MALCHOW, EAST GERMANY, 1980
What's going on here?
A Russian has got away.
He hasn't been caught yet.
Such a fuss!
Let's go another way. - That's how it is.
When he gets one in front of his gun,
he won't think twice.
He'll shoot. He'll shoot. All you can do is pray.
It's awful.
Yes, he's got nothing to lose.
He's a poor sod, if you think about it.
Awful.
Come on.
Bye, Peter. - Bye.
NOVEMBER CHILD
CONSTANCE, GERMANY, 2007
You don't need your will any more.
I thought you'd woken up at last.
I'm wide awake.
I haven't been this awake for ages.
You'll have another heart attack!
I'm writing my first novel. Can't you understand that?
I can't think of anything else.
You're no writer.
So what am I, in your opinion?
I don't have forever.
I've always given my ideas to other people.
I thought we'd go away, and see what happens to us.
Away from work, schedules and friends.
That could really be a start.
I have to find that girl.
CONSTANCE, GERMANY, 2007
One... Two...
Three!
Can you imagine living in Finland?
What makes you think of Finland?
Is it because of the sauna?
Or Hamburg?
In Hamburg? With Gran and Grandad?
Can't you imagine living without the old people?
Have I told you? Gran notes down...
when Grandad has bowel movements.
No... - She does.
1st November-Too little.
5th November-Hard as a rock.
6th November-Lumpy. Strikingly pungent odour.
7th November-Like water, despite eating mashed potato.
What does Heinrich say about it?
He's too congested to speak!
It's so nice to sit here.
Without Steffi, I'd also be congested sometimes.
I'm going to get some sparkling wine.
Something to celebrate?
I got a letter.
I understand.
Hamburg?
Nuremberg.
It all worked out.
It's almost around the corner.
When will it start?
Next Sunday.
Looking forward to it?
I don't know. I think so.
Two Jacks. That's...
Look at this awful hand you've dealt me!
Do you have 18? - Hold on.
This isn't chess, Grandad.
18
Grandad fell over today.
20
What do you mean? - He crashed to the floor.
20
I couldn't help him up after that.
What is it? 20?
22?
Won't you move in with us again, Inga?
I can't manage Grandad on my own any more.
We're having a nice game here!
What is it? 22?
Inga, will you come...?
See you tomorrow!
Close the window. Grandad will freeze.
Bye.
We're here! - Don't go yet!
Stay where you are!
You have to help me.
These boots really stink!
Stay!
I can't run any more.
Bye, you old West German slut.
I'll send you a parcel.
With blancmange powder.
Cheers!
Yes. Bye.
Come on, you stupid egg.
Damn!
And who are you?
Have I got something on my face?
I'm sorry. Was I staring at you?
Yes.
That happens sometimes.
I stand there, staring and staring, and people think... sort of...
that I'm crazy.
But my staring has revealed something pretty.
Oh?
Fiction...? Do you have something like that?
About this area?
Fontane didn't come to Malchow, sadly.
Local tales, or village stories?
Or literature...?
Literature.
Wait a moment.
Here you are.
But hands off my fried egg!
I found something at an antiquarian's,
by some Englishman.
19th century.
I don't know if someone has borrowed it.
Do you like old books?
It depends on the books.
I like how they smell.
What crappy weather!
Hello, Frau Bredow.
Hello, Inga.
Snow would be better, eh?
Are you on holiday? Now? In November?
I like November.
Inga, can I take four tapes today?
Me, too?
This time, as it's nearly Christmas.
Kevin, your nose is running.
Something like this?
Yes, yes...
Could you keep that for me? I'll come back later.
So, he likes November.
He looks the type.
Was something wrong?
Robert von der Muhlen, professor of creative writing, Constance.
What? You can become a professor of that?
Well, I never!
Have you got something romantic, Inga?
Something to warm me up?
Yes.
Grandad...
If someone asked me for literature about our area...
...good literature...
'I grew up by the Peene at Anklam'.
'The Nebel flows through Gustrow'.
'Manhattan is surrounded by Hudson and East and North'.
'And for three years, outside my window.
I have seen the Thames where it becomes the North Sea'.
'But, in truth, where I belong
is in Mecklenburg's densely-wooded
lake district from Plau to Templin'.
So? Who wrote that?
Uwe Johnson.
See? I didn't think of him.
He also went to the West.
He died a wretched death.
No one noticed that he was dead.
He lay there in his flat for weeks.
Someone from Constance came to the library today.
He was asking.
What else? What did he want from you?
Nothing. He wanted to get warm.
Don't keep rushing about. Sit yourself down.
It's not what you think. He could have been my father.
So, you two. I have to go now.
I'll be back tomorrow.
What's up with you now?
Well, you could take the dustbin...
Yes, I'll take the dustbin out with me.
Will I still get a bus to Malchow?
I doubt it.
Could you give me a lift?
Do you have strong bones?
Do you ever wait for something to happen?
Something unforeseen?
I sometimes worry that I'll miss something in life.
Then I hope something unforeseen will happen.
A Harley Shovelhead. Huge steel frame.
We went from Chicago down to New Orleans on that.
It was totally crazy.
Two steaks au four.
Here you are. - Thanks
Enjoy them. - Thank you.
Thanks.
So, how far have you got on your Harley?
Not far enough.
Your family...
Hello, Inga.
Have they always lived in Mecklenburg?
I only have my grandparents.
Yes, they've always lived here.
And your parents?
Oh God. Our choir.
They have a concert soon.
My mother drowned in the Baltic Sea.
Drowned in the Baltic Sea?
How old were you then?
Should you have ordered something else?
I never knew my mother.
And your father?
No one knew him.
Not even Gran or Grandad.
Not even Mum's best friend.
He must have been really unpleasant.
Maybe a one-night stand from a disco.
You never looked for him?
I've got parents.
Gran and Grandad.
Do you know that a Russian soldier...
once fled from his barracks here?
It must have been around 1980.
Stop!
Stop! Stop where you are!
Oh, it's you.
I thought... - Peter. Good evening.
Everything's all right, Peter.
Good night.
Tell me...
About this story...
I just can't imagine you've never heard about it.
No.
But I don't believe it happened.
It sounds made-up.
Maybe.
Do you fancy an outing? How about tomorrow?
To see how the East looks?
Why not?
Great.
I look forward to it.
Good night.
Nighty-night, as we say where I'm from.
For the whole of winter, Lake Constance is covered in fog.
Yesterday morning in the library...
Last night on the road...
Then your story about the Russian.
What are you actually here for?
I need to give you some background.
I've got time.
At the time, I was a research assistant.
It must have been 1981 or 1982.
I can't remember exactly.
I was teaching one of...
my first courses in creative writing.
A young woman asked me...
if she could attend, as an observer.
What she told me sounded like it came from another world.
Not because she was from East Germany.
She had hidden a Russian soldier.
The story I told you yesterday.
For a long time... For weeks in her flat.
She fell in love with him.
Later, they fled together.
An escape group helped them flee into the West.
And they arrived in Constance in 1980.
In the fog.
So, anyway, she was there in my class,
and then something occurred.
The students had to read out their essays.
It was her turn. She started reading.
There was complete silence in the room.
It was an outline account...
of her departure from East Germany
about saying farewell, about her pain.
Suddenly, someone asked, 'Why?
Why did you leave your child in the East?
She picked up her bag, and left.
All she left was a piece of paper with a little poem.
Why tell me this?
She was called Anne.
She was from your village.
When she fled, she left a child behind.
The child must have been about six months old.
A girl.
That wasn't all.
I think I've had enough.
Konitz Publishers. This is the number for Wilfried Konitz.
Please leave a message,
or ring my secretary Frau Knauer on extension 337.
Thank you, and goodbye.
Hello, Wilfried. This is Robert.
Tell me, do you remember my old story?
I'm sending you an outline in the post.
I've got a new idea.
The story is really incredible.
I'm going to write it, whatever you say.
If you don't take it, someone else will.
Grandad...
How did Mum die?
Grandad.
You know how.
She drowned in the Baltic Sea. That's true, isn't it?
What else?
I'm just asking.
Nothing's up with Steffi?
You were Mum's best friend.
What made you think of that?
And you went to her funeral.
Who actually gave the eulogy?
You know what? We're rehearsing.
Did the choir sing at the funeral?
Inga, stop it.
Did you throw flowers onto her coffin?
Kerstin, this is a prime example of what we said about discipline.
Come on.
Tell me.
We wanted to protect you.
What does that mean?
She was standing just there, at the door.
Inga has a fever, she said.
I'm just going to the chemist's.
Yes...
Just to the chemist's.
And she never came back.
And never came back.
Kaden speaking.
Hello, Dad.
Anne.
Are you out of your mind?
We've been going crazy here. I...
The police have been here.
What are you doing to us, girl?
I'm in the West, Dad.
Where are you? - In Constance.
I want to... - Where are you?
She was still our girl.
And she never phoned again?
She never asked about me?
In all that time?
You come here and ruin everything.
What now? Can't you just leave me in peace?
Go away. Leave me alone.
How did I know you knew nothing about it?
Should I have gone back home?
Great!
And what do I know now?
That I have a mother who wants nothing to do with me...
...and who left me behind like a bag of rubbish.
'No one can teach me to forget.
If there were a message from home...
...that would give me hope, a little bit.'
This...
This is what she left that day.
I always kept hold of it...
...so that one day...
She's waiting for a message from home.
That is so twisted.
Hello, Inga.
Did your mother ring you?
Yes.
Did you know about it?
For how long?
Quite a while.
A few years. - Even you...
Fine, Steffi. - I can explain.
It came a few weeks after Anne left.
She told me she had met a Russian.
That's all.
She said I couldn't tell anyone, and then she was gone.
No one knew anything.
Only rumours.
Two men even came to see me at work.
I'd never had anything to do with those people before.
They asked if Anne had told me anything.
She must have told me something.
Girls discuss everything, they said.
Then a letter came, which we didn't answer.
We were afraid to.
We were so young, Inga.
And no one here asked about her?
They whispered about it. That's what happens.
But maybe no one wanted to know for sure.
Don't be angry with Steffi.
I shouldn't have told her. - Poor Steffi.
Who is my father?
You'll have to ask Anne.
You don't know anything about what happened over there.
Yuri.
They're here.
Hello. I'm looking for a woman called Anneliese Kaden.
In Constance.
And anywhere else in Germany?
Do either of you know where she could be now?
You don't know how Grandad suffered.
What?
Well, what?
He couldn't be a headmaster any more.
And what did you do to become one again?
Did you sign something?
Maybe we did things for you sometimes.
Could that be true? This is an interrogation.
Did you break off contact with her? - That's enough!
You betrayed your own child. - Shut up!
That would have suited you. I don't know how you two sleep at night.
Has she ever come to see us?
All this time since the reunification. Not once!
And it's your fault.
Inga...
You said there's a reason why she didn't get in touch.
Will you help me look for her?
I don't really have any choice.
Good.
We'll meet at 7:00 in front of the house.
We're going to Constance.
How? On your Shovelhead?
See you.
Yes.
Good.
Thanks for working so quickly.
Yes. Bye.
The detective agency. They've found Yuri.
We have to go to Stuttgart, to the old freight depot.
Oh God. That sounds like in Edgar Wallace.
Let me suggest something.
I'm the older one here.
Now, if we have to sleep in the same room...
...we can be less formal with each other, can't we?
OK.
My name is Inga.
Robert.
Right, Robert.
I'll get us something to eat. - Yes.
Constance, 28th April, 1980.
Dear Kerstin...
They're here.
I'm staying here.
We've talked about it.
Hurry up. Dress her.
But she's got a fever.
Without you two, they won't take me!
Anne, come on!
I can't.
Then I'll stay, too.
She'll suffocate in the boot of the car.
I'll stay. And they can shoot me.
I'll stay.
If I die, no one will notice anyway!
Yuri.
Ask if they can come back for her.
I can't give her any drops.
She's got a fever.
Anne... They'll come for her later.
Definitely.
Inga has a fever. I must go to the chemist's.
Oh, sweetie... What's wrong, then?
Granny's got you. Come on.
Your dad can take you.
Heinrich? - Leave him.
Hello, sweetie...
Children easily get a fever. It will pass quickly.
Oh, sweetheart...
Go inside. It's getting cold.
Making your Mummy worry like that...
Yes?
Hello.
I'm looking for a woman called Anne Kaden.
There's no Anne here, unfortunately,
but you can join us for a game.
Josef, hold on.
I've got it ready for you.
Thank you, Yuri.
Thank you.
You're Yuri?
Josef, your water. - Oh, yes... Thank you.
Are you sprouting roots?
You'll sprout roots standing there.
Bavarian State Chancellery.
Have you offered the material to someone else?
Well, not much...
Don't take the piss with me.
Am I the only one? - Maybe.
Where are you? - In Stuttgart.
I'll come to Stuttgart in the morning.
I'll ring you when I get there. Bye.
You have nothing to say to me?
Let's play.
Oh, no.
All right, then.
You look like Anne.
Where is she?
I don't see her now.
You know where she is.
I don't know. Somewhere.
I've been told that Anne is my mother.
But she left me in the lurch.
Who says?
Tell me where she is. I'll ask her.
You don't want to tell me?
What's all this?
You give me this money?
How dare you?
Who are you?
Piss off! Just piss off!
Yuri!
Yuri! Yuri!
1:00 in the morning.
Friday. November.
Above the railway tracks,
the moon shines, mean and yellow.
She feels lost.
Where is she going? Here, there, nowhere.
The railway tracks offer no clue.
Inga!
NO ONE CAN TEACH ME TO FORGET.
IF THERE WERE A MESSAGE FROM HOME
AND IT COULD COME LOOKING FOR ME.
THAT WOULD GIVE ME HOPE, A LITTLE BIT.
Yuri.
Come away from the window. What if they see you?
Get yourself shot, then!
And take Inga and me with you.
You want to go?
Where do you want to go?
West Germany?
There?
What's there?
I'll never see her again.
You think it's my fault.
They want to keep her. They want to keep Inga.
Your parents.
Your father.
It's not my fault.
You said they'd go back for her.
Go to Alexander.
He'll get her for you.
Do you want to go to Alexander?
Is there anyone waiting for you?
Yes.
No... I don't know. Maybe.
Why don't you go home and see?
I don't know if I have a home.
Are you still cold? Shall I run you a hot bath?
You're evading the issue, Robert.
But you wanted me to come.
Why did you come?
I don't know.
I've told you about my father.
He was a priest.
Very popular in the suburban community.
His brilliance left the Lord God totally in the shade.
I always fought for his recognition.
Then we found out he was a big shot...
in the army in Hitler's time.
He was dead by then, sadly.
My brother Marius was a militant student demonstrator in 1968.
He wanted to know the facts.
He went to the archives, and asked everyone.
He brought some evidence home.
'Here, look at this. Our devout father blessed
the weapons for the final victory.
He was a revolting Nazi bastard.'
I hated my brother for it.
What has that to do with my story?
My brother was killed in a car accident.
And do you know what I thought...
...for a short moment during his funeral?
Now we'll have peace.
Perhaps this is why I wanted to come with you.
I don't know.
Could you run a bath for me, after all?
You arsehole.
You could have got on the bed next to me.
I have to go back there.
Do you want some tea?
The water froze last night.
What I did with the money was crappy.
She wanted to fetch you.
But they wouldn't permit it.
She had hidden a deserter, a piece of scum.
She went off to the West.
With a deserter, the lowest of the low.
She was an enemy.
Enemies must be done away with.
She never contacted me.
Can you explain that?
Then tell me what's up with her.
Please.
She lives with Alexander.
Who is Alexander?
He escaped with his parents to the West.
Alexander found people to help us escape.
That was the start of my bad luck.
Anne was together with him
when she was 17, 18. Before us.
He went in 1979 with an exit visa.
To Constance. His whole family.
That split them up.
I nearly died in Anne's flat.
No space, constant danger... It was terrible.
Alexander was our last chance. Do you see?
Anne met him in Prague.
I have to help a friend, she said. 'To get out, very quickly.'
Alexander was so happy to bring Anne home to him.
Alexander organised everything.
In the boot of a car
in a ferry across the Baltic Sea.
Sheer madness.
A short time later, Anne and I split up.
And this Alexander?
He didn't want me, right?
He did.
He's your father.
You see a happy publisher.
What have you done for her to let you get so close?
She doesn't know anything. - What?
She doesn't know I'm writing about her.
What do you mean? - Damn!
I can't just crash into her life and say.
I want to write a novel about you. Can I be a voyeur?
Are you crazy?
I've never experienced this before.
In fact...
In fact, I want to protect her.
At the same time, I have this sick need...
to write about her. It's like...
I have no choice.
I keep telling myself, 'You must tell her the truth'.
But somehow I don't.
I could punch myself for that.
What do you think?
I have to tell her the truth, right?
Yes. And incorporate it into the story.
You don't understand.
A love story? It gets better and better!
She's in her early twenties.
Even better. It heightens the conflict.
I should... I should punch you in the face for that, actually.
Yes.
Forget the novel.
He studied medicine.
I'm sure he's a great gynaecologist.
Or something.
Will you come again?
Maybe.
I don't know if she's happy.
I'll let you know.
Hello?
What is it?
I heard her voice.
I'm nearly there.
Inga!
Damn!
They have children.
I need to get out of here.
I'd like an appointment for today. - Today?
It may take a while. - I don't mind.
She's come to the town, but she's not aware of it.
It could be any place. She's not interested in it.
She's looking for Anne.
And in Anne, she's looking for herself.
But Anne went away
and never arrived anywhere.
She won't find her.
She could have happily lived to be 100.
But it's too late for that.
I'm taking the biography away from her.
I'm taking the identity from her.
And what do I offer in return?
Lies.
Frau Kaden? Room three, please.
I told the woman that
I can't approve of her taking a cure.
But it's absurd!
She's blackmailing me into it.
No. No, listen. I see it differently.
I have a patient now. I'll ring you back.
OK.
Thank you.
Sorry about that.
Please take a seat.
Julia, you wanted to sit in on some consultations.
Come to my office, please. Thank you.
My student. I hope it doesn't bother you.
Do take a seat.
So, what seems to be the trouble?
I've got back pain.
Where did you last see a doctor?
In Malchow. Do you know it?
And how is it that you came to me?
I'm visiting the area. You were recommended to me.
Where exactly is the pain?
I don't know. I just have back pain.
Lift up your top, please.
Do you feel any pain here?
Here?
Thank you.
I'll prescribe you a herbal remedy. That will soothe it a little.
That's all I can do for you just now.
Thank you for your help.
We'll fetch her, Anne.
Definitely.
No, we have to wait for Yuri.
He's in that car boot.
What do you mean?
They said he had to wait on the car deck,
or they'd have arrested him on the ship.
He's not German, after all.
I understand.
You want to say goodbye.
We're taking him with us.
Why would we do that?
I can't just leave him here on his own.
But you could leave Inga.
I often think of home.
I've never been swimming in Constance in the winter.
Don't worry.
We'll get her back.
Here are your starters.
Bon appetit. - Thank you.
I know why she never contacted me.
She settled into a nice life in the West.
Doctor brings home the money. His wife looks after the kids.
She cooks, gets his slippers...
...and later, she goes to pottery classes or she paints.
Yuri couldn't have given her that.
You've forgotten yoga.
She does yoga with some guru or other.
That's the usual thing here.
It's a big step up for a woman from a colourless country,
with its grey buildings and depressed people.
Everything here is bright and cheerful.
And we have oranges all year round.
So I missed out on a lot.
Perhaps it's all very different.
Maybe she is...
What do I know?
What do you know?
She was...
She is...
Cons-Dance is so pretty.
Cons-Dance!
I feel as if this is my first time here.
I would like to kiss you...
...but I don't dare.
That's a pity.
Good night.
Sleep well.
Good night.
Inga, hello. It's me, Steffi.
I've given up already.
I'm back in Zislow.
Nuremberg's not for me.
I'll look for something else.
I would be so happy to get a sign from you.
Hello, Robert.
I've gone to the East, to Ahrenshoop.
Sea View Villa.
If you want to join me, then do.
If not...
...then I'll use the trip as a new start.
For me. Just for me.
Claire.
Anne?
Anneliese Kaden?
Sorry, my mistake.
I must see the doctor now.
Don't worry. I won't stay long.
You didn't leave your phone number.
I didn't know where to find you.
I live in Mecklenburg, and have for 25 years.
I was thinking all night about what I can say to you.
I was composing big speeches.
I was thinking how I could best defend myself.
Go ahead, please. Defend yourself.
I couldn't think of anything.
I want to know where my mother is.
That's all I want from you.
I wrote a letter to your grandparents.
It came back unopened.
Don't you want to sit?
Anne died on 4th March, 1992.
She killed herself.
Why?
Anne.
We'll appeal against it.
Anne.
Why won't you talk to me?
Anne, say something!
They're not allowed to keep her there, do you understand?
Who?
Hello.
Don't worry. We're police officers.
Can we help you? - Come along.
No! No!
No!
Get up.
Nice and calm. - Stay calm.
Your mother lived here for 10 years.
The room looked much more cheerful then.
This place closed five years ago.
What was she like, my mother?
No doubt your father has explained some of it.
She suffered as a result of that escape.
The slightest thing could take her back to that situation,
where she left without her child.
It was so distressing for her.
She wanted to cut herself off from this traumatic experience.
She didn't want to remember it any more.
She didn't want to remember it? - We tried everything.
We tried speaking to her, but she refused.
And it became no longer possible to get near to her.
I no longer thought suicide was a possibility.
She hardly showed any emotions.
I just didn't think she had the strength to do it.
You gave up on her.
The Berlin Wall fell too late for your mother.
That's your opinion.
You bought her for yourself.
I organised the whole escape.
My father paid a crazy price.
And they used me. Both of them.
I'll make you an offer, I said.
If you leave Anne.
I'll forget half of your debt.
I was angry with this Russian bastard.
Do you think he thanked me once?
I mean, I saved his life.
And then he was gone, the idiot.
He agreed immediately.
And Anne came to me.
Dodgy dealings.
Anne knew nothing about it.
But she loved him.
And she needed me.
Why didn't you ever contact me?
Maybe I had enough of it.
Anne's illness was more than I could cope with.
I was so pleased when she went into the clinic.
Sometimes, I'd sit in my car...
...and cry.
I'd say, 'I'm not going back.'
At some point...
...I stopped visiting her.
I was nine when the Wall fell.
I would have visited her.
Maybe she'd still be alive today.
So it's the same as it was before.
My mother is dead.
Except now the grave is in Constance.
NO ONE CAN TEACH ME TO FORGET.
IF THERE WERE A MESSAGE FROM HOME
AND IT COULD COME LOOKING FOR ME
THAT WOULD GIVE ME HOPE, A LITTLE BIT.
Did you choose the poem?
It was Anne's literature lecturer.
Pardon?
Yes, he really took care of her.
They gave him all of her sketches and diaries.
He wanted to write Anne's story at some point.
Guilt. Identity. Homeland.
She's come to the town but she's not aware of it.
It could be any place. She's not interested in it.
She's looking for Anne.
And in Anne, she's looking for herself.
She won't find her.
Inga!
I've messed it all up, but you can't go like this.
We've experienced something together.
We won't forget it.
You won't and I won't.
I must explain, at least.
Why do you get off on other people's stories?
Don't you have enough to do with your own?
Have you ever told the truth?
When I wanted to tell you the truth, it was too late.
Actually, I should have...
For a while now, I should have...
Goodbye.
Inga!
My God, Inga.
I came to say goodbye.
I'm going away. I'm taking the first train tomorrow.
Can you look after my books?
Where are you going?
I don't know yet. Somewhere.
And what will I do?
Stay here.
Be here when I get back.
Bye.
The end