Original subtitles

And so it was, in those days of the First Great War,

which would ravage the land for decades to come,

that Rose resolved to turn her back on soldiering.

and although her story did not begin there,

but it nevertheless took a grave turn.

Everything is in order.

Nothing is missing.

Not as far as I can see.

You possess this document.

That means you may claim the inheritance.

Do you know the land, sir?

Yes. As a boy, I spent two summers there with my mother.

After Father had died, we

we were graciously received at the estate.

That was when the little chapel caught fire,

when lightning struck it.

The farm has stood empty for a long time.

Why did you wait until now to come forward?

The news took an age to reach me. I was a soldier.

Where?

With the army.

For ten years.

And your mother?

Dead too.

All of them now.

As that same day was not

considered suitable for an inspection,

it was agreed that they would set out together the following morning

to inspect the estate.

The livestock was shared among the village, or it would have perished.

It is good land, but demands everything of you

for only the smallest yield.

A man must know what he is doing, or he had best leave it alone.

As a soldier, you fought for the land.

That does not mean you can withstand the struggle against it.

As you can see, much must be done

before the real work can even begin.

It is not for everyone.

There is no shame in that.

I would gladly buy the land from you.

For a good price.

And I intend to stay.

To settle down at last.

And seek my fortune in this splendid parish.

In the coming days, we can put the formalities in order

and sign the documents.

The first arrival was complete.

And though Rose found no one

who wished to drink to it with her,

they were happy enough to take her money.

That's strange.

It's become so narrow.

It's all dented.

It isn't only my face. Everything has a new shape now.

In the village they call you "the soldier."

And they say you are an eccentric.

Be quiet!

And that you carry something mysterious with you.

I told you to be quiet!

What kind of life is built on deceit?

There is no heroism in it,

only coercion and hardship, forever on one's guard.

Can such a life be called freedom?

Some say time will bring a solution.

Others say the Lord provides for His own in their sleep.

Whatever one may say, never had sleep

done Rose as much good as it did that night.

And counsel came the very next day.

What is it?

The storm swept away our fences, and the livestock escaped.

Perhaps we could drive the sheep in here with you.

Hup! Hup! Hup!

The she-bear was found dead in the forest the next day.

The meat had spoiled.

But from the hide,

in Rose's honour, they fashioned a cloak,

a cap and a collar.

The soldier, the eccentric, the mysterious heir,

had become a bear-slayer,

no longer obliged to contend with the old order,

but one who had written her own story

into that of the village.

What else, then, might yet happen?

And though God shows Himself but seldom, or too indistinctly,

in the affairs of daily life,

time visibly passed over the land.

A year had passed since her arrival,

and Rose had been seized by a mighty spirit of enterprise.

had come over her.

She thought of expansion, of making the farm larger,

of surplus and profit too.

It is good to see the land prosper again.

I did not think you capable of it.

Nor did I trust myself.

Every day, I stand in wonder that I am here.

Before, I could never imagine a tomorrow.

What might come, what might be.

Far too busy getting through each present day unscathed.

And now?

For the first time, it seems so magnificent and beautiful.

It brings me such joy.

To work, to imagine what else one might do.

To think of all one might yet achieve, or build.

And for that, one needs this land.

It is a beginning.

Land has a different value from coin.

Coin is exchanged once for something.

The land gives to you every year.

Like a woman's womb.

No.

I do not wish to sell the brook.

But I shall make you an offer:

a way for you to gain your patch of earth,

while everything remains as it is for me.

I have five daughters, and they eat me out of house and home.

Rose had accomplished much thus far.

To do so, she had been forced to practise discipline,

and strict self-denial, every day.

She had gone without in order to demand,

and renounced in order to receive.

Concealing herself in order to exist.

But once necessity has been satisfied,

the desire for more soon follows.

For greed is an intoxication.

It makes one believe that one is entitled to everything,

and thus justifies itself by its own existence.

It knows no bounds.

Greed is without measure,

without purpose or discipline.

A barrel cannot be emptier than empty.

But it is easily made to overflow.

This is Susanna, virtuous and God-fearing,

skilled in every womanly task.

She tended her mother, who endured much suffering before death.

I do not know what ails it.

My late wife began it.

She even worked in childbed. We have one from each of them.

But she was weak.

Leave it!

Very weak.

Often confined to bed.

Well?

The gentleman wishes to court you.

I am willing to give you to him.

Are you willing too?

Yes.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Away!

Tomorrow we shall all become better acquainted.

Will you not see to the fire?

Shall I?

I can try, so that the clothes may dry.

Or you, sir. Perhaps you are more adept at it anyway.

The basket of preserves and cold meat

left from the wedding— we left that by the cart as well.

I do not know.

Let us thank the dear Lord that

the past days were plentiful and we did not go

to bed hungry.

that You have graciously kept me this day,

and I beseech You

to forgive me all my sins,

for I commend myself, my body and soul,

and all things into Your hands.

May Your holy angel be with me,

that the evil foe may have no power over me.

Amen.

Of all things, what I prize most is your purity.

I intend to preserve it for a long time.

Nothing has been damaged, as far as I can see.

It would be enough to make ourselves a home.

A fine one.

Yes.

Will you not sing us a little song to mark the occasion?

Come now!

I do not know what to sing.

Anything at all.

That one.

Commit all your ways

and all that grieves your heart

to the most faithful care

of Him who rules

the heavens.

He who gives clouds, air and winds

their paths, their course and way,

will also find the paths

upon which your foot may walk.

You must trust in the Lord

if all is to go well with you.

You must look to His work

if your own work is to endure.

Through worry and grieving and self-inflicted pain,

nothing can be taken from God; it must be gained through prayer.

Why?

I am allowed!

I promised the pastor I would help with reading

and writing.

Several people have come forward who would like to try.

Can you find no work to do here?

I can.

But I have given my word now.

Perhaps I could accompany you.

It is so quiet here.

That is your name.

Those are five letters which then repeat.

Would you like to try?

Oh, very slowly.

Ah!

Yes, come in.

Wait.

I wished to ask whether Susanna behaves well.

Whether she is obedient in all things.

Whether she is doing well.

Or whether she refuses you.

Or whether you find her conduct repellent.

No, no, no.

She is exactly as you described her to me.

Better still.

Do you know how it is?

With breeding.

A bull that will not mount is replaced.

We are so occupied with the work

that I have not considered

breeding the animals as well.

Marriage is a contract you have entered into.

It is fulfilled only when consummated.

Best do it at once, or everything is null and void,

including every agreement,

such as the land upon which you stand.

You need not concern yourself. Everything is as it should be.

What is it?

Turn around.

It will come. It will pass.

What is it?

Would you come down for a moment?

I have conceived.

What?

Conceived.

I am quite certain.

A butterfly just came through the window

and settled upon my belly.

That is the sign.

It happened so to Saint Veronica as well.

It is early yet, but I congratulate you on the blessing.

Come now! Come!

Farewell. Ciao.

At first, you know how it is—

everything always lies there in the chest,

but that cannot last forever.

Why is the good meat in the soup today?

It is a feast day, after all.

We would have to build an addition and fell timber.

We would have to make an opening in the parlour.

Outwards!

There by the wall would do nicely.

Come on!

One cannot expect a child every time

one performs one's lawful duty.

We shall wait and see.

But it is so.

Yes.

What does Father say?

We shall.

Farewell. Until next time.

A lively, healthy child was born, earlier than Rose expected

and, in some eyes, weeks too soon.

And while Susanna readily settled into her role

as a mother, Rose's paternal feelings

were confusing and more complex in nature.

Nevertheless, everything had changed for the better.

For in the eyes of the community, Rose had

risen once more.

She had made the land bloom, as she had the flower of her wife.

And even if no further children followed,

Rose had already fulfilled the sole purpose of existence,

the only service owed to the community:

which is reproduction.

Whatever others may claim.

And yet it is not always, or necessarily,

the great events

that bring about change.

Small things too can have great consequences,

like the beating of a butterfly's wings

or the sting of a bee.

I thought you were in the stable.

He is a handful and cries all day.

Now he is awake again.

What is that by your eye?

Nothing.

And there on your hand.

Come quickly! Come!

Come!

Oh!

The sting is still in there.

And up here.

Help me pull him out of his breeches.

Pull!

Pull!

Pull!

There are more.

We must boil water. To the well!

Why are you standing there? Run! Take the second cauldron too!

Ah!

You will be wondering what has happened to the master.

Good Lord, man!

Thank you. Farewell!

We may begin!

As you have no...

He is gravely ill.

He must rest.

No one may see him.

Not if we wish to avoid fearing for his life.

Everything else shall continue as before.

That is what was agreed.

You maids shall work in the fields too.

Until the Saviour restores the master's health,

for which we shall now pray,

I shall direct the fortunes of us all.

So the Lord wills it.

We go forth and journey, from one age

to the next; we live and remember, from the old

unto the new.

Speak Your gentle blessing upon all our paths.

Let Your sun of grace shine upon every place,

that we may find peace.

Who are you?

Farewell.

Control yourself!

It is best that I go.

Yes, it would be best.

But you cannot.

You are weak.

You will collapse beyond the next tree, and there you will be found

by someone else, and then—

and then...

The child is still dependent upon me.

For the next few weeks, perhaps half a year.

Then it will become easier.

When the roads are clear of snow and ice,

then you may go.

Until then, there will be ample time to invent a story.

That night, Rose spoke until dawn.

Hesitantly at first, and then without stopping.

She told of a childhood in an orphanage,

of how she first came to put on breeches,

and of every attempt that followed.

Nor did she omit the war and her life as a soldier.

She spared neither herself nor Susanna.

She told her everything.

Including how she came to take another man's place

and claim an inheritance.

And how good it felt to speak.

She had often imagined giving herself up.

Yet even she was surprised by the relief

of no longer bearing the burden of her secrets alone.

Only one thing would she not disclose: her true name.

Thus Susanna could not mistakenly let it slip

at an ill-chosen moment.

What are you doing there?

Looking.

How are you, Meryn?

Poorly.

Go inside.

-No, do not. -It will give me some air.

Here, I shall open the window for you.

Why are you standing there staring?

Move! He will be all right.

Back to work.

The sow is doing well.

Yes, she will yield plenty of meat.

Back to work.

Hyah!

Are you coming?

Who is the child's father?

You will not be alone for long, once I am finished.

What?

Your father will not permit it.

He would marry you to the first man who came along,

just as he did with me.

To a stranger.

You feel like the mistress now, yes.

But it does not belong to you.

Perhaps.

Perhaps we need not invent a new story.

Perhaps everything can remain as it is.

You and I are acknowledged.

As a household.

That is what we are to the others.

That is what grants us freedom.

It need not be otherwise.

Is the bed you sleep in upstairs a good one?

The servants ought to have a house of their own.

At the far end of the meadow, a proper distance away.

And we need an extension.

It will not do for you to wash secretly in the woods.

You are a young man.

Or a bathhouse. Bathing in the parlour is dangerous too.

And reading and writing?

You will teach me.

Rose and Susanna had resolved not

to decide at once.

Everything had already changed.

They walked taller, freer with one another, more independent.

And perhaps because of that, they were more affectionate.

For the first time.

All this had come unexpectedly,

as only words spoken aloud

can usually bring about.

But still more was to happen that day.

What is it?

One of the maids had not returned with the others

at the appointed hour

to the estate.

She was not brought back until the following day

by her father and brothers.

We searched the forest all night

and were beside ourselves with worry.

I sent those two to the pond and was setting off for the village.

We did not know.

They found her only this morning,

where she had hidden herself.

Then we set out at once.

Why did you run away and make us all sick with worry?

Shut your mouth.

But he has such small hands.

I will not have people talking about us.

Apologise to your master and ask him

to forgive you and take you back.

Life and work are good here.

No worse than elsewhere. You have never complained.

But I shall not keep you.

Thank you for taking the trouble to bring me your child,

but who can assure me she will not run away again?

-Beg him, child. I hope... I hope... -And must we again,

terrified that some misfortune has occurred,

set out and abandon all our work?

The master is no man.

-What? -The master is no man.

Let her speak!

Below, he is said to be like a woman.

We should be silent.

This is utter nonsense.

I know what I saw.

When?

When could you possibly have seen that?

When the master was ill.

What confused nonsense are you saying?

No one was with him.

-At the very beginning? -I was alone with him.

When the stings were fresh.

We took off his breeches and removed stings up to here.

What could she have seen?

-How should I know? -It seems to me

you are not quite right in the head.

That was days ago. Why come only now?

I said so at once.

You laughed at me.

-Liar. -You ordered me

to hold my tongue because it made no sense.

-Liar. -Liar.

-Liar! -Liar!

-Liar! -Liar!

Liar! Liar!

Liar! Liar!

-Liar! -Into the house, Susanna!

And yesterday in church?

And all before our very eyes!

Liar!

Your daughter is very young, yet notices more

than one might suppose, and hopefully speaks

of things she cannot yet possibly understand.

We must get to work.

If we are to bring in the harvest before dark.

We have lost half a day.

And now we are two hands short.

I hope the loss remains small.

Your sons here work for my father-in-law.

As do I.

Then let us keep all this among ourselves,

so that you suffer no harm from it either.

Yes?

Your sister still needs work.

Yes.

Very well, then.

May you have a blessed night's rest.

Now.

It is quite simple. We shall settle this here and now.

Settle what?

You provide proof.

That I am a man?

-Yes. -And the heir to this land.

Not an impostor.

And how am I to do that?

By lowering my breeches?

Showing them my cock?

It would take but a moment, and the matter would be settled.

This house. Is it real?

The soil there. The land.

The money.

The good wage you received, and twice as much at Christmas.

Is that a fraud?

And that there is always some of our yield left over for you?

Or you?

I taught you the alphabet from A to Z.

The words you can now write.

The contracts you can now read, so that

no one can cheat you again.

So you never again receive less than your due.

Is that a fraud too?

That you lost your arm?

Is that real?

That you stand here now?

That you are still alive?

Is that a fraud?

And here, the bullet.

Here. Look at it.

And my flesh.

You cannot see me now, can you?

I ask you to help me.

Did I choose to have my face shot apart?

For this land and for you.

Is that true as well?

Or is there nothing there— all smooth and fair, and merely a fraud?

I do not know.

Nor do you.

And perhaps it is therefore best now

that each goes home and considers what that means.

Fraud.

Have I ever seen your cocks?

Do I ask you about them?

We can gladly do all of that.

But then I want it done officially.

Then I want to see what every one of you has

between his legs.

Man and woman.

Your cock, and yours.

And your father's.

Fetch me the bailiff. We shall make it official.

Provided you can afford the document, of course.

The pastor shall announce it in church at once.

Better still, from the pulpit.

Go on. Fetch the bailiff.

Then you go, and you two go with him,

so no one says I bribed the bailiff.

The rest of you may remain seated outside my door

and guard it, so you need not go without the proof

now that you desire it.

Until I must look upon your flesh,

when I can no longer see your faces.

The bailiff was said to have been no less astonished

by the matter with which

he had been approached.

Yet not even his presence that day

could bear witness to the demanded proof.

News of the events had left everyone

profoundly shaken.

The community which had accepted Rose

into its midst

felt defrauded and deceived.

It believed itself, through Rose's deceit,

dishonoured, defiled and sullied.

What they urgently demanded was a great example,

by which they could cleanse themselves.

And so an example had to be set.

On the third day of their wandering,

several adventurers succeeded

in tracking down the two fugitives

and bringing them back to the village.

Splendid!

Tall domestic animals.

Yes.

Breeches.

But among the learned men of the land too,

a dispute had broken out:

who was fit, in so curious a case,

to pronounce judgment?

For that very reason, three more months were to pass

before Rose could be given a proper trial.

You binder!

And the horn.

The thorn.

No.

The examinations have established

that the accused is a healthy woman.

She has nothing male about her.

Her clitoris is of normal size;

she could not have penetrated her supposed wife with it.

Semen, however, did flow

into the accused herself,

for she is with child.

She is a woman, but has long presented herself as a man.

Yes.

And the inheritance—

to whom does it belong?

He was a comrade, a friend. He often spoke of it,

at great length.

Of returning after the war, and what it would be like.

But he fell.

His leg was blown off,

and he bled to death.

So I took his belongings.

Including this—the document.

I thought it a shame if no one claimed it and carried on.

We were like brothers, after all.

And this contrivance?

Yes.

Where did you obtain it?

During the war as well.

At times we too were ordered to show the vanquished

who was master.

Under orders.

Yes.

It was foolish.

And brutal.

But it would have been dangerous for me

not to join in, so I had it made.

No one noticed a thing.

And your supposed wife now?

She knew nothing. She bears no guilt.

Please, she must be released.

But who, then, fathered your child?

And this pregnancy?

Was this how they showed me too who was master?

Who?

I do not know. There were four of them.

Why did you act as you did?

I thought I would see what was possible.

What?

That I could live this way.

As a man?

No. I did not wish to be a man.

Then what?

There was more freedom in breeches, and they are only a piece of cloth.

I have nothing more in my breeches.

Who permitted you to do that?

No one.

Oh, no one?

I did.

So you created yourself.

Community can exist only with rules.

And rules are determined by facts.

Yet between your legs

no male organ of generation was found,

but rather a hole.

One may desire the impossible.

One cannot live it.

And in seeking to live the impossible,

you chose to oppose reality

and necessity—

which, for you, means obeying

the dictates of your body.

You placed yourself above the law

which alone makes communal life possible.

And when you set yourself against reality,

against necessity and against the laws,

you also set yourself against the community.

That is what you chose.

That is the possibility by which to live,

whose freedom you took for yourself.

Did you always truly believe you could succeed?

Do you feel no guilt?

The one guilty before the community

is no longer part of it.

That person must be removed.

For a time.

Into the dungeon.

For ever.

And then put to death.

But perhaps no limits can be placed upon you.

Perhaps you will grow wings

and simply fly away from us.

Or do you not consider that possible?

Sentence has been passed.

The sword.

As soon as you have given birth.

No harm is to come to the child,

for that would offend God's commandments.

You will remain here until your confinement.

Judgment has also been passed upon Susanna.

The sack and the river.

The sentence was carried out at once.

She is said not to have taken it well,

and caused her executioner much trouble and toil,

and herself much pain.

Merciful Father, in the face of death,

I confess to You my sins and misdeeds,

committed in thought, word and deed.

I grieve for them sincerely and repent.

I beseech You, for the sake of the bitter, innocent suffering

and death of Your Son, Jesus Christ,

to grant this prayer.

Be gracious to me, a sinful mortal,

and my shameful deeds for all eternity...

forgive, that I may be worthy to enter Your house.

Merciful Father, in the face of death,

I confess to You my sins and misdeeds.

They sell it on every corner.

Three sellers on the way here alone.

They shout themselves hoarse.

They cannot pocket the kreuzers fast enough.

This is what people say about her.

Is that how it happened?

In the final weeks of her life,

Rose had found one last task,

which she was determined to finish.

Others had decided the course of her life,

but Rose would not surrender her story.

She had begun to write herself.

It was intended for no one else,

only for herself.

And having reached the point of her present,

she wrote herself beyond that point,

giving herself a fantasy

of how things might have been.

For impossibility is only a word.

And words could be changed.

Once spoken, they exist in the world.

They become reality and bring reality in their wake.

All this passed through Rose's mind

while elsewhere there was talk

of separating Rose's head from her body.

The prisoner has asked to rehearse her execution.

We have agreed to grant her request.

And you will assist her.

Forgive me, God; forgive me, King; forgive me, people.

Forgive me, God; forgive me, King; forgive me, people.

Forgive me, God; forgive me, King; forgive me, people.

And the executioner?

Do you confess your guilt?

Yes.

Then pay your executioner with the coin,

and receive your punishment as purification.

Clench your teeth!

Now that all has run its course, the execution will be tomorrow.

Do you wish to see your child once more beforehand?

No.

It can be brought here.

It is not because I am heartless or hard.

For the little child, it is...

I would not merely look upon its face;

it would look upon mine too.

It must have no image of me,

so it need not search for me in the world when it is older.

The executioner's first stroke fell badly

and hacked into Rose's shoulder.

The second struck more truly.

After her death, Rose's body was dismembered and burned,

and the ashes scattered in an unknown place,

so that no memory of her would remain.

Today I thought perhaps we do not come from God at all.

We merely imagined and invented ourselves.

Then I grew quite calm and said:

This is as far as I have come,

and I have done what I could.