An American in my situation would just start shooting out the window.
Thanks. Goodnight.
Goddamn it!
Lies! What lies!
When?
Yes, I know. I'm coming to pick you up.
No "but" s.
You, stop!
What the hell is this?
Stop!
What the hell is this?
Hoffman, Hoffman!
Go after him.
Stop!
KNIFE IN THE HEAD
WRITTEN BY PETER SCHNEIDER
DIRECTED BY REINHARD HAUFF
Alright, alright.
ID?
What's in your pockets?
Okay.
Are you Mrs. Hoffman?
Come with me, please.
It's important that you visit him regularly.
He's just regained consciousness.
Don't expect too much.
Hoffman!
It's me, Ann.
You have to speak louder.
Your wife is here, Mr. Hoffman.
All b... bastas...
Go on.
Are you crazy? You can't come in here now. Leave the room.
Keep talking to him.
Hey, Berthold!
Can you hear me, Hoffman?
Tell me if you hear me.
Say something, Hoffman, anything. Say "Ann".
I'd like to be alone with him.
Do you recognize me, Hoffman?
Ente-trente.
What about him? Will he pull through?
You don't know until they're gone.
I mean him, our public servant
- and protector. Wasn't he brought in with Hoffman? - Him?
Not here.
Where are the patients with critical stab wounds?
You don't happen to know where your colleague is?
No idea, huh?
He has to be somewhere, doesn't he?
He didn't even recognize me.
How long 'til he's well?
A couple of months, maybe a year. No one can say.
It says here he only got a few knocks on the head.
Visit him as often as you can. You can do more for him now than I can.
Do you have any children?
Your husband will have to learn everything from scratch -
seeing, speaking, walking, writing.
And the cops stand around grinning!
As soon as he can wipe his ass, they'll take him away.
You know who I mean.
All b... bastas...
Ann.
Listen, this is our new flier.
Victim of terror - that says. This shit is out.
Hoffman's name here and a picture of him here.
3000 copies right away, boom boom!
The cops'll be here again.
So what?
It's like Hoffman has ceased to exist.
It's scary, man. They wasted him.
It looks great.
Let me see.
Mrs. Schurig? Can I speak to your husband, the killer-cop?
He's not home.
We'll stop by sometime.
You'll be hearing from us. This is Superterrorist.
You and Superterrorist - I
They can trace calls.
You're wasting your energy.
Call her up again.
Did Hoffman come here often lately?
He lent us his car and bought us beer a few times. That's all.
Facts aren't evidence. Why did he come here at all?
You know Hoffman.
Whenever he was down he came running to Ann.
On that night...
The pigs blew him away!
Were you there?
You're a fantastic lawyer.
Were the guys there who are calling him a terrorist?
Was your friend always so stubborn?
No, but he's right-handed.
Slob!
Chromosomal error.
Or self-destruction mechanism?
Ente-trente.
I'd say error.
I wouldn't want to see the self-destruction thing.
Which theory is right, Hoffman?
Or are they both wrong?
That's a new method, alright.
He sees the pendulum but he can't think of the word for it.
Ann.
The bullet entered here and lodged behind his left ear.
It destroyed part of his motor speech center.
What's that?
Sauce!
This is a spoon, Hoffman. Say "spoon".
Sauce!
He remembers some words, but will have to relearn others.
Sort of like growing up in a foreign country
and having to relearn your own language.
What does that remind him of?
The desire to live a life without fear.
Yes, yes.
- Can you come, please? - Yes.
I'm going to get you out of here, Hoffman, don't worry.
A bullet in the brain isn't so bad, other people have shit for brains.
Volker came to see you.
Hey, Hoffman, say something.
If you can't talk, just blow on me.
Do the spastic thing for him.
Volker brought you something.
Did you have a nice lunch?
Sauce!
You don't have to yell.
Applesauce! What did you have today?
Sauce!
They give you applesauce every day?
Sauce... Kiss.
I play!
Get out! I...
Keep playing. How nice.
POLICE BRUTALITY AGAINST YOUTH
You have to think about when he gets out.
He'll never get out with a lawyer like you.
He's right, but I don't feel like thinking about it.
As his wife, you know,
you're obligated to take care of him and let him live with you, etc.
Hoffman needs help, he's going to get it,
but that doesn't change things with us. I don't see the big problem.
To me he's a political case. The rest is your worry.
I see what you like about him.
Good morning.
First your pills.
Swallow them, they're good for your head.
Close them tight, real tight. That's right.
Why do you keep squinting your eye?
Okay, spell this.
Hey!
Italia! Bella Italia!
Good, go on.
Read something else.
- Hoffman THE DOUBLE LIFE OF BERTHOLD HOFFMAN
Come on, open both eyes. What do you see?
Three.
Three what?
One...
Two...
Three...
You see three eyes?
Now...
Four!
Nonsense!
You didn't expect that.
Good for my head.
That's right. And the next picture - what's this?
An...
An o...
An orange.
- Right, and the next one? - A beer. - Fine. And what's this?
A... A...
A slice...
- Bread. - Right, fine.
Ugh!
Let's go to the next one.
A...
Chic... chic...
Berple.
Get out of here, creeps like you make me sick.
Are you coming?
Let's take your bathrobe off...
That's him, the one in the papers.
Very good.
No, I wipe! Let me... Basta!
I'm sorry, he's in no condition.
We aren't planning to put him in a normal jail, sir.
A prison hospital. We'll take him by helicopter if necessary.
You'd have the police off your backs.
You will allow me to ask him a few questions?
It won't do you any good. He has absolutely no memory of that period.
Just a few routine questions. Five minutes.
All right, five minutes, no more.
Well, Hoffman, how are we today?
Bertold Hoffman, a biogeneticist at the Traut Institute.
Date of birth July 24, 1942 in Freiburg.
That won't get you far.
You speak Italian, right?
- Pizza! - Okay.
Let's speak some Italian.
Because I love Italian. What's your name?
Why not.
Be right back. Don't take too long.
On June 27th you were at the Youth Center at 17 Jacobi Strasse.
You've been seen there twice. What takes you there?
Coincidence?
Or politics?
You didn't want to visit you wife, did you?
You haven't been living together for months?
As my men searched the building
you tried to lock yourself in the room with the printing press.
And in that room
we found this fliers.
Ever see this?
Or this? Or this? And this? Mr. Hoffman.
Here is the printing room, and you know who this is? You.
And this is you too, and there you are again.
The officer who went in after you testified the following:
when he tried to take you into custody in an orderly manner,
you pulled a knife out of your pocket
and moved toward him.
Is that correct?
Don't nod, Hoffman, talk. Yes or no!
And then you stabbed the officer.
Stop playing with yourself, dammit!
Schurig!
Hoffman...
What are you trying to say?
Hoffman is not...
...Hoffman!
You're faking it.
Do you know this man?
Is this the man who stabbed you?
Yes.
No, no, no, no, I don't want to!
You stop it, goddam it!
Please stop it!
I'm scared, I'm scared!
Scared.
What does big brother say? Am I a good guy or a bad guy?
Check my bank account while you're at it.
No money for two years.
Your social work's a front. Want to know more?
You've got a police record, didn't finish school,
arrested for disturbing the peace,
three illegal demonstrations last year.
Drug abuse - that too,
Etcetera, etcetera. Okay, thanks.
So I'm a good guy.
Hey, how come you and Big Brother aren't wireless yet?
Soon enough, thanks to you and your friends.
You're progressing very well.
Apple...
...sauce.
Splash...
Who's that'?
Oh, stop acting crazy. You know who it is.
Well nodded, Mr. Nodder!
I called Volker up yesterday, and it's all straight.
Hey, I'm Volker.
You resemble him.
And when I say resemble, I mean resemble!
Where does the Volker you know live?
In a building with slogans. Enough.
On Jacobi Strasse. I never lived there.
No, Volker likes to live here and there.
Does he play a jew's harp?
He plays around with Ann!
Volker's living with us now.
Not so loud, madame. What was I going to say?
Ladies' choice!
Do you remember what happened on Jacobi Strasse, Hoffman?
In the building with the painted walls?
"Don't nod, Hoffman, talk"! I moved...
What did you do?
Moved toward an ossifer.
And a knife, and... Bang!
You never owned a knife, not even a pocket-knife!
- The cop pushed you into that room and shot you! - Stop it!
You want the pigs to make him learn their version, or what?
He has to say it himself.
All doesn't matter, you can't imagine.
They can take everything out.
What can they take out?
Your eye, ear, head, everything! Doesn't matter.
Look at this picture, Hoffman.
That's your hobby, nor a switchblade!
I...
I am nobody.
While we wait for him to remember,
they make a case against us from Schurig's testimony.
Stay cool.
Easy, easy.
Put that thing away, man.
Get your hands off me!
Ann, don't!
Request info: Hoffman, Ann, passport No. C7074529...
Okay, and the other one?
Koehler, Volker, passport No. C6452847.
They wanted?
Negative.
Hammer.
Go on.
Knife.
All right. Go on.
Saw... Pliers... Tile.
- Tile? - What's the name...
- to make things smooth. - You mean a file?
It's like this.
File's spelled with an F. It looks a lot like a T.
You forgot this line in the middle here.
Right.
And what is this?
A knife.
Draw one.
That's not a knife, this is a knife.
The Italian says I have a knife.
Volker says I don't have a knife.
So if I have or not have, that is the question.
A farmer who hid me during the war
thought that this could influence his future.
Focus-pokus.
I watched the way it works and I finally decided.
that it had no connection with his future at all.
It only shows you what you want, and you act accordingly.
Listen, Hoffman, the police did not find a knife in that room.
You knife a policeman?
No, I don't think so.
So long, Hoffman.
Knifer.
A whiskey, per favore.
Try a hospital brandy.
Whiskey.
He isn't allowed to sell hard liquor to guys in pyjamas. Have a beer.
Waiter, a beer!
Take my advice, boy. Go and sleep it off.
That's the guy in the papers who bumped off the cop.
I'm sick and I want a beer or I'll call the doctor!
Eighty-four.
Autogramm please.
Thank you.
To your health.
Ninth floor, neurosurgery?
Right, ninth.
When that nurse Angelica walks in instant hard on, huh?
Who did that?
If the cut's crooked you can't expect 'em to sew it straight.
Do it over. Doesn't look good.
You can't go through a windshield, and expect lace stitches.
It's to test the broads.
Down with separate wards!
Double beds!
There's that guy who had his picture in the papers.
Clack, clack, clack!
Don't clack on your back, miss.
ID!
Okay, okay.
Checkmate!
Limp off!
Aggressive.
What do you mean, aggressive?
You've got four minutes all in all. I'll cut it together.
Okay, then she takes a minute and a half and you guarantee no cuts.
- Who's doing this, you or me? - All right. Either the whole thing or nothing.
You don't make the decision.
My boss has no say in the matter.
Okay, ready
Go ahead.
It's a lie that Hoffman's a terrorist or knifed anybody.
He is a biogeneticist at the Traut Institute
and was politically active there, not here on Jacobi Strasse.
I work here with the kids at this Youth Center,
and Hoffman just came to visit me privately, nothing more.
I think they're trying to make him look like a terrorist
because the police need some excuse for the police brutality.
What would you have done?
Well, I know that when you're scared you sometimes do unexpected things.
If somebody came at me with a gun, I'd defend myself. Definitely.
Fine, great.
We'll see.
- You get out of here. - Hey, what the...
Hello.
Amazing!
About Hoffman?
No, I don't think so.
Here are your pills.
What are you doing?
Cut it out!
Up against the wall, and don't blink.
Stop it. Give me that.
I know, Hoffman's supposed to sleep.
I forgot something.
What is that under that...
You know.
Oh, your memory's not that bad.
When you come in, instant hard on.
Are you sure?
Sure. Sure. N... no...
Under that blue thing, what does it look like?
Hoffman...
Come on, show me.
Please.
More.
You're lying. There were two.
Goodnight, Hoffman.
None of what they print is true. Hoffman doesn't remember anything.
And Schurig's testimony has to be proven first.
I know one thing.
Cut!
If somebody came at me with a gun, I'd defend myself. Definitely.
Things have been changing in our country.
Policemen can shoot people and claim it was self-defense.
What if a normal citizen has to defend himself,
because policemen too can make mistakes.
We policemen think very carefully before using our side arms.
The bastard.
What would you do
if - suddenly - one of them
was standing right in front of you?
Look what that guy's doing over there.
What do you want here?
What are you doing?
- Measuring this building. - What for?
They're gonna tear it down.
You nuts, or what?
- You're crazy. - Ask him.
Come on.
Who sent you, anyway?
- Hey leave it down! - I asked you something!
- Who are you? - Asshole!
City sells Youth Center to Insurance Company!
Here, one more.
Here you are.
Hello, sports fan.
Split!
Police brutality against youth. Off the pigs before they off you.
Article 88 A
that's 88A, all right -
Please tell Hoffman I can't come today. I just can't make it.
Tell him I've got to work.
You'll have to change this.
This is getting to be too much.
This'll get Volker a year, at least.
What's with your boyfriends anyway?
They all seem to end up behind locked doors.
Maybe we should leave 'em there.
This show the areas that control the various body.
Here, the speech center, here hearing, and back here vision.
Doesn't matter, you can't imagine.
Here, look.
The bullet went in here.
This is the trajectory.
But that still doesn't explain all the aberrant symptoms.
Not good.
Not good at all.
When your brain starts thinking about itself...
Doctor I Kaputt is... Kaputt.
Right. But if some of your 15 billion brain cells weren't able to replace
the ones that are gone,
you wouldn't even be able to get excited about it.
Could the wound be causing his eye trouble, too?
It's possible, but not probable. When they bought him in,
he not only had a gunshot wound but a concussion. And marks
on his head and body caused by a blunt instrument.
- A police club? - Possibly.
Do you think Schurig might have shot you and then beaten you?
Listen to me.
The doctor said I have to look at him more and more.
I think it was vice-versa. He beat you up and then shot you.
It wasn't self-defense.
You wouldn't believe it. I saw him...
I have to get out of here. I'm already k.o.
Here, get dressed.
- We're taking him with us. - He's still in no condition.
Nothing to say, go home. Ciao, buona notte.
Did you hear we arrested your friend?
Inciting violence and resisting arrest.
Your wife too and a couple of other people.
We'll get an "interaction group" together yet.
Where's your boss?
He won't tell you anything different. Hoffman stays here.
How long you gonna keep him? Until he starts playing Paganini.
He takes walks in the park,
smokes, drinks beer, sees friends - and you say he's in no condition.
We have to treat his psychosyndrome and aphasias, or he'll never get over them.
And he's prone to epileptic fits.
We'll see if independent physicians agree with your diagnosis, doctor.
I'd like to ask you a personal question.
Do you really believe all this?
All the trouble you're taking to turn Hoffman into a terrorist?
I don't believe anything, Dr. Groeske, I know.
You patient isn't the absent-minded professor
his political friends would like people to believe he is.
He's nothing but an excellent actor.
Do you really believe he could endanger anybody in his condition?
Of course I do!
These people aren't common criminals.
They're much worse. They live in a fantasy world where
human life - their own and others' - is worthless.
"Off the pigs before they off you". That sound familiar?
Every law officer is a pig to them. And pigs are slaughtered.
My wife doesn't like them anymore, like one, doctor?
Thanks.
Thank you.
Hello!
Hello; Mr. Arnold.
Dr. Hoffman! I sure wasn't expecting to see you again.
You're not the only one.
You've changed a lot...
Dr. Groeske. We have new identification tags.
- For two months now. - Did something happen?
Not a thing. It's just one of the new rules so that nothing does.
I didn't realize what you were doing in your free time.
Not that it's any of my business, but I'm all for it.
- What? - Everything!
Keep it up.
Too many ass lickers around.
Here - for your body.
Thanks.
How baffling. I didn't know you'd been released.
I always wanted to visit you...
Thanks for coming. How am I?
Your speech is somewhat odd...
So and so.
How did you get here?
- Shouldn't I take you back? - No going back.
I haven't disturbed your cells the whole time. They've been waiting for you.
Isn't that a nice reception?
Thank you, cells.
I start work tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow morning?
We've kept your position open despite attempted disciplinary measures.
Wait for the court decision, I tell them.
For us scientists no theory is true until it's proven.
Evidence!
Staff evidence tags, sure!
Identity tags? Just a formality.
But maybe I should call your wife?
When do I start?
What was your hypotheses? Chromosomal error or self-destruction?
Murder.
You're studying cell aging. How did you proceed?
I asked...
You know you can continue anytime you want to, Mr. Hoffman,
depending on whether your condition allows it.
I'd have to lie to tell the truth.
Mrs. Hoffman? Ahrens, Institute for Genetics. Your husband is here and...
Hello, Ann?
I'm here with this A...
Ahrens.
Asshole. You wouldn't believe it.
You can't go home, you have to go back to the clinic.
Anleitner, Ann, Volker - they all tell me "you have to".
Starting today I say.
You can't! You're not well yet!
Good morning nurse,
you can take my fever meter out now.
Volker!
- Where is he? - They arrested him
for passing out fliers - for you. - Fine.
The best thing about Volker is really his whatsit.
Put your hair back, like this...
Like you used to.
A face.
I want to see the bones underneath.
Beautiful.
You should spend time in the intensive care ward!
First kissing, then...
Why?
Yes, why?
Because, I'm drunk forever, because...
Because my memory, my brain...
Hypothalamus... I'll show you, you!
Stop it!
Stop it, you're scaring me!
You're scared!
Scared!
Scared of little Hoffman, the little cripple!
Does my wooden hand hurt?
You have to go back. It was crazy to run away.
Crazy or not, that's not for you to decide.
I decide. No "but" s.
No "but" s. Are you starting that again.
You can't decide anything until you know the consequences.
I don't have any consequences. Hoffman is inconsequential.
Would you rather spend two weeks in the clinic or a year in jail?
I'd rather stay home.
You can't.
I can't look after you morning and night.
She has to - that's what you said.
- Yes, I did say that. - You go back to the clinic.
- If I'm here, nobody knows. - They'll find out.
How?
From me if necessary.
I don't feel like trouble because of you.
So let's go.
Wait a minute.
What now?
I want them to pick you up in an ambulance.
I wouldn't want some patrol car to think we're escaping.
Hello? Anleitner speaking, 43 Grieserweg.
Please send an ambulance.
Yes, right away.
This is the police speaking.
The house is surrounded. Come out with your hands up.
Don't shoot, we're coming out.
Hands up!
Don't point that at me!
Caught attempting to escape, Hoffman.
That's everything I have.
But you watch out, you gangsters, because the police will be here soon.
Help, help, gangsters!
Police! Help, police!
Your last entry: "No doubt, the contemplation of suicide
is only the inversion of the wish to kill.
An American in my situation would just start shooting out the window."
We're interested in your next entry, Mr. Hoffman.
You're too late. Hoffman turned himself in.
Turned himself in? He was caught. There's a difference.
An ambulance is on the way.
If he can run away, he can sit in a jail cell.
Don't touch him, or I'll kill you!
I had a dream in the night...
I can see.
Really? Don't you see double anymore?
I mean see!
And what do you see?
The leaves on the trees,
lots of leaves, and a single leaf by itself, the way it is.
Really, or in a dream?
Really in a dream!
There used to be only shadows there...
...And t-twigs...
And Ann.
And now? What do you see now?
What you don't see.
Look at the light out there.
That light comes toward you no matter where you stand.
Hoffman wants to go home.
It all depends now on how hard you work on yourself.
You won't have the nurses and me, but you're not well yet.
Don't fool yourself about your condition - or other people.
No women, no beer, no cigarettes.
No, just go easy at first.
For you, doctor. The cow has only five t-t...
Tits.
You know everything.
They're here to see you.
The warrant for my client's arrest is temporarily suspended and
his trial postponed. At least for now. There may be
new medical opinions - or even new law.
I'd like to say that I don't have anything to say to you or me.
Ask your TV set.
If you're looking for a Berthold Hoffman, then I recommend
the telephone book.
There are three Hoffmans and any one could do your thing just as well.
I want to take a shower and put a soft shirt on.
And all you policemen out there - you'll be hearing from me.
What room does Volker live in?
Here.
Why Volker anyway?
Everything full of Volker.
Why Volker?
I want Volker to stay here.
Who do you love - him or me?
To whom it may concern and especially me - I'm fine,
I've had six months' vacation, and I'm going to America tomorrow.
America?
I've had an offer. The whole industry is interested in me.
Since when are you interested in the industry?
Or I could become a musician.
Sure, a left-handed triangle player.
Funny man.
You can't become anything until you get well.
I am well. When does this trial start, anyway?
Right away, if you want to lose it. But not with me.
Sometimes I think you really don't want to get well.
Forget it, let's run.
I can't run, dammit! You know that.
It's not whether you can or can't, it's whether you want to. Well?
Come on. I'll beat you anyway.
Come on. You look great.
Same old Hoffman.
Hello, neighbor!
You can throw me out any time.
I haven't taken over.
No, a roommate. Like I always say, ladies' choice.
Alcohol poisons your cells.
How was jail?
How was the clinic?
The same difference.
They're trying to pin that attack on the police station on me now.
They'll have me do it before long.
To Anleitner, who always gets you out.
Ordinary citizens can't win against cops, can they, Hoffman?
Next time they come they won't find me.
Now you're both crazy.
A cop shoots Hoffman in the head and we're
afraid to call him a murderer until the judge decides.
Before we defend ourselves we want to know who else will. We'd rather take downs.
About your speeches, comrade
I've been studying rhetoric since I got out.
"All of Hoffman's friends." Who are they?
And the word "victim" is always accompanied by "helpless",
in the sense of "stupid".
I mean, I think you ought to start...
...coming up with a little more
like get down, shove it, it's tango time!
Where'd you hide my knife?
That's old news, Hoffman, yesterday's papers.
Where is my knife?
Here, in your head! You and a knife!
I'll stick you, you fucker!
You'd rather have me dead.
Get out! Both of you!
Get out of here.
Make me a sandwich, comrade.
Am I in your way?
Where are you going?
That's just what I thought, you little pricks. That's useless!
How old are you anyway? This is like kindergarten.
Why are you doing this?
This is it.
Halt!
Get up, Mr. Hoffman. Come on.
Gentlemen, I give up.
We're not interested in you anymore, Mr. Hoffman.
What do you want?
How is..s.. Schurig?
Are you a reporter?
I met your husband once.
What do you want from me?
Down, Wotan.
Dogs like me.
Dogs and nurses.
Come on, Wotan.
Go in the kitchen, Wotan.
The hole's closed now.
Yes, I see.
Go ahead and touch it, it doesn't hurt anymore.
Does yours still hurt?
Are you okay?
You look different than in the papers.
Pictures change people.
Pictures and hospitals.
What do you do for a living?
Biogenetics? We were wondering what that was.
My memory's going back slowly.
I mean coming, not going.
I take my memory back, I mean question.
Why you hit me on skull?
Why you shoot me in head?
When I was lying on ground? Why?
I'll tell the judge.
Show him what he did to you!
All fake!
You too!
You're putting me on.
Maybe you were just scared... Like I was.
Yes...
Yes.
Schurig?
Are you looking for something?
Open the door!
I'm you.
Come on.
Stop!
Don't move.
Let me out of here!
Don't shoot.
Open up!
Please open the door.
Put it down.
Yes, put it down.
Put it down or I'll shoot.
Let me out!
That's enough, Hoffman.
Hoffman, stop it.
It's only a game.
This is insane.
Why did you lie?
Nobody ever asked me.
But it was exactly like this.
It doesn't matter anymore.
Who cares now?
I do.
You are crazy.
Maybe, maybe not.