I don't know. It's so long since I saw her, Michael. How can I tell?
It's my fault. We shouldn't have come unannounced.
Daddy's going to live in his own house.
Mother, I'm afraid I have some bad news.
Julia knows. We've already told her.
Gertrud and I, we are getting a divorce.
You don't come for your father's funeral, but you come for this?
It's not easy for me to visit this town.
- Were you really so unhappy? - That's not what I'm saying.
- It's not what I meant. - Well, then?
You mustn't worry about Gertrud. I'm going to look after her.
She's already a state prosecutor, so she earns far more than I do.
Michael...
...I'm not worried about Gertrud.
I'm worried about you.
"Sing to me of the Man, Muse
The man of twists and turns Driven time and again off course
Once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy"
215, mail.
217, mail.
220, mail.
1219. 66215.
Number?
Open it.
Testing, testing. One, two, three. Testing, testing.
The Odyssey by Homer.
"Sing to me of the Man, Muse
The man of twists and turns
Driven time and again off course
Once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy... "
"... to the house of death. But they held fast in place,
hoping that others might still come.
Shades of famous heroes, men who died in the old days
and ghosts of an even older age, I long to see. "
"Come, sheathe your sword, let's go to bed together.
Mount my bed and mix in the magic work of love.
We'll breed deep trust between us. "
"Not for all the world, not until you consent to swear, goddess,
a blinding oath you'll never plot some new intrigue to harm me. "
"Straightaway, she began to swear the oath that I required.
Never, she would never do me harm.
And when she'd finished then, at last,
I mounted Circes' gorgeous bed. "
"When young Dawn, with her rose-red fingers shone once more,
they yoked their pair again,
and out through the gates and echoing colonnade,
they whipped the team to a run and on they flew,
holding nothing back, and the princes reached the wheatlands... "
"... those purebred stallions...
...as the sun sank... "
"... is my beginning. "
"Truly, and I have to confess, I am jealous.
It's true, till now... "
"Perfectly astonishing. I've always said it was all tricks,
but he went to sleep under my very eyes. "
"He lifted a large newspaper from the table
and began stamping his feet and flourishing the newspaper
to drive Gregor back into his room. " "Zhivago... even a cake,
rather like a Baba au Rhum known as a Zhivago bun.
At one time you only had to say to your sleigh driver in Moscow,
'Zhivago's. And, rather as if you had said... "
"The Lady with the Little Dog by Anton Chekhov. "
"The talk was that a new face had appeared on the promenade,
a lady with a little dog.
Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov had already spent two weeks in Yalta,
so he was bored with it and always looking for fresh faces. "
Sitting in the pavilion at Vernet,
he saw a young woman walking on the seafront.
A fair-haired young lady of medium height, wearing a beret... "
I want to take out a book.
Which book?
Do you have The Lady with the Little Dog?
What's your name?
Hanna Schmitz.
The Lady with the Little Dog.
...Dog.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
The Lady with the Little Dog.
The...
The.
The. The. The.
The.
- No letter? - No letter. Sign.
- You're Michael Berg? - Yes.
Thank you for calling me. You got my letter?
I have it here.
As I say, Hanna Schmitz is coming up for release very soon.
Hanna has been in prison for over 20 years.
She has no family.
She has no friends.
You're her only contact.
And I'm told you don't visit her.
No, I don't.
When she gets out, she's going to need a job.
She's going to need somewhere to live.
You can't imagine how frightening the modern world will seem to her.
Mm-hmm.
I have no one else to ask.
If you don't take responsibility for her,
then Hanna has no future at all.
It's kind of you.
Thank you for letting me know.
- You're Michael Berg? - Yes.
I'm Louisa Brenner. Good morning.
- How do you do? - We were expecting you earlier.
I should warn you, for a long time Hanna held herself together.
She was very purposeful. In the last few years, she's different.
She's let herself go.
I'm taking you straight to the canteen.
They've just finished their lunch.
Table four.
You've grown up, kid.
I've got a friend who's a tailor.
He'll give you a job.
And I've found you somewhere to live. It's a nice place.
Quite small, but it's nice.
- You'll like it. - Thank you.
There are various social programs, cultural stuff I can sign you up for.
And the public library is very close.
You read a lot?
I prefer being read to.
That's over now, isn't it?
Did you get married?
I did. Yes, I did.
We have a daughter.
I'm not seeing as much of her as I'd like.
I'd like to see a great deal more of her.
The marriage didn't last.
Have you spent time thinking about the past?
- You mean with you? - No.
No, I didn't mean with me.
Before the trial, I never thought about the past.
I never had to.
Now?
What do you feel now?
It doesn't matter what I feel.
It doesn't matter what I think.
The dead are still dead.
I wasn't sure what you'd learned.
Well, I have learned, kid.
I've learned to read.
I'll pick you up next week, OK?
That sounds a good plan.
We can do it quietly, or we can make a fuss.
Quietly.
OK. Quietly.
Quietly.
- Take care, kid. - You, too. See you next week.
I've come to collect Hanna Schmitz.
Please. Please, take a seat.
She didn't pack.
She never intended to leave.
"The talk was that a new face
had appeared on the promenade,
a lady with a little dog. "
She left me a message.
A sort of will.
I'll read the bit that concerns you.
"There is money in the old tea tin.
Give it to Michael Berg.
He should send it, alongside the 7,000 Marks in the bank,
to the daughter who survived the fire.
It's for her.
She should decide what to do with it.
And tell Michael I said hello. "
- Ms. Mather? - Yes.
- You're Michael Berg. - Yes.
I was expecting you.
- Please. - Thank you.
So you must tell me, exactly what brings you to the United States?
I was here already. I was at a conference in Boston.
- You're a lawyer? - Yes.
I was intrigued by your letter, but I can't say I wholly understood it.
- You attended the trial? - Yes. Almost 20 years ago.
I was a law student. I remember you. I remember your mother very clearly.
My mother died in Israel a good many years ago.
I... I'm sorry.
Go on, please.
Perhaps you heard.
Hanna Schmitz recently died. She killed herself.
She was a friend of yours?
A kind of friend.
It's as simple as this.
Hanna was illiterate for the greater part of her life.
Is that an explanation of her behavior?
- No. - Or an excuse?
No. No.
She taught herself to read when she was in prison.
I sent her tapes.
She had always liked... being read to.
Why don't you start by being honest with me?
At least start that way.
What was the nature of your friendship?
When I was young, I had an affair with Hanna.
I'm not sure I can help you, Mr. Berg.
And...
...even if I could, I'm not willing to.
I was almost 16 when I took up with her.
The affair only lasted a summer. But...
But what?
I see.
And did Hanna Schmitz acknowledge the effect she'd had on your life?
She'd done much worse to other people.
I've never told anyone.
People ask all the time what I learned in the camps.
But the camps weren't therapy.
What do you think these places were, universities?
We didn't go there to learn.
One becomes very clear about these things.
What are you asking for? Forgiveness for her?
Or do you just want to feel better yourself?
My advice? Go to the theater if you want catharsis. Please.
Go to literature.
Don't go to the camps.
Nothing comes out of the camps.
Nothing.
What she wanted...
What she wanted was to leave you her money.
- I have it with me. - To do what?
As you think fit.
Here.
When I was a little girl, I had a tea tin for my treasures.
Not quite like this. It had Cyrillic lettering.
I took it with me to the camp, but it got stolen.
- What was in it? - Sentimental things.
A piece of hair from our dog. Some tickets to the operas
my father had taken me to. It wasn't stolen for its contents.
It was the tin itself
that was valuable,
what you could do with it.
There's nothing I can do with this money.
I give it to anything associated with extermination of Jews,
then to me it seems...
...like absolution, and that's something I'm neither willing
- nor in a position to grant. - I was thinking maybe
an organization to encourage literacy.
Good. Good.
Do you know if there is a Jewish organization?
I'd be surprised if there isn't.
There's a Jewish organization for everything.
Not that illiteracy is a very Jewish problem.
Why don't you find out? Send them the money.
Shall I do it in Hanna's name?
As you think fit.
I'll keep the tin.
Thank you.
- Where are we going? - I thought you liked surprises.
I do. I do like surprises.
Hanna Schmitz.
Who was she?
That's what I wanted to tell you.
That's why we're here.
So tell me.
I was 15.
I was coming home from school.
I was feeling ill.
And a woman helped me.