Original subtitles

Subtitles by Nostromo

Are you nearly through?

I'll soon be finished

Good evening, Mr. Starck.

Good evening,Mr Consul

It continues to be warm.

Yes, it's so hot, and we've been making preserves all day long.

Is that so - is it a good fruit year?

Fairly good...we had a cold spring but the summer's been intolerably hot...

We city folk have been made to feel it.

I came from the country yesterday...

when the evenings get dark, you long to come inside

Neither I nor my wife have been outside the city limits.

The business is at a standstill, but you must stay at your post.

... get ready for winter.

First there's the strawberries, wild strawberries

then comes the cherries

then the raspberries, gooseberries, the melons

and the whole autumn harvest.

Tell me something, Mr. Starck, are they going to sell this house?

No, not that I've heard!

Are there many people living here?

I think there are ten families counting those that live on the court side...

but none of them know each other...

there's very little gossip in this house...

...it seems rather as if they want to hide themselves.

But it's called the silent house!

Yes, they don't do much talking here.

But many a drama has been played out here.

Tell me, Mr. Starck, who lives here, one flight up, over my brother?

Up there where the red curtains are shining...

that's where the tenant died last summer

Then it stood empty for a month...

and about a week ago a couple moved in...

but I haven't seen them...

I don't know their names I don't think they even go out

What makes you ask,consul?

Oh - I don't know!...

The red curtains look like theatre curtains

were you rehearse cruel dramas

so I imagine!

There's a phoenix-palm there

like an iron whip throwing its shadow on the curtain

If you could only see some human figures.

I've seen plenty of them, but only late at night!

Were they women - or men?

There were both kinds.

But now I must go down to my pots

Now I'm coming very soon

Louise is sewing a button on my glove.

Do you intend to go down town then?

We might walk down a bit.

Whom were you talking with?

It was only the confectioner.

Oh, yes, he's a pleasant man...

my only companion here all summer, for that matter.

Thanks, my child,you can leave the windows open,there are no mosquitoes

I'm coming now.

- Good evening Louise. - Good evening, Consul.

Have you really sat here at home every evening, never been out?

No,never

You know these light summer evenings make me sick

It's beautiful in the country, of course,

...but in the city it has the effect of being unnatural, almost terrible.

When they light the first street lamp I feel satisfied again

and be able to go for my evening walk

Then I get tired, and sleep better

But tell me, why do you stay here in the city

when you could be in the country?

I don't know! I've become fixed.

I'm bound to these rooms

by the memories.

I feel peace and protection only in there.

In there!

It's interesting to see your home from outside

I fancy I see someone else wandering about in there

Think of it - I've wandered in there for ten years.

Is it ten years now?

Yes, the time flies, when it's really something positive

but while it's passing it seems long.

The house was new at that time

and I remember them laying the parquet floor

in the drawing-room... saw them paint the panels and doors

and she chose the wall-papers that are still on.

Yes, that's the way it was!

The confectioner and I are the oldest tenants in the house

and he too has had his vicissitudes.

He's the sort of human being who never has any luck.

Always in some tangle.

It's as if I carried his burden

and lived his life

Parallel with my own one

Does he drink then?

No! No is he not negligent

but he has no drive.

Yes, he and I know the chronicles of this house.

They've driven in here with wedding chariots...

and out with hearses.

and that letter-box on the corner

It has received secrets.

Didn't you have a death here in the middle of the summer?

Yes, we had a typhoid case, it was a bank clerk.

And then the apartment was empty for a month.

The coffin came out first, then the widow,then the children

and the furniture last.

Was that one flight up?

Yes, up there,

the new tenants, whom I don't know yet.

Haven't you even seen them?

I never ask about the tenants

Those who offers themselves voluntarily I accept

without being involved or misuse them

for I'm careful about the peace of old age.

Yes, old age!

I think it's beautiful to be old...

for then you haven't very much of the record left to make.

Yes that's nice

You know,I'm balancing my book with my life and myself

I've already begun to pack for the journey.

Solitude can you be ambiguous,

but when no one has any claim on you,

then freedom is won.

The freedom to come and go, to think and act

to eat and sleep according to your own choice.

They're stirring up there in their room,do you see that?

Yes, it's so mysterious, and it's worse at night.

Sometimes they have music, but very bad.

Sometimes I imagine that they play cards

and late after midnight, cabs arrive and pick up

I never complain about the tenants

for then they revenge and nobody improve themselves

No,it's best not to know anything!

What a enormous post that fellow had!

It seemed to be circulars!

But who is that man?

I don't know,musician?

It couldn't be anyone but the new tenant one flight up.

That it was him,how he looked like!

I don't know,musician,manager

a bit operatic

bordering on vaudeville, gambler..

Adonis, a little of each

With that white skin he ought to have black hair

but it was brown... it was dyed or else a wig

A smoking jacket at home suggests lack of wardrobe

and the movements of his hands as he dropped the letters

suggested shuffling, cut and deal.

Always waltzes, perhaps they have a dancing school.

but almost always it's the same waltz... what's it called?

Upon my word, if it isn't... "La Pluie d'Or"...

I know that by heart.

Have you had..

Yes, that one and "Alcazar".

Are you still satisfied with Louise?

Very much so.

Isn't she going to marry?

Not to my knowledge.

No sweetheart around?

-Why do you ask that? -Maybe you consider?

I? NO thanks!

I was not too old last time I married, considering we had a child immediately...

But I am now, and I wish to grow older in peace...

Do you think I'd want a mistress in my house

to make away with my life, my honour, and my goods?

Your life and goods remained for you.

Was there any doubt about the honour?

Don't you know that?

What are you trying to say?

She murdered your honour when she left.

I've been walking for five years as murdered without knowing it

You didn't know?

No but now you'll know in two words the real circumstances...

When, at the age of fifty,I married again a comparatively young girl...

whose affection I had won,and who without fear or compulsion gave me her hand

I promised her that when my age became heavy for her youth

I should go my way, restoring her freedom.

When in good time the child came

and neither of the partners cared for any more of that sort

and after our daughter began to grow away from me,

and I felt I was unnecessary,so I left

that is to say...I took a boat,

as we were staying on an island

Thus ended that fairytale

I'd kept my promise, and saved my honour...

what else?

Yes, but she considered her honour attacked,

because she wanted to be the one to leave,

and that's why she murdered you,with silent accusations,

that you never knew about.

Did she accuse herself?

-No -She had no reason to

Then there's no danger.

Do you know anything about hers or the child's fate?

I don't want to know anything!

No,after I'd gone through all the agonies of the loss,

I considered the matter ended,

and as only the beautiful memories remained in our apartment, I remained.

Think that I got out of all that with my life intact!

And now it's all over!

Shall we take a turn on the Avenue?

Let's do that, and we'll see them lighting the first street lamp.

Louise...

-Please give give me my stick! -Oh,yes

The light summer stick, just to hold in my hand.

Moonlight tonight!

The August moon?

I believe it's really a full moon.

Here, Sir!

Thank my child

We'll be gone for a while, can't say how long.

Good evening, Miss...

Oh,Starck

It's rather warm...

Have your gentlemen gone?

Yes, they've gone down the Avenue

The first evening that the master has been out this summer.

We old ones love dusk.

It hides so many faults in ourselves and in others too.

Do you know, Miss, that my old woman is going blind

but she doesn't want an operation!

There's nothing worth looking at she says...

and sometimes she wishes she was deaf too.

Yes,it sometimes feel that way.

You lead a quiet and beautiful life in there

in prosperity and without worry.

I never hear a loud voice nor the slamming of a door...

perhaps a little too quiet for a young lady like you?

Not at all.

You never have callers either?

No, only the consul comes...

and I've never seen such brotherly love.

Where are you going, my girl?

I'm just going for a little walk!

That's al-right, but come back soon.

Do you think your master still mourns his loved ones?

He doesn't mourn,nor does he miss them and want them back

but he lives with them in memories...

He has just possessed the beautiful ones

But the daughter's fate must worry him sometimes...

Yes, he must fear the mother's marrying again...

then it depends whom the step-father would be.

I've been told that the wife refused all support at first

but after five years had passed she sent a lawyer

with a long bill amounting to thousands.

I don't know about that.

I believe she's more beautiful in his memory

Excuse me... does Mr. Fischer live here?

Mr. Fischer? Not that I know of.

Fischer? Perhaps it's Fischer who lives one flight up.

Ring one flight up

One flight up.Thanks.

Now it'll be a sleepless night again...

when they carry up bottles.

What sort of people are they? Why are they never seen?

They must go out the back way... I've never seen them.

But I hear them!

I've heard them too

Corks popping, doors slamming

and other sorts of banging perhaps.

That was lightning!

One, two, three...

They're just summer lightning

There's no thunder.

Starck, dear, come down and help me melt the sugar.

I'm coming, old girl.

See...we're making jam

Come on!

Yes,yes

I'm coming! I'm coming!

Hasn't my brother returned?

No,Sir

He went in to telephone, I should go ahead

Well, he'll be here soon of course.

What's this?

What does it say?

"Boston Club after midnight - at Fischers"

Who's Fischers, do you know, Louise?

A man was just here with wine...

looking for someone called Fischer one flight up.

One flight up, Fischers!

Red curtains lit up like a cigar glowing at night...

I believe you've had bad company come into the house.

What's a Boston Club?

It might be something quite innocent

But in this case I'm not so sure.

But how did the post card...?

It was he who dropped it a while ago...

I'll put them in this box.

Fischer?

I've heard that name before

in connection with something I've forgotten.

What in heaven's name are they doing up there?

Killing each other?

There's another scream... in the stairway.

Is it really you, my one-time sister-in-law?

How did you get here in this house,

and why didn't you give my brother his peace?

I believed he'd moved...

It's not my fault.

Don't be afraid

You mustn't be afraid of me,Gerda

Can I help you?

What's going on up there?

He struck me!

Is your little girl with you?

Yes.

She has a step-father then?

Yes!

Put up your hair and calm yourself,

and I'll try to straighten this out...

but spare my brother.

He hates me, of course.

No, he doesn't hate you

Where's he now?

Out walking on the avenue,

He'll soon be here with his evening paper.

But you must go back up to your...

I can't do that

I can't return to that man.

Who is he?

And what ?

He's been...a singer.

"Has been", and is now?An adventurer!

Yes.

Keeps gambling rooms.

Yes.

And the child? ...a decoy!

Don't say that!

-It's horrible -Well

You're too harsh!

Yes, we must handle unclean things delicately...so delicately!

But a righteous matter can be dirtied.

Why did you defile his honour?

Why did you deceive me

into being your accomplice?

He deserted me... and that was an indignity

Not for you! Your youth saved you from humiliation.

He should have allowed me to leave him.

Why? Why did you want him to have the dishonour?

One is supposed to have it

I can't follow your thoughts, which only turn on hate...

But if we leave that matter and think about saving his child.

What shall we do then?

She is my child.

The law gave her to me, and my husband is her father.

Quiet...he's coming.

Yes,he

Come here

and see your home!

How he has kept everything just as you arranged it.

Don't be afraid... he can't see us here in the dark

The light blinds him you see.

Just think how he's lied to me.

In what respect?

He hasn't aged any! He just grew tired of me.

See the collar he wears and the very latest scarf!

I'm sure he has a mistress!

You can see her portrait on the mantel between the candelabras.

That's me...and the child!

Does he still love me?

The memory of you.

How strange!

-He's looking at us. -Stand still!

He's looking right in my eyes.

Stand still! He can't see you!

He looks like a dead man.

Wasn't he murdered?

Don't say that!

Karl Fredrik!

Are you alone?

I thought...

Are you really alone?

As you can see!

The heat and the scent of the flowers have made me dizzy.

Now I'll just finish my paper.

Now, about you... do you want me to go up with you?

Perhaps. But there'll be a lot of trouble.

But the child must be saved...

And I am a legal practitioner

Very well, for the child's sake. Follow me.

Karl Fredrik!...

Come and play chess!

Karl Fredrik!

Karl Fredrik

Where did my brother go?

He was outside just now.

He can't be far away.

What a dreadful noise they're making up there.

It's as if they were tramping on my head.

Now they are pulling out the bureau drawers

as if they intended to move, run away perhaps.

If Louise knew to play chess

I can...a little...

Well...if you only know how to move the pieces...it's something.

Sit down, my child!

They are making such a clatter up there

the chandelier shakes,

and below the confectioner is stoking his fire.

I think I'll move out soon.

And yet,you ought to move, Sir, I've thought for a long time

And yet?

It isn't good to sit too long time among old memories.

Why not?

When the time has passed are all memories beautiful.

But you might live twenty years more,Sir

and that'll be too long to live in memories

that fade nevertheless

and some day perhaps may change colour.

How wise you are, little child!

Begin now...

Move a pawn.

But not the queen's...

then you'll be check mate in two moves

Then I'll begin with the knight

Just as dangerous, my dear.

But I think I'll begin with the knight anyway

Good! Then I'll move my bishop

It's Mr. Starck with the biscuits.

He walks as quietly as a little mouse.

It was not yesterday since Mr Starck saw this apartment

Well, it's ten years ago.

When you came with the wedding cake.

Does it look the same?

Just the same...

The palms have grown of course.

Otherwise quite the same.

And will be so..

until you come with the funeral cake.

After a certain age nothing changes...

Everything comes to a standstill

One slides along

like a sledge down a slope.

Yes, that's the way it is!

And in that way it's fine

No love, no friends...

just a bit of company in the solitude.

and then human beings become just people...

nothing that intrudes the personality

Cheers

And then you loosen like an old tooth

without pain and without being missed.

There's Louise, for example...

a young and beautiful girl

through whose presence I experience satisfaction

like that of a work of art

you don't expect to own.

Nothing disturbs our relationship!

My brother and I associate with each other like two elderly gentlemen

who never become too familiar

or force into each other's confidences

Through keeping a neutrality with people

you get a certain distance

And at a distance we always make a better impression!

In a word, I'm satisfied with old age

and its peace and quiet.

Louise!

The washing has just come back and I must check it.

Well, Mr. Starck, won't you sit down and talk

or perhaps you can play chess?

I can't stay away from my pots

and at eleven I must fire the bake-oven.

However,thanks for your hospitality.

If you should see my brother,

ask him to come in and keep me company.

Yes,I will do that,you can be certain I will do that

The peace and quiet of old age!

Louise

Louise

Can't you postpone whatever you're doing about the washing?

That's impossible...

The washerwoman's in a hurry and her husband and children are waiting for her.

Thanks

Is that you, Karl Fredrik?

No, it's the postman.

Excuse my coming in but the doors are open.

Is there a letter for me?

Only a post-card.

Mr. Fischer again..

Boston Club.

That's him up above!

With the white hands and the smoking jacket!

And to me! It's scandalous !

I have to move!

Fischer

Is that you, Karl Fredrik?

It's the ice-man!

It's fine to get ice in this heat!

But be careful of the bottles in the ice-box.

And put the pieces on the edge

So I can hear how it melts and the water drops falling

It's my water clock

That measures the time.

The long time.

Look here,where do you get that ice?

He has already left?

They all go

home...

To be able to hear their own voices and have company.

Is that you, Karl Fredrik?

Who's playing?

My impromptu!

Is it you, Karl Fredrik?

It's me.

Where have you been so long?

I had a bit of business to straighten out.

-Have you been alone? -Yes

Come and play chess

I'd rather talk!

And you too may need to hear your voice.

Quite true, but it's so easy for us to get into the past.

Then we forget the present.

The present doesn't exist...

What is now passing is empty nothingness.

Before you or behind you.

Preferably before us

as there is the hope

Hope, for what?

A change!

Well ! You mean to say that you have had enough

of the peace of old age?

Yes

Maybe

You are sure of that

And if you were able to choose

between solitude and the past...

No ghosts however!

What about your memories then?

They don't disturb me

They are my poems about certain realities.

but if the dead should appear again,

that would be ghosts.

However - in your memory

which of the two gives the most beautiful mirage...

the woman or the child?

Both! I cannot separate them...

and that's why I never sought to keep the child.

But was that right?

Didn't you think of the possibility of a step-father?

I didn't think so far ahead then,

but since

I have reflected...

about...that...matter.

A step-father, who maltreated..

perhaps degraded your child!

Hush!

What did you hear?

I thought I heard " the little feet,"

The little tripping feet in the hall

when she came to find me.

It was the child that was the best.

To see this dauntless little being

who feared nothing...

who divined nothing of life's treachery...

who had no secrets at all.

I remember her first realization of human evil.

She noticed a beautiful child in the park...

And she ran with open arms to kiss the stranger.

The beautiful child returned the friendliness

by biting her cheek and sticking out her tongue.

You should have seen my little Anne-Charlotte then.

She stood petrified...

not by the fear..

but with terror to see this abyss opens up

which is called the human heart

But why are we here talking about this?

Is it on account of the heat or the thunder, or what?

Loneliness brings heavy thoughts

And you ought to have company.

This summer in the city seems to have broken you down.

It's only these last few weeks...

The illness...and the corpse they had up there

affected me...as if it were me going through it all.

The confectioner's troubles have also become mine.

So much so that I worry about his business,

his wife's eye trouble...

his health

And lately...

I dream every night about my little Anne-Charlotte.

I see her in dangers... strange,not thought of, nameless.

And before I sleep, when the ear is most sensitive,

I hear her little feet

and sometimes I hear her voice.

Where is she then?

Yes, where !

Suppose you should meet her in the street?

You know then I'd lose my reason or fall to the ground.

Five years at that age makes her unrecognisable!

Imagine not recognizing your own child!

No, I couldn't never stand it

No, I'd rather keep my little four-year-old on the home altar.

I don't want any other.

Is that you, Louise, arranging things in the linen-closet?

It smells flax

and it reminds me of

Yes...

the mother of the house at the linen-closet

the good fairy, who takes care of things

The housekeeper with the flat-iron

who smooths the rough places and takes out the wrinkles.

Yes, the wrinkles.

Now I think...I'll...go...in and write a letter.

If you care to stay I'll be right back.

Are you...

Oh God! That sound that I've carried in my ears for ten years!

That clock, that never kept time

but counted the hours for five long years.

days and nights

My piano...

My palms...

The dining-table!

He's kept it all in memory... and everything which is beautiful

My sideboard ! With the knight and Eve...

Eve with the basket of apples.

In the right drawer, way back, was a thermometer.

I wonder if it is still there

Yes, there it is!

What's that signify?

Oh, it became a symbol in the end...

Of inconstancy.

When we had set up our house, the thermometer was left over

It should have been put outside the window.

I promised to put it out... and forgot.

He promised to do it... and forgot.

Then we nagged each other

and finally, to get away from it

I hid it in this drawer.

I began to hate it and him as well.

Do you know what it signified?

Well, no one believed in the permanency of our relationship

when we threw off our masks

and showed our antipathies.

In the first days we lived as if we were on springs...

ready to jump at any time.

It was the thermometer... and still,here it is

Up and down, always changing,

like the weather.

My chess-board!

He bought that to pass away the long days of waiting

Before the little one came!

Who does he play with now?

With me.

Where is he?

He's in his room writing a letter!

Where?

There!

And here he's been... for five long years?

Ten years... five years alone!

But he loves solitude, doesn't he?

I believe he's had enough of it.

Will he show me the door?

Try! You risk nothing... he's always courteous.

I never made that runner

You'll risk his asking about the child.

But it's he who must help me find the child.

Where do you think Fischer has gone to? And what is the meaning of this escape?

First to get out of this disagreeable neighbourhood

Then to get me to run after him.

He's taken the girl as hostage...

to be raised in the ballet...

that she has shows a natural ability for.

The ballet!

The father mustn't know that...

as he hates the stage!

The stage! I've been on it, too!

You?!

Yes...as accompanist.

Poor Gerda.

Why so? I loved that life...

And when I was imprisoned here

it wasn't the jailer's fault

but the prison's...

That I was bored

But now you've had enough of it?

Now I love quiet and solitude...

my child above everything.

Hush, he's coming!

Now I'll leave you!

Don't think of what you should say...

it will come of itself...

like the next move in a chess game.

I fear his first glances most

for in them I'll read

whether I've changed for the better or worse

whether I've become old and ugly.

If he finds you aged, he'll dare approach you.

If he finds you just as young, he'll lose all hope

and he's more humble than you think.

He went out to the letter-box.

I can never go through with this!

How shall I be able to ask him

about getting this divorce?

It's too shameless

Stay! You know his kindness is unlimited.

He'll help you, for the child's sake.

No, no!

He's the only one who can help.

So you're already finished with the laundry,Louise

please put up the chess pieces again

Then we start again

Hello! -

So it is you, mother,Good Evening.

Yes, thank,everything is OK

Louise is already sitting at the chess-board

but is a bit tired from things she's had to do.

Yes, it's all done now, everything's finished.

Just little things.

If it's warm?

The thunder storm passed over our heads,

right over us, but it didn't strike!

A false alarm! What did you say?

Fischers! Yes, but I think they're about to move!Why?

No,I know nothing

Well

Yes

It goes at..

....6.15.

The outer route through the islands...

and arrives at... let me see

...8.25!

Did you have a nice time?

Yes, he's too ridiculous when he gets started.

What did Maria say about it?

How has it been this summer?Well

Louise and I have kept each other company.

She's so nice and sweet-tempered.

Yes,she is really good

No thanks...not that!

My eyes? Yes, I'm getting near-sighted...

but I say like the confectioner's old wife:

there's nothing to look at!

Wish I were a little deaf too! Deaf and blind!

The neighbours up above

make a horrible lot of noise at night.

It's some kind of gambling club.

There...now they're interrupted by listening,hello

Hello,can you imagine, breaking into our conversation by listening.

Do you hear,tomorrow then, at 6.15.

Thanks so much, mother.

Yes,yea I'll be sure to. Good-by, mother!

Was it you?

Wasn't it Louise, just now?

How...did you...come here?

Forgive me, I was passing through, walked by...

and I felt a longing to see my old home again.

The windows were open.

Do you find it the same?

It's the same .

but something else..

There's something else.

Are you satisfied... with your life?

Oh...yes!... It's as I wanted it.

And the child?

Oh...she grows and thrives.

She's fine.

Then I shan't ask any more.

Do you wish anything of me?

Can I be of service to you in any way?

Yes, thank you, but...I need nothing

after seeing that things are well with you too!

Would you like to see Anne-Charlotte?

I don't think so.

Now when I hear that all is well with her.

No...it's so hard to begin again.

It's like revision lessons, that you really know...

although the teacher doesn't think so.

I'm so far away from all that...

I was away in completely other places.

and I can't connect with the past...

It's hard for me to be discourteous

but I don't want you to sit down

You are another man's wife.

And you aren't the same woman I parted from.

Am I so...changed?

So strange

Voice, look, manner.

Have I aged?

That I don't know!

I can barely use "thou" , God how unfamiliar you are

I guess it'd be the same with my daughter.

Don't talk like that!...

I'd rather see you angry.

Why should I be angry?

All the wicked things I've done to you.

Have you?

I don't feel you have

Didn't you read the complaint?

Not at all...I left that to my lawyer.

And the decision?

I haven't read that either.

As I didn't intend to marry again, I wasn't interested in such papers.

What did the papers say?

That I was too old?

That was only the truth,

so that need not embarrass you.

I wrote precisely the same thing in my answer

and requested that the judge give you your freedom.

Did you write that...

I wrote that I was not old but was becoming too old

...for YOU!

For me?

Yes !..I couldn't say I was too old when we were married

for then the child's arrival might have been misinterpreted.

And it was OUR child, wasn't it?

You know that!...But...

Do you mean I should be ashamed of my age?

Yes, if I took to dancing the Boston

and playing cards all night,

I'd soon end up in a wheelchair or on the operating table

That'd be shameful.

You don't look like that.

Did you think the separation would be the death of me?

There are those who believe that you murdered me.

Do I look as if I were murdered?

You needn't have remorse on my account.

Why did you marry me?

You know well enough why a man marries...

and that I didn't have to beg for your love,you know too.

And you must remember how we smiled together

at all the wise counsellors who warned you.

But why you ever tempted me I could never understand

for after the wedding ceremony you didn't see me...

but behaved as if you were at someone else's wedding.

I thought that you must have made a wager to murder me.

All of my business subordinates hated me for being their chief of department

But they soon became your friends.

As soon as I acquired an enemy, he became your friend!

Which gave me reason to say you should not hate your enemies,true...

but you should not love MY enemies!

However, when I realized how things were,I began to pack up,

but first I wanted a living witness

to your having spread a falsehood

and that's why I waited until the baby arrived.

To think that you could be so deceitful.

I became secretive but I never lied.

You gradually transformed my friends into detectives

and you deluded my own brother to faithlessness toward me.

But, worst of all

You awakened doubt about your child's legitimacy...

with your thoughtless chatter.

I've taken that back!

An escaped word can't be caught on the wings again.

And worst is, the false report has reached the child

who sees her mother as just a...

Oh, no!

Yes, that's the way it is!

You built a high tower on the foundation of a lie.

and now the tower of lie is crashing down on you.

It isn't true!

This is the truth

..I've just met Anne-Charlotte.

You met...?

We met on the stairs

and she called me "uncle"...

Do you know what an "uncle" is?

He's an old friend of the family and the mother.

And I know I pass for "uncle" at her school too.

This is horrible

...for the child!

Did you meet?

Yes! But I wasn't obliged to tell you.

Haven't I the right to keep silent?

For that matter, the meeting was so distressing

that I blotted it out of my mind, as if it had never existed.

What can I do to make reparation?

You?

YOU can't make reparation.

That's can only be done by myself

That is to say

I have already received reparation

Can't I make amends...

Can't I ask you to forgive?

What do you mean?

To restore...make reparation.

Do you mean to re-unite... begin again...

make you mistress of the house?

No,no thank you

I don't want you!

And I have to listen to this

Accept it!

It's a beautiful runner that one

Yes, it is beautiful.

Where did you get it?

Is it a bill?

...twenty-five! Just the right change !

Poor Gerda!

What do you mean?

That I should be jealous of your servant?

That's not what I meant!

Yes, and you meant you were too old for me,

but not for her. I understand the insult.

She is beautiful though, for a servant.

Poor Gerda!

Why do you say that?

Because I pity you.

Jealous of my servant... that's reparation!

Me... jealous!

Hello

Mr. Fischer?

Wrong apartment..what?

Oh yes, that's me.

He's eloped?

Who has he eloped with?

The confectioner Starck's daughter!

Oh, good God! How old was she?

Just eighteen! Just a child.

That he'd run away,I knew..

but with a woman!

Now you are happy?

No, I'm not at all happy.

Although it comforts me to see

there's justice in the world.

Life runs fast

and now you're in the boat that I was in.

Her eighteen years against my twenty-nine...

I'm old...too old for him!

Everything's relative.

But now to another matter!

Where's your child?

My child! I had forgotten. My child! Good Lord! Help me!

He's taken my child away with him...

He loved Anne-Charlotte as his own daughter!

Come with me to the police... come with me!

Me? Now you ask too much!

Help me !

Help me

Help me

Please Karl Fredrik, fetch a cab...

Follow Gerda to the police station

For Christ's sake... aren't we human beings?

It's beginning to rain lend me an umbrella.

Eighteen years old... only eighteen!

The peace of old age!

Yes

Louise!

Come and play chess with me!

Has the consul...?

He's gone out on an errand.

Is it still raining?

No, not now!

Then I'll go out and cool off a little.

Do you know the confectioner's Agnes?

Yes...very slightly.

Was she beautiful?

Yes.

Did you know the people upstairs?

I've never seen them!

Avoidance!

I've learned keep silent in this house.

I must admit that acquired deafness

can be exaggerated and become very dangerous

Keep tea ready for me and I'll go out and cool off.

And one thing...

You see what's going on here...

but don't ask me anything.

I? No,Sir... I'm not inquisitive.

Thanks my child.

It was a good little shower we had.

Quite a blessing

Now we'll soon get some raspberries.

Then you must let me order a few litres.

We're tired of doing our own preserving...

It just stands and ferments and gets mouldy.

Yes, I know all about that...

You have to put wax on the jars

like on mischievous children

There are those who put in salicylic acid...

but that's a new trick that I won't touch.

Salicylic...that's said to be antiseptic...

...and that might be good.

Yes, but you can taste it... so it's form of cheating.

But listen,tell me

Have you, Mr Starck, a telephone?

No. I don't have a telephone.

Well,well

Sir,why do you ask that?

Oh, I was just thinking...

you needs a telephone sometimes...

orders... important communications.

That may be, but sometimes it's good to escape...

...communications.

Quite so...

Quite so!

Yes, my heart always thumps when it rings.

You never know what you'll hear.

And I want peace, peace, above all things

Me too!

It's time they lit the street lamp!

He's probably forgotten us, as it's lit down the avenue.

No!...Then he'll soon be here.

It'll be really nice to see our old lamp being lit again.

Hello

No,he is not in

Bye,thanks

Anything new?

Nothing new.

Was it my brother?

No, it was the lady.

What did she want?

To talk to you, sir!

But I don't want to!

Do I comfort my executioner?

I used to do that, but now I'm tired of it.

And the confectioner's Agnes

do you think he knows anything yet?

It's hard to say...

He never speaks of his sorrows...

nor does anyone else... in this silent house.

Should he be told?

No, for heaven's sake.

But it's probably not the first time

she's given him worry.

He never talks about her.

Once more the telephone

No...leave it.

I don't want to know anything!

It's utterly

Poor Gerda!

It would be better to know...

I can't make myself act.

Receive I can but strike back,no

But if you avoid a danger, it'll force itself on you

and if you don't resist, you're crushed.

But if you don't allow yourself to take part...

you're untouchable

Untouchable?

Everything takes care of itself, if you don't...

muddle things up

...by interference.

How can they expect me to guide them,

where so many passions rage!

I can neither subdue their passions

nor change their course.

But the child?

I've relinquished my rights

and for that matter... to be honest

I'm not eager...certainly not now...

since she came and destroyed my memories.

She obliterated everything beautiful that I had hidden away...

and there's nothing left.

Agnes is coming down there

What does that mean?

Agnes

Good evening my child.

Where have you been?

I've been out for a walk.

Mother has asked for you several times

Has she? Well, I'm here now.

Please go down and help her fire the small oven.

Is she angry with me?

She couldn't be angry with you.

Oh yes she can...

but she never says anything.

Isn't that good, my child...

to escape scolding!

Does he know, or doesn't he?

It's best he never knows!

But what has happened? A rupture?

What did the lady say on the telephone?

She wanted to talk to you.

How did she sound? Was she excited?

Yes.

It seems rather ridiculous

to appeal to me in a situation of this kind.

But the child!

Imagine...I just met my daughter on the stairs...

When I asked her if she recognized me...

she called me "uncle"...

and then informed me that her daddy was upstairs.

But to be sure... he's her step-father

and he has all the rights!

They've tried to eradicate me...

to crush me.

A cab's stopped at the corner.

I do pray they're not coming back so I got involved in them

imagine hearing my child singing her father's praises,

The other one

Then to have the old story start again...

"Why did you marry me? "

" You know well enough but why did you want me?"

"You know well enough"

and so on... until the end of time.

It's the consul coming.

How does he look?

He doesn't seem to be in a hurry.

Rehearsing what he's going to say...

Does he look satisfied?

More thoughtful

Oh, yes...It was always like that

If he came anywhere near that woman...

...he became unfaithful to me!

She could charm everyone except me.

To me she was coarse, simple, ugly, stupid...

and to the others

she was refined...elegant... beautiful...intelligent.

All the hatred my independence aroused...

gathered about her in endless sympathy!...

For the one who treated me unjustly!

Through her they sought

to influence and control me, wound me...

and in the end, kill me.

I'll go and open the door for the consul.

This storm should soon be over!

People can't endure independence.

They want you to obey them.

All my subordinates in the department

down to the watchman

wanted me to obey them

and as I didn't care to obey them,

they called me a despot!

The result!...

No details!

Can't we sit down...

I'm a bit tired.

As you like it

Where is my child?

May I start at the beginning?

Begin!

I reached the station with Gerda.

I saw him and Agnes at the ticket window.

Agnes was there then?

Yes...

and your child!

Gerda stayed outside

and I approached them.

At that moment

he gave Agnes the tickets

but when she saw

that the tickets were Third class

she threw them in his face

and rushed out for a cab.

I began to get an explanation from the gentleman

when Gerda ran up and took the child...

and disappeared into the crowd.

What did the gentleman say?

Well...you know how it is

when you hear the other side...

I want to hear!

He was of course not as bad as we'd thought...

he also has his good points!

Just so.

Might have known!

But you'll hardly expect me to sit here

and listen to a eulogy of my enemy?

No, not a eulogy, but...

mitigating circumstances.

Would you ever listen to me

when I informed you of the true conditions?

Yes, you listened and answered in disapproving silence...

as if I sat there telling lies.

You always stood up for the wrong side

and you believed the lies

because you were infatuated with Gerda.

But there was also another motive.

Say no more, dear brother...

You see things only from your point of view.

Do you want me to see my position

from my enemy's point of view?

I can hardly lift my hand against myself, can I?

I'm not your enemy

Yes, when you're friendly

with the one who's been unjust to me.

Where's my child?

I don't know.

How did it finish at the station?

The gentleman took a train south all alone.

And the others?

Disappeared.

Then I may have them stuck with me again

Did you notice whether the others went with him?

No, he went alone.

Then we're rid of him at least!

Number two!

The mother and child!

Do you think they'll come back?

She won't...

She'd have to make up to you in front of Louise.

That's true I'd forgotten that!

She really honoured me by being jealous!

I believe there's justice in the world after all.

She found out Agnes was younger, as well.

Poor...Gerda!

But you are not allowed

you can't tell people that justice exists

a justice of vengeance because it wasn't true they loved justice

And their dirt must be handled delicately.

And Nemesis... that's only for others!

There it goes ringing again.

It sounds like a rattlesnake

Yes,hello

Yes

Really

Yes

Yes I will forward the wishes

Thanks

Did the snake bite you?

The lady's going to her mother in Dalarna

to settle down there with the child.

The mother and child in the country side

and in a good home!

Now it's cleared up!

And the lady asked me to go up and put out the lights in the apartment.

Do it right away,my child

And draw the curtains.

I think that storm has passed over.

It really seems to have cleared

then the moon will be out.

It was a glorious shower of rain!

Splendid!

Look, there's the lamp-lighter!

At last!

The first light...

Now it's autumn!

That's our time of year, chaps!

Twilight's beginning...

but with it comes understanding...

that lights the way like a dark lantern...

and keeps you from going astray.

Louise!

Close the windows and pull down the curtains

Then the memories can go to sleep, in peace!

The...peace...of...old...age!

And this autumn I'll move from the Silent House.

Subtitles by Nostromo