Original subtitles

We lived in the Zeltnergasse at the time.

There was a confectionery shop across the street.

There was always a shop girl at the

door.

It was very hot in the summer.

We went to a hotel on the small

side.

It was all exciting, exciting and hideous.

And the day after tomorrow, when it was

still hot and beautiful, we went home via

the Karlsbrücke.

I was happy, however.

But this happiness was only because the whole

thing was not even more hideous, not even

dirtier.

You have to imagine, Milena, the girl had

said a little dirtiness in the hotel in

all innocence.

Not worth mentioning, actually.

But I knew at the same moment that

I would never forget it.

And at the same time I knew that

this hideous and dirty had dragged me into

the hotel with such insane violence.

And as it was then, it always remained.

And then I tried to study medicine.

But you know, Frank, I can't see blood.

That's impractical.

For a doctor, yes.

Besides, I can't stand the smell in the

anatomy rooms.

And I really can't dissect corpses.

That's getting more and more impractical.

And besides, I'm not interested in sick people.

Well, people are, but not the disease.

I have no need to help.

And then you dropped out of school.

And disappointed my father again.

But that was in the meantime accustomed.

To disappoint my father is my life's task.

And I fulfill it with the dedication of

a good daughter.

How are you getting along with your dad?

I want to hope he's doing well.

He's doing very well.

How do I get along with him?

I wrote him a huge letter two and

a half years ago.

I write to my father every week, too.

He wants it that way.

No, no, not such a letter.

I have over a hundred pages for him.

A hundred pages?

Yes.

And what did he say?

He didn't read it.

A hundred pages and he didn't read it?

No.

But mainly because I didn't give him the

letter.

You have...

Frank, what is this nonsense?

Do you want to read it?

Me?

I would give it to you.

You are much younger than me.

And you are healthy.

You are healthy, too.

And you don't look particularly old to me.

I'm much older than I already was.

And unfortunately not healthy at all.

A little cough, Frank.

I think it's nice how you always call

me Frank.

Yes.

I look at you and I see a.

Frank.

Franz.

Whoever reads your signature sees Frank there.

And I asked myself in your first letter,

why does he sign with Frank?

Well, he should know, I thought.

And I also thought, why does he keep

writing me new and new letters?

It was as if he was always there.

No matter where I look, Frank is sitting

there and talking to me.

I didn't want to be annoying.

You weren't annoying, it was...

Ormoizzi.

Like bewildering?

Yes.

Because they are not just any letters you

write, but letters that only you can write.

Enough, Oskar Roth?

Sometimes I feel like I have seven lives

behind me.

But you're so young.

And you're so old.

When my dad didn't want to pay my

bills anymore, I started to steal more often.

I guess it was also because of morphine.

Have you tried morphine, Frank?

No.

I can recommend it.

You recommend morphine to me, Milena?

Urgently.

At least when the use of his account

became impossible, I stole more often.

I would also recommend stealing.

It's really amazing how much fun stealing is.

Where did you steal?

From all kinds of businesses.

First I was caught, then I was brought

to court, and then I was locked up.

You're joking.

No.

It wasn't long.

It was half as wild.

Half as wild as you?

Frank, it's strange.

All these letters, and now we're going here,

and I can ask you something, not just

in my mind, and you don't answer me

immediately, but right away.

How long were you in prison?

Not even a month.

Psychiatry was much worse, especially since I'm not

crazy.

You are my witness, or am I crazy?

I think few people are more sensible than

you.

I wouldn't say that again, but I'm not

crazy.

And all because Dad wanted me to give

up on Ernst.

Give up on Ernst?

Yes.

Oh, Ernst.

Of course, Ernst Pollack.

And I said to him, I'll never give

up on Ernst.

You have to lock me up.

And then he did exactly that.

He locked me up.

And he wanted to expel me, too.

You can't imagine the drama how Ernst wanted

to duel with Dad, but luckily he didn't

accept it.

Why not?

That's as far as it goes that I

hit myself with a little Jew when Dad

said it.

That wasn't nice, of course, but luckily for

Ernst, because Dad is very strong and very

good with the saber.

And Ernst, well, you know him, yes.

I know him.

Yes, and Ernst, he was really desperate and

he acted like a role model.

But when Dad didn't want to duel with

him, he said, well, then there's only one

thing left.

Then we have to get married now.

And then your father gave up?

Yes, he had to.

Because I was just about to turn one.

Because if you expel a minor and she

turns one, then she stays expelled.

But if you don't make it before you

turn one, then you've had bad luck.

Then she's standing there, mute and adult, and

you can't do anything but watch and swear.

And Dad noticed that and saw that the

time was running out and he said, well,

I agree.

Then, kids, get married.

Well, then we got married and moved here

to Vienna.

The forest of Vienna is beautiful.

The forest of Vienna is beautiful.

Do you like Vienna?

You first.

Not at all.

A dying village.

But the forest.

Yes, the forest.

Come on, Frank, we want to have fun.

Yes, Milena.

Or do you have fun with all your

translators?

Right now.

If you keep going straight and then turn

left at the fork, there's an excursion restaurant

that has the best liver soup.

Do you eat there with all the writers

you translate?

Right now.

I think you're only productive as long as

you're young.

Because then you always have soulful adventures.

As soon as you...

How can I say this?

As soon as the pain doesn't come to

an end, you stop and live from what's

left.

Her youth was so bad.

It was so beautiful.

And weren't we only you?

So you want to be 16 again?

No way.

I don't even know how I survived that.

I don't even know how I survived that.

Can I have a glass of water?

Is my beer bad?

I like to pay for the beer.

Just a glass of water, please.

I'll have one, too.

Ready?

No.

No wonder you're so thin.

I'm not that thin.

I know.

Being thin worries me a lot.

You don't look bad, Frank.

It doesn't have to be uncomfortable.

Rens and I go to the community kitchen

for journalists.

6.50 for a lunch.

It stinks there.

All the bad fat.

What's there?

Boiled turkey and beans and a semolina and

a crunchy salami You can ask for that

for 6 kroner.

And even for that I had to go

clean.

Clean?

You don't really go clean.

You have to eat.

But your father couldn't...

I'd rather starve than take money from my

father.

Why do you eat like that?

It's called slurping.

It's the healthiest way to eat.

You have to chew 40 times every bite.

Nice weather.

Do we have wine?

How is it in our town?

Good wine, meat, nice weather.

We're doing well.

Where are you from?

I live in Vienna.

He lives in Prague.

Just a short visit.

If he doesn't stay longer.

I have to go to the office tomorrow.

Prague?

Just once.

I didn't like it.

Too many Jews.

You'd get along well with my father.

They're everywhere.

I mean, in Vienna it's fine, but at

least in Ljubljana and Schönau it was better.

In Prague the Jews are very cheeky.

Yes.

Sometimes I want to put you all in

the drawer of the laundry.

Then we wait and pull out the drawer

and see if you're all suffocated.

If not, we close the drawer and continue

until the end.

Until you're suffocated.

I agree.

You said it well with the drawer.

I think so, too.

Can I ask you for something?

Yes, sure.

Let's not be friends today.

Even better, let's not be acquaintances.

It would be best if we didn't talk

to each other at all.

How do you arrange that, good sir?

What kind of cowardice is that?

The stupid women.

They're everywhere already.

Cheeky Czech whores.

They're everywhere already.

You should drink the beer, Frank.

It gives you strength.

My doctor says so, too.

The millstone.

Your doctor's name is millstone?

Yes.

Imagine.

Can't it be something better?

Peeing, drooling, all the dirty whores.

He's got me on the neck.

He's ten times harder.

He says I should drink beer and then

I'll be healthy again.

And maybe he's right.

It was a country.

What?

It was a country.

Now it has its own countries.

It's a bad thing.

And is the millstone a good doctor?

Unfortunately, no.

But he could still be right.

Even bad doctors are sometimes right and good

doctors are often wrong.

Bad, as I said.

It's just the way it is.

The best doctor I had and the best

friend was my housemaid, Mrs. Kummer.

Cheers.

What did you suffer from, Milena?

I had the refined idea of poisoning myself.

Milena.

Oh, come on.

Everyone has that at some point.

I was unconscious for a week.

A week?

Maybe it was just a few days.

Who knows?

I don't know.

I was unconscious.

But not from the poison, but from the

sadness.

I hadn't taken any poison yet.

I just wanted to.

But every noon Mrs. Kohler shook me and

brought me back to life.

In my dim state I only saw this

round, wounded face and the hands that smelled

of petroleum and stuffed Burmese dumplings in my

mouth.

That's terrible.

Yes.

But thanks to the dumplings I was strong

enough to express all the sadness.

Why were you so sad?

It was because of Ernst.

He thought he needed other women.

Did he admit that?

No.

But I realized I wouldn't take poison because

of that.

But not out of fear of death, but

out of fear of Mrs. Kohler's dumplings.

Come on, let's go.

Not without paying.

The host is not here.

We can just go.

But we still have to pay.

Are you rich, Frank?

I'm not.

But we can't...

That would be...

Theft?

You would really...

I told you I stole in Prague.

Last year, when Ernst and I had no

money, I worked as a housekeeper for two

actors.

Two very bad actors.

I took their money from the shop and

they arrested me.

But the judge only gave me a few

days because I was only 23.

To prove?

No, I was already in prison.

But it was better heated than in the

apartment and the food was better than in

the community kitchen.

By the way, I just don't understand what

ownership should be.

If I have money, I give it away

and if I don't, I steal it.

As far as I'm concerned, communism has long

been a reality.

Everything belongs to me and what belongs to

me belongs to everyone.

Come on, let's go.

Come on, Frank.

I'm going home.

Come with me, there's a meadow.

Come on, we'll rest there.

You know, I love that you say that.

If you can get by with luck, then

it has to happen to me.

And if a person who is destined to

die can stay alive then I will stay

alive.

When I translated your story, I couldn't stop

thinking about who that man is who writes

something so unheard of.

And when your letters came, and Ernst also

appreciates you so much, don't be jealous.

Ernst and I have been together for so

long.

I can never be jealous.

Either the world is so tiny or we

are so huge.

But you and I, we fill it to

the brim.

Look around you.

The fact that the man appreciates me is

like the love of the rich for poverty.

Would you come to Vienna?

I am in Vienna.

Living in Vienna, I mean.

Would you go back to Prague again?

Why not?

You wouldn't need an apartment, new furniture, not

much.

Two desks, a big closet.

That's what our first and last argument would

be about.

Not that one, I'd say.

It's too big.

Such a big closet is indecent.

And you'd say, it has to be him.

And then I'd say, choose between him and

me.

And then you'd say, right away.

Frank, closet, that rhymes.

So I'll choose the closet.

Good, I'd say, and slowly go down the

stairs.

Which stairs?

There's always a staircase.

At least you can rely on that.

So I go down the stairs to drown

myself.

And if I haven't found the Danube Canal,

I'm still alive today.

That they built such a big city where

you only need a room.

Come on, I want to hear something from

you.

Karl saw a poster on a street corner

with the following inscription.

On the racetrack in Clayton, from six o

'clock in the morning to midnight, staff is

being for the theater in Oklahoma.

The big theater of Oklahoma is calling you.

It's calling you only today, only once.

If you miss you'll miss it forever.

Whoever thinks about his future belongs to us.

Everyone is welcome.

If you want to become an artist, get

in touch.

We are the people of the theater that

everyone can need, everyone in their place.

There were many people in front of the

poster, but there didn't seem to be much

attention.

There were so many posters, no one believed

in the posters anymore.

Go on.

He's going to the circus.

But what will happen then?

I don't know yet.

He's welcome.

That's all.

That's enough.

Now you.

But that's nothing.

Just a play.

A fuiton.

No comparison to...

Is that okay?

Yes.

It seems to me that right now two

people are getting married to be happy that

they have the opportunity to be happy I

understand Czech.

How nice.

Two people are getting married to

live together.

But why is there still for this irreplaceable

gift?

Why can't people live together with a real

unadorned Yes.

Unadorned Thank you.

With a real unadorned size and prefer to

choose a lie.

Why do they promise each other something that

they can't fulfill?

That's true.

You recognize him in the first half hour

of a conversation for the first time and

for the second time after ten years of

living together.

What is it?

Read on.

Oh, come on.

Please.

I think besides that it's almost impossible that

two people before the wedding could guess who

they are and who they are getting married

to.

The biggest promise that a woman can give

to a man and a man to a

woman is the sentence you say to a

child.

I won't give you up.

I won't give you up.

Not more than I will love you until

death divides us or I will be faithful

to you until death.

I won't give you up.

There's everything in it.

There is...

Do your vermin, dobre.

Read on.

No, that's not it.

That's all nonsense.

Feuilleton Gerrera.

In Feuilleton you can claim anything or the

opposite.

But if that's the case I won't give

you up.

If you don't give him up and he

doesn't give you up what will become of

our closet?

I don't know either.

I've really experienced a lot.

I was once pregnant, you know?

I'm not serious.

Did the child have to...

I've seen almost everything but this is new

to me too.

This?

I've never met a person like you and

I suppose it's because you are that there's

never been someone like you.

Shall we continue?

Have a nice day.

Have a nice day.

Where to?

If we may ask.

For a walk?

Lovely weather.

Couldn't it be better?

The weather.

One wonders if it even matters whether it's

even justified whether it's even allowed that the

weather is so beautiful even though life is

so hard and the chances of happiness are

so low.

This weather is deceiving you.

What do you want?

Nothing.

Really?

Nothing?

If we wanted something we could negotiate.

But since we don't want anything there's no

asking and no offering.

Who are you?

The opposing forces the obstacles two walkers Have

a nice day.

Did you

hear that?

What?

Frank?

Frank?

Are you all right?

I'm fine.

Come, I'll hold you.

No?

Yes.

But?

So with the girl from the hotel and

the women from the SUA but not with.

Milena?

You know about the girl?

From your letter, Frank?

Or should I pretend you didn't write it?

That would be brave.

But that's what it is.

That's exactly what it is.

Half an hour in bed or in the

grass all dirty.

It's not dirty, Frank.

Look nothing is dirty.

You can do that with someone you like.

It's even nicer if you like each other.

And someone you love?

Yes.

Like the sea overflows a pebble on its

bottom so I overflow my love.

What comes to your mind?

It would be so much easier if if

you would suspect me.

If I didn't care who you were.

What if I wasn't afraid?

Afraid of what?

We are already afraid.

Now?

Don't you feel it?

Yes.

I think so.

Is it gone?

The fear?

Almost.

But tomorrow it will be back.

I'm part of it.

It's right.

The fear is the best thing about me.

You're funny, Frank.

We don't have to hurry.

We have time.

We have years.

We could be in Prague or in Berlin.

What Mussi offered you can still be worth

it even if he's no longer with Fischer.

During the day we sleep in separate rooms

and in the evening we eat together.

But then it's night.

Stop it.

What you have during the day you should

have during the night.

That's how it's demanded.

It's not demanded, Frank.

Either it happens or it doesn't.

And if it doesn't happen it's not bad.

And we have everything in this direction.

We had everything.

Yes.

Everything.

Yes.

And your husband?

Ernst will understand.

After everything that happened.

Maybe he's relieved.

I wouldn't be surprised.

When Ernst comes back from the trip I'll

talk to him.

I just have one request.

Can you be there in Vienna?

When I talked to him I...

I can't be there alone.

I need you.

Of course.

So you'll be in Vienna in the hotel.

I'll talk to Ernst and then I'll come

to you.

I'll be there.

Next week?

Next week doesn't go well.

I have a business trip to Merisch-Ostra.

Tell him you're sick.

I can't lie in office.

Then after the business trip.

If so, it's only on the weekend.

Then on the weekend.

But wait.

It's not that easy.

I have to be at the office on

Monday morning and I can't leave before Saturday

afternoon.

Then you're not at the office Then

get sick.

And if someone sees you in Zug or

in Vienna on the street then say you're

visiting your sick aunt.

Everyone has a sick aunt.

But mine is already dead.

You don't understand what I mean?

I do.

Even if you would believe me.

Even if I could tell the director without

laughing.

Oskar would be with her.

My aunt wouldn't need me.

Who is Oskar?

Exactly.

Who is Oskar?

The aunt is the aunt.

But Oskar at least he's with her.

Hopefully he won't get sick too the hermit.

Look.

I can't lie.

I just can't.

You can't?

Never?

The office is not a stupid thing.

It's well it's more fantastic than stupid.

But it's my life and I could get

rid of it and I would for you.

But until now it's my life and I

can't deal with it.

I work less than anyone but everyone there

is nice to me.

I can't lie like that.

Just like that?

The office is like a living man for

me.

He's strange to me but we're connected.

I can't lie to him.

You can't.

Then it has to be that way.

Milena there is a possibility.

I drive Saturday afternoon with the express train

and arrive at 2 o'clock in Vienna.

Meanwhile you have already bought the Sunday express

ticket to Prague on Friday.

You have telegraphed me that you have it.

Without this telegram that is very important.

Without this telegram I can't drive away from

Prague.

If you wait for me we have four

hours together.

7 o'clock Sunday morning I drive away

again.

Or wait wait even better you come to.

Gmünd.

Gmünd Gmünd Gmünd Gmünd I can arrive at

7.28 on Saturday evening and on Sunday

I have to right drive away at 10

.46 so we have about 15 hours.

Even better even better in the afternoon at

4.38 there is a train to Prague

with which I arrive on time before Monday

morning.

That would be 21 hours Milena.

Great Frank.

But there is a catch.

The Gmünd train station is Czech the city

Austrian.

You may need a passport there you should

inquire.

I'll do that Frank.

The doctor is very dependent on me.

Whether you believe it or not he can't

even clean his boots alone and he can't

cook either and with the coal oven he

can't do it at all.

He can only write which he never does.

I have to the right way.

You will probably say there is no right

way in life only wrong.

But I'm not saying anything except this don't

talk about his boots and not that he

can't do without you.

If you go on he will either live

with another woman or retire and in any

case his boots will be better cleaned than

now.

I'm not fighting against your husband don't believe

that.

No.

The fight takes place in yourself it can't

be otherwise I would fight against your husband

I I would have lost right away and

his disloyalty I mean what is that as

long as he stays on your common path

he goes a little further left and you

go next to him and say I won't

give you away.

Are you looking for reasons that I should

stay with him?

I'm just describing how things are.

I can't do otherwise.

Things are the way we want them and

just because I said it would be hard

to teach him that it will be hard

because he needs me for a long time

but that doesn't mean It's a marriage and

it's insoluble especially sacramental.

Sacramental?

We all are bound in sacraments as I

am also insolubly connected with I don't even

know I don't know with what but but

the look of this wife is often on

me I feel that and she says I

won't give you away.

That's just talk nothing is insoluble Marriages are

always solved it's the most normal in the

world and if you don't want to be

with me then just say Milena I don't

want it after all But I want it.

Yes But Sometimes I feel as if I

have such weight that it pulls me into

the depths of the sea and everyone who

wants to catch me save me leaves it

again not out of weakness also not out

of hopelessness but simply out of anger You

talk and talk and everything that comes out

of you is literature It would be nice.

Most of the time when I write nothing

comes out and most of the time only

bad things Stop making yourself small Franz Kafka

the self-smaller If then already very small.

Very funny I'm not even small but I'm

thin and weak Yes thin and small and

weak and so insignificant and no one would

leave you for someone else You could never

win You carry that in front of you

and we all help you Max, your sister

I'm sure also your ex-fiancee from back

then also your predecessor who you would never

lie to just because of a woman We

all ask ourselves what to do with the

poor Franz how to help him because we

all believe in your invention of the poor

bad boy You even turn yourself into a

beetle so that you can be left alone

and forced to do nothing You are a

terrible giant You don't take a step away

from your path and don't make the slightest

compromise while we all are helplessly forced to

live Yes, and then Franz Kafka doesn't make

any compromises He doesn't finish his work like

others doesn't fight until you can read it

doesn't carry it to the palace but he

puts it away and leaves it in the

drawer because compromises are for others not for

the big Franz Kafka who is supposedly so

small and so weak He lives for writing

but finishing would be under his dignity and

under his claim only one power he bows

down to this world and what is it?

What is this power?

Which one?

The shitty train schedule I don't know I

don't know I don't know I

don't know I

don't know I don't know I don't know.

I don't know I don't know I

don't know I don't know I don't

know I don't know I don't know I

don't know I don't know I don't know

I don't know I don't know I don't

know I don't know I don't know I

don't know I don't know I don't know

I don't know I don't know I don't

know It's

getting cold I am reading a Chinese book.

Wakka Pioneer a ghost book Nice title Yes.

There lies a girl on the merit bed

and in the independence of death, he says,

I have tried to defend my life against

the will to end it.

He would have needed Mrs. Kohl as a

puppet.

Then a pupil laughs at his teacher, who

only speaks of death.

Only of death?

Who does that remind me of?

You always speak of death, but you don't

die.

And the teacher answers, and yet I will

die.

I'm just singing my final song.

One sings shorter, the other longer.

I'm not sure I understand you, Franz.

What I mean is, it's right to smile

at the hero who lies on the opera

stage with a death wound and sings an

aria.

An opera is ridiculous.

But it's also wrong to smile at him,

because that's not how it works.

We lie and bleed and sing for years.

Thank you.

Schurl, come back to the page.

Make room.

So Mrs. Gemahl can sit down.

Thank you, but it's not about my wife.

I beg your pardon, sir.

I'm just his translator.

But the gentleman understands us, Dorel.

The question is whether we understand him.

Are you going to the café today?

I don't think so.

Nobody knows I'm in town.

Although, it's still early.

You could look at the screen.

Werfel is probably there.

What are you doing today?

I have to finish the article for the.

Tribune.

The one about marriage?

I think I'll call it The Devil at

the Gate.

That's a good article.

How do you want to finish it?

I'll write that in search of a better

fate, you often lose more than you gain.

You become poorer.

What comes is always worse than what was.

That's a sad ending.