle...

...and I used fine words, I'd be virtuous, too.

It must be nice to be virtuous, Captain...

...but I'm a poor man.

Our kind is miserable in this world and the next.

If we got into Heaven, it would only be to help make the thunder!

All right, all right, I know you're a good man.

But you think too much, and it's eating you up. You look so harassed!

Our little talk has worn me out.

Go now, but don't run. Walk right down the middle of the street...

...and remember, slowly!

This place is cursed!

What's happening?

The hunter's life is fine and free. Shooting's the thing for you and me!

I want to hunt, so let me roam!

This place is cursed!

Do you see that light there on the toadstools?

A head rolls by there every night!

Once someone picked it up, thinking it was a hedgehog.

Three days later he was in his coffin.

It's getting dark. That's why you're frightened.

Comes a rabbit across my way, asks me if I'm hunting today.

I used to hunt, say I, but I don't know how to shoot!

Be quiet, Andres! it was the Freemasons!

That's it! The Freemasons! Be quiet!

Sing along with me! And eating all the green grass...

Hollow... everything is hollow!

An abyss! Everything is moving!

Listen. Something's moving around down there!

Hey, are you crazy?

The air is still... and heavy. It makes you want to stop breathing.

Fire!

Fire! it rushes up to Heaven...

...roaring like trumpets! It's exploding!

The sun has set. They're drumming retreat.

Still... all is still...

...as if the world were dead.

It's night. We have to go back.

Chi-boom. Chi-boom boom boom.

Do you hear, boy? They're coming now!

What a man! He's like a tree!

He's like a lion!

What a friendly look you gave him! That's more than we get.

Soldiers, soldiers... such handsome men!

Your eyes are positively shining!

What's it to you?

Have your own eyes shined, and you can sell them as buttons!

Listen to Madame Virgin! At least I'm respectable.

But you can see through seven pairs of leather pants!

Slut!

Come, my child!

What do they want? You're just a poor whore's son...

...whose unblessed face makes his mother very happy.

Hush-a-bye baby...

My girl, whatever will you do? A child but no husband have you.

Ah, no use to sit and brood. I'll sing the whole night through.

Go to sleep now, little boy. You're all I need to bring me joy.

Hansel, take your six white steeds. See you feed them what they need.

Oats aren't their fodder, and they don't drink water.

So let them drink nice cool wine.

Who's there? Is it you, Franz? Come in!

I have to return to barracks.

Did you cut sticks for the Major?

Yes, Marie.

What is it, Franz? What's wrong?

Hush! Now I know!

I saw a face in the sky. Everything was on fire!

I'm beginning to understand. Everything's dark now.

Marie, I saw it again... perhaps...

The Bible says, "And the smoke of the land went up as from a furnace."

it followed me to town. What's going to happen?

Franz! Your son!

My son...

My son! I have to go now.

He's possessed. He didn't even look at his child.

He's going mad!

Why are you so quiet? Are you afraid?

It's so dark, like being blind. The streetlamp isn't lit.

We poor people!

I can't stand it, I'm scared!

So, Wozzeck! As good as your word, eh?

What is it, Doctor?

I saw you pissing in the street!

Pissing like a dog! Why do I pay you three pennies a day?

This is bad. The world is bad, very bad!

But when nature calls...

Nature?

Pure superstition! Haven't I proved the bladder is subject to the will?

Wozzeck, man is free! In man, individuality becomes freedom.

He had to piss!

Had your beans today, Wozzeck? Remember, only beans!

Next week we'll start you on mutton.

There's been a revolution in science! Albumin, fats, carbohydrates...

...and of course oxyaldehydanhydridium.

And you pissed again!

But I won't get upset. It's unhealthy and unscientific.

I'm calm. Pulse... the usual sixty.

God forbid I should get angry over a man.

Now if one of my salamanders became sick...

But Wozzeck, you really shouldn't have pissed!

Doctor, a man's character is one thing...

...but with nature it's different.

With nature it's like this... how can I say it?

When nature ends, when the world grows dark...

...so dark we have to grope about with our hands...

...when the world is dissolving like cobwebs...

...when something is, and yet is not.

Ah, Marie!

When everything's dark except for a red glow in the west...

- ...what do we hold onto? - You're acting like a spider!

When it's midday, and everything seems to be burning...

...I hear a terrible voice!

Wozzeck, you have an aberration!

The toadstools... have you seen the circle of toadstools?

If only I could understand the circles...

Wozzeck, you'll end up in the madhouse.

You have a nice idée fixe, a lovely mental aberration.

Very nicely developed!

Wozzeck, I'm giving you more money.

But you must keep shaving the captain, catching salamanders and eating beans!

Yes, sir. I give the money to the woman.

You're an interesting case. Just behave yourself!

I'm giving you another penny, but what must you do for it?

Ah, Marie!

Eat beans, then mutton, don't piss, shave your captain...

...and keep your idée fixe!

My theories! My fame!

I'll be immortal! Immortal...

Wozzeck, stick out your tongue.

March a few steps.

Chest like a bull and a beard like a lion!

I'm the proudest woman in the world!

You should see me on Sundays in my white plume and gloves.

The prince always says, "There's a fine man!"

Indeed!

You're a piece of work! We'll start a whole line of drum majors.

- Well? - Get off!

A wildcat, eh?

Don't touch me!

You have the devil in your eyes.

Have it your way... it's all the same to me!

How these stones shine! What did he say they were?

Go to sleep. Close your eyes tight... tighter!

That's it.

Be still, or he'll get you!

Lock the door, sweet maiden, a Gypsy boy is near!

He'll take you away, far from here, to Gypsyland!

They must be gold.

People like us have nothing but a hovel and a piece of mirror.

But my lips are as red as the lips of fine ladies with big mirrors...

...and handsome gentlemen who kiss their hands.

But I'm only a poor woman.

Be quiet. Close your eyes.

The sandman is here, walking up the walls.

Close your eyes, or he'll make you go blind!

- What are those? -Nothing! - They're shining.

I found an earring.

I never found anything like that. And never two at once.

- Does that make me evil? - It's all right, Marie.

Look at the boy sleep. His forehead is wet.

For us, nothing but hard work. We even sweat in our sleep.

We poor people!

Here are my wages, and money from the captain and the doctor.

God bless you, Franz.

I must go, Marie.

I'm bad. I could stab myself!

What a world! We all go to Hell... man, woman, and child!

Where to in such a hurry, my dear Dr. Coffin Nail?

Where to so slowly, my esteemed General Goose Step?

What's the rush? Why the hurry?

Don't rush! A good man doesn't rush like that.

- You'll run into the arms of death! - I can't waste time!

I'm in a hurry!

Stop rushing, Dr. Coffin Nail. You'll wear down your legs on the pavement!

Forgive me... for trying... to save a human life.

A woman died in only a month. Cancer of the uterus.

I've already had twenty cases like her.

Doctor, don't scare me like that! People die of fright.

Four weeks. it should be an interesting autopsy.

And you? Bloated... thickening neck...

You have an apoplectic constitution!

Yes, Captain, you could easily die of a stroke...

...or you might escape with paralysis on one side.

If you're lucky, maybe just... down there.

My God!

Yes! That's what you can expect in a month!

I can assure you, you'll be a most interesting case.

If, God willing, your tongue is paralyzed, we'll make history!

Stop, Doctor! I won't let you go! Deathmonger!

In four weeks? People die of fright!

I can already see people weeping at my funeral.

They'll be saying, "He was a good man."

Where are you going in such a hurry?

Stop a moment, Wozzeck.

You run around like an open razor. Someone will get cut.

You run as if you had to shave every beard in the university...

...as if missing just one hair would hang you.

That's it, the long beards. What did I want to say?

Yes, those fine long beards...

"A long beard under the chin." Pliny mentions that.

I've got it... the long beards! What's wrong, Wozzeck?

Didn't you find a hair in your bowl this morning?

You see, don't you? A hair from a private's beard...

...or from a drum major's!

Eh, Wozzeck? But of course, you have a good woman.

What do you mean by that, Doctor?

And you, Captain?

What a face he makes!

If you don't find one in the soup bowl, just run around the corner.

Maybe you'll find one on a pair of lips. A hair, I mean.

Ah yes, a pair of lips! I was once in love myself.

You're white as a sheet!

Captain, I'm a poor man.

I have nothing else. Captain, you shouldn't make fun of me.

- Making fun? Me? Good God! - For many the Earth is as hot as Hell.

Are you going to shoot yourself? What a look!

I've been good to you because you're a good man, Wozzeck.

God in Heaven, it makes me want to hang myself!

Then I'd know where I was!

Off he goes, his shadow after him!

A phenomenon, this Wozzeck!

Men like him make me giddy and unhappy. I don't like that.

Good men are grateful unto God. They also have no courage.

Only sons of bitches have courage.

Only sons of bitches.

Sons of bitches.

Hello, Franz.

I don't see it.

One should be able to see it... to touch it!

What's wrong, Franz?

Is it still you, Marie? A sin so thick and wide...

...its stench drives the angels out of Heaven!

But your lips are so red. Are there any sores on them?

You're mad, Franz. I'm afraid!

You're as beautiful as sin.

Is a deadly sin really so beautiful, Marie?

Is this where he stood? Like this?

I don't own the street.

Damn you! Is this where he stood?

The days are long, the world is old.

A lot of people have stood there.

- I saw him! - You can see a lot with two eyes...

...if you aren't blind and the sun is shining.

- You and him! - So what?

Don't touch me! Better a knife in my heart than that.

My father never dared to hit me, even when I was ten!

"Better a knife..."

Man is an abyss. It makes me dizzy to look down into it!

I'm wearing a shirt that isn't mine...

...and my soul stinks of brandy wine!

My soul, my immortal soul stinks of brandy wine!

It stinks, and I don't know why.

Why is the world so sad? Even money's rotting away.

Don't forget me, brother! Friendship! Why is the world so beautiful?

If only our noses were bottles! We'd pour them down our throats.

The whole wide world is rosy red, and brandy is my life!

My soul stinks!

That's so sad... sad... sad...

Him! Her! Damn them!

On and on!

On and on!

Go on, spin around! Why doesn't God blot out the sun?

Everything is soaked in lust... men and women, man and beast!

The woman is hot!

He feels her up, and she laughs!

- On and on! - On and on!

A hunter from the south once rode through the woods.

What fun to hunt and ride across the green-decked hills!

O daughter, dear daughter, you can't mean to tell...

...that you're sweet on the coachman, and the groom as well!

What fun to hunt and ride across the green-decked hills!

- What time is it? - Eleven.

I thought it was later. Time goes slowly in taverns.

Why are you sitting by the door?

Many are near the door...

...but they don't know it until they're carried out feet first.

You sit so hard!

I'll feel better lying in my grave.

- Are you drunk? - No such luck.

What if a wanderer leans on the flow of time...

...or glimpses divine wisdom and asks, "Why does man exist?"

I say to you, it's a good thing!

Otherwise how would the farmer, the tailor, or the doctor live...

...if God hadn't created man?

How would the tailor earn his living...

...if God hadn't made man ashamed of his nakedness?

And what of the soldier and the innkeeper if we didn't need to kill...

...and didn't get thirsty?

And so, my love, have no fear. Everything is rosy and fine.

All on Earth is in vain, even money's rotting away...

...and my soul stinks of brandy wine!

What fun to hunt and ride...

O daughter, dear daughter...

What fun... fun...

it smells here.

What do you want, fool?

I smell...

...I smell blood.

Blood!

Everything is red!

I see them all twisting around, in and out of each other!

Andres, Andres... I can't sleep.

When I close my eyes I see them, and I hear the music.

It's coming from the walls! Don't you hear the violins?

Let them dance.

And then a huge knife flashes in front of my eyes!

Sleep, you fool!

My Lord and God...

"...and lead us not into temptation."

"Amen."

I'm a real man, and I've got a woman to breed me drum majors!

Tits and thighs all nice and firm!

Her eyes glow like coals. In short, a real woman!

Who is it?

Ask Wozzeck!

Have a drink. I wish the world were whiskey! Man must drink!

Drink, man! Drink!

Should I pull out your tongue and wrap it around your neck?

Should I leave enough wind in you for an old lady's fart?

Should I?

Now let him whistle until he's blue in the face!

What a man I am!

He's had enough.

He's bleeding.

One after the other...

"And out of his mouth there came neither deceit nor falsehood."

O God, don't look at me!

"The Pharisees had brought to Him an adulterous woman."

"But Jesus said, you shall not be judged. Go in peace, and sin no more."

O God!

It breaks my heart to look at the boy. Go away!

He's walking around for everyone to see!

No, come here! Come to me.

There once was a poor child who had no father and no mother.

Everyone in the world was dead, and the hungry child cried...

...day and night.

And since he was alone in the world...

Franz hasn't come... not yesterday, and not today.

What is it the Bible says about Mary Magdalene?

"And falling on her knees before Him and weeping, she kissed His feet..."

"...and washed them with tears, and anointed them with ointment."

Savior! I, too, want to anoint Your feet.

You had pity on her... have pity on me!

Over there is the road to town. It's still far. Hurry!

You should rest, Marie. Come and sit down.

I have to go!

You've already gone far enough, Marie. You'll make your feet sore.

It's quiet here... and so dark.

How long have we known each other, Marie?

Three years next month.

How long do you think it will last?

- I must go! - Are you afraid, Marie?

But I know you're pious and good... and true.

Your lips are sweet, Marie.

I'd give up Heaven if I could always kiss you like this.

But I don't dare.

You're shivering.

It's the night dew.

They who are cold will freeze no more. You won't freeze from the dew anymore.

What are you saying?

Nothing.

How red the moon is!

Like blood on a knife.

What... what do you want?

If it's not me, Marie... then no one else!

Dead.

Go on, dance! Sweat and stink!

You'll all go to Hell anyway!

Three knights riding along the Rhine stopped at a woman's for some wine.

My wine is good, my beer is pure, and my daughter is lying on the-

Damn it! Come here, Margret!

Come sit with me, Margret!

Margret, you're so hot.

Just wait... you'll be cold, too.

Can't you sing?

I will not go to Swabia, and put on a long dress...

...for finery and fancy shoes are not for a shepherdess!

No! No shoes... you can go to Hell barefoot!

I want to fight someone!

What's that on your hand?

Red... blood...

Fresh blood!

I must have... cut my hand.

Then why is there blood on your sleeve?

I wiped my hand on it!

With the same sleeve?

I'm no murderer! Leave me alone!

The knife... where's the knife? I left it here somewhere...

I'm afraid! Something moved there.

All is still and dead.

"Murderer! Murderer!" someone called out.

No, it was me.

Marie, what is that red band around your neck?

Is it a reward for your sins, like the earrings?

Your hair looks so wild. "Murderer! Murderer!"

They'll be looking for me. The knife will give me away!

Sink down! It's sinking like a stone.

But the moon will betray me. The moon is blood-red.

Will the whole world know my secret?

The knife didn't sink deep enough. Someone will find it.

I can't find it. I've got to wash the blood away.

There's some... and there's some more!

I'm washing myself with blood! The water is blood!

Wait! Do you hear? There!

Jesus, what a sound!

It's the water. The water's calling.

No one's drowned there for ages.

Come, Doctor! It's not healthy to listen to it.

It moans as if a man were dying. Someone is drowning.

It's eerie... the moon is red and the fog grey.

Did you hear that? The moaning again!

Quieter...

Now completely quiet.

Come quickly!

Ring-a-ring-a-roses, all fall down!

- Hey, Katie! It's Marie. - What is it?

Everyone's gone to look.

Your mother is dead.

Hop hop! Hop hop!

- Where is she? - Out by the pond.

Let's go see!

Hop hop! Hop hop!