...into my book.
You, too?
There were seventeen spelling mistakes in it.
Frau Gerloff, come over here. Just listen to that.
I'm putting a stop to that!
Can you play a bit more harmoniously?
Though, frankly, I'd prefer you not to play in here any more.
Frightful!
That was a ninth, Frau Gerloff.
You'll find that in Beethoven, Wagner and Strauss...
...if they mean anything to you.
But that really hurts.
- Art must hurt. - Not in my house.
But, Aunt Gerda, where are we to go?
Listen... why don't you come to us?
You can't play there, but we can listen to records.
What are we to do, Hermann?
I'm going to Schabbach.
Humpty and Dumpty sat on a hill.
What fat thumbs.
I'd like to be with you. I mean, really close.
I'd like it, too. But I'm scared I might have a baby.
If your mother noticed anything, she'd strike me dead.
Do we always have to think of others?
If we're really careful... do exactly what I tell you... we'll do it.
Maybe very soon. I promise you.
We've known each other like this for sixty-three days.
Have a look.
Is that your mother?
And Marie-Goot.
Upside-down.
They're at the cemetery, thank God.
So close.
They can't hear us.
Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf.
Malaparte, The Skin.
Narcissus and Goldmund.
The Glass Bead Game.
Is that the book you told me about?
Close your eyes.
First I thought you would put something in my mouth.
You've got a filling there.
That was a good idea with the telescope.
With it, I can see the ring around Saturn.
When I see that, I always hear music.
Will you sing again the song I wrote for you?
The stalks stand, right and left, like walls...
...restricting us to narrow paths
In secret to the nicest lanes
And our summer-brown hands...
...wave gaily at the many landing-stages...
...that reach out over light-filled waves
They murmur under small stones there
In fields where we are scared and hide
Where, in the shadows, red snails glide
Beside our naked legs so bare
That was beautiful.
I can't hit the note with the snails.
You said you wrote the song for me.
Why did you include such a high note?
At the start I did write the song for you...
...but then the composition itself took over.
- Do you understand that? - Yes.
Kiss it. Then it will become a prince.
- I'd rather kiss you. - I'm already a prince.
Come, toad.
You must wait a bit longer.
Someone's coming.
Is Anton there?
I'll get him.
Martha, is Anton here?
What are you doing here?
First you make such a noise outside and suddenly you're so quiet.
Our flier!
That was a crazy landing. I thought you'd get caught in the power lines.
It's only the heavy insurance that's crippling me.
Look at the last two years' balance sheets.
And here's the assessment of my commander, Lt.-Colonel Beck.
Ernst, you don't realise that war's over.
Maybe this was possible in the Air Force...
...where money didn't matter.
The war was a bankrupt operation.
Now you're going bankrupt the same way.
Do you remember, I told you from the start that this would happen.
The business might prosper...
...if you transported gold instead of timber.
But even for that I wouldn't lend you the money.
It's only the two insurance premiums.
Thirty thousands marks - no problem for you.
I'm more than ever certain of my idea.
Ernst, you're an adventurer, and you'll stay one.
I see that, just as your bank does.
- Won't you even read these? - No.
Are you staying tonight?
I've nothing left.
And now old Bausch wants to sue me, too.
But you've got your wife, or won't she stick to you?
Lotti, you don't know upper-class women.
When you're doing well...
...then you're somebody.
But now, I'm a pedestrian...
I just can't understand it.
Good thing I never met your wife.
That makes it easier to accept that it's over between you.
Has your wife got a horse for riding?
Yes. Why?
That's how I imagined her, like in the magazines.
That's only an advert, Marie-Goot.
You must go back, Ernst.
Mother, I'm glad I've got away.
And so is she.
You must fight, Ernst.
Now eat, boy. I made you lentil soup especially.
You always liked it so much.
Remember when you were small?
You were twelve...
...and you ate seven plates of lentil soup.
- We didn't think it was possible. - That was long ago.
Stay a few days.
Tomorrow I've an appointment at the bank.
Then you'll have to go. Do you hear?
Where did you get it from? This ability.
Two days ago we were in the quarry and now it's become a poem.
It was exactly as you write it, yet it was quite different.
I don't understand it.
I've never seen anything like this before.
It's to make Thursday between four and five immortal.
Because you were there.
With holy will, to write something on a gigantic sheet
In the damp silent mountain, in a world of corridors we meet
The torch burns out, the will becomes faint
Your living skin, a land that's waiting...
...you are
And lay in my hand lightly on the sheet
Her eyes, look, how quiet she is
Close your eyes.
Klärchen, your skin is much more beautiful than music or poetry.
I think you were born to be something special.
I want you.
Recently, when I went to church with Mother...
...I thought, if that's sin with us...
...I'll stop believing in God.
Did you confess that?
No. Because it's no sin.
I know that for certain.
Glasisch, how time flies.
Remember going on our bikes from brook to brook?
We wanted to buy the whole world.
And we didn't even get into the dance hall.
But it was nice.
With the bell-ringer...
...and the yellow shoes.
When I imagine...
...in two hours I could fly with Fräulein Klärchen...
...from the despatch department...
...and be in Paris, on the Promenade...
...in that blaze of lights.
Paris. On the Promenade.
We're too old for that.
No. How time flies.
I've been in this spot now for eighteen years.
Go away, Lotti!
What are you doing?
Tell me what's up. You'll kill yourself.
I'm pregnant, by Hermann.
I can't have this baby, as I'm sure you agree.
- Are you quite sure? - Yes. Now let me get on with it.
- Does Hermann know? - He mustn't ever know.
- Understand? - Just don't get excited.
This is no solution. At the most, you'll only kill yourself.
I'm almost twice Hermann's age...
...and I ought to have married long ago.
I've no family and nowhere to go.
I'm getting old and wrinkled, can't you see?
I won't stay here any longer, either.
You were the only thing that kept me here. You and your love.
Don't say that, Hermann.
I will say it.
I tried Anton again this morning...
...but he said he no longer needs me at work.
He's always preferred Lotti.
I've been there as long as Lotti, but she's head secretary now.
I still do all the dirty jobs.
Well, I'm not a member of the family. That's how things go in the Hunsrück.
I hate that Anton.
When I went through the village this morning...
...I said goodbye to it all.
The path and the steps and everything.
- I shan't stay here, either. - You have to take your exams.
That's important for you.
I'm not like the others.
What I want to become...
...I can't do it in the Hunsrück, anyway.
I know you're different from the other boys...
...with your music and your poems.
You're my only love, my great love.
God wanted it this way.
Don't say that, Hermann. You'll be in love with so many other women.
- No. - Yes, you will.
I'd compare them all with you; it would be a betrayal.
Klärchen, I'll marry you...
...and we'll go far way where no one knows us.
I'm eleven years older than you.
- So? - Some day you'd be ashamed of me.
I'm yours alone.
If we ever lost each other, I'd live like a monk.
Another woman would be a sin for me.
You say that now. In a few years things will look different.
I've lived nine years with you. I don't want to go away, but I must.
How do you think I'll feel? I come home and you're not there.
I'll see you everywhere and you'll be gone.
It's like your poems, so much sadness in them.
As if you'd sensed it while writing.
I often sense thing like that.
We can write to each other sometimes.
I'll write you a letter every day.
I'll write, too. I'll tell you everything I'm doing.
I don't understand why he's sacking you.
He can't know about us.
There's no other reason.
You work harder than all the others.
I don't understand it, either.
Just now, when I feel closer to you than I've ever done before.
Why, in what way?
The sun shines brighter in the sky when Pieritz with the mail comes by.
Herr Simon, here's the post.
Could I have that stamp from Pakistan?
I'm too busy now.
That's just how we like it.
Yes, two hundred lines.
What's that?
It looks like dust.
Dust?
How did that get in here?
The air's full of dust.
Cover everything! Stop production!
This is scandalous!
- lt's Herr Wiegand. - My uncle?
Yes, he's experimenting with insecticides on a large scale...
...I've heard.
This is incredible!
Stop it!
He's going to hear a thing or two!
Who?
That farmers' Führer, that SS-peasant.
He'll pay for this!
Filthy swine!
Polluting all the Hunsrück air!
Just take it easy, Anton.
Wilfried, are you at home?
No, Uncle Wilfried. You're not getting away with this.
There are measures required which will cost millions.
This is quite normal development in agriculture nowadays, Anton.
We're the last to realise it.
The German chemical industry leads in this field.
There's no reason why we can export such products to Peru...
Right, Wilfried!
...and not introduce them here.
And there'll be more, Anton.
Pesticides, fungicides, herbicide...
And the other cides, too!
Yes. And all the fertilizers.
But not at my expense.
Yes, at your expense. What are you talking about?
I settled here because of the air...
...with a very complex branch of industry.
Twenty-four people from our village...
...our village, that he wants to pollute...
...depend on me for a living...
...and I won't be let their job be jeopardized by anyone, nor by you...
...while you're raking in state subsidies paid for by our taxes...
...for your automatic milking plants, you automatic silos...
...automatic feeding sheds and automatic manure disposal.
Do you think we pay no taxes?
We have to earn every penny with our brain and our labour.
You don't give that impression!
That's why you must pay for an automatic filter system for my roof.
- That's the limit, damn you! - Calm down.
I can raise the matter at the next CDU party meeting.
I'm not without influence there.
Maybe something can be done with public money.
But I can't promise you anything.
While we talk here, our production's halted.
Don't get so worked up; they'll soon be finished down here.
You're always on the right side.
So what? We're always on the right.
Yes, first with the SS, then as the Regional Farmers' leader...
...then Chairman of the Farmers' Union...
...then you got into the CDU...
...and now a testing ground for BASF chemicals.
There's a gulf between us.
Go to the devil!
Hermann, what are you doing here?
Don't just stand around.
- You're disturbing us. Get out. - You throw out what disturbs you?
Yes, I throw out what disturbs me. The rubber-stamp stays here.
And you threw out the girl who used the rubber-stamp, too.
Did she disturb you?
You're all I need today! Everyone's getting in my hair like flies.
Plutocrat!
Where did you get that expression?
Please leave this office at once.
I have something to dictate to Lotti.
Chucker out!
Hermann, go now.
- Why do you think I sacked Klärchen? - Because she told me.
She gave notice and put us in a fine mess.
She left us at the lurch, didn't she, Lotti?
Yes, Hermann, it's true.
Klärchen wanted to leave.
You're all lying!
You're a pack of liars! You bourgeois!
What's up with him?
You're crazy. You know how things like this can end up.
When you're eighteen, get a licence.
Don't touch the canvas, or the rain will come through.
It's pouring.
It's nice, sitting here in the dry.
I'm so happy you're not angry with me any more.
I was so afraid...
...that I'd hurt you and your studies would be disrupted.
But it was something of both of us, you and me.
If we'd had a baby, I'd have stuck by you.
I'd have loved it as much as I love you.
I know you're like that, but it's better this way.
What if I'd stayed in Schabbach and everyone had found out?
They'd have persecuted us.
And I thought...
You mustn't suffer, too. Do you understand that?
I want to share everything with you. I love you.
- It must have been terrible for you. - Yes, it was terrible.
The nuns in the hospital treated me like a criminal.
When I came out of the anaesthetic...
...the sister made me look into a bowl.
It was lying inside.
And then she said...
..."That's so you can see what you've done, murderess!"
How vile.
It keeps on raining.
We'll be washed away with the tent.
It's stopped.
Just a few drops from the trees.
Toni, heard the latest?
Bertha, over there, second house, has had a baby. Know whose?
I don't know either, but that's why she stayed in Simmern.
I don't believe it.
- Toni, do you like my outfit? - You're an elegant chap.
I've been waiting like...
- I don't believe it. - Let's have a look.
No time!
Pick yourself a nice shirt.
- All right, Marie-Goot? - At my age, you belong in a museum.
- You'll go on for ages yet. - I'm too old for this work.
- What have you got for us? - Morning.
A letter for Hermann Simon, for collection...
...but I thought I'd deliver it as I'm here.
He often has letters for collection now.
From Klärchen Sisse?
I must talk to you.
- My train, sir. - Take the next; this is urgent.
You're intelligent, but a lazy hound.
When it's critical, you race ahead, then wait for others to catch you up.
I've checked your marks in other subjects.
They're up and down.
1, 5... all the time; that sort of thing annoys a teacher.
We're all human, damn it.
Don't look like that, be frank with me.
You're one of my favourite pupils; that's no flattery.
I've simply specialised in German and music.
- What do you want to be? - A composer.
- Have you a woman? - No.
What's going on here?
- Storm brewing. - Why?
I'll be in in a moment, Mother.
Ernst, what's going on?
Mother, what is it?
- You know what this is about. - No, what?
That's for me. Who opened it?
We know everything. The woman is eleven years older than you.
Besides, for what she's done, she can go to prison.
That's rotten of you. Really rotten.
They're my letters. You have no right to read them.
The woman mentioned everything in the letter.
That's enough to prosecute.
You're still a minor, Hermann.
It's a crime against a child.
We'll make sure you never see her again.
He's not going to wreck his whole life.
Doctor Keim in Mainz is a smart lawyer.
With him, we'll be in good hands.
Have you had anything to eat, Anton?
Open the door, Hermann.
I've brought you dinner.
I know it's not your fault.
You can't help it.
Don't do anything silly.
I'll break the door down.
Open at once! This won't lead anywhere!
I've brought you your dinner, Hermann.
Hermann, my dear Hermann
Now I'm alone again, yet I don't feel lonely or deserted.
I still feel the warmth of your face in my lap and of your warm hands...
...which give me so much strength that I feel like shouting aloud...
...and hugging people half to death...
...so that they have a little of our love.
When we cuddled together in that little tent...
...and kept each other warm...
...then there was only you and me and eternity.
I don't know how long that is...
...but even if it lasts just one day, that's fine.
Isn't it crazy? I'm pretty old now and grown up.
I know you'll laugh when you read this...
...but I've remained a little girl.
And now there's you in the world...
...and nothing bad can happen to me again.
In that lovely long time with you at home...
...everything had to happen secretly.
Now it's all so simple and clear I'm no longer afraid.
We mustn't be sad any more and cry, will you promise me that?
At your mother's, from whom we hid our love...
...our baby couldn't have lived, either, I'm quite sure of that.
But in a few years, if we still love each other...
...then we'll have a child, or two, or three, or ten.
Hermann, I love you. For always. Your Klärchen.
Ernst, now come over and eat at the table, like the others.
Anton. An autocratic ruler, six letters.
Kindly shut your trap!
Tyrant.
Despot fits, too.
You've given your family a perfect example...
...of how to conduct one's life.
In a boom period you've gone broke. Quite an achievement.
No wonder your wife's divorcing you.
I couldn't get him to go to school this morning.
I kept begging him to go.
He should have gone. At least there he'd get some peace from you.
Ernst...
...you talk to him.
- He won't listen to me any more. - Me?
I'm supposed to speak to him?
If you drop the prosecution.
Only then.
We're waiting.
They're checking at the factory whether she's done anything else.
With such a person, anything's possible.
Besides, who introduced her into this house?
Just look at Anton.
Look at him closely.
Eyes popping, face twitching...
...hands trembling.
He's beside himself.
Anton, just between brothers...
...you're not plain jealous, are you?
Just imagine.
I've given him all my love.
No wonder he wouldn't wake up in the mornings.
The bad marks he brought home from school.
Why he was always so pale.
And I thought the boy was ill. You can't imagine.
- Mother, it won't go on like this. - I hope not.
Depend on me.
We've got things in hand, Mother.
I've locked the door again.
It worked.
FOR HERMANN
I advise you to destroy it after you've read it...
...burn it, don't take it home.
If you're careful, you can go on getting your post through me. O.K.?
I'm so excited that we'll see each other on New Year's Eve.
Whatever happens, you'll find me on 31st December...
...at 8.05 pm at Boppard Station, and I'll wait there for you.
But please be careful nothing happens to you on the way.
You mustn't write to me here so often...
...as the family I work for here in Königswinter is very nosey.
Sometimes I think the doctor's wife goes through my things.
You're right when you say that love and suffering lie so close together.
Your Klärchen.
Hermann, what are you doing? You haven't a driving licence.
Come and celebrate New Year with me?
I thought it was the Chancellor! That's Anton's car.
- You're beautiful. - For you.
This business with the car...
Know what I've brought you?
Your favourite cake.
What else?
Wine...
...and eggnog.
We're really living it up.
Do you know what I'd like to do tonight?
We should go to a real New Year's Eve ball.
Yes, we'll do that.
Wait here for me. I'll ask.
It's no good here, either.
I saw. The way they've dressed up.
Don't be cross. After all, we're together.
What now?
They can shove their New Year's Ball.
How lovely.
I've never seen that in all my life.
A Chinese invention.
The Chinese invented fireworks?
I love you.
Did you make a wish?
If you kiss at midnight, you can make a wish.
- What? - I'm not saying.
Or it won't come true.
- I'll tell mine. - Don't.
I have the feeling I'm not at home anywhere.
I feel it now especially, with you gone.
But it can't be otherwise.
So sated, so stuffed with food...
...and so lacking in ideals as they are at home.
Do you think your mother no longer loves you?
Oh, her...
But she loved you so much. I remember how she doted on you.
All the things she did when there was nothing to be had, after the war.
Do you know what my mother is?
She's one of the mass.
I'm still trying to understand her.
She admires Anton, because he's got a factory...
...because he feels a father's responsibility towards me.
But my father is dead.
I'm not related to them at all.
I was put into their nest like a cuckoo.
And because they have no ideals, they're mass people.
The masses cry out for a leader.
They'll soon see once again where that gets them.
We must eat something...
...or we'll become sad and we won't love each other.
Maybe all this is the beginning of the end.
Maybe the atomic mushroom will destroy all of us.
Do you sometimes think about war, too?
Yes, I'm often scared about it.
But we two are an island, aren't we?
The time goes so quickly. It's almost eight.
Happy New Year!
Before I say goodbye, I must give you something.
I've had it with me, but I didn't want any sadness...
...in our short time together.
- lt's as if we'll never meet again. - Yes.
Read the letter when I'm gone. It's from your mother and brother.
When you read it, you'll know what to think.
I'm never going back to Königswinter, I've been sacked there.
You mustn't come after me.
Wait here until I've gone, then turn around and drive home.
- Promise? - Yes.
Dear Klara Sisse
You are an adult...
...and we needn't explain what our laws provide for in your case.
What you have done with our boy, who is a minor, is a crime.
We are watching every step you take.
If you should ever again dare to pester Hermann...
...with your filthy mind...
...we'll have you prosecuted.
We'll destroy you.
We've given full details to the family...
...whose nursemaid you are.
They ought to know whom they're sheltering.
Doctor Bongart appreciates the danger to his children.
He's dismissing you as from 1st January 1956.
Something else.
Nothing on earth will allow you ever to see Hermann again.
All your letters will be delivered to us. We've taken care of that.
And if you try any tricks, don't forget you could go to prison.
After years of trust...
...you have disgracefully abused, we now know you.
You're a wh...
Hermann, too, sees that and has promised to forget you.
Anton Simon, Simon Optical Works. Schabbach.
When Hermann was eighteen, he left the village for ever.
He studied music in various capitals and became a composer.
LlTTLE HERMANN