All language subtitles for Der.Angriff.der.Gegenwart.auf.die.ubrige.Zeit.[1985].DVDRip-eng

A FILM BY ALEXANDER KLUGE

In the opera "Tosca",
the chief of police is killed.

He has tortured the young lover
of Tosca, the singer,

and wants to shoot him.

Tosca sacrifices herself.

She is prepared to give herself
to the chief of police.

The power of yesterday's destiny.

SCARPIA: What an unequal deal: You ask

for a life, I want only an hour!

TOSCA (contemptuously): Off with you!

I'm horrified!

"Freedom, for us blaze red,

Strike the enemy dead!"

It is merely one form of brutality.

For him, love also has a place

within the sphere of brutality,

at least until he possesses
the person, the woman, he desires.

He subjugates her

using indiscriminate means,
at the risk of destroying her.

For him, it is essential to dominate
both the woman and the situation.

Just like the rulers of Rome.

Does he want her to tremble?
- Yes, I think he does.

He wants her to tremble,
and her submission itself

is what is comprehensible for him.
It's a submissiveness

that lies within
his scope of understanding.

The opera does not reveal
what else might slumber within him.

The picture
of the dead chief of police.

The power of yesterday's destiny

is that those involved
have no time to reflect.

THE BLIND DIRECTOR

"What does one decline
advise the next to do...?"

The story that is being told here
is older than the novels.

A dinosaur's egg found in China.

Frankfurt, 4 a.m., night shift.

Dr von Gerlach, in your talk show
you made an interesting comparison.

Which one?

Could you repeat this comparison
for our listeners?

I made several comparisons.

I mean that... one.

But which?
- You know which one...

I uttered more than one sentence.

It wasn't a sentence you said,
but a number.

A number?

I was struck by it.
- But you can't remember it?

I'm not able to repeat it.

And what struck you about it?

I thought,
"This will interest the listeners."

And you can't say what it was?

Only that it would be of interest
to the listeners. Numbers.

Did these numbers refer
to kilogrammes, degrees Centigrade,

production numbers, dates?

The latter. It was about the century.
- I see. Was it the sentence

that 16 years have passed
since the student protest movement?

Exactly.

Dr von Gerlach,
would you be so kind as to repeat

these numbers for our listeners?

"16 years have passed

since the peak of the 1968
student movement..." - Carry on.

"In another 16 years we shall march,
if we don't do anything about it,

into the 21st century."
- Barely prepared.

The way it looks,
we're barely prepared for it.

Yes...

And 16 years before?

Before what?

Yesterday you said,
"16 years before..."

What is this?
A guessing game for your listeners?

You must know what you want to ask!
- I do know.

Then ask!
- I am! You said something

about 16 years before...

Maybe "16 years before 1968"?
- Yes, that's it.

That was 1952.

And then?

You have to try and imagine
what this is: 1952.

It's not the same as 1968 or 1936.

Yes, that's how it went on: 1936.

But that is not a question.

It continued, without question.

But now you have to ask something.
For your listeners.

Yes.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am still at 1952,

trying to imagine that year.

And then 1936

the end of the first 4-year plan.

And four 4-year plans

would make 16 years.
And those 16 years

somehow rule, says Dr von Gerlach,

the number 16 I mean,
rules the century in a certain way.

So with this number, the counterpoints
of this century become evident.

Whereas with 15, 17, 12,

22, 18 or 32 they don't.

16 years before 1936
you have the year 1920,

and 16 years before 1920
you have the year 1904!

Multiplied by 6 then 16 makes 2000.
That makes 244-year plans.

So you could divide the century
into handy 4-year plans.

Yes. You see,

this is where I thought,
"This will interest the listeners."

Between 1904 and 1920
there's quite a difference, of course.

Quite.

Yes, quite.

And 1936 too?
- Yes, one could say so.

But not between 1984 and 2000.

Not what?

No difference.

What makes you think that?

I feel it in my bones.

Well...

Dr von Gerlach,

don't you agree that there's
too much mysticism in these numbers?

Why?
- I just thought...

The 20th century, which can easily
be divided into work periods

of 4 times 4 years each,

hasn't worked
anything practical, has it?

It could have.
- Yes...

Warsaw, New Year's Eve 1939.

Poland has fallen.

The film studios stand empty.

The caretaker Wronski and his wife
look after the empty studios,

the film negatives,
the left-overs of production.

The couple have a daughter.

Despite the wartime ban,
there is a firework display.

A German soldier, Siegfried Welp,

has fallen deeply in love
with the young lady of the house.

Her parents hope
her relationship with the enemy

will help protect the treasures
of film history entrusted to them.

They accept many things.

Cinema is born!
From now on, it will live, grow,

become perfected,
invent novel tricks, sound, colour...

But modern film, which today
celebrates its 50th anniversary,

won't forget
the international pioneers

who realized mankind's old dream:

the living image of movement.

THE SUPERFLUOUS WOMAN

"For further treatment we recommend
Voltaren 50 three times daily,

and Musaril three times daily.

Both drugs
can be tapered off eventually.

At the same time, physiotherapy
and underwater gymnastics

should be given intermittently.

The patient will be unfit for work
for another three weeks.

At that point,
an appointment for a check-up..."

And so forth.

She is a doctor.

She's going on holiday.

This was her room.

During her leave, her boss, for whom
she's run the practice for years,

takes on a young doctor

who has just left university hospital.

The machine, which cost 200,000 marks.

The young colleague
bought himself in with it.

He will be given her room.

The staff inform her.

During the neurological examination
the patient was in pain

and could only limp a few steps,
without using his left leg.

The lumbar spine was sensitive
to palpation and pressure...

Superfluous!

Her new colleague is ambitious.

He wants to be the boss. You can tell
from the way he walks around here.

He'd prefer
that he be addressed as professor,

but we won't do him this favour.
I won't, and you won't either.

But surrender,
leave him a clear field...

For God's sake, no!
- Leaving doesn't mean giving up.

It does!
The patients always ask for you.

Before going to see the professor,
they'd ask for you.

They went to you
to get things off their chests,

their problems,
and not only physical problems.

They got the pressure
off their souls with you.

You'd just say a few words
and they'd feel better.

That's why I wouldn't...

If I were you,
I wouldn't leave him a clear field.

She's been given
a new office in the basement.

Professor Vetehoff has grown old.

He can't afford loyalty.

He is filled with remorse.

They have worked together
for 15 years.

NO ENTRY - X-RAY

She resigned without giving notice.

One adult, please.

Eight marks?
- Yes. Here you are.

Is it a good film?
- Yes.

It's very popular.
- Oh, really? - Yes.

Oh well...

They have been standing there
for two hours.

The young people...
- You've got a nice jumper.

It's a present from my daughter.
- Is it hand-knitted? - No.

What's her occupation?
- She's a housewife.

The ticket: unused.

For a moment she hoped
she would be needed.

Someone who loses their job
won't take the first job offered,

but the worst job,
and only if it's provisional.

She acts in a provisional way.

For 100 years
people have led provisional lives.

They couldn't stand it otherwise.

The present is stretching.

Our ancestor, four billion years old,

goes into its little house.

From the point of view of the
new media, pre-history is superfluous.

Cinema is also considered superfluous.

Cinema is 90 years old.

For human beings,
that is 16 generations.

I need the wealth,
the splendour, the villa...

Dr von Metzig...
- Melzig, with "l". Melzig.

As Scrap Association chairman,
how do you

see the future of scrap?
- I don't see it, I experience it.

The future has already begun?
- It never stopped beginning.

You're asking
because of our 150th anniversary?

No, the reason is, I quote:
"...the rapid fall in price

of scissor scrap, shredder scrap
and refrigeration scrap

following raw material price falls
in the Third World."

Quality appears superfluous.

But what appears
is always just an appearance.

Talking of appearances:
You are counting notes there.

Are they scrap? What is scrap anyway?
- That is the question.

How precious is scrap?

Precious.

Are there especially
scrap-intensive, precious times?

Times of need.

Is our time scrap-intensive?

Yes.

Earlier, you mentioned
another scrap-intensive time. In 1944,

a big battleship was very valuable,

but no longer nine months later.

The screw which was so important
in 1944 was scrap by 1945.

That reminds me a bit of culture.

Although there it is reversed.
Very often

that which is new
is not very valuable,

but later it becomes very valuable

when it is maybe
not of immediate use anymore.

Are you interested in art?

I'm interested in scrap.

Perhaps my question surprises you,

but my field is actually
'New media and art',

with a focus on 'Art in Building'.

I'm just standing in for my colleague
who covers metal processing.

Did you ever have a particularly
precious piece of scrap?

Non-ferrous scrap.

And prices are compared,
as with antiques?

Yes.

And prices rise sometimes,
as with antiques?

Scrap is a matter of time.
It fluctuates.

You have to try and picture this...

Maybe there is a synthesis.
I'm thinking of Alexandra

who had an accident in a white
Mercedes. You got scrap there

and others had songs

which only then became a real success.

"My friend, the tree, is dead."

What is squabbling?
I don't even know anymore.

It is what you're performing here.

These men wonder whether to take
delivery of a load of scrap

or whether to get into new media.

There's always arguing around you.
- You think arguing is squabbling?

But you don't have any arguments.

Should cinemas be abolished and
the images explained via telephone?

Superfluous people's dreams

don't fit to this project.

Before, we had to keep a deadline.

And again no time to think it over.
- No time for me, for both...

The hasty ones ponder.

The era gives them an eerie feeling.

There are two sorts of time.
One comes quickly

and goes after a moment.
The Greeks call this 'kairos'.

And there is another sort
which flows along slowly but extends

into infinity.
The Greeks call it "chronos".

And from these antithetical
conditions arises all the rest.

The essential thing about kairos is,

as I said,
that it is there only for a moment.

In Greek 'chronos ou polys' means
'time exists for only a moment'.

Chronos explains kairos. Or 'oxys'...

Kairos is oxys, it is sharp,
it rushes off as soon as it's there.

Pindar even said that

kairos is the time
"that does not wait for man" in Greek:

So this time has, as it were,
a certain maliciousness.

Kairos is what seems to be

most important in all things,
a big chance, a guarantee of success.

Chronos is quite different.

It is the time that flows slowly.

You can imagine it
as a grey-haired old man.

l, being today's ceremonial speaker,

am pressed for time.

In five quarters of an hour
I have to hold a speech.

I actually don't have time

to listen
to my knowledgeable colleague,

who's trying to explain
the ancient Greek notion of time.

They called justice 'chronou pais'.
Justice is 'time's child'.

Related is the idea
that truth is also a child of time.

So truth too is something
that becomes visible only

in the course of time. Therefore
truth is 'chrono thygater'.

And now something very surprising:
It says, 'chronos eratos pater',

'time is the father of love'.
This is very strange.

One would think
that love fades with time.

But here it's quite the opposite.
Love grows with time.

This is how the Greeks saw it. And...

thus it... this time has...
This time has certain limitations

which consist in...
- More coherence, please!

One thing even this time can't do:

It cannot undo things
that have happened.

It is the only limitation
of a time that can do anything.

'Eumares', it creates easily.

Eumares is a god who creates easily.
But whose limitations consist in...

To quote Pindar again, our main
witness to the Greek notion of time.

That means time cannot undo anything
that has happened.

A young man hurrying along,
wings on his ankles and on his back.

A strongly-built forelock to grasp:

'Take opportunity by the forelock'.

The back of the head is bald:

'lf you come too late, you slip off'.

THE HASTY ONES

Max, the chauffeur,

driver for a big boss.

His talent lies in his feet

which, in an emergency,
swing from accelerator to brake.

The purpose of a hasty one
is to be everywhere

and to make quick and clear decisions.

Airport?

As if the decisiveness of all those
who have no say

was united in him.

Home?

Madam said you should hurry.
- I wish we were already there.

His empire will last 1440 days
if he doesn't die earlier.

His successors count on this.

Minute by minute,
death is approaching.

The planner's glance.

I think we are very short of time.

It's a mistake to think that the
New Media are about entertainment.

They are a new industry.

The Burk family at their computer.

At night,
the wife watches over the device.

Mr Burk's working day allows him
to walk around

in a square for 15 minutes
twice a day.

For thousands of years
people have lived in houses.

Outside: murder, industry, war, world.

All this time,
feelings remain the same.

Most of the time is spent waiting.

The daughter guards the machine.

Fingertip on glass...

fingertip on cotton wool...

fingertip in the fire.

Lips and mouth
are hardly needed by the computer.

We bid classical industry farewell.

Manual work is becoming superfluous.

Now it is all about taking apart
the brain and the senses.

Outwork.

"I'd rather die in an anthroposophical
hospital than under machines

where they dismember you
before you die."

There are no such hospitals.
- And I don't want to be dismembered.

Don't worry. I'll be there.
- Why?

I'll look after you. I'll protect you.
I'll be there.

What makes you think you'll be there
when I'm dying?

Just an example...

Not a very good example.

I'd make sure that...
- You just assume you'll survive me.

Suppose that...
...that you take that for granted,

whereas I might be by your deathbed

and make sure
that the machines don't dismember you.

That would be the reverse case.

Exactly.

Five in the morning, summer time.

A night drive across Europe.

Reims, Brussels,
Prague, London, Darmstadt,

Bonn, Edinburgh in three nights.

The hasty one concentrates
on two crucial decisions.

He has to say 'no' twice.
He can manage that.

He won't stay for dinner.

Dr von Gerlach,
a man of quick decisions.

He doesn't have time to watch TV,

therefore he plans new TVprogrammes.

His job demands decisiveness.

Then you went to the registry office?
- We handed in the papers first.

Again no time to consider?

Such a decision takes two people.
- Right, but we couldn't decide.

So you were automatically married,
out of politeness, as it were.

You didn't dare to say no because of
signs of weakness on her part.

And then you faced the result?
- Precisely.

Does she see it that way?
- She can't talk about that.

Your argumentation seems wrong.
- It's a gradual process.

Out of disagreement?
- Initial disagreement.

Who loses when you argue?
- Both of us. I win, she gets sick.

And it can't go on like that?
- Yes, it can!

When you squabble it seems
you were made for each other.

Others don't squabble so well.
- Don't always say squabble.

What do you call these fights
you inflict on your friends?

Strife.

What is the difference?

Initial disagreement.

So you shouldn't have got married?
- No.

She argues with weapons that don't
match mine. Her aims are different.

So you must serve her,
resulting in agreement?

Against my will.
- And against hers.

Yes, she can't accept the way
I serve her and becomes weak.

Which is her strength.
- In her argumentation.

It's her strongest argument.
- It creates agreement.

If you like.
- So strife is actually agreement?

Yes, if you insist.

He's able to make clear decisions,

but he rarely gets the opportunity.

The forest lay in silence.

None of the dead reported the crash.

No!

Don't want to!

No, I don't want to!

Down!

No, I want down!

They spent half their lives together.

They will lie together
for two more hours

until they get taken away.

THE HANDOVER OF THE CHILD

The opportunities life gives...

She acts with deliberation,
she isn't indifferent.

She quit the Civil Service.
The state acts indifferently.

Lisa,
whose parents died in an accident,

has been sent from one children's home
to the next for two years.

Now Gertrud Meinecke has taken her in.

There she was in her little house
with her prey.

One has to give happiness a chance.

Are you Ms Meinecke?
- Yes.

Giglatz.

A beer!

I'm here because of your ad.

Fine.

Reality has caught up
with the picture.

One must be sceptical,
or everything will be ruined.

So, it seems we've come together.

I don't want any beer.

Would you like...
- No, thanks. I don't want anything.

If I may.

I haven't shaved.

I decided to do so because I think
black suits me more.

This is too fast for me.

I have no grounds
to blame myself or the child.

REGIONAL COURT - DISTRICT COURT

The court has found relatives
of the dead parents.

They are granted custody.

Gertrud Meinecke
must hand over the child

within the specified time.

She has to drive 560 kilometres.

"All day
they had travelled through the tundra.

The wolves came closer by the hour.

The men had 37 rounds of ammunition.

But there were over 100 wolves."

Her husband is three years younger.

In four years he'll dump her.

She furnishes the house for him.

The child must always have these toys.

That won't be possible.

And her nap is in an hour.
She's used to it.

Then she has to change.
- What's for lunch?

She can eat in the restaurant.

Can someone sit with her?
- I don't think so.

And were shall I put all my stuff?

Put it on that heap there.

She had prepared notes
saying what the child was used to.

That was very nice of you.

You can leave the squirt here.
Elsa will take care of her later.

Which room will the child have?
- The nursery on the fourth floor.

Are you still here?
- And the child too. We're waiting!

Secretly she thinks, "She's
a princess, a millionaire's child,

and maybe she will remember later
how well I treated her".

Leave the child on her feet!

Maybe she doesn't want
to be picked up.

Or bend down
if you're too tall to see her face.

Mind your own business!

I meant to say...

If you read to her
for 15 minutes in the evening,

you can reduce it to 3 minutes
once she gets used to you.

I would even consider
taking orders from you.

Are you experienced with children?

No.

Miss Elsa can sit with her
in the evenings. I'll arrange it.

Then I shouldn't be telling you,
but Miss Elsa.

Can you let her off for an hour
so she can listen to me?

Take the child away
to sleep for a few hours.

By then we'll be done.
- Couldn't we talk over a cup of tea?

Leave the child and the toys here.

The men will get the bed from the car.

Come to see me tomorrow,
then we can talk about everything.

You'll take care of the child?

I don't know. Our tasks
have not been finalized yet.

That's what I was told.

I wasn't told explicitly.

May I explain
how to treat this child?

I know that!

No, you haven't studied the child!

I don't need to study for that.
- Listen to me!

Here are a few notes.

The cuddly toy must be in her bed.

Her bed must go
in the right corner of the room.

The heating must be off. She likes
to have her arms on the cover,

and when she goes to sleep
you have to sit with her.

The best thing
is to read from this book.

But if she reaches for the book,
give it to her.

I can't remember all this.
- It's written down!

I can't read your handwriting.

Do you intend
to continue this all day?

It's taking too long for me.

You are not very sensitive.

Have you not noticed
that we are moving in?

The set of armchairs
goes to the salon.

The cupboards there.
Put the glassware in them.

That leaves the parlour free
for the bearskin.

My husband arrives at four,

and the guests at six.
Is that woman still here?

You think
the child is a hypochondriac!

From what I know of my dead sister,
this is not true.

She's quite a robust child,
no need to mollycoddle her.

We'll find out what she likes to eat.

She'll have it good with us.
- Don't be sycophantic!

Fine, then let's talk.
Get it off your chest.

Her news was unwelcome.
She took the child away again.

They were both very tired.

Time is
what you can measure with a clock.

A child, a city,

a love, death... these are clocks.

One cannot measure that which we
consider past, present, future.

People, being at fate's mercy,

interpret the period of time in which
they decide as 'the present'.

They want this period to be long.

This is the source of illusion.

"The patent text and the sketches

prove that the brothers Lumi�re
have solved this problem.

Figure 1 is a front view, figure 2
is a cross-section of the plane

perpendicular to the plane of 1.

The mechanism enclosed in the case
is driven by a single shaft.

On the shaft is an eccentric disc

which moves
the vertical slide piece to and fro

that slides in the guides.

A horizontal blade
adjoins the slide,

which forms a hinge at one end

and at the other end carries two pins

which penetrate the partition
in two places.

On top of the device,

a box contains the perforated strip

which runs down
behind the partition.

The regular perforation
of the strip's edges

can be crossed by the pins.

The strip is drawn down by the pins

which lift in a rising movement

to keep it in position..."

Everything is ready. The modern magic
of the darkened halls begins.

...like glowing coals,
he is heated and his heart melts...

The winter was bitterly cold...

When the director,
and this happens often now,

Iooks into the projector's beam,

his assistants say:
"He's looking at the light,

taking his daily light-shower."

Indeed, the apparatus
projects 24 frames every second.

But in the same second
it projects darkness 24 times.

This is cinema's secret.

He's been a director for 38 years.

One could say he eats
little bits of darkness every day.

Quiet now!

Clapper!

Please!

What... What's the matter?

The ceilings are too low.
- I don't agree.

Excuse me, but the...
- The boss said no, okay?

32 films: 22 feature films,
10 documentaries...

all those films were quite topical.

And now a Middle Ages story,
'The girl and the monk'.

Contemporary?

The subject is love.

Contemporary!

Your other films were contemporary.

Now you go back to the Middle Ages.

Do you see a bridge to the present?

Of course. The subject of love.

No bridge is necessary.

Then why not a contemporary story?

Boy meets girl in the 20th century.
Why a story in the Middle Ages?

I'll do contemporary history
as my next film.

Why a story that...

is so complicated?
Why not a simple story?

Why a dead girl and a monk's lust?

It's a simple story, not complicated.

But it seems complicated
when you see all the characters.

I didn't see what the gypsy baron
had to do with it all.

The soldiers...

The low ceilings...

Listen...
don't you have any other questions?

The story is:

A girl from a good family dies young.

The family is mourning.

A monk keeps vigil by the body.

The parents
can finally get some sleep.

But then he's overcome
by his lust for the corpse.

He rapes the girl,

thinking she's dead,
but she was only apparently dead.

Then, nine months later:
a little boy.

Why not a more contemporary story?

Have you actually...

seen the film?

I have watched you work,
including scenes

you didn't shoot in the end.

I think you only want to keep
the conversation going.

I want to know
what film you're making.

I've seen all of your 32 films.
I found the feature films

more interesting
than the documentaries.

I'm just trying to understand
the film you're making.

But I gave the answer to that!

What do you associate
with the Middle Ages?

The Middle Ages

was a time when people
were not capable of really loving.

That applies to the present, too.

People today are no more capable
of loving than in the Middle Ages?

Are you an iconoclast?

All strange figures in the film,

what is the role of the soldiers,
and the gypsy baron,

why a dance with a doll?

I can't see this in the story
of the monk and the girl.

I've read the script.

Iconoclast...

Yes.

Yes, I...

am...

I am an iconoclast, that's correct.

You became one while making this film?

No. I've always been one.

Have you maybe...
- I hate images, I hate images!

Have you put together all your images
in 32 films

in order to destroy them in the end
with this one film?

Perhaps... Perhaps.

Can you bear to see images
if you hate images?

I...

I hate...

seeing.

I hate seeing.

Have you ever seen...
Have you seen any of your films?

Camera 4 metres left!
- The lights are off.

Light on Ms Doubek.
- The scene's already...

Don't interrupt me!

I was just saying...
- Then speak clearly.

I can see all that. Fetch my chair.

Camera 4 metres to the left!

Where's the chair?

What are you waiting for?
Camera 4 metres to the left!

The reporter had a suspicion.

I must tell you that the film
has to be continued in any case.

It may become expensive.
Can you afford it?

The film is at such an advanced stage
that we have to finish shooting it.

Do you need more footage,
or could you maybe use

material you have to finish it?
- No, that is not possible.

Why? Are decisive scenes missing?

Decisive scenes, yes.

You'll keep this director?
It may be expensive.

I've seen him continue shooting
when it was completely dark.

Maybe you should try to finish it
with another director.

This director

has worked so much on this film

that we don't want to risk
taking another one.

The result perhaps
won't meet your expectations.

Do you have an insurance policy
that would pay for that?

The insurance won't pay!

Why not?
- Because the director has gone blind.

This has never occurred before?
- No.

You've never worked
with a blind director before? - No.

What do you want to do
if an actor is drawn to a scene

he doesn't belong to?
The director wouldn't see it.

Well, we want to solve this
by giving him an assistant

who communicates this to him.
That is possible.

I hope the assistant is able to see.
- Yes, of course!

The film won't be finished by ear?

No!

The question of colour
is quite decisive in this film.

How about shooting in black and white?

It'd be simpler for a blind director.

No, because we assume that

an assistant
will communicate the colours to him.

So your assistants are colour-fit?
- Yes, they are not colour-blind.

You stand by your man, then?

Let's talk about the following thesis:

Can one dispense with the director?

No!
- But you are working via assistants.

Still, he can't be dispensed with.

This could lead to building a team.
- No. It's not possible.

The director as figurehead,
while others steer the ship.

No, the director is essential.

The director as figurehead...

No, he is essential.

Even if this man is blind,
he holds the reins.

He can't see them though.

No, but...

he still manages.

If I understood rightly,
he hasn't seen a single scene.

No.

Not personally,
but he has a feeling for it

and I think
he has managed very well so far.

Or the assistants have...

With...

Not, and yet...
Well, you can't really define that.

Both, though!

The assistants guide the film,
as it were?

And he... he...

Blind people feel rather than see.
And...

he's got things under control.

Let's talk about
the thread running through the film.

A blind director would hardly
be able to see it, would he?

Well...

Difficult question.

Did you see any thread?

Yes, but...

it's hard to see, I admit that.

How will you get your director
through the press conferences

if you want to keep
his blindness a secret?

Yes...

This will be a problem.

We don't really know.

He has practised already, he will

with the help of the assistants...

And...

it won't be too difficult.

So you don't only attempt shooting,
but also walking?

You could say so.

Excuse me, but I find your laughter
quite cynical.

Are producers that cold?
- No.

And not unfeeling either.

But...

One needs a feeling
for box-office success.

As producer you need that.
- Yes.

You should have invested more
in an insurance policy, perhaps?

No, the insurance
won't pay in such a case.

They pay in case of inability to work

or sudden death of the director.
Then they pay.

But if he goes blind they don't pay.

Blindness, for the insurer...
...is not grounds to stop working.

A blind director

is not considered unable to work?
- No.

Not in an insurance case.

As a producer, you have no
experience with blind directors?

So far, no.

Talking about loss of senses
suffered by film directors.

If you had the choice between
a blind, deaf, or a mute director,

what would you prefer?

I would say blind.

Because if he can
make himself understood, and

blind people
have a very good sense of touch...

They are said to see with their hands.

And...

Therefore I'd say
he should rather be blind.

You want to continue working
with this director? - Yes.

The film must be finished.

This film, yes, as you pointed out.
But what about future projects?

That I don't know yet.

You want to see if anyone notices?
- Yes. We'll see.

What kind of description?

A film of love and desire.
A description...

I don't want an interpretation.
Tell me what you see!

Now I see two men who...

And a train, apparently...

A lot of people. Now a weightlifter.

A magician. A monkey.

There's a...

Now I see two men with top hats
and a beautiful young woman...

in black and white, and a sad...
- Who's black? She or he?

No, the film is black and white,
the whole picture is.

They are both white.

Now I see a man. A beggar.

A man creeping along, very quietly.

It seems to be night-time,
it's quite dark... - Okay, okay.

A woman with a mirror.
It has become light. They are indoors.

Three men...

Now a very sad-looking young man.

He recognizes someone.
Now there's a fight.

Now I see a house,
now a tennis-court. Cut.

A rather dilapidated house.

A tennis-court again.

A man standing in front of a lamp.
A woman on the phone.

She's talking to another woman.

It's a green phone...

Something's wrong with the picture!
- No, it's okay.

The woman sits down...
- It's wrong!

Now there's a cut.

Well.

Thursday morning. Opera rehearsal.

Give me some more tea.

He used to be one of the hasty ones.

The projector room
is 23 metres from the studio.

He waited two hours

for one of the assistants to come by.

Inside he was full of pictures.

THE BLIND DIRECTOR

Untertitel
Vanadis Buhr, Alex Zuckrow

Film und Video Untertitelung
Gerhard lehmann AG