Original subtitles

Mr. Ramadan, I had another thorough look at everything.

It's beyond fixing.

It's completely broken.

It's all going to collapse.

I can only advise you to do one thing.

Save yourself and your family!

I will never sleep on a couch again.

I also had a dream.

I'm hanging out with the X-Men. They show me their superpowers.

Then they ask me what I can do.

I don't know what to say.

Suddenly, I turn into a cat without fur.

A naked cat.

And then they tell me

they can't take me with them because I'm unpettable.

They abandon me.

Do you know what that is?

That's fear.

It means we're on the right track.

Only those who go where the fear is greatest

can move mountains.

From your lips to God's ears, Marius.

Hey, guys. Are you a co-production?

No, we're an independent commissioned production.

On commission then.

- I have a question. - Yes?

We are a free, independent production.

Here's my card.

- Who's the boss here? - That's Fisser.

He's on a business trip. He's not in.

Pity.

- Don't touch anything. - Yeah, sure.

- Coming through. - Let's see your card.

"Marius Jürgens, film producer. Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles."

You live in LA now?

A friend of mine lives there and he takes our mail.

- What mail? - Future, international mail.

Why isn't my name on here?

Because he doesn't know you. We'll just go there one day and then...

You can go there with your mother.

Why do you have to take everything personally?

That's important for us!

Hey! This is not a living room.

Okay, sorry.

Kida, one more thing. It's been a bumpy road.

I might've been a bit harsh.

But you really have such great energy and...

Your willpower is incredible.

It just swept me off my feet.

Thank you. I'm very grateful to you, Sabine.

I have a meeting soon, so I'll keep it short.

Good news. You got the green light.

Awesome! Thank you!

You're the best. I'm so grateful, I don't know what to say.

I kiss your life.

- We've got the green light! - Yes! Yes!

You're the best!

Yes! Green light!

Sami!

Dad?

Hey. I'm coming up. Open the door, okay?

- Mom says you can't come in. - Why?

She's taking a vacation from you.

Okay, listen.

Go back inside and tell her that you missed me terribly.

- You'll get 20 euros. - For real this time.

- Last time I got nothing. - I swear.

I'm coming up.

- Mom? - I won't hear it.

I just wanted to say...

Why can't Dad come? I miss him. Why can't he come?

- Did he offer you money? - No.

20 euros.

Come here.

You can keep the money if you tell him to leave.

Really?

- Okay. - Good.

- Hey, Sami. - 20 euros.

Mom says you're trouble. You can't come in for a few days.

- That's all? - You can try again then.

You really won't let me in?

Mom?

Dad asks if we're really not letting him in.

If Dad loves us, he'll leave now.

Karo, of course I love you. And I love my family and my children.

Please let me in. I'll never have him circumcised again.

If I do have him circumcised, I'll let you know first, I promise.

No! Just no!

Sorry, Dad.

Edith?

Your son is here.

- I don't have a son. - It's Marius. I am your son.

You forgot again?

- What do you want this time? - I, um...

This is Mrs. Schreyer and Mr. Fenske.

Why do you bring strangers into my house?

- They're from the care insurance. - The nursing care insurance?

The nursing care insurance.

They want you to get the help you need in your daily life.

And that's what I want too.

- I don't need help. - I will only ask a few questions.

If we find that you can handle your daily life in this beautiful house,

well, then we're all just happy.

- Yes. - Yes.

- May I sit down? - Of course, sit down.

I still get to decide that in my own house.

At your age, I could stand just fine.

- I would stand for hours if I had to. - Right.

Mrs. Kirchhoff,

tell me, please, what is your normal daily routine like?

That's none of your business.

Mrs. Kirchhoff, do you drink regularly?

- Yes, sadly. - Daily.

- For a long time already. - Fuck you!

Edith, no. No, no!

- Don't do this. - Leave me alone. Traitor!

You traitors! You whiners! Amateurs!

I strongly advise having her committed.

You don't know your jobs!

Careful.

You're just like your dad! You only survive by robbing your mother.

My father gave you this house.

And your jewelry.

And now that he can't defend himself, you insult him.

That hurts me.

Things like this are never easy for the relatives.

Unless her condition improves, you may need to take over guardianship.

- That would be best? - Yes.

Okay.

That big house, the responsibility...

You'll have to take care of it.

My God, how despicable!

Everything will be all right.

Two or three days at the most. I just can't go home right now.

Go to a hotel, Kida. People like you have private jets.

- Herrmann, can I stay over or not? - Of course!

Just not right now. It's bad timing. I have water damage.

You had that three years ago too.

Yes.

Old flat. What can I say?

What's going on here?

- Are you kidding? - Abi , we...

- We just wanted to dance. - In my barbershop?

Is it a disco now? Get out. Now!

Abi , sorry. I'll work overtime next week.

You should be ashamed.

Surely two young people can screw in peace on a Saturday night?

- Not in my shop you can't. - Sure. We can.

I'd like to screw somewhere else,

but you pay so little, he can't afford his own place.

Take him to yours.

To your senior editor? I live with Sabine.

We can go there though. I'll give her your regards.

Stay here today.

Go find something tomorrow.

- There you go. Have a nice evening. - Good evening.

- Who is it? - Hey, Marius.

Ah, partner!

You're the only one I'd open for at this hour.

Wait, I'll come down. Mi casa es tu casa .

Huyen, that nimble weasel, sent me this. I read it right away.

She incorporated all the editors' comments.

You have to read it. It's a first-class script.

Marius, there's a mistake.

It should read,

"An idea of Kida Ramadan, showrunner Kida Ramadan,

and producer Kida Ramadan."

I know, but why don't you just read it first?

Okay? You haven't even read it yet.

I don't need to. I basically wrote it.

Kida, we can talk about the credits later.

But for now, we're a team, okay? We share one vision, one dream.

Dreams are important.

That dream from the other day about the naked cat, I cracked it.

The naked cat is a goddess in ancient Egypt.

The daughter of Ra, the sun god.

We are this close to the gods. This close.

You'll understand in a moment.

Here you go.

The loan agreement. Proofread by the lawyers.

Everything's fine. All you have to do is sign and we're on.

Marius, I'll sign this now.

But you know full well

that your house and my house...

will now be in danger.

- I hope it works out. - Kida, you worry too much.

A producer only needs to do two things.

To exude confidence and to look good.

Man, you can't do either. You wear your mother's clothes.

What do you want?

10 WEEKS SINCE THE GREEN LIGHT BEFORE THE FIRST SHOOTING DAY

MICHAEL BERGER BABELSBERG FILM STUDIO EXPEDITOR

- Hey Michael. - Hey Kida, everything okay?

Guys, I can only give you two days. You're broke.

Guess what the Berlin Street normally costs.

A deal is a deal.

It's my son's birthday and he wants a message from Toni Hamady himself.

- What's his name? - Lennart. He turns eight.

- He watches "4 Blocks"? - Yeah, the little gangster.

All right, fine. Okay.

Hey Lennart, what's up? It's Kida... Sorry, again.

Hey Lennart, what's up? It's Kida, aka Toni Hamady of "4 Blocks".

Thank you for loving "4 Blocks". Maybe we can meet for a coke sometime.

Be nice to your Dad or Toni will come visit you.

Great. Thank you so much. He'll be excited.

One more thing.

If a tall, dashing man with gelled hair shows up...

- Eike? - Right, the studio manager.

Tell him it's the reshoot of "Fasanenstraße 4".

- Okay. - Will you remember "Fasanenstraße 4"?

Sure, you're an actor. Give him this. It should work.

Okay. Bureaucracy is your thing.

- All right, thank you. - Sure.

Well, then...

Ah. Give it to him.

Give it to him.

Great.

- Good luck. You'll be fine. - Sure.

Welcome. I'm glad you could all make it.

I'm glad we put such a great team together.

We're going to tear up the German film scene, I swear.

I'm really proud of finding such a great director in Heike Makatsch.

Thank you, Heike.

I also want to thank our camerawoman Clappi Lehmann.

She's been with me since day one and always puts up with me,

even if I'm quite irritable.

You take such great shots.

Thank you very much, Clappi.

I also want to thank Trystan Pütter,

who plays Einstein.

He stepped in at such short notice.

I know, not every actor does that, Trystan.

TRYSTAN PÜTTER ACTOR AND PARTNER OF HEIKE MAKATSCH

As I said, it's been a bumpy road to get here.

- But it's all uphill from here. - May...

Um... I'll keep it short.

Marius Jürgens, I am producer and creator

and I'd like to make a special mention

of Mr. Karl Lacher, our production manager,

who made this all possible.

I handed out little bags to each one of you.

Now, don't open it yet.

I want us to grow together as a team

and to approach each other spiritually.

There's an Indian ritual.

We use it to bless the shoot and protect the production from harm.

You may find that silly, but I ask each of you to just join in.

It won't hurt. So, let's open our bags.

Tarkan, don't.

And on three we'll throw the contents high up into the air.

Here we go, one...

two, and...

three!

Great.

Are you nuts? This is a furnished set!

Who'll clean up the petals?

Well, we can all collect our own petals. Don't worry about it.

Heike, don't.

- Heike, you really don't have to. - No problem.

Great idea, Marius.

Listen, I'm not sure this was the right thing to do.

I'm tired of this low budget shit.

There's Indian rituals and Ricky Gervais isn't here.

Honey, explain the rose petals.

I mean, it completely threw me off. What the hell was that about?

I'm feeling insecure anyway.

I mean, I feel like I only know the text.

But I don't understand it.

But I need to understand it and I'm not there yet.

- Fine. - Help me.

I know the feeling,

and you just have to trust in what you can do.

And you have to trust me.

Hey.

Do you trust me?

No, it only works if nothing is faster than light.

But in quantum theory, there are things that appear faster than light.

For example, when two quanta get entangled

and information is exchanged...

I mean, with some probability, then...

I have just googled it.

Come here. It's fine.

You don't have to understand all that.

It's enough to understand Einstein.

It's best if you get into your body when you're acting.

Close your eyes. We'll do it together.

- Let's join our bodies. - Oh, yes.

Oh God.

- That Marius, he's... - He's super weird.

Okay, so Einstein spent his life

trying to unify his big theories.

- Yes. - That almost broke him.

It drove him to despair.

That stuff is gold in the hands of a good-looking actor like you.

- Good actor like you. - You said good-looking.

- But I meant a good actor. - You said good-looking.

- You reduce me to my looks. - Honey!

- Don't "honey" me. - Come on.

You're the best actor in the world.

- Really? - Yes, you are.

Really?

- Sorry, Heike? - Kida.

Honestly, isn't this Nazi stuff a total cliché?

It's about the bigger picture, Kida.

Violence versus the mind, stupidity versus intelligence.

There are also dumb people who are normal.

Yes, of course, but...

We're in the year 1930 here. That's what this is about.

Society is still reeling from the Great Depression.

And the brown soup is starting to boil over.

That's what we want to tell. The beginning of the end.

I get it.

Look, it's frightening what an SA uniform can do to you.

You become a different person.

But still, it's well designed.

Hugo Boss, so...

It's got style.

- Kida, you look great. - Sure, thank you.

- Really. - Okay, I said thank you.

- I can't stand him. - I know.

It's horrible. He's a co-producer. You can't kick him out.

- He's even worse as an actor. - I know, I know.

Listen. We'll film him from behind in the 2-Shot.

We practically won't see his face.

- I'll take care of it. Okay? - Okay. Good.

This is where the finale takes place. Trystan?

- Can you focus? - I'm super focused.

Great. You come around the corner here.

- I have a question. - We'll talk details later.

You meet Kida. That is, Abdullah, playing the rabbi.

You know each other. You greet each other as friends.

While you're greeting, the Nazis can come.

- They'll come from way back there. - Nazis, walk all the way here.

Go. A bit faster please. Briskly.

Now, Marius...

You see Einstein.

And about there, you can shout your first provocation.

Hey, curly head!

Great. Slow down now. Build suspense.

I want to feel the danger.

You feel the danger.

Then you walk up to your mark.

Someone place a mark here.

You say your line.

Meanwhile, the worried pedestrians walk up from behind.

The situation reaches a climax and goes off the rails.

The fake director intervenes and then you have a go at Kida.

All right.

Great. Can you do your line?

Hey, curly head!

- You already did that. - Hey there, smarty-pants.

Explain your theory of relativity, relatively quickly.

- Or you'll get a massive beating. - What kind of shitty dialogue is that?

I thought this was something serious?

- That's really dumb. Honestly. - Kida. Please don't question my vision.

Or I'll get quite cranky, quite fast.

This is avant-garde.

This might be news to you, but streaming changed our world.

We can't film the way we did 20 years ago.

We need to reinterpret.

We have to break with narrative tradition.

Think of "La La Land".

- Heike, I still have... - Kida, how much longer?

Leo, until eight. Just check the call sheet.

- Some vegetables for the soul. - Oh, my favorites!

I wanted that lolly!

You're eating sweets, now?

Guys, we're in the middle of rehearsing!

Let's do a camera rehearsal. Back to the start.

- You wanted the lolly? - Yes.

- Take it then. - Can you hurry up?

Kida, put away the water bottle. It kills the whole vibe of the scene.

- She's so stressy. - Get a move on, everyone!

Someone take that bottle, please.

Are you in your positions?

It's incredibly hard.

I want to feel the danger that the Nazis represent.

Okay?

Everyone in position, and... please!

- Shlomi! - Einstein!

My old friend.

Hey! Curly head.

Are you talking about me?

Marius! You left your mark.

Yes, because it's gone.

It's a natural mark. Please memorize it.

- Marius, it's obvious. - Trystan, Einstein wasn't Austrian.

I have no idea how to approach this role.

Okay, the camera is still rolling. Let's keep filming.

Everyone back to the start.

That Makatsch is so nervous.

Why does this shit keep slipping?

- And, please! - Come on.

47 times pi.

- Shlomi! - Einstein.

My old friend.

Hey!

Curly head.

Are you talking to me?

So, smarty-pants,

explain your theory of relativity relatively quickly

or you'll get a massive beating.

How can you talk like that

to a world-class scientist like him?

What are you two going to do?

Music, start!

Your cue, Kida.

Dance!

A little more energy!

Nazis, stand still like rocks.

Kida, dance!

Okay. Cut.

- Kida! - That was great.

- What's wrong? - Sorry, but do I have to dance?

Kida, it's your idea. Your concept.

That you, as Abdullah, or as Shlomo, can't dance.

But you try not to let it show and you dance along anyway.

Then it gets messy. Isn't that your concept?

And Trystan...

What on earth is wrong with your tongue?

- What? - Your tongue.

- What? - Oh, God.

Sorry, but it's bright green. It's impossible.

- Make-up! - Make-up!

What happened?

I don't know.

- Look at that. - What's wrong?

We need the tongue.

- What did you do? - I don't know!

What did you eat?

Oh, the lollipop.

- I ate a lollipop. - A lollipop?

- She gave it to me. - Yeah, Leo did that.

- Can we rub it off? - It will take 20 minutes.

We need his tongue.

Sorry, Heike, but we have to take a break anyway.

It's getting cloudy. We can't film. It won't look right.

- Sorry. - Fuck!

Okay, let's take a break then! 15 minutes!

And take care of the tongue, please.

Look at it like Marcus Aurelius.

Some things are within your control. And some things are not.

- Oh. - Who is that?

- That's Eike. He runs the place. - Oh.

Are you two clowns shooting here without my permission?

We're here to reshoot "Fasanenstraße 4".

"Fasanenstraße 4"? Featuring you, Kida?

- Just as a favor. - Sure.

We'll have to talk about that.