Original subtitles

Daddy and I hid ourselves deep in the forest.

Far away from other people.

Because the world is a very dangerous place...

...and I am a very dangerous person.

But everything actually started much, much earlier

back when my grandma was born...

...and her twin.

Lucia.

When Granny was little, there was war going on almost the whole time.

She used to sneak out at night to watch the lights fall from the sky.

Because when lights fall, big wishes can come true.

But when autumn came, and the war grew worse and the sky even brighter,

Granny's mummy was hit by two small, speeding bullets

that had been heading towards a tree trunk.

So Granny and Lucia were sent away,

across oceans on big ships.

Away from war and death, and lights and wishes.

Off to other homes and streets and families.

And that was how Granny learned to cause trouble and to tease.

And Lucia learned how to be quiet.

In the end, Granny was so naughty they were moved to a lonely old house

to stay with a shy, kind man who needed help in his field.

Soup bowls.

Five... Four.

Small plates. Side plates.

One, two...

- How many? - Two.

Dinner plates?

- Eight...nine. - Nine. Glasses?

Four.

Are you sure?

There are supposed to be five.

Well you'll have to look for it, OK?

- Well? - I can't find it.

Then bring me the ones you did find.

Eini...

Where's the fifth glass?

Five.

When did it happen?

Eini...

When did the glass get broken?

Come here, Eini. Come.

Harald Engström, as he was called,

was happy to have Granny and Lucia there.

Because the lamps were now burning, in both his kitchen and his bedroom.

But in the end, Lucia was the one who got married,

while Granny remained unmarried.

Unmarried girls had to work hard on other people's fields.

But Granny didn't know how to work with plants and seeds and soil.

So the field grew into a forest instead...

...which grew and grew and grew...

That's how Granny's forest grew into the biggest forest in the whole world.

Even though Granny was unmarried, she was the one who got pregnant

with one of the many men who worked in the forest.

But no one knew who the father was. Not even Granny.

Harald said that only married women were allowed to have children.

So Daddy became Lucia's son instead.

And Granny was made to feel ashamed of herself, the baby and the men.

Here's a little letter, so you won't have to worry about me, dear sister.

I have my very own room, but still I must enter through the kitchen.

Everything here is so very large and clean and bright.

I think I might be staying a while.

The evenings here end early,

so I barely have time to do the dishes before it's time for bed.

Ten minutes ago, I was ordered to play and sing for Madame and her guests.

Thank you for the beautiful music that you sent.

The baby and I have listened to it every day for a week now.

The baby screams almost endlessly,

so Harald is getting far too little sleep.

The lack of sleep makes him so melancholic

that he can't concentrate on his reading.

- Twelve times thirteen? - A hundred and fifty-six.

The five largest countries in Europe?

France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Budapest.

The five largest cities in Italy?

Rome, Venice, Palermo...Milan...

...Turin.

Why must we always tell the truth?

So that others can trust us. So that the body doesn't make us lie.

What makes a person lie?

Look at me.

- They... - Eini, look at me.

What makes a person lie?

They...sing songs.

And...

...they become sexually mature.

What can happen when women become sexually mature?

They release one of their 400,000 eggs, which can become a baby,

and they menstruate every 28 days from puberty.

Dear sister, the cold has set my knee off again

so I mainly lie around, moaning.

Despite this we're getting by,

even though the house and the field are a lot of hard work.

I'm hoping to get the jumper finished. I only have half a sleeve left.

And I have to do the laundry, despite this awful cold.

When Granny grew up, she could hold her breath under water for 5 minutes,

swim naked in lakes, and dye her hair three different colours at once.

But Harald and Lucia and Daddy hardly saw anyone at all.

Because Harald was shy, Lucia was quiet and Daddy was a baby.

A letter would arrive in the post once a week

in which Granny wrote about everything going on in the world

so that Lucia could dream, about songs, cities and wishes.

Wishes that could never come true.

The new musicians are called Charles and Paolo.

Charles is 28 and married.

Paolo is 20, unmarried, dark and handsome.

Now Madame wants to know if I've fallen in love with any of these men.

But that's my business!

There were some fine gentlemen here listening to us play yesterday.

Some of them were surely married, but only Edward was wearing his ring.

Can you imagine?!

What is it?

Aren't you hungry?

You have to eat.

Here... Eini.

...or else Peter Rabbit will come and take it away.

Daddy grew into a good boy, hard-working and obedient.

He learned all about the world,

and why it's so important to always be as quiet as you can be.

It was Daddy's job to stop Lucia thinking about other places...

And about Granny.

The children are as bright and sweet as I could ever wish for.

It's just that time passes so very quickly.

But once the roads and my knee get better,

we'll go out visiting again in the neighbouring villages.

Unfortunately we're running out of flour,

so if you could send us a little money, it would put Harald in a good mood.

When Daddy's youngest sister died, Lucia grew far too loud and talkative.

Daddy had to help Lucia quieten down so that Harald wouldn't get upset...

...and would get the peace and quiet he needed to study, read and think.

...which is what I try to do, but don't always succeed.

... end up in a situation where we...

...in our relationship, we only talk about sex and have sex.

And once we've started joking about what things I could stick up my cunt,

it's hard to just be like: "I read this article in the paper today..."!

- So all your relationships are sexual? - Yes but that's just who I am!

That's when I feel safest. It's part of my language. It's fun!

I'm not sure how to go about them any other way. But it can be hard!

Have you ever tried sex as a route to love?

Not really. If things are good in the bedroom, it'll probably work out...

By the way, can you guess where I was this weekend? Of course you can't!

I was at a certain place in Washington!

Tomaso and I have met only once this autumn.

Well, I don't know if that means it'll come to anything.

But I did enjoy seeing his home.

He gave me a perpetual calendar, and 50 kronor, which I'm enclosing.

So I actually came out on top from the trip after all.

I'll come home again before I get married, at least. I promise.

Although that isn't on the cards. Not at all.

When Granny's letters stopped coming, Lucia disappeared into other worlds.

Even though her body was still in the house.

She also stopped comforting Harald,

and started to go out on her own into the forest for hours on end.

So Daddy had to watch her even more closely so she wouldn't disappear.

"She belongs in a lunatic asylum," Harald said,

when Daddy told him that Lucia went searching for stones and gravel,

and openings to other worlds deep down at the bottom of the lake.

I felt it best to write you a letter, and I very much hope to get one back.

For the past two years, the potato crop has been poor.

The time's not right yet to start clearing the forest.

And we only got two lambs last spring.

If the harvest is ruined next year, it looks like we might starve.

So Harald has to work on other people's fields all summer, and maybe all year.

This makes him melancholic and angry,

and I honestly don't know how to make him happy and kind again.

Now he's off into the forest...

Lucia eventually grew so unmanageable and difficult

that Harald never had any peace and quiet.

He longed to get away from all the fighting, away from Lucia...

...and from Daddy.

He took the bible, the suitcase and her sister,

left his house and his forest and disappeared.

And that's how Daddy ended up caring for Lucia all by himself.

What have you got there?

Take that off.

And the rest.

You do know that I love you, don't you? You know that, right?

I was out on the yacht last Tuesday. Now that was interesting!

There were so many people, all queueing up for a ticket!

Daddy waited many years for his mum to come back.

But she never did.

So Daddy grew up, and Lucia grew old. And frail and wrinkled.

Granny grew old too, just never as wrinkled.

Granny was good at getting dressed and undressed

and at speaking in lovely dialects.

She could shake hands and introduce herself in a thousand languages.

But no one ever knew her real name, as she gave herself so many new ones.

One name alone could not contain all that she was.

Daddy tired of waiting for Granny to come home and help him with Lucia.

Instead he grew bald, lonely and angry, and refused to talk to anyone.

Not even to the post-girl...

... who had since grown into the postwoman.

When the postwoman eventually moved in with Daddy and Lucia,

she very much wanted him to stop all his reading and studying.

Instead, she preferred hugging and sobbing and complaining.

And then I came along, and the postwoman became my mummy.

But Mummy had never learned the value of being as quiet as she could be,

so Daddy and Lucia soon grew tired of all her thoughts and brooding.

They didn't want me to have to listen to all her thoughts.

So together they protected me,

and made sure that I'd never have to be alone with her.

In the end, Mummy couldn't take any more - of Daddy, Lucia, and me.

When Lucia died, Daddy wrote a letter to Granny

to tell her that it was too late for her to come home.

The more Daddy read, the more we learned,

and the more we learned, the more we hid from the world.

In the end, we decided never to see anyone else ever again.

Then one day Granny came home,

with a red car for me, which was far too big,

and a gun, which was far too little.

It was Granny who knew that you must pronounce every consonant of every word

for others to understand what you say and write.

But she still never got any replies to all the letters she sent.

Granny could open doors for anyone, to any table or room or world.

She's also the one who said that things are just things,

and that it's better to lick your fingers than use a napkin.

...not to mention what it's like for me when I meet my old friend Gunilla.

We're fifteen again. Not because we make ourselves younger

but because we were fifteen year-olds when we first...

That's also why it's so much fun...

Well done. Great.

Here, you'll want something to sit on.

Here.

Let's see...

Well...what do you think?

- Where should we put it? - Over there by the window maybe.

Good idea.

And then we'll get this place cleaned up a bit.

And...maybe put up a new wall here too.

We'll have to...paint the walls, and install a radiator.

That'll be nice, won't it? Make it a little place of your own.

So you won't have to put up with me all the time!

You just stand around gawping while others do all the work.

When are you going to grow up?

How much longer will you go crawling around the forest, playing like a kid?

Am I supposed to do everything? I work my arse off. Every day.

While you can't even lift a finger.

What'll we do when winter comes and the wood runs out? Freeze to death?

But maybe that's what you want. Me to die...so you'll be rid of me.

We have to stick together, you and me. You see that, don't you?

You look a mess. Let's get you cleaned up.

Mind your back, Eini...

It's got to last you a lifetime.

So it doesn't give out on you, too.

You'll need to take care of me, when I get old.

Come and sit down.

Come and sit down. There's coffee.

Hey! I said come and sit.

Stop that! Come here.

I guess you'll be coming in when you've calmed down.

I'll get dinner going.

What do you want to eat?

I'll get some elk meat ready.

You go and fetch some potatoes, and I'll get the oven on.

- Enjoy this, do you? - No.

Neither do I.

I guess you don't like elk. Have this instead.

Eat!

Again.

Swallow.

More.

If this is what you want, this is what you'll get.

You chose this, remember that.

Granny crossed no more oceans.

She planted no more forests, and sang no more songs.

But before she died, she taught me how to lick my own nose...

...bake disgusting cakes...

...and write letters backwards.

She also taught me that I am Eini.

...dousing the periphery to contain the blaze.

We've just had a report in that some people have become trapped in the fire.

They are firefighters, and are surrounded by flames.

Now we hear that villages are being evacuated.

Just how serious is this? Are human lives in danger?