Contemporary Art.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen.
Until the national socialists seized power
there was such a "modern art" here in Germany.
And as you might guess from the name,
almost a new one every year.
But the national socialist Germany once again demands a German art which,
like the entirety of a nations creative values,
must and shall be eternal.
But if it lacks such eternal value then it is already today
without higher value for our people.
The German woman is mocked and equated with prostitutes.
The soldier is represented as a murderer and senseless sacrifice,
in terms of a Bolshevik class struggle.
This is how the peoples deep-rooted respect for
the soldier's bravery
is to be driven out.
And madness, mental illness, is elevated to a defining principle.
Do we really need to assume
that there are men who see the shapes of our people
only as depraved cretins?
Who generally perceive, or as they might say "experience",
meadows as blue, skies as green,
clouds as sulfur-yellow and so on?
There are only two possibilities.
Either these so-called "artists"
really do see the things as they are showing them to us here
and therefore believe in what they represent.
Then it would have to be examined whether their eye defects were caused by an accident
or have come about genetically.
In the first case this is deeply unfortunate for those miserable beings,
in the other it's important for the Interior Ministry of the Reich,
which then would be responsible to at least prevent
the inheritance of such horrible vision problems.
Or they themselves do not believe in the reality of these impressions,
but strive for other reasons,
harassing the nation with this nonsense.
In that case, such an offense falls in the area of criminal justice.
What does this have to do with art? How does it elevate the soul?
Where is the skill in this? For "art" comes from "skill".
I think you could do this, too.
Of course you could. Have a go.
And when you're done ask your parents
if they give you a Reichsmark for it.
You know how much they paid Mr. Wassily Kandinsky for this?
- 2000 Reichmarks. - What?
More than the annual salary of a German worker.
What does your Papa do?
Right now, he's out of work.
2000 marks of the taxes of the working German population.
We will ensure that the very people...
Maybe I don't want to be a painter after all.
Do not tell anyone, but I like it.
Aunt Elisabeth, did you see how they looked at you?
On Monday nobody here will have eyes for me.
They'll all be cheering for the Führer.
- Good afternoon. - I think you're better than Hitler.
- Good afternoon. - Good afternoon. Oh, you're taking your nephew on an outing?
Yes. Thank you.
- Safe travels. - Thank you.
Over there. There was our apartment.
What are you missing most about Dresden?
Sometimes it helps to name it exactly.
I know who you miss.
The girl with fiery red braids.
What is her name again? Johanna?
- Johanna, right? Your lover?
- No? - Not only Johanna.
- Who else do you miss? - The Schroeder.
You know?
- The old couple in our house.
Those who always hold hands. Like little children.
I like them. And the dachshund Thilo.
Whenever I called him, he came to me.
It's just 75 km from us to Dresden.
You can visit them as often as you want.
Of course you are right. Dresden is unbeatable in its beauty.
You know what?
I think it's great what your father is doing. Not joining.
A signature,
and he could have kept his job as a teacher and the apartment.
Dad thinks it's criminal, how the Nazis ...
Shh, shh, I know.
You don't talk to anyone else like that, right?
Mama says she'll persuade him to join anyway.
And then after the war that will be his capitol.
His capital!
- Goodbye, Miss May. - Goodbye.
Wait a moment.
Aunt Elizabeth, did you forget something?
Hey, Eddie. The little May is back.
- Let's do her the favor. - Ready, Karl?
- Good. - At the same time.
All right, on three. One, two, Three.
- Take care.
- Thank you.
To paint a picture which gives you that feeling...
That's what they're trying to do, those degenerate artists...
Oh Elizabeth, you're late again. And how you look!
Chest out. Chin up.
You!
First row. Come over.
You'll give him the bouquet.
Heil! Heil!
Heil!
Heil! Heil!
Heil! Heil! Heil!
Heil! Heil!
Heil! Heil! Heil!
Don't look away.
Never look away, Kurt.
Everything true is beautiful.
This sound...
Therein lies the whole power of music.
- Of life. - Of the whole universe.
People look for the Secret Code, for the Theory of Everything.
But here it is.
Here.
Do you hear this?
The A in the octave above middle C on the Blüthner piano of the May's in Waltersdorf.
And now that I have found it,
I can play it anywhere.
On the table...
Do you hear?
Even on my head.
- Aunt, Elizabeth, you're bleeding. - Even on my head.
Elisabeth.
- What are you doing?
Playing a concert for the Führer!
"Youthful delusion"? That almost sounds friendly.
"Mild schizophrenia", "youthful delusion". I can hear everything!
But I think it's nothing
a short break couldn't heal.
- A break ... - In an institution, yes.
Can't we try it at home?
She has studied very hard for high school and went straight to the secretary training.
Elisabeth?
Maybe she's just overworked.
Is that your wife?
You don't like her, right? I can see that in the way you stand there.
Elizabeth.
Wait outside, until we are done talking.
I won't say that another time.
Because schizophrenia is hereditary, I am obliged to ask:
Are there other cases of mental illness in your family?
Good god, no!
- Depression? - We're all cheerful.
We doctors, we are the guardians on the shore of the genetic stream.
I have to report this to the Department of Health.
The decision on the hospitalization possibly is not yours.
Dr. Michaelis...
Franz.
I knew your parents. Even the grandparents.
Please.
Don't report it.
Because it's you, Ms. May.
But tell me if the condition gets worse, will you?
- Goodbye. - Heil Hitler.
- Yes, of course, Heil Hitler. - Heil Hitler.
Operator.
Connect me with the Department of Health.
- So long, Gunther. - Ms. May, we have to leave.
- Take care. - We will miss you.
- It's just for a few weeks. - See you soon.
Goodbye, Ehrenfried.
Goodbye. We will miss you.
But I don't want to, mom.
Kurt, go back inside.
Kurt.
- I don't want to! - Take the legs.
No!
- Do you have her? - Yes.
No!
Come on.
Okay, hold still.
In a moment she will be very calm.
Scopolamine, that works very quickly.
Yes, strap her down.
- The suitcase. - Oh yes, of course.
- These are her things. - Yes, yes.
Never look away.
My esteemed colleague.
I congratulate you.
The weakest percent of the German people
has been rendered infertile since the introduction of the law.
400,000.
An impressive number.
Future generations will be grateful
for this contribution to improve the race.
Now I cherish the hope that one day we
will live in a world
where the roads are completely free of Mongoloids, mentally ill
and other monsters.
But now it seems it's time to shift into the next gear.
Also, because of the English air raids
we have an increased need for extra hospitals.
We can not allow that a German soldier
is denied space in a hospital,
only because it is being used to care for a worthless life.
How can we help? What can we do?
I thank you for that question, Carl.
Gentlemen,
from now on, you will not only be doctors and SS men.
You will be members of the Eugenics court.
What does that mean?
Well, a patient you have made infertile
and whose registration form you marked with a blue minus sign,
shall remain in the establishment.
If we do, however, find a red plus here
we understand that the patient is not worthy of life.
They will be transfered to one of three institutions
we have in the eastern part of the Reich
and there they will get released from their pointless existence.
Your pen.
Your sword.
Examination and preliminary interview: Elisabeth May. 23 years old.
- Sterilization appointment today at 15:45. - Thank you.
You can come in. Form of address: "Herr Professor"
You can sit there.
Did your daughter draw this?
Why do you think you are here?
Because sometimes I do not think quite right.
Do you know what kind of hospital I run?
A gynecological hospital.
A dear girl, your daughter.
I can see it in the drawing.
Not too much artistic talent.
Though, perhaps you"re glad about that. But lot of heart.
I have a nephew at that age.
Which is unfortunately very talented.
I visit exhibitions with him. To encourage him.
Good.
Lay down on the examination chair in the next room, please.
Your clothes...
- I want to talk to Professor Seeband! - Excuse me for a moment.
For weeks I asked for an appointment. Nobody ever replied!
- I have a right! - I could not stop him.
Mr. Lohse-Wächtler.
You asked me, "Do you want that your daughter's suffering
is carried into the next generation?"
That's why I agreed with the operation. What about the suffering of my daughter now?
- Show posture. - What about my suffering?
I will not continue the conversation like that.
I'll report you, Professor Seeband. At the Medical Association of the Reich.
Do that, Mr. Lohse-Wächtler. Do that.
As a doctor you have sworn an oath. Let me go.
- This will come back to you one day. - Go.
It will come back to you!
It will all come back to you!
It will come back to you!
Professor Seeband! One day!
Calm down.
It would have been better if you hadn't seen that.
- I am of healthy descent. - Three reviewers think differently.
- No! - Sit down again.
You will now go into the examination room and afterwards into the operation room.
And you will cooperate there.
Otherwise, we will strap you down,
and it will all be difficult and painful.
Please, Mr. Seeband...
Herr Professor, please.
For the Führer. I will give birth to children. Healthy, aryan children.
And I will give them to the leader just like we are supposed to.
My children will also give their children to the Führer.
- Come. - For the war!
You need soldiers, right? You need soldiers!
Who else should fight?
I'm just a bit confused sometimes.
Only very rarely. Please don't!
Please, I don't want to.
Come on now...
- Guys, I need help! - Aren't you also a father.
- For your daughter, she also paints. - It's enough.
I could be her sister. You could be my dad.
Please, daddy.
No!
Daddy!
Please, Daddy!
Daddy!
Please, Daddy!
- Anna. - Herr Professor?
I will not operate Miss May myself. Tell Blockmann.
- He's scheduled in the labor room. - Then reschedule him.
Okay. Thanks.
Jump!
You look good in the uniforms. That will make Elisabeth happy.
Johann?
Yes.
- You know... - Yes, after the war that's my capital.
And don't forget the salute. "Heil Hitler".
If you can't get it over your lips, you can mumble "three liters".
Nobody can tell.
And none of what you draw all the time. And certainly none of these naked.
The same photographer? No one has ordered him.
Heil Hitler.
Three liters.
We are registered for a visit. For Elizabeth May.
I am Johann Barnert, the brother in law.
These are their brothers. Ehrenfried and Günther May.
That's her sister Waltraud. And her mother Malvine.
The one on the back left slightly to the right.
Elizabeth May. Was relocated yesterday.
Relocated? That can't be.
Look here.
On command of the central office.
But where?
Aren't there two missing?
Käthe, we are ready.
Where was she moved to?
Hospital Grossschweidnitz. Grossschweidnitz?
This is two days from here. How should we visit her there?
We have to work. The boys are on furlough just now.
I can't tell you more, either.
I have to go now. Heil Hitler.
That's him.
I will write to the ministry of health.
Please look.
Tin foil strips. I read about those.
They want to disrupt radio-communication.
Johanna! Johanna, wake up!
- Johanna... - Mami... Mami!
This way! Over there is a slope.
Head down!
Günther!
I like you.
I like you, too.
Yes, good. That's how it's done.
- Mr Seeband? - Professor Seeband. Yes, that's me.
Mr Seeband...
Professor Seeband.
What did he say?
He wants that you address him as "Mr. Professor".
Agreed, Mr. Professor.
Where is Burghard Kroll?
- Who? - Burghard Kroll.
The leader of the Reich's Committee for Work.
We know about your meeting in Berlin.
I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know this man.
I still don't know him.
If my child isn't born completely healthy,
does it deserve to die?
There is only limited space and resources on this planet.
Who should get it? The sick or the healthy?
In any case, one spot will soon be available on this earth.
Bring the ball! Come on, do it!
You did not specify if you were a party member.
Were you a party member?
- Mr. Director, for a long time, I was... - Yes or no, Mr. Barnert?
Yes.
But I'm not a Nazi.
I mean, three quarters of all teachers were in the party.
And we want to trust the remaining quarter to take care of the youth. Good day.
It's too hot.
And stop!
Comrade?
Comrade!
What? Even when the contractions stop, she doesn't get enough of a break.
The child is laying wrong. It can't get out.
What?
Call the interpreter. Now.
He is skeptical. He asks why you want to help.
I want to help because I can.
You can leave.
A gypsy foretold it to me... I will not have children.
- It's destiny... - Cross-ways, please. Turn her.
Which week?
- 36. - Blood pressure?
110 to 70.
How could I believe that I can have children?
Tell her she will have one child for sure.
And many more if she wants to.
474
The child is laying transversely.
During labor, the uterus is too hard to turn it.
I will open the amniotic sac.
Then in a labor break I will turn the child.
I am a Military interpreter.
Do it.
Gloves.
The vodka, please.
Don't dry them. Don't touch them.
We will do it without anesthesia.
I can feel one leg.
I am waiting for the next contraction.
I am placing my index finger in the child's mouth.
I am placing the chin on the chest...
and slowly pull the head out.
A boy, a healthy boy...
Alexander Mikhailovich.
And a healthy, magnificent mother.
Congratulations, Major.
Whoever saves one life, saves the entire world.
You saved my world,
Herr Professor.
Nobody will lay a finger on you.
You're now under my personal protection.
Prepare the guest room for the professor...
... and give him decent clothes.
Father, you don't have to worry anymore.
I understand. I understand.
- What? What did you understand? - Everything. Everything.
How everything is connected. That everything is connected.
Everything.
The theory of everything.
I...
I never have to worry again. I never need to be afraid again.
I am untouchable.
- That's nice. - No, father, you don't understand.
You also don't have to worry anymore. Really.
I don't even have to become an artist anymore. I can take any job.
And I will always find the righteous and the truth.
I'm glad for you, really.
I have to hold on to it.
Some way I have to hold on to it.
I understand.
I know who you are thinking about.
But he is different.
- Good morning, Father. - Good morning, my son.
The alignment, mate.
Are you doing this so you can feel like you're better than us?
- What? - That.
To draw the shapes freehand, while we are struggling with the stencils.
- Do you want to seduce us? - Why are you doing this?
I do it because I can.
Were you waiting for a long time?
Take care. See you tomorrow.
If you bring them back, you can take the pencils home.
In January the Academy of Arts is taking applications.
I am satisfied with this work.
What's that supposed to mean? Does it help the workers?
Is that helping your father when he's cleaning stairs?
You want to help him, don't you?
You even helped him to get that job.
You saw a lot of shit, didn't you?
But how does it help to retreat into silence?
Does that help to build a better world for our children?
That's what communism is all about.
I will help you with your application.
In art school the girls are prettier than here.
So, she wrote to him ...
Can you see
that someone left all their vanity aside here
and puts himself in service of the cause, in service of the people.
Work on your attitude. Work on your skills.
And the real art is created by itself through you.
As a cautionary tale, I would like to show you Pablo Picasso.
He created strong realistic images,
that show real solidarity to the working class.
But very soon...
he slipped into a decadent, obscene formalism.
Why?
Because he wanted to be an innovator, not a traditionalist.
Innovation, creative independence, artistic freedom.
Words that may sound tempting to an artist.
Me, me, me.
But a modern artist can only achieve real freedom
if he puts himself at the service of the interests of the people.
The "Me, me, me" leads to misfortune only.
At best, it leads to being tolerated
by decadent, rich collectors.
Exploiters of the workers, who gloat over
that they have nothing in common with the people,
not even the taste for art.
Decay, mysticism, pornography.
Blank forms, artificial constructions.
Spots, lines, spheres, cones.
All this just to be seen as an innovator?
Yes, it's new.
But it is also wrong.
And it is vain and stupid, undemocratic, decadent.
Be different, gentlemen. Be different.
The hammer was a bit higher the last time.
Yes, right, it was quite a bit higher.
Yeah, a little more.
- Here? - And the left hand closer to the center.
Yes, exactly, and the right one much more to the front.
- A bit more. - Yes, further.
Just a bit more.
- Like that? - Further, further.
Further. All the way to the front.
Exactly. That's it, right?
- Yeah, that's it. - That's it.
No, that's not how it was.
Cut the crap.
It was a bit higher
Nope. It was lower.
No, it was higher.
Up.
Down, up, down, up,
down, up.
Comrade Professor?
Comrade Professor, these young people are going crazy.
After all, I bear a lot of responsibility here.
What's this, a kindergarten?
Yes, apparently it is.
Hey, there's a girl from fashion giving away pencils from the West.
Excuse me.
- Thank you. - You're welcome.
- Thank you. - Hello Ernst.
- It's very kind of you to share. - Sure, you're welcome.
- Give my regards to Lise. - Will do.
Michi.
Thank you, Elizabeth.
Don't get your hopes up. She's mine.
Look at me and learn how this is done.
2B or 4B?
- So?
2B, but...
I would much rather get a date with you.
- Let's leave it at the pencil. - Are you sure?
Sure.
Your name is Elisabeth, right?
Do you want one, too?
There's only 4B left.
Thank you.
A golden pheasant like you does not deserve an ordinary bucket.
Golden Pheasant?
- Yes. - I can't put up with that accusation.
I feel the same way.
A walk?
Through the park?
So I can correct my misjudgment?
You wanted to talk to me, didn't you?
Actually, I wanted to take a walk with you.
Fair enough.
Then I'll just make conversation.
Socialist realism.
Is that your thing?
Probably just as much as yours is the fashion of Lotte Ulbricht.
Why are you always looking at me like this?
You remind me of someone.
Would you like to paint me?
I don't know ...
Would you like to tailor a suit for me?
I have to go home. 660 Can I accompany you?
Only up to the front door.
Do you take dance lessons?
I live here. This is our house.
You didn't really disprove the gold pheasant thing.
We were just lucky. Not a single bomb hit.
Before the war, the whole street looked like this.
Goodbye, Kurt.
Goodbye...
Elisabeth.
Can I call you any differently? Do you have a nickname?
Actually, everyone calls me Elizabeth.
"Actually" means, the opposite is true.
Fair enough.
My father calls me Ellie.
Bye, Ellie.
Elisabeth.
Pay more attention to the eyes. And more volume, okay?
You could have taken more time off, Kurt.
Alright.
That's enough for today.
Ehm, okay. Good night.
See you tomorrow.
A golden pheasant as a worker?
Now you are my course work for this semester.
A suit. For you.
I will never take it off again.
You are so beautiful. It's almost not romantic anymore.
It's far too easy to love you.
Do you love me?
I can't do this otherwise.
Can't do it otherwise.
I love you.
Really?
Yes.
I love you.
My parents.
I thought they live in Chemnitz.
They do.
My father.
What should we do?
- And Elisabeth? - Sleeps firmly.
She left a candle burning. When will she finally grow up?
Yeah, the youth.
Friends tell each other these things.
I'm telling you. I was working in the garden.
Aha, working in the garden.
You probably had a really green thumb.
Ah, here she comes, your gardening.
Let's go, guys.
- How's your garden? - I'm having a drought.
Thank you for risking your life for my reputation.
Please don't ever again do something that insane.
- Did your parents... - They didn't notice anything.
Nothing at all.
They will move back to Dresden.
My father is getting back his old position as director of the clinic.
But he still has a room for rent,
because otherwise the agency for housing planning will get suspicious.
He wants to put up a sign on Monday.
You wouldn't want to...
...discover the sign first?
Quite coincidentally?
And if then I fall in love with a tenant they chose,
they can't hold that against me.
Your mother, uh... Won't she be able to tell?
Oh, Mummy. Such an innocent mind.
Don't worry about her, she won't notice anything.
Really. Nothing at all.
Yes?
I saw the sign. Is the room still available?
We put up the sign fifteen minutes ago.
Is that a yes?
- Please. - Short, short, long.
- Ms Seeband? - Yes?
- Someone is here for the room. - That was fast.
Short, short, long. Arms up.
Short, short, long. Short, short, long.
Keep your head up. Short, short, long.
Short, short, long. Short, short, long.
Short, short, long. Arms up.
Barnert, Kurt.
- What do you do for a living? - Uhm, I'm a student.
Of fashion.
- Painting. - Painting?
Ms Hellthaler!
Carl, this is a tenant one of the rooms. Come here.
Short, short, long.
You have Bell's palsy. Facial nerve palsy.
A partial facial paralysis.
The hanging corner of the mouth.
Did you ever have an accident? Or a borreliosis?
Bring this to the office, so my husband can talk to him.
My husband is a passionate doctor,
so sometimes you get a free diagnosis.
You should get that checked out.
Kurt comes with the best recommendations.
He's a student, Doesn't smoke.
And we already agreed about the rent.
Of course it's your decision whether he gets the room.
- He wants to become a painter. - I am a painter.
Our facade is starting to peel off. You can do that to lower your first rent.
I'm not that kind of painter.
What kind of painter are you then?
- Paintings. - Socialist realism?
Is there something else?
I hope not.
You can get the room anyways.
- Thank you, Mr. Seeband. - Professor Seeband, please.
Nice suit.
Why are you up that late?
I was... I went out.
Alcohol?
That can't be good for your work.
Better go to bed now.
I don't like this Kurt.
We have to make sure Ellie doesn't get too close to him.
Why?
So she can find a nice partner.
Just like you did.
Professor Seeband, about yesterday... I won't tell...
You have a new motive.
Me.
For the directors gallery.
Approximately in that style.
We will begin tomorrow, 4 pm, in my office in the hospital, alright?
Because the people of the German Democratic Republic want the reunification of Germany,
prime minister Grotewohl has offered the government in Bonn...
The professor is coming. Have a seat.
...free elections in a united Germany.
These proposals were rejected by the Western powers
and the government of Adenauer
in line with their politics of war.
Further pursuing politics of war
the government in Bonn and the western occupational forces
introduced a strict border service at the demarcation line
to differentiate themselves from the GDR
and reinforce the division of Germany...
Thank you, gentlemen. Good day.
- Kurt.
I thought you can put your easel ...
here.
The lack of an appropriate protection of the GDR
is exploited by the Western powers
to bring a large number of
spies, terrorists and smugglers into our country.
At the moment it is possible for the criminals to easily return to West Germany
over the demarcation line
after executing their criminal task.
Therefore, we are forced to take measures
to defend the interests of the peaceful population
of the German Democratic Republic.
The Ministry for State Security was given these duties.
That's how I imagined it. Very good.
We continue tomorrow at 4 pm.
Two sessions should be enough, right?
Why are you looking at these old pictures again?
Why does even the most stupid amateur photo have more reality than my picture?
- Dad likes it. - Yeah, that's exactly what I mean.
Almost no one likes a photo of themselves.
But everyone should like a painting.
So the photograph must be more true.
Why did your father actually go to Chemnitz?
Because he was the director here already before.
He doesn't want us to talk about it.
At that time he treated the women of Göring and Goebbels.
Well, he's just the best gynecologist there is.
They have traveled 200 kilometers from Berlin.
As if nobody there knows how to do a cervical screening.
You have to imagine this.
And then they made him an honorary member of the SS.
He could not refuse.
But after the war, it was difficult to make the Russians believe
that he wasn't really a Nazi.
They combed all the archives, but found nothing against him.
Today the professor compared my art to the one from Willi Sitte.
But that's good. He is successful.
"Willi Sitte"?
I think I have to get out of here.
Out of where?
You can't be serious.
Everything was going so well.
I wouldn't be able to leave my mum behind.
Kurt! Your thesis convinced the delegation.
They chose you to paint the fresco for the new history museum.
Topic: unity of the working class.
Many professors even would have been happy to get that job.
- Painting a wall? - Yes.
I'm not a muralist.
Kurt, we both know you can do this.
No, I'm sorry, that's not for me.
It's pure decoration.
This is your chance to get a job. Even money.
That's not me.
Me, me, me.
No, don't move. Please.
So I can imagine that we are one body.
I'm pregnant.
Then you are all mine now.
A part of me, I mean.
We need to tell them, Ellie.
Divide the shock in small hits.
I think your mother suspects something.
It's not mom who worries me.
Dad's entire world will collapse.
For him I will always be twelve years old.
I think Ellie is pregnant.
What?
The temperature of her hands is slightly higher since weeks,
but no symptoms of a cold.
Yesterday during dinner she went to the bathroom twice.
At breakfast she didn't even touch her porridge.
And she used the arm of her chair to get up.
Third month, I'd say.
Maybe even the fourth.
Oh God, isn't she still a child herself?
Her age is not the problem, but the man is.
But who is it?
Asthenic, melancholic.
Son of a man who killed himself because he had to clean a few stairs.
My father used to shoot weak animals to keep the herd strong.
This is not the genetic material that I want for our descendants.
We need to stop it.
And how?
After 30 years in gynecology I know:
An abortion has put an end to almost every flirt.
No, I also don't know what's the difference. Can you tell me?
The psychotic thinks that two plus two is five.
While the neurotic already knows that it is four,
he's just worried about it.
There is something we want to tell you.
About your academy? I am very interested.
No. Although ... also about the academy.
Kurt was commissioned to paint the fresco for the history museum.
So, walls in the end.
It's a fresco on unity of the working class.
Yes, and speaking of unity ...
What is it, my daughter?
I hope nothing unpleasant.
Spare my nerves.
We ...
We are together.
You are also working on the fresco?
We are a couple. For some time now.
A pair of students?
A loving couple.
- And there's something else... - Those are big news.
Yes, but there is something else we...
My God, I have to digest that first.
This really came very unexpected.
Please. Can you bring some water for the professor?
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Do you know how I could get that fabric by the way?
I am glad you told us.
And that you told us so early.
Because there is something about Ellie, that you need to know.
We didn't want to needlessly worry Ellie,
therefore we never exactly explained it to her, but ...
when she was a toddler, Ellie had a bad Inflammation in the pelvic area.
It lead to scar tissue in the oviducts
and thus to considerable damage of the cilia.
Cilia?
Tiny hairlike projections in the membrane of the oviducts
that carry the fertilized egg to the uterus.
We are currently searching intensively for a possibility,
to fix it surgically.
but if she ...
gets pregnant before that ...
Then the chance of an extrauterine pregnancy,
an ectopic pregnancy,
a tubal pregnancy, would be very big.
This in turn could lead to severe internal bleeding.
I therefore have to warn you.
For other reasons, than fathers of daughters usually warn a young man for,
to not get intimate with her until we can fix that.
A pregnancy at the present time
could be life threatening for Ellie.
Do you understand? Life-threatening.
And if she was pregnant already?
Then I should examine her immediately.
I have to act immediately.
The pregnancy is more advanced than I thought.
It is already the third month.
An abortion?
If I don't remove the fetus immediately, she will not survive the pregnancy.
Here?
We have a reputation to protect.
Is it really the only way? Really?
Are you doubting my expertise?
Would I do this to myself and to my daughter,
if I wouldn't absolutely have to?
He had an SS uniform tailored for himself.
He was practicing for hours posing in it. In front of the mirror.
Until he knew how he looked good in it.
He didn't care that I saw him.
I was small.
There was a skull on the hat.
Silver.
A skull.
A doctor is supposed to heal people.
He's supposed to heal people.
Will I always be at his mercy?
He is a gifted doctor, a humanist,
a co-designer of our socialist republic,
in short, a role model for all his colleagues.
Therefore, on this 11th of December, the day of health in the GDR,
I distinguish him with the Robert Koch Medal
and the title "Merited Doctor of the People".
Thank you, Comrade Minister, for the kind words,
I don't deserve them.
As a physician and member of the society I only do my duty.
I am a wheel in the machinery of the worlds socialist movement.
Just like the painter of this also much too flattering portrait of me
is only a small wheel,
indistinguishable in style from the other painters here.
Like all the small wheels of a big machinery,
steering towards a big common goal with the help of the Soviet Union.
Communism.
Thank you.
What did he want?
He wants me to come to the KGB headquarters tomorrow.
More he didn't say.
Looks like the plan didn't work out. They are closer to each other than before.
Patience, Martha.
Just be patient.
General Murayov, Professor Seeband.
You can go.
Carl.
Wait, I have to show you something.
Come sit down.
Carl, they are transferring me.
Back to Moscow. I can no longer protect you.
They caught all the others.
The search for Burghard Kroll and the ...
"medical coordinator of the region Dresden in the implementation of euthanasia"
is still open on the paper.
I can't guarantee,
that my successor doesn't begin new interrogations
of doctors and nurses.
You have to leave the GDR and never come back.
Ask for a permission to leave for you and your wife.
It will be approved.
They won't suspect the truth in the West.
Our side hopefully neither.
Carl.
Can't you tell me anything about Kroll?
Where is he?
Who else was at your meetings back then?
You would help me.
I've never met that man.
I don't know anything about him.
We will not meet again, my friend.
I hope my debt is paid now.
You can go.
Dear Ellie, dear Kurt.
You are my son in law since two hours now.
I leave my daughter in your hands,
when we leave the GDR by the end of the month.
Only one life lesson I want to give to you.
It's not enough to be good.
I saw men who were only good,
bypassed, dispossessed, even eradicated.
If you want to have security in your life,
no matter what you do,
you need to be the best.
Not one of the best.
The best.
To the married couple.
- Cheers. - Cheers.
"And that's how I got to Oldenburg,
the clinic Sanderbusch, with the prospect
to take it over in two years, after Erkner retired.
Take care of yourself, your Papa"
Seems like he once again landed on his feet.
They were knocking him down, didn't stop beating him.
How much would you pay me for the Wartburg?
Are you out of your mind?
Do you know how long normal people have to wait for such a car?
I don't find any pleasure in it any more.
300 Mark?
Kurt, in the West, they don't even paint any more.
Painting is now regarded as bourgeois there.
- I thought bourgeois is something good over there. - Well, I don't really know.
Of course we all want to get rid of you here. Of course, but... you have a life here.
You have money. You are just becoming famous.
I mean, girls sleep with me because I'm your assistant.
You know how to deal with the Apparatchiks like no one else.
You'll be 30 next year. That's not that young anymore.
You're...
Why?
- Because it's not about all that. - What is it about, then?
About the truth.
And who says what is true?
Me, me, me.
- 260? - Alright.
- Do you need canvases? - Do you have any?
As many as paintings. In the studio.
What?
Please paint over them. All of them. I don't want to see them anymore.
Believe me, everything I painted there is wrong.
- Realism. - A visitor from Normann Street.
And the murals? You can't destroy them.
...depicted as an unstoppable locomotive.
comrade Schreiber and Komarek ...
Others will do that for me.
We were there from the beginning. We can testify impeccable attitude.
Stop! Freeze!
- What do you have in your luggage? - My brothers things.
The train to Zoologischer Garten is departing now.
Please stay back.
- This is almost too easy. - It won't be like this much longer.
Next stop: Zoologischer Garten.
- Your names? - Barnert, Kurt.
Fill this out, please.
Your beds are over there. I am coming to you.
Mrs Müller? Mrs Müller!
- Thank you very much. - Good afternoon.
- This is for you. - Thank you very much.
- This is for you. - Thank you.
Dear Professor.
If you're reading this, I am in the West.
I couldn't speak with you earlier,
because you would have gotten in trouble.
You were always very kind to me.
Therefore, you might even believe me
that this was not an easy decision.
Hi, I'm Kurt.
- Should I come back later? - No, come in.
Klaus, still, huh?
Otherwise, you're messing up your mum's birthday present from your dad.
- How old are you again? - 29.
- I am getting 30. - You look younger.
Hm, Munich is not a bad idea. People have money there.
They constantly need portraits and landscapes.
But also in Hamburg. That's ... Well.
Don't go to Düsseldorf, I tell you.
Düsseldorf?
Only modern art. You know, very avant-garde.
If you didn't go to the academy, you have no chance there.
That's a bit like a mafia. Munich is good.
Hamburg is good.
And Berlin is so so.
Well, you will see yourself.
Klaus, still.
"Salon des refusés".
Good morning. I'm Kurt. Barnert.
I called. For the tour.
- I never thought about that. - Will you take him back?
This is not a gallery
He was beating him up in the middle of the lecture.
He showed the Hitler salute and then claimed that it was provocation.
Tasteless.
- 9000 Mark paid for some soil. - No!
You're under 26, right?
Good, and what do you want to do?
Action? Installation? Sculpture?
- Painting actually. - Painting?
No offense, I'm from the East as well. Mecklenburg.
- Harry, Harry Preusser. - Kurt.
There's really nobody painting here anymore.
People want something new. An idea.
- An idea? - Yes, but not like that.
Something new. Or at least repackaged.
Just like Yves Klein. He says: "I claim ultramarine for myself.
"I patent it even."
"It's now called Yves Klein blue. And I only express myself using that."
"I paint the bare breasts of a beautiful woman with it."
"And she smears them on the breasts of another beautiful woman."
"I paint sponges with Yves Klein blue and stick them to canvases with Yves Klein blue. "
It doesn't help if someone had the same idea before.
Lucio Fontana cuts canvases since six years.
But Katrin has beautiful firm breasts, and so we let them.
We steer our focus away from the obvious,
concentrate to the flimsy, the dubious.
Let the background stand in front.
This is Adrian Schimmel.
The name says it all.
He's actually called Adrian Finck, son of someone from the board of Mannesmann.
A snob. And he can talk, that's clear.
But if the wallpaper idea is enough?
In other words: What does the entire composition tell you?
Yes, I think it's pretty.
Yeah well, but still a wallpaper in some way.
- Excuse me. - Yes.
Yes.
But as you can see, only apparently.
That is what we artists are looking for. What is hidden behind the decorative.
Look: the emptiness expressed by the white
I put between the stencils.
The banality, embodied in the recurring pattern.
And the senseless glaringness in the neon colors.
That's what brought you here.
You have a deep intuition for art.
Otherwise you would not have ended up here. Your friends would just see a pretty wallpaper.
You see the layer behind it.
Nice.
And...
Is it possible to buy this?
It is. That's the great thing about art.
The devil always shits on the... Well, you know.
But no artist should have to talk about his work like that.
He wants to prove to his successful family,
that he can be successful without them.
They only care about money.
I want to prove my unsuccessful family,
that I can still be successful.
They also only care about money. Families suck.
But you can't be older than 26 when you have the idea, otherwise it won't work.
- Why? - Think about it.
Picasso did "Demoiselles d'Avignon" with 26.
Duchamp was 25 when he painted "Nude Descending a Staircase".
And Michelangelo did the Pieta with 24.
- Goodbye. - Goodbye.
- What do you call that? - "Potato pendulum".
- No more dots? - At the moment I'm interested in potatoes.
This is Kurt, he also comes from the East. Wants to study here.
Ah, you already had to listen to Harry's speech about the idea, I bet.
Don't you believe it?
I'm more interested in ...
potatoes.
Come on, before you get corrupted.
Arendt Ivo. Nobody knows what he wants.
He used to
dissolve everything in those big, colored dots on plates.
Could have been a real idea. And now this.
And in two months he will do something completely different.
Our professor.
Antonius van Verten. You probably even heard about him in Saxony.
An original.
He prefers "Myth".
He always wears this hat.
Once a hot student seduced him,
only to see him without a hat.
He kept it on even in bed.
He only works with felt and fat. And why?
That remains his mysterious secret.
We have to see all his lectures, but he never looks at any of our work.
He says you can only know yourself if you do it right.
I think he just doesn't care about us.
Well, we don't care about him either.
Whether you'll get accepted, get a studio...
all decided by this weirdo.
Come on. It's really not that interesting.
You haven't submitted a portfolio.
I couldn't take anything with me.
And what have you done so far?
Painted.
- In the GDR? - Yes.
Socialist realism.
Now they actually built a wall.
Did you see that coming?
"Nobody has the intention" often means exactly the opposite is true.
But somehow that's already art, this wall.
Landscape art.
The workmanship is of no interest.
Hundreds of thousands find that difficult.
Consequent German madness.
What do you like when it comes to art?
You don't like to talk about yourself, do you?
But your eyes tell me that you've seen more than any of us.
The only two conditions for you just like for everyone else,
are that firstly, you come to the lectures
and secondly, never ask me
to look at anything you're working on.
Agreed?
Whether something is good or not, you only know yourself anyway.
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back.
Oh, come on.
Don't tell me you can't do whatever you want in here.
Yes, if I only knew what that is.
SPD?
CDU?
- Who will you vote for? - CDU!
- FDP! - Union of Peace!
- Those are criminals.
- SPD! - As if they would be any better!
Don't vote at all.
Never vote for a party again.
Vote for art.
You can't have both.
Only in art, freedom is not an illusion.
Only the artist can give the people back a sense of freedom
after this catastrophe.
Every person, whether he is a garbage collector
or a farmer,
has a chance to be an artist.
If he develops his own subjective skills
without any restrictions.
If you are not free,
completely free,
nobody will be.
As you make yourself free,
you will free the world.
You are priests.
You are revolutionaries.
You are liberators.
Bring your burnt offerings.
Don't tell me you became one of the rippers.
This is almost an idea.
You are learning quickly.
I lost it.
I went to the doctor.
I'm never going to have children.
And you know what he said?
It was the abortion.
No cilia damage.
The supporting structures have been damaged.
Cervical insufficiency.
We will never get over the third month.
Because...
Because he wanted to keep it so clean,
he wiped out his own bloodline.
We will never have children, Kurt.
Your paintings.
Your paintings will be our children, right?
Good.
Yes...
Last time we talked about the extension...
No. No no.
Did you all study Lehmbruck?
This is easier to see with the projector.
Yes, Lehmbruck.
He says:
"Every work of art has to have something from the earliest days of mankind."
As if...
it was divine just a moment ago.
As if now it crawls...
out of the primeval mass, out of the rib.
No.
No, no, different, uh...
Has anyone of you have had a realization this week?
A deeper insight
he wants to share with us?
Lottery numbers.
No, really. The lottery numbers.
If I tell you six random numbers ...
5, 7, 23,29,44, 11...
... then that's stupid.
But if I tell you the winning numbers of the lottery ...
May I, please?
"2, 17,19,
25, 45, 48".
Then they have some truth about them, something compelling, um ...
yeah, something almost beautiful.
Yes.
That was my...
my insight.
You can go home. Today I have nothing for you.
Kurt, can you come please?
Yes?
I want to see your art.
When?
Whenever it works for you. If you are OK with it.
Just let me know.
What you are thinking about?
If he likes your work, you get a gallery.
- Then your girlfriend gets a car. - I am married.
Then your wife and your girlfriend get a car.
I just don't know if what I'm doing is good enough.
Somehow it isn't.
This is all subjective. If it wasn't subjective, it would be handcraft.
It's also about luck, you know?
And that he is interested in your stuff,
for whatever reason, is your luck.
Also, he will want to be right in the end.
He wants to see something brilliant in your work.
Don't stand in your own light.
They are good, the works. Really.
They are good.
During the war I was a radio operator in the Air Force.
I was a lousy radio operator.
And my pilot was a lousy pilot. He has had four weeks of training.
Already on our second mission, we where shot down over the Crimea.
The pilot was killed instantly.
I was rescued from the wreck by nomadic Tartars.
With burns that should have killed me.
The farmers,
the same farmers I was supposed to bomb
pulled me out of the wreck ...
and nursed me with what they had.
They rubbed my wounds with fat...
and wrapped me in felt blankets.
I stayed with them for a year.
After that, I found myself captive by the Americans.
When I ask myself what I really know,
what I really felt in life,
what I can say without lying ...
then it's the fat on my skin.
The home of the fat and the felt.
If others tell me about love,
to women, to their children,
or about sex, then I know what they mean ...
just because I felt the felt and fat on my skin.
Before that I hadn't experienced anything.
My childhood was happy and protected. A few slaps, not many.
My teacher liked me.
I wanted to become a businessman, like my father.
I had no artistic talent.
And I had no experiences since then.
I remained cheerful.
I spent the end of the war
in a military hospital with friendly nurses.
Very friendly.
After that, quite quick success and this professorship here.
But...
the fat and the felt ...
I penetrated them,
I understood them...
like Descartes understood that he exists.
"I think, therefore I am"
He questioned everything. Everything.
Everything could be an illusion, deception, imagination.
But then he knew that indeed something must be there to have these thoughts.
And that consequently something must exist.
And this Something, he calls ...
"I".
But who are you?
What are you?
This...
you are not.
How was your day?
Productive.
Villa Cimbrone.
- Villa Cimbrone as well,. - No, Villa Rufolo.
But also in Ravello.
- Oh, that beautiful car.
- The Hotel. - Le Sirenuse.
- Oh God, Pompeji.
Sill studying, with 30?
I'll put that into here, okay?
When I was 30, I was a senior physician in Dresden.
When Mozart was 30 ...
he was dead.
- I will bring that to the table. - Should I open the wine?
I understand that you don't want support.
And that is very noble.
I will offer you a deal.
I know the director of the gynecological hospital in Düsseldorf.
They invite me for consultations all the time.
I'll get you a part-time job there.
Something that fits you.
Maybe three hours early in the morning, okay?
Then you earn a living
and still have enough time to...
draw pictures.
Can't he just leave us alone?
Just disappear from our lives?
Perhaps the place in the clinic will help with that.
Let me help you.
...in the whole two months he hasn't visited once. Impossible.
Kurt Barnert, I come with recommendations from Professor Seeband.
White on a white background. Is this the new art?
"Symbol of emptiness." That's how you could call it.
Perhaps it is indeed a sensation.
Come on, I treat you for dinner. My driver is waiting outside.
This has to be brought to the authorities in Bonn.
So I can get my permanent passport.
They have it there ready to get picked up. Here is the authorization.
I thought, since you live near Bonn, why don't you do that for me?
You can earn some extra money.
I'll be back next week to pick up the passport, alright?
- Professor, a coffee? - Yes, thanks.
Burghard Kroll captured!
Hospital killer lived in Schleswig-Holstein for ten years undisturbed!
A dime.
Thank you.
Hospital killer.
Thank you.
Hospital killer. Ten Pfennig.
- Thank you, goodbye. - Bye.
- Professor, one coffee. - Thank you.
Do you smoke?
63 is an age at which it's okay to start.
The consequences will not catch me anymore.
You should finish eating. Unfortunately, I am in a rush.
Regards to Ellie.
- Good night. - Good night, Professor.
- May I? - You can have it.
- I just need the sports section. - Thank you.
"White on White".
"Symbol of emptiness."
Your father in law?
Such an asshole.
You know, for the first time, I wish someone more success than myself.
Your mistake is that you're still holding onto to canvas and easel.
Painting is just dead.
Just like...
Folk dance or lace-making and silent film.
I only mean it good with you, otherwise I would let you go on like that.
It's too late for us to become Doctors.
Kurt?
- Hello. - Hello.
What's this?
I don't know either, but I think that's it.
- Copying photographs by hand? - Yes.
Excuse me.
I am satisfied with the construction progress.
We like to hear that, Professor.
- You know my concerns. - Yes.
The width of the doors on both sides of the operation rooms
needs to be extended by 25 centimeters.
So beds can fit through easily.
That's right, Professor. Thank you for the suggestion.
Did Dr. Weber call?
I think you understand why I didn't introduce you this morning.
It would have been inappropriate.
So, how is the art? And more importantly, do you have my passport?
I...
I am sorry... I have to leave.
Thank you.
Pardon.
Did you see something like that before?
What did you tell him? What was that?
If you knew how beautiful you look right now.
I'm pregnant.
Fourth month.
I went to the doctor. We will be parents in the end.
We will be parents.
It's Sunday, Nobody is here. I promise.
Please, nobody is here.
Please, like yesterday.
Please tell me again, and then come down.
I'm pregnant.
That's not potatoes, hey?
Do you think I could become your gallerist?
Adrian Schimmel, the gallerist?
Adrian Finck.
With exhibitions like this one, I try to set a back-lighting.
- Nice that you are there. - Thank you.
We should begin.
Are there any questions for Kurt Barnert?
Maybe then I ask the first question.
Mr. Barnert,
Many of your pictures are copies of amateur photographs or magazines.
The painting "Nude on a Staircase" ...
isn't that a tribute to Duchamp?
Yes.
Heinz Viersen, West German newspaper.
Mr. Barnert,
in your magnificent painting "Mother and Child", which we see here ...
Who is represented? Your mother and you?
No, this is simply an amateur photograph.
Who I paint, I don't really care.
But if you paint a portrait, don't you have to know the person?
It's actually better if I don't know them.
Then it's easier to see what really is there.
Is that the reason for the passport photos from a vending machine?
A photo without author?
Yes.
With the Wehrmacht officer
you are not making a statement about the Wehrmacht?
No, I don't make statements. I make, uh ...
Paintings.
Photos, that is. Photos by different means.
Hermann Schreiber, SDR.
You are even copying the exact composition of the amateur photos.
Isn't a lot of that quite random?
No, not random. Um ...
True, consistent, genuine.
Only truth is coherent. Every truth is coherent.
Everything true is beautiful.
What do you mean?
If I tell you six numbers,
then that's stupid, pointless.
If the six figures, though,
are the winning numbers of the lottery, then they contain sense.
consistency, a value, almost a beauty.
It's the same with the photos.
I want the truth.
Look.
Yes, Mr. Meybert?
Urs Meybert, Chronics of Art.
What's next for you? More blurry copied photos?
No, I have enough of that for now.
I am interested in color charts at the moment.
Color charts?
Yes.
I think we will get in trouble for that.
We will also get in trouble for this.
Randomly selected magazine pictures, passport photos from the machine,
snapshots from family albums.
All copied blurry.
With these paintings,
which for some reason have a lot of power,
Kurt Barnert seems to
become the leading artists of his generation.
And that in a time when painting was considered dead.
But...
like many in his generation, he has nothing to tell, nothing to say.
He breaks away from every tradition,
says goodbye to the biographical approach in art
and thus, for the first time in the history of art, creates
a work without an author.
- Was that good? - That was great.
Are you sure I shouldn't drive you?
I quite like to walk a little bit.
You were good today.
That was good.
This is going to be good.
On three.
One.
Two.
Three.