This beautiful picture was painted by Sepp Vilsmeier, Lotti's husband.
The family tree of the Simon family from Schabbach in the Hunsrück.
That's where you come into the village.
That's the Wiegand's house...
...and the memorial, as if you were standing in front of it.
The church, the Simon family house with the forge.
Behind it, Anton's Optics factory and the Schirmer house...
...our grandparents house.
But they were only ever called Glasisch in the village.
There is no picture of them, but they had three children...
...and the oldest, Katharina, married Mathias...
...the village blacksmith.
They are the grandparents of the Simon family.
The grandparents of the Wiegand family are Alois and Martha...
...and they had three children, Gustav, Wilfried and Maria.
Maria was born in 1900, just like me.
Maria married Paul Simon...
...who went to America in 1928.
He just cleared off.
Paul had a sister and a brother, Pauline and Eduard...
...who always had lung trouble, and so they sent him off to Berlin.
There he met Lucie and married her.
"From the best metropolitan circles," Eduard always said.
And they had a child, Horst, but he died young.
He found a landmine in the forest.
Pauline married Robert Kröber, the clockmaker from Simmern...
...and became a businesswoman.
She had two children...
...Gabi and Robert.
Maria and Paul had two sons, Anton and Ernst.
And Anton married Martha in the war.
She was from Hamburg.
And that's Otto Wohlleben.
When they were building the Hunsrück motorway...
...he came to Schabbach, and he fell in love with Maria.
She was on her own at that time.
And they had a child, Hermann.
He is a world famous composer these days and lives in Munich.
That's Klärchen.
She lived for a long time with us in Schabbach.
She was Hermann's first girlfriend.
That's me. And up there is Marie-Goot.
She is my mother and Katharina's sister...
...but Mäthes-Pat isn't my father.
A lot of them are dead now.
Gustav, Alois, Marta, Lucie, Eduard... they are all dead.
Mathias, Katharina, Pauline who died 1979...
...Robert Kröber who died during the war...
...and from our relatives from Bochum...
...none of the men returned from the war.
And most of the women died during an air raid.
Ursel died young too.
She died during an air raid.
But her sister, Lotti, married Sepp Vilsmaier...
the painter from Munich, who painted this beautiful picture.
And they adopted two Vietnamese children.
Martha and Anton had most children of all...
...a big hoard of children...
...Marlies, Hartmut, Dieter, Helga and Gisela.
Yeah, we were a big family...
...the Glasischs, the Simons and the Wiegands.
THE FEAST OF THE LlVlNG AND THE DEAD
Ernst, how beautiful she is, lying there.
I was the first to see her...
...and she was still smiling.
And now she's at rest.
Speak to Philipp.
I'll see how your father is.
When Maria was alive, they all left her...
...and now Maria's left us, they've all come.
Lotti, how nice that you've come. Are those your children?
May we see her?
Ernst, I'm so sorry.
Have you just arrived?
Yes, the autobahn near Munich was jammed.
Isn't Hermann here yet?
He really ought to be here in any minute.
I'm trying to think who you remind me of.
Not the Simons, but the Wiegands.
You're like your uncle Wilfried.
The bald head's from you.
No, I had a full head of hair when I was fifty.
Are you the relatives from Brazil?
You just happened to be here?
Yes, we just happened to be in the village.
We heard about the funeral, so we came at once.
Hermann ought to have been here long ago.
And the pastor's due any minute.
Artists!
Don't talk like that about your brother.
There'll be a thunderstorm.
Maybe.
Granddad always said when the cellar steps are wet, there'll be a storm...
...and our cellar steps were quite damp this morning.
We are gathered here today...
...to take leave of our sister Maria Simon.
Her death...
...fills us all with sorrow.
Yet we know we have here no permanent home...
...but we seek our future home.
Therefore, let us...
..bear her body to the grave...
...in the hope of the Resurrection.
Almighty God, we thank Thee...
...that through the Resurrection of Thy Son...
...Thou hast shed Thy light on the darkness of the world...
...and of death.
Give us the strength to follow that light in our lifetime...
...until we all come to Thee.
To our Lord Jesus Christ...
...we pray, full of trust, for our sister...
...Maria Simon.
This is useless, let's take shelter.
We're looking for an old cupboard.
We'll pay up to 3,000 marks.
I haven't anything.
There's a nice old piece there.
We'd like that.
Keep your hands off.
No harm in asking.
Get out!
Why didn't you take an aeroplane from Frankfurt?
All fully booked.
Take that home. I'll follow in a moment.
They're sweet.
What's your name?
I'm Hoa Vilsmeier.
I'm Hou.
I waited and waited. I thought nobody was coming.
I thought the soup would be finished...
...the meat would be gone...
...and everything would be cold.
I waited.
Maria was a beautiful girl.
She was a beautiful girl, wasn't she, Paul?
Where is Maria, then?
Fetch her here.
Well...
...making me wait like that.
Glasisch, we've just buried Maria.
Maria's dead?
When you get old, you get so stupid.
Where's Anton?
Anton will come soon.
Just eat something here quietly.
Paul...
...that's poor circulation.
I know from Gertrud.
She's got gallstones.
She's had 120 of them.
I got these from the hospital.
Nice and round. Look how big some of them are.
But my head's quite clear.
Fever clears the head.
- lt's just my legs. - We'll raise them a bit for you.
Ernst, I must speak to you outside.
- Do you know him? - Yes. What's up, Karl-Heinz?
You think it's proper...
...to clear out the house during Mother's funeral?
What do you mean by that?
Don't say you didn't give him orders.
What were you doing in our mother's house?
The front door was open...
That gives you a right to walk in?
I've told you a hundred times, that's not our style...
...especially in Schabbach.
If you don't understand that, you can have your cards. Now get out.
And I won't have you treating me like a scoundrel, Anton.
You're not laying hands on Mother's house.
You're not my father.
You've always tried to boss me around.
It's had no effect.
I should hope not. I've as much right to the house as you have.
I'd shove 20,000 marks down your throat...
...rather than let you take one teaspoon.
40.3.
There's gold in the Hunsrück.
I've known that for over fifty years.
You were two.
Anton...
...was four years old.
I've outlived all the old ones.
All died.
I don't feel too well, either.
You've got a long time to go.
Don't smoke so much.
An American pilot landed on the meadow.
He's run out of fuel...
...and Eduard got him some petrol so Paul drove all around the village.
That's Stinker looking for a baby in the midden.
All they found was Wiegand's motor-bike.
Who put it there? Do you know?
I'm not saying...
...but I know.
- Now I want to know. - What?
Why did you leave home back then?
Smile, please.
Straighten your father up a bit.
Hermann, are you looking for someone?
Can I help you?
Where are my relatives buried?
All over.
Don't you know the Hunsrück dialect any more?
I understand it, but speaking it is the trouble.
You'll learn it all again. Knepperscher, Krieschele.
Whortleberries, sloes.
Do you still remember?
Knepperscher are little wild cherries.
I know that from a poem by Hoffmann.
Hannekelche in the cherry tree Was sitting...
...and Knepperscher, little cherries She was eating"
- And Krieschele? - They're gooseberries.
- And Whortles? - They're bilberries.
Whortle, whortle, bilberry, who wants to smear his gob like me?
We used to chant that as kids in the forest.
And sloes, that's the Hunsrück wine.
So sour...
...they shrivel your arse and your shirt-tail with it.
Sit down, little Hermann, we'll keep each other company a bit.
What are you doing now?
I'm in Munich now, but I'm always travelling...
...all over the place.
All over.
"Father, Mother, children, uncle and the farm-hands.
"They used to be in one house...
"...now they're scattered across the world."
Aunt Pauline
Uncle Robert, killed 1945 on the Eastern Front.
"From the lie into veracity, from the darkness into clarity"
Aunt Lucie
Uncle Wilfried...
...died 1972.
Then he was fifty-seven.
Little Horst.
What did Aunt Lucy say?
"He got top marks again in maths...
"...and then he found the mine in the forest"
Seems incredible.
Granddad and Grandma.
I scarcely knew Granddad.
Did you find them, all the relatives?
More or less.
Goot and Pat.
Yes, in heaven they speak the Hunsrück dialect.
- Staying for the fair, Hermann? - Yes.
- Cleaning the steps? - I always do before the fair.
Nice smell?
That's 4713!
You've got mushrooms. Where did you find them?
What's that for?
Now no one can get in or out.
Anton, who's going to come out?
What are you saying?
Rubbish!
Daddy, on Sunday evening I'm flying to Boston.
Feel how cold my hands are.
They're not cold, they're quite warm.
Why go to Boston?
My new composition's being performed.
By the Boston Symphony Orchestra?
They invited me. And I'll conduct it myself.
All by yourself?
Just be careful, Hermann.
The public in the States is very demanding.
I'll make it. Now, listen...
You try to get some sleep.
It's no good.
I keep thinking about Maria.
Now the two of us no longer have a home anywhere.
We travelled around the world...
...and didn't know it.
We didn't know how beautiful it was...
...when she was still here.
Remember...
...when I came from the States?
We were all sitting in the kitchen.
Maria put you on my lap...
...and you said...
And Maria had tears in her eyes.
This afternoon by her grave...
...I heard her voice...
...as she went through the house calling...
..."Hermann, have you learnt your Latin?"
Kathrin's not living with me any more.
We've been together since '68.
Every morning we had breakfast together.
It's all such a mess.
An now we've separated. Now I'm alone.
And the other girl?
She's left me, too.
Hermann, I shan't live much longer, either.
Daddy, stop it.
Don't talk like that.
No, Hermann, it's no fun any more.
I'm eighty-four.
But, Daddy...
...you forgot Mother for such a long time.
You had no other woman, honestly?
All my life I loved no other woman.
Does that hurt?
Not on my foot.
Yes, on your foot.
The heart's also in the foot.
Can you feel that?
You see.
Where does it hurt now?
Every time I breathe, I get a stitch.
Shouldn't we get Doctor Buschinger?
He'll only write a prescription.
I feel a bit better.
Why don't we hear something from Bonn?
I'll go to the office and call the gentlemen in Bonn.
Don't worry.
I remember my way around.
In the propaganda corps we used to have a rule...
...that the German soldiers always crossed the picture...
...from left to right.
Look at any old newsreel.
The Germans always march from left to right...
...advancing or retreating, Eastern Front or Western Front...
...you always see them going from left to right.
That's how I saw it, too.
From Siberia across Turkey, across the Balkans to home.
Like tanks in the war newsreel.
But, Anton, that goes from right to left.
No, Martha. I'm looking at it like a map.
Inwardly, I used to see my business progress like that.
From left to right goes the future.
And what do you mean by that?
Now, it's going the other way.
If I don't get the subsidy, the future's there.
Just there, where you heart hurts.
Since Mother's death...
...I haven't bothered about my new patent.
I called the senior civil servant, Fuchs.
He was still in his office.
They're still meeting...
...and they haven't voted on our proposal yet.
Is that all he said?
He asked if we've put champagne on ice.
What's that supposed to mean?
There's no point in walking around here like this.
I know you.
Whenever you don't know what to do next...
...you walk around, or you bang nails into something.
Come now.
Martha!
You're making me dizzy.
Pacing around here won't bring Frau Müller back.
I don't know how else to collect my thoughts.
Leave me.
"Until victory is ours!"
Plaster.
The construction set.
Supplementary set 0A.
May blooms just once a year, and just once in life comes love.
Anton...
...that looks terrible.
Imagine you were Ernst. What would people think?
They wouldn't let him in their houses if his brother didn't trust him.
All right, we'll take it down.
Herr Christ, have you a skeleton key?
I threw the key inside.
Don't exert yourself like that.
We'll put the boards in the house.
Mother's shoes.
They look as if she's just cleaned them.
All her life she cleaned her shoes here in the barn.
Guess what I've brought you.
Anton!
Now you've squashed all my nice mushrooms!
You'll never guess what's in here.
Perfection in a box.
It's the newest colour TV around.
To stop you getting bored.
But Anton...
I'm not bored at all!
That thing is for people who want to die.
Now take it off the table.
Just have a look at it!
It's the first colour TV with a remote control.
You won't need to get up anymore when you want to change channels.
No Anton.
When I go through the village in the evening...
...I see the TV flickering through the old people's windows.
And I always think they'll all die one day in front of that box.
All alone...
...with nobody with them.
Don't do that to me.
It scares me.
Mother, I never know how to please you.
Take it back...
...and come and see me more often.
What's keeping you?
We're almost ready.
Herr Simon, the door's open now.
I'm just going in for a moment.
I'll go home with Herr Christ; come later.
Mother, where are you?
Have you seen my mother?
Isn't she at home?
I've looked everywhere indoors; the front door was locked, too.
Heartiest congratulations on your seventieth birthday, Maria.
That's kind of you, Alice.
I never knew you could all sing so well.
I must say something, mustn't l?
Dear people of Schabbach.
I simply invited you all and I thought...
... "Now see who comes".
I wanted to see who will follow my coffin one day.
And now let's have some dancing.
Everything's on me.
Deep in Hunsrück country stands a farmer's house so fine
There the pig is killed so neat
And made into sausage-meat
Lotti, let's dance.
- Is that your name? - Yes, Vilsmeier.
I'm Lucie.
Lucie Simon? I've heard a lot about you.
Pauline, I'm quite light-headed.
How are things? How is Robertchen?
He's altered the shop, you'd never recognize it.
The shop windows go right down to pavement now.
Recently, a man came specially from Frankfurt.
He came to us and bought a ring.
You painted a lovely picture, Herr Vilsmeier.
That's in the north of Holland, where Lotti and I spent our honeymoon.
I always longed to visit Lake Garda.
I'm going to see who's come.
Lotti's dancing with Glasisch.
My Ernst.
Marlies and Dieter.
Hartmut.
Enjoying yourself, Alice?
I said to the dressmaker...
..."Don't mess about, in my profession dresses must be daring."
I used to be young and jolly lusty, today I'm only jolly.
When you're young you say, for you don't understand...
...if only I were older, wouldn't that be grand?
And when you're old, all you do is sigh...
...youth is grand, but now it's passed me by.
I'm talking of when I met Eduard, before 33.
Edu came into my salon.
I thought, "He looks so hungry.
"He'll collapse in bed with the girls."
So I looked after him...
...and that's how it remained.
And now I sit here...
...and he's lying in the graveyard.
Next to my Horst.
And three graves away lie my mama and my papa.
What a life this is, with all this dying.
When you're young you say to your son...
...watch out for women, leave them alone.
And when you're old, you get what you deserve.
Your son says, Dad, don't poach on my preserve.
Where's Maria?
You sang very well.
Congratulations on your birthday.
- How old do you think I am? - Middle sixties.
Add another generation, then you're right.
- How old are you? - I was eighty in March.
And now I'll show what I can still do.
Girls, make a space for me.
I fixed that badly.
But that's all a long time ago.
When was the highway built?
1938.
I was fourteen then.
That's a long time ago.
That's the engine.
"The language of stamps"
"I'm coming. I'm waiting for you. Eternal kisses."
"Are you angry with me?"
Anton. You startled me.
Oh, it's you, Ernst; what are you doing here?
Good evening.
What's that?
Pulling the house down already?
That's a drill.
Hermann, knock on it. That plaque is genuine marble.
"Original Hunsrück...
...half-timbered slate house with forge, complete with fittings...
...built 1773...
...donated by the Paul Simon Foundation, Detroit, USA."
Wilhelm...
...that's my fourth commemorative plaque.
The first is in Detroit and it says, "Paul Simon Foundation"
Oh, you don't understand English.
"The home for the homeless in the world"
And another plaque hangs in Karlsruhe University...
...doesn't it, Hermann?
The one in Detroit costs me a mass of money.
150,000 dollars a year.
Then I pay for one in a children's village.
But this plaque is the finest and the cheapest.
Daddy, you should be in bed.
It's not so late.
Paul, in a couple of years...
...you'll get another plaque for nothing.
- What do you mean? - You'll get your name on it.
You'll soon see when you're dead.
Anton, help me out of the car.
Look, Uncle Hermann; Bayern-München!
Daggi! You old sow!
My God, Marion, what are you doing here?
Come over! Bring me a drink.
I'm telling you, I've just had a tough six weeks.
I haven't seen you for at least two years!
I thought you were at a health farm.
Here we are again in Hunsrück.
God, what happened to the Lautzenhausen we knew?
I think he recognises me.
Now the farmers are going to the brothel.
Thank God.
Remember how we started out?
In our youth.
The dollar was worth 4.25 Marks then.
Those were good times.
It's all bad now.
What's he doing making that noise?
He's remembering the war... there was this donkey in ltaly...
I still remember it today although it was so long ago...
When the big bang comes...
...you'll find nothing but a smoking patch of shale.
Wavy, dark blue, blisters on the top.
- Eighty by twenty kilometres. - Sleeping into the Mosel.
The Hunsrück, as naked as God created it.
We'll tighten our belts and carry on.
That'll be no help.
You with your bombs. I've got stones.
My wife's gallstones...
...120 of them.
Look at that guy over there!
That's Simon, from Optical Works.
He's loaded!
It stinks here.
Oh no! Someone has puked here.
Are you going to start working in Lautzen again?
I really don't know. It's all blacks working there.
They're all Carribean.
Those sluts!
The only bit of German they can speak is:
Do we get another beer or not?
We are guests here like everybody else.
Just so you know.
Hans, if there really is a big bang...
...then I must make sure I'm a government bandmaster...
...to get into their atomic-bombproof shelter.
There'll be 6,000 privileged people.
Surrounded by the atomic graveyard, with its sixty million corpses...
...with enough great wines and great food for years.
They'll all be demanding entertainment, as you can imagine.
I can well imagine it.
And probably Beethoven will be in more demand...
...than some of my colleagues' music.
I play the markets. For gold.
You and your one gold tooth.
- The price of gold is going up. - What if it falls?
I want a mouth full of gold.
Have all your riches buried with you.
I want to be cremated and then scattered at sea.
Imagine someone knew you had all that gold in your mouth...
They'd call Kuston and he'd dive for your ashes!
When he's on TV, I can't think of anything else.
Me too.
What about sport?
I like the 800 metre runners best.
When they're standing on the podium...
...the winners...
...when they play the national anthems...
The Americans always put their hand on their heart.
Now I'm blubbing.
When I bite the dust it won't be with gold teeth!
Feel.
See what I mean?
Look Marion. Lightning.
That's just the carousel lights.
My psoriasis has been getting worse recently.
Have you tried dandelion ointment?
Is that what they call it now?
- Don't act so stupid! Be ladylike. - I am!
It's best to show a bit of flesh.
- No don't. - Why not?
Firstly, I'm cold and secondly, think of your psoriasis.
- He can't see it. - But he'll feel it.
He's not reacting at all.
He'll react.
I swear.
That's connected somehow with flying.
We two love our freedom more than anything else, do you understand?
What do you mean?
Perhaps you can't understand that, your mother's not dead yet.
When someone dies, you get the strangest thoughts.
l, for instance, suddenly thought, "See, now it's got you."
- Who? - The Hunsrück.
All my life I wanted to get away.
I wanted to be free...
...but now it's too late, I have run out of fuel.
With women, it's been just the same.
Always just a quick touch-down, and then take off again.
You know, lrene...
...that's become very clear to me in these few days.
And then I thought...
...maybe it's about time...
...I really made a proper landing.
Naturally, not on the first feed I see...
...but, if I may say so, on a proper airfield...
...with a cosy hangar, where you know your aeroplane's...
...in good hands.
- Do you understand me, lrene? - Was that a proposal of marriage?
With this thing you can look around corners...
...and you saw my arse, comrade.
Who shut the door?
Nobody's in there.
Look, Mother. Father's drunk.
This is the north pole and this is the south pole.
And that's the equator.
He's never done that before... with two women.
Shoot me a monkey!
No, Gisela, I think he must take care of this himself.
Maria...
...I'm so cold.
I think I'm dying.
We must use the back door, go round the back.
- Glasisch, you're feverish. - Have you no respect for old age?
I saw my first corpse when I was six. My Grandma took me to the morgue.
In the Hunsrück nothing ever happens...
You've really gone astray, Miss. Where did you get this funny map?
You've done us a great favour, Miss.
Martina, did you make the potato cakes?
Look what Franz is doing.
To Count Baldenau...
There's gold in the Hunsrück.
More than in the engineers' boxes.
Is that a bomb?
I just wanted to go for a walk.
When I want to shoot, I look over and press the trigger.
This is the rear sight and this is the fore sight.
I can do tricks.
"Simon guarantees quality, and Schabbach has prosperity"
Yank, go home! Nix corned beef! Nix chocolate! Nix Fräuleins!
I have a wonderful view over the capital.
I bought it right next to Dr. Goebbels.
Lieutenant, a left-handed spanner. Pieritz, the compass.
Maria, where were you so long?
Mother, there's a fair in Schabbach.
Maria, there you are.
Where's Granddad?
I don't see him at all.
Maria, don't you remember? Granddad's blind.
That's why we don't see him.
Herr Wohlleben...
...now we're together again, like old times.
Pieritz, just go into your room.
From here you can see them all.
Yes, from here you can see everything.
Maria, look. Anton and Martha, do you see them?
Anton, where were you for such a long time?
I was in Russia today, Martha.
There and back in one day.
Anton, one must be able to find short-cuts, too.
And Ernst, too.
You go into the bunker, Hermann, and I'll go into the mountain.
I'll be safer than you, believe me.
I've just told Hermann about the old mine's wonderful acoustics.
When four or five of us sing down there...
...you can't imagine the sound.
What a pity I have to return to Munich tomorrow.
No problem; it's directly beneath us.
- Can we go there now, at night? - Down there it's always night.
In the pit it's always dark.
Gisela, come with us. It's a surprise.
That's low German for wild cherries gooseberries, bilberries and sloes.
That means "stories".
Tell me what that is in proper German.
I don't know.
Really beautiful acoustics.
Do you know that my mother is your grandmother?
That's Glasisch.
He's dead.
What's happened to Glasisch?
Don't worry, carry on.
We'll put him here until tomorrow, so as not to spoil the fair.
- He was a poor man. - A good thing he's gone to his rest.
He was over eighty.
Dad, don't worry. It's temporary deafness.
Caused by stress and lack of vitamins.
Outside, inside, above, below Special words that we all know.
Here... there... now... Piglet... goat... cow...
THE FEAST OF THE LlVlNG AND THE DEAD