Original subtitles

AURUM FILM PRESENTS

IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH

CO-FINANCED BY POLISH FILM INSTITUTE

BASED ON NOVEL BY JOANNA BATOR

SCREENPLAY

MUSIC

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

PRODUCERS

DIRECTED BY

DARK, ALMOST NIGHT

WHO IS KIDNAPPING KIDS?

I burned my Barbie in the oven!

CURSE! MORE KIDS WILL BE TAKEN!

Daddy!

Where are you, daddy?

I can hear you!

Alice!

Alice!

Alice...

You're back!

I came to work. I told you over the phone.

I'm writing a story.

You've grown.

I had a lot of time for that.

You came alone?

I go everywhere alone.

I read all your articles.

My kind of girl.

Apples from your garden.

I picked two crates.

The old tree started giving fruit.

It needs grafting in spring.

I'll help you.

- It's a good tree. - 1 won't be here in spring.

You never know.

I'd rather Know.

It's here somewhere.

Somewhere here.

The treasure!

When I find Daisy's pearls,

and I have a map of exceptional value,

and definitely real,

our lives will change.

Ich heisse Hans!

Meine kleine!

Only Hans has the real map.

It will lead us to Duchess Daisy's pearls.

Can you imagine?

A six-metre-long string!

It's like...

six Alices placed one on top of the other.

If we found them,

all of our dreams would come true!

Do ll look like her?

Hans? Do ll look like her?

Similar.

And if we can't find Duchess Daisy's pearls?

What then?

Every once in a while, bad things will happen here.

Even in the best person,

gateways will open, allowing evil to get inside.

How?

Through the nose,

ears,

under armpits,

between fingers.

That's why we have to find the pearls

and take them to the sun.

If we don't do that...

they will show up.

Who?

- Do we have to give them a name? - Yes.

Fine.

Cat-eaters.

Repeat after me.

Come on, Alice!

There was a black black forest in this black black forest

was a black black house

in the black black house

was a black black room

in this black black room

was a black black table

with a black black coffin

in this black black coffin was a white white corpse!

Fuck, you just can't stay away!

- Good morning, sir. - What's good about it?

Cockroach infesting bastards,

for fuck's sake!

You people do what you want, fuck me, goddammit!

Not talking to no whore!

Good morning. My name is Alice Tabor.

I'm a journalist. We spoke on the phone.

Keep it down!

They always fight over the remote.

I can't buy each one of thema TV.

Does Angelica like to watch TV?

From morning to evening and back.

What shows does she like the most?

What do you mean?

What shows does your daughter like to watch?

Odds and sods for children.

Teddy bear and kitten mumbo jumbo.

Dancing with the Stars, like everybody else.

What do you expect?

Tell me about the day Angelica went missing.

She wanted to go sledding.

'Mama!

I'll sled a little by the pond.'

So I tell her,

'Angie,

you really want to fly off

to the pond after dark?

Sled on wet snow?

You'll just catch a cold.

Better watch some TV!

And she goes,

'Mama, just for an hour!

What was I to do, tie her up?

Tie her up with a cord?

She had this...

apple snow sled from the supermarket,

so I said, 'Go, dammit, go!'

Little Oscar came to us!

What brings you here, my boy?

Did mommy call you?

Gone.

Come here, mommy will give you some sweets.

Strange boy.

Won't let anyone touch him.

Anyone but Angie.

She took care of him like an adult.

The others too, but...

him most of all.

He was the apple of her eye.

Her sonny boy.

She wanted to do everything around him.

She tucked him in, she fed him.

'What will you be when you grow up?'

'When I grow up, I'll be a mommy.'

That's what she said.

She wanted to sleep with him,

said he was tiny and afraid,

but she was the one afraid.

Of what?

She'd watch some crap on TV,

and then she would wake me up at night.

She would jump into my bed with Oscar.

She would kick in her sleep, and then I'd be dazed all day.

I guess you get up early.

I guess you don't have Kids.

You think I don't know what people are saying?

What are they saying?

What?

It's the mother's fault.

The mother has to have eyes...

around her head and up her ass.

She has to see everything.

And I didn't see anything.

Nothing struck me.

I had no bad feeling.

Kitti, kithi, kit!

Kitti, kitti!

Hello.

You have a nice doll trolley.

This is no doll.

No?

What is it then?

You want to see?

Sure.

What's its name?

Angelica.

That's a very nice name for a monkey.

Does it like long walks?

But she is dead.

The monkey?

Angelica.

Where did you get it?

Angelica the monkey?

Good afternoon, sir.

I just met your daughter.

We talked for a while.

My dad doesn't speak.

There was an explosion in the mine.

Gas.

Dad asks what do you want.

Angelica Mizera, Patryk Milka and Kalinka Jakubek.

I want them to return home.

Dad says you should stick to the living.

You mean they are dead?

What?

- What did he say? - 'Look for the unloved!

...in this black black forest was a black black house...

on the black black table

was a black black coffin...

in this black black coffin a white white corpse.

Who are you?

Marcin Schwartz, and you?

What are you doing in my garden at night?

I'm in your garden?

For the second time.

Really? And when was the first?

What do you want here?

- You are the daughter! - Daughter?

You're Prof. Tabor's daughter.

You knew my father?

He didn't.

I've been waiting for you.

I got the wrong house, sorry.

What's this about?

What is he doing here?

- Why wasn't I told? - She always so inquisitive?

Ever since she was born.

Would you invite us for tea?

I don't know

where I was born,

what name I was given in the beginning.

I am a Gypsy half-breed

from Germany.

I used to live in your house, Alice.

My mother left me with a German veterinarian

whose name was

Alfred Schwartz.

He was my father.

I believe she did it for my good,

that she saved my life during the Extermination.

Gertrud Schwartz was my stepmother.

Even sudden weather changes bothered that woman,

not to mention family size modifications,

especially without her input.

Now she was supposed to take care of her husband's Gypsy bastard child,

she, a decent and righteous housewife.

Your name is Albert.

Albert Schwartz.

Albert... Schwartz!

Repeat!

Albert Schwartz!

My father's second son's name was Adalbert.

He was exactly my age.

His purpose was to destroy me.

What could a boy abandoned by his mother

possibly dream of?

That Daisy would take me in, a Gypsy bastard,

and I would become her beloved son.

Why are you crying?

Are you lost?

Can I help you somehow?

My name is Daisy.

But fate decided otherwise.

That's Apolonia Kitti Kitti.

Adalbert...

behaved like little Mengele.

He started killing animals.

He did it in cold blood.

The deaths of his victims nourished him.

And I had a feeling

that it was just a matter of time

before he took a human life.

You can't stay with him.

What should I do?

You'll know

when the time comes.

But...

where will I go?

Where should I go?

On the night

before the Schwartzes fled from the Soviets,

I didn't sleep.

I waited until the house fell silent.

! didn't take anything,

not even my papers,

as the identity inscribed in them

did not belong to me.

Alice...

this here Marcin Schwartz,

whom you attacked so expertly tonight,

is my nephew,

Adalbert's son.

Lately, these eggs were all he wanted.

He would say,

"Grandma, it's wonderful not to know what is inside,

and slowly bite off the chocolate before you open it

That made my heart sting.

He waited for his mom with such anticipation.

So ll said to him,

'Patryk, let's change and catch a bus 10 the supermarket.

It was crowded.

First we went to get some chicken thighs,

next to the candy stands.

I said, 'Patryk,

don't you move.

Stay here by the Kinder Surprise eggs, pick two.

Mind our cart,

I'll just grab some ail, I hear they have it on sale.'

I took some rapeseed oil and I went back.

It's even more crowded than before.

I look around...

Patryk isn't there.

Just the shopping cart.

Maybe he strolled off somewhere

and he'll be right back.

I'm waiting. What can I do?

I started asking around the supermarket,

'Boy, blond, six years old, hazel eyes!

Have you seen him, madame, sir, and you, girl?'

No one saw or heard anything!

Who would care for someone else's kids

in such a crowd while shopping?

Supermarkets are best for losing kids!

It's been five months.

Two days short.

Two days and three hours.

You're counting?

I'll never stop.

When he disappeared, your daughter didn't come?

Such misfortune.

She said,

'What can I do, how can I help?

I have to keep an eye on things here in Ireland.'

'What things?

What things, I ask?

Probably your new lay?

Then she says

it's my fault

Patryk disappeared, as I didn't take good care of him.

And for him I would

give up my last drop of blood!

Anything for that child!

And now...

I'm making beetroot preserves.

Very good this year.

So sweet.

And I'm thinking,

'Why do this?

For whom?'

Such misfortune!

Tired like the Mother of God!

Startled you?

I got some cat-cans.

Cat-cans?

Cans with cat-stew.

I just mix it with some noodles and...

there you go, delicious cat-stew!

Have we met?

What does it matter?

I'm Babs.

Care for a cat-crunch?

No.

No eating when I run.

Some cat-milk?

- I have to go. - So soon?

No time.

- I'll help. - You are helping.

I don't understand.

You don't have to, just do your thing.

Babs!

Do you know Apolonia Kitti Kitti?

There's a tempest of us!

Welcome to our humble abode!

Between you and me?

That's right.

In my opinion,

the problem in Poland is that

not those have children who should.

The intelligentsia have one, two at the most.

Louts? A dozen!

Do you have a child?

No.

Do you know what sort of kids make it here?

Tell me.

Broken.

Gluing them back together doesn't always work because...

pieces are missing.

And what we glue together, on the next day goes to hell.

Because a kid like that is...

damaged.

Like a crushed toy.

You know,

with some kids, it's enough to hit them once.

Once.

And it leaves a crack.

And children here...

have marks from such thrashings...

that when I see them, I think,

"You bastard!

If you tried that with me...!"

Would you hit a child?

Never.

What about Kalinka Jakubek's parents?

Kalinka's mother, Ada Ryba,

she was in our home as well.

She got here late.

An eight-year-old girl

remembers too much.

Can't rub it out.

I'll fuck you up!

Fucking kill you!

Get over here, bitch!

I'll smash your face in!

Get over here, bitch!

Come on!

Right there!

Get the fuck out!

Fucking whore!

Get the fuck out!

Shut your trap, you cunt!

Fuck...

Long live the ball!

Because life Is a ball of all balls!

Long live the ball!

Next time they Won't invite us at all

'Did you grab a knife?'

"No.'

'Then who killed your parents?'

'Santa Claus.

In red boots.'

You heard it right.

Santa Claus.

How did he enter?

Knocked on the window.

So they let him in.

Maybe if Santa Claus took care of such things,

he would be of more use than his presents.

But what should be done about little murderers?

Nobody knew.

Because a child and a killer don't go together.

They don't mix.

They thought about it and decided,

it would be best to separate the children,

and erase their past.

Supposedly, apart they would forget faster.

Ada came to us.

She concealed her feelings.

She waited until she could legally go out

to find her brother.

That's all she cared about.

Is it alive?

The swallowtail.

It is.

It's suffering.

Why?

It can't fly away.

Did the accused know it was his sister?

No.

So the accused did not recognize her?

Something seemed familiar...

when she came in...

but ll didn't know it was my sister.

And later?

Later, I did.

Why did you leave your family and bind yourself with your sister?

...bound together.

Speak up, please!

We already were bound together.

Ada got pregnant.

She had a girl.

A healthy, normal girl.

Two hands, two feet, a set of fingers.

And in such cases, even animals

have deformed offspring.

They named her Kalinka.

I wanted them to go away.

Who?

Them.

Who exactly?

Who are they? Please provide names.

I don't know any.

Please describe them then.

They get inside...

Speak up! What do they do?

They penetrate through walls...

through the body,

and when they get inside...

everything rots

and fills up with stinking fog.

- Whom does the accused mean? - Them!

Why did the accused blind himself?

So I wouldn't have to look anymore.

What didn't the accused want to look at?

At myself.

He didn't admit to setting the house on fire.

They found one body in the cinders.

Ada's body.

The baby was not there.

Three days later, somebody left a girl

in the maternity hospital.

She was clean.

And healthy.

DNA tests confirmed it was Kalinka.

Ada's and Adam's daughter.

I gave her the 'Jakubek' surname.

Because she was born on St. Jacob's day.

Strangest thing...

She had a pearl on her,

tied around her wrist.

I'll give it to her when she grows up.

Mareczek!

Please tell me about Kalinka.

What's she like?

The director's favourite.

She started speaking late, but once she did, she wouldn't stop.

She would sit in the director's office and jabber away!

A chatterer she was!

I would say, 'Marian,

she will jabber you to death someday.'

What did she talk about?

About the sea.

Some memory he has!

What did she say about it?

That she wanted to go to the seaside.

'Why the sea? You have never seen it!'

'l have!'

-'On TV, maybe! -'No, in my headV

'Why do you want to go there?

Go for a swim, make mud pies?'

'l want to drown something there.'

No idea what she wanted to drown there.

Cat-eaters.

Cat-eaters?

You got a backrag?

- Babs? - Who else?

Holy Cat Mamma with an invitation for Daisy's ball?

- Got a backrag? - What's that?

A coat or something, girl!

- You need a coat? - Mama Winter won't let up.

- Come in. Have some tea with me. - Oh no!

I have to run. I have cat-crunch for the hungry ones.

There.

Grand backrag!

Don't go running around the fields!

What?

- Wait! - Lock the door! Use the staple!

Dear Alice!

When you get this letter,

! will no longer be with you.

I am infected with death,

that's the nature of my disease.

This is its secret.

I don't know how to explain this to a teenybopper you are.

I'm heart-broken,

as there are things

which little girls shouldn't have to hear about.

I will write to the Alice you will become in several years.

To a grown-up Alice.

Because...

you will grow up.

A cat lady will make sure

this letter reaches you in proper time.

Our mother...

Anna Lipiec.

I have to start with her.

I will tell you all I know about her

because no one else will.

I am sorry I have to hurt you now.

Mama!

Mommy!

- Mommy! - Come on!

Quick!

Alice,

it's time.

It's Duchess Daisy calling her cat.

Live beautifully.

Alice,

live!

Eva

Eva?

You think...

we could just go to bed?

Hello?

Hello?

Hello?

Alice Tabor speaking. You called.

Me?

What did you want to tell me?

Could we meet?

- I'll come to you. - I'm in the hospital.

My heart failed me, a vein got blocked.

Tomorrow they cut me open.

I can come today.

I was chopping liver and suddenly lost my breath and collapsed.

Tomorrow they operate.

It will be all right.

I'm in room 6, internal ward.

Okay.

I came to say goodbye.

Come on in.

I'm going back to Warsaw tonight.

Do you have what you came for?

I've got my story.

I talked to the kids' caretakers.

I met Babs recently.

I gave her a scarf.

Who are they?

That's the last thing I'd like to know.

The cat ladies?

To this question ! have no simple answer.

But I will tell you what happened next.

What's your name?

I'm Albert.

I live in these woods.

There isn't a soul here but us.

Please, sit with me.

I'm Rosemarie.

Where are your parents?

They went away. With suitcases.

Kith, ki, kit!

Kith, ki, kit!

Kith, ki, kit!

We knew nothing about Hitler's capitulation,

as Rosemarie and I didn't know

that soon a different sort of evil was to roll through the city.

But Apolonia Kitti Kitti knew.

Kitti, kithi, kit!

Kitti, kitti!

I cannot tell you

where we buried Duchess Daisy.

I promised I would not reveal that to anyone.

On the following day, Red Army soldiers entered the city.

That afternoon I saw smoke rising over the castle,

so I decided to take a closer look.

I knew an underground passage

which led to the castle gardens.

"No one will burn down Duchess Daisy's home,"

thought the boy that I was.

Rosemarie!

Why?

We can't help her.

I'll be going now.

Where is Rosemarie?

And 1?

What should I do?

Wait until winter and go back.

There?

To Gertud's house?

I did as Apolonia Kitti Kitti said.

But the Schwartzes' house was occupied.

And nobody wanted me there.

The Kukulkas took me in,

your neighbours.

I, their claimed son,

lived my life as Albert Kukulka.

And as Albert Kukulka

I once again

met Rosemarie

who also had changed her name.

Your father,

and my friend,

brought her along once and said,

This is my fiancee, Anna Lipiec.

Rosemarie...

is your mother.

What do you call that what you do?

I need a name.

That's how I am.

I track cat-eaters,

as your sister called them.

I don't name them, but I can recognize them.

You are a bit like me, and that's enough.

Right.

And I look for missing children.

That's all.

I have to.

Just like you have to collect stories and ask questions.

You don't name cat-eaters.

Is that why you never talk about Adalbert?

He doesn't deserve his own story.

You're his son.

Without him, you wouldn't exist.

Who cares whose egg cell and sperm were there to start with?

What counts is what we do now.

I like to know.

The history of things and people.

The deeper it goes, the better.

What if somebody doesn't want to tell you their story?

Eventually everyone does.

I just wait for the right moment.

And the right question.

- Hello? - He's disappeared!

Mareczek, my son. He's gone!

Marian...

Out!

Marek likes children.

He likes kids.

Without any subtext.

Just likes them.

They caught him in the bushes

in New Town, next to...

a kindergarten,

saying that...

he was masturbating.

That was just a call of nature.

He's got sick kidneys.

And now...

I, the father...

have to talk about this...

with a woman!

Kalinka.

Marek...

inherited a house.

From his grandmother.

The address and keys.

Out, you bitch!

Pawel Kupczyk, aged 44.

Spent six years in a German prison.

Robbery and burglary.

In jail he met people

from child pornography circles.

He found it appealing.

Cat-eater!

Marek?

We have to split up. No time!

- Wait! - See you up top.

What have you done with the boy?

What boy?

Mareczek, I did it all for you!

For your transplant.

Money can buy anything.

A kidney, a kid, anything.

You'll get better and we'll leave.

She was only five!

- Five! - A little whore!

Shakes her ass and jumps on your lap!

- And your father is mesmerised! - No!

Sonny...

My boy, you don't know,

what it's like, with a man like your father,

night after night...

night after night, to be crucified.

For 36 years.

Christ suffered shorter.

But you are mine.

Mareczek...

Sonny, my child...

You are mine!

Mine, Mareczek!

Please, believe me!

I didn't see anything.

I only helped them find kids.

Easy...

Easy...

We have to get out of here.

Remember, you used to say, 'Let's fly away, mommy!

We'll fly to America!'

Remember that?

Just you and me.

- Quiet... - Mommy...

Mommy's here.

Mommy...

I'm here, baby.

Mommy will never leave you.

Mommy...

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Twinkle, twinkle,

little star,

How I wonder...

...where you are.

Twinkle, twinkle...

Who are you?

My name is Alice.

You came to me?

Yes.

And will you stay?

I will.

Is it night now?

Yes, you've slept for a long time.

I slept and dreamt of the sea.

Have you ever been to the sea?

I have.

Can you make a sound like the sea?

I'll try.

The case of the disappearance of two girls,

Angelica Mizera, aged 6, and Kalinka Jakubek, aged 5, was solved.

Responsible for the kidnappings are Maria W.,

aged 66, and Pawel K., aged 44.

The girls were held in tunnels,

accessed from a property owned by family of Maria W.

Who is currently in custody.

The second degenerate has been found dead in an underground tunnel.

We hope that diligent police work

will solve the case of his cruel death.

As we know from well-informed sources,

Pawel K. belonged to an international gang

profiteering from a particularly cruel form of child pornography.

Rapid police response

only managed to save the life of Kalinka Jakubek

who is recovering under the care

of our best doctors.

The girl is an orphan from the 'Angel' orphanage.

Its director, Marian Waszkiewicz,

a distinguished citizen of our city,

was too upset to comment the incident.

He is consoled by his son Marek who identified the kidnappers.

The police is making every effort

to find the third child,

five-year-old Patryk Milka from Sobiecin.

In the event that I...

don't return home...

How can I help?

I have no one left.

Neither have I.

Swear to God

you won't tell anyone.

- I don't believe in God. - Oh my.

She doesn't believe in God.

What do you believe in?

I believe we should prevent cruelty.

And do our own thing.

Fine.

That will do.

They are the Katzmans.

He is a doctor.

Jurgen.

Almost like 'Jurek' in Polish.

Magdalena teaches Polish

at the university in Berlin.

She wanted to see my apartment,

before the war...

She showed me photos.

Her grandparents...

in my dining room.

They had a common tongue with Patryk.

'Do you have kids?' I ask.

And...

she starts howling.

Magdalena.

She has her eyes in a wet spot.

They took us on a trip,

by car,

to Ksiaz Castle.

Magdalena was well prepared.

She told him stuff about Duchess Daisy,

about some pearls,

cat aunts who gave out pearls

to chosen kids.

All sorts of nonsense.

But I'm no dummy.

I knew they wanted him.

But it would never happen legally.

So they took him away for the holidays.

And the story...

with the disappearance...

I cooked it up.

They send me photos every week.

There...

there's a purse in the drawer.

In it, there's a key.

Excuse me?

Go to my apartment

and take the photos.

In the bedroom,

in the drawer,

under the sheets.

No one can find them.

When I'm dead, my daughter will surely show up

to snatch up whatever remains.

Do you promise?

I already have. I'll keep my word.

There.

That's the exit from the corridor

which leads from the forest.

I checked it a few years ago, it was still passable.

Now I'm too old for such escapades.

Will you remember?

I'm old now, Alice.

I have lived my life.

I will remember.

Can I ask you one question?

I expected nothing less of a reporter.

You know where they are?

The pearls...

my father was looking for?

Do you want them?

No.

I don't.

One more thing

I must tell you about.

After you were born,

your mother disappeared for a month.

She left the hospital in her maternity gown,

and came back

several weeks later.

Now [ think she wanted someone to take her away.

She was afraid to stay with the two of you.

Anna spent entire weeks in hospitals.

They put you in day-care,

then your sister took care of you.

Only once in all those years did I talk to Anna in private.

Perhaps

! should say...

to Rosemarie.

When they come again...

be there and save us, please.

Will you?

I will.

I'll be there,

Rosemarie.

That night she wanted to kill you,

when they took her away,

and the two of you were sleeping,

the cat ladies came.

I haven't seen

so many of them at once since the war.

You grew wild,

but you handled yourself well.

I thought it would remain that way,

as you were safe without your mother.

But it turned out

she became well again.

Ewa was clever and determined.

She knew she couldn't let Anna return,

because she would bring back

the cat-eaters.

The sleeping pills were very strong.

Anna fell asleep,

and Ewa returned home.

No one noticed anything,

no one suspected her.

That's when Ewa wrote the letters.

Letters,

because you see,

there was also an envelope

addressed to me.

I had to kill mother.

! lost the right to stay here.

To Alice.

Take care of her.

When she grows up, you"ll decide what to tell her.

And when.

Unfortunately, your sister was too hasty.

She never woke up.

But Anna did.

Your...

mother is alive.

Eats and breathes on her own, doesn't soil herself.

But you have to guess when she needs to go.

Is this your first time here?

I sometimes wonder...

if she thinks about anything.

I would go crazy just sitting there like that.

It's hard to tell if a person is thinking or not.

Mom?

It's me, Alice.

I know you don't remember me.

But I will keep speaking to you

until you do.

There's a tempest of us!

CASTING DIRECTOR

CO-PRODUCTION

PRODUCTION DESIGN

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