Original subtitles

THE ALL-ROUND REDUCED PERSONALITY - REDUPERS by Helke Sander

premiered in Rotterdam in February 1978.

The German premiere took place in Berlin

at the International Forum of New Cinema in 1978.

In 2021, the film was digitised in 4K and restored in 2K

by Cinegrell Postfactory GmbH on behalf of the Deutsche Kinemathek,

based on the 35mm original negative and the 17.5mm broadcast sound.

Digitization was funded by the German film heritage program.

THE ALL-ROUND REDUCED PERSONALITY - REDUPERS -

A FILM BY HELKE SANDER

Berlin, March 1977

This is GDR Radio with the news.

Radio Rias Berlin, a free voice of the free world...

...a musical literary soirée whose motto is

"Love is like a wild rose inside of us."

Radio Free Berlin with the news.

It's 9 o'clock, this is France Inter.

This is GDR radio with the travel forecast for the socialist world.

Here's a letter for you from the USA. Apparently it's been sent back once.

It's got a message for the post office on it.

Could you translate it for me?

Why, that's strange.

It says, 'Postmaster, Berlin has a special international status.

It's neither in West nor in East Germany,

but I hope you'll find it and be able to deliver the letter.

Meanwhile I suggest you ask President Carter

to find out where Berlin actually is.' There.

- Maybe we don't exist. - Or maybe we're up and coming now.

- Thanks. - You're welcome. Bye.

- I won't let you go! - But I have to.

- Why? - I have to take pictures.

So what? Do that another time.

Today I have to work. Tomorrow we'll go swimming, OK?

And we'll have ice cream.

- Now let me go, I really need to go, come on. - No.

Don't make it so difficult for me. It's always the same.

So what?

- Let me go now. - No!

- Yes. - No.

Get off, will you? I have to go. I'll get mad.

- No. - Yes.

Karla?

Take this child away from me...

Dorothea...

I really have to go. Stop horsing around!

It's always the same!

Bye dear, see you later, OK?

- Then keep it! - What's wrong with you?

I have to get my coat.

What's wrong with you?

There!

That was the third diesel engine that just passed.

We're waiting for the last steam engine going from Berlin to Hamburg.

It's an assignment. One photo 32 deutschmarks.

A tele shot across the border. Still the wrong train.

Edda Chiemnyjewski, freelance photo journalist,

waiting for an event worthy of publication.

There will not be another Altona conference,

where representatives of German big business

vowed to come to Berlin's aid out of patriotism.

Helmut Kohl, chairman of the CDU, appealed to...

The Indivisible Germany League, annual general meeting.

Two photos, 45 marks each.

- Morning. - This way.

As usual. Thanks.

To live modestly she has to take in at least 3,000 DM per month.

Fixed expenses: rent, 550 DM; phone bill, around 200 DM;

voluntary health insurance, 197 DM; pension scheme, 40 DM;

electricity, water, 150 DM; car, 300 DM; other insurances, 45 DM;

office supplies, 70 DM; photo supplies and equipment, 500 DM;

pre-payments on taxes, 120 DM.

Total: 2,173 DM.

Last vacation four years ago. No sick-pay.

INDIVISIBLE GERMANY

For years, Edda had been impressed by the following:

The aesthetic imagination is the passion for things that are none of your business,

for the sorrows and fortunes of others, the fate of a leather ball.

A passion for things without meaning.

One should be able to choose what is none of one's business.

Deutschland Auditorium, senior citizens' party, three photos.

Ms Chiemnyjewski, when covering openings, conferences, markets etc,

finds it difficult to limit herself to saleable shots for the press.

It is hard for her to be concise.

She wastes too much time trying to capture situations.

- Do you prepare for this? - Yes.

- And how? - I get out some of my better things and I smarten up.

So you sew a dress especially for this?

You don't.

The reason why we put on this event, why we invite you all here,

is to demonstrate

that no one in our city has been forgotten.

That we are one big family that belongs together.

And that we want to continue to be one big family.

Big families sometimes have problems,

but they also have fun, and that's what we're here for. Enjoy the party.

...a piece dealing with environmental questions.

Today we will be discussing green power, solar power,

which many experts believe to have a bright future.

Yesterday, the first solar energy fair and conference "Heat from the Sun"...

Maybe she should start a relationship with a man from the ad business.

But then she might as well have stayed in her father's shop.

Two new insights suggested themselves at this conference in Munich.

Edda, we have to fight back.

Look, Agfa's rationalization helps Agfa and the big labs.

But the papers we professionals need aren't produced anymore, only plastic.

And we need to spend 2000 DM or more on infrared dryers,

while our old dryers go into the garbage can.

You're absolutely right.

I recently went to three department stores.

Imagine, I went to a department store to buy photographic paper!

And eventually I did get some.

And do you know how much it cost? 49 DM, imagine!

That's 20 DM more than at the wholesaler's.

You should send Agfa the bill.

Plus two hours of your time. You can't bill your clients for that.

I want to blow bubbles, too.

- When it's empty you can. - No, not when it's empty.

...talks about nuclear energy, the Third World and the Cold War...

- I always bring you gifts that I like too. - OK, now you blow.

Thanks.

...the union's chairman described the situation as worrying.

In Berlin yesterday, a Westerner climbed over the wall

and was arrested on the East German side.

Get them all!

...peace talks between President Marcos and rebel groups...

- The door. Would you go and open it? - Yes.

The booklet we're working on should have a simpler design,

be easier to understand and look more professional than these things.

All sorts of interesting people come to her.

She should get rid of them, but can't bring herself to.

We want to use some of your photos.

How much can you pay?

- We don't get paid either. - That's not my problem.

I'd like to help, but I have to earn a living.

Let me explain:

Some days I spend the whole day in the darkroom

and make 35 DM if I sell one photograph.

I simply can't afford to help, even if I'd like to.

Here, for your troubles.

Thanks.

The question is: how can you show sulphur dioxide over Berlin in a photo?

I only have a map made in Berlin, capital of East Germany.

How do they deal with this over there?

- They don't get involved. - They're building, too.

So their crap drifts across the border?

We'll have to make the wall higher. Now look here.

West Berlin is all white here.

Here are some more photos for you,

possibly useful backgrounds.

If you have ten executives from the Berlin Power and Light Co. here,

that doesn't help you, does it?

Actually, we were thinking of collages, like the ones by Kosak.

- Then go to him. - He doesn't have time.

Neither do I.

Saturday afternoon.

Edda's photography group has received public funding

for a documentary series on Berlin.

History of the project:

1) The city council decides to fund a public relations project

to present the citizens

with the "advantages of their urban environment."

2) The council decides not to hire an ad agency

and launches a contest to aid artists

under the title "Photographers Look at their City".

3) A women's group inside the governing parties decides

to support a women's photography project

in order to draw the decision makers' attention

to the existence of said women's group.

4) The men give in to the pressure from the women's group,

and thereby kill several birds with one stone:

a) They can prove they support women's lib.

b) The crucial point, however, is that other projects would be more expensive,

up to 75,000 DM,

whereas the women's project could be cut to 35,000 DM

and the women were still happy to get anything at all.

We want to have all the photos accepted.

If it says here, "Fight political oppression in both German states",

you're saying that there's oppression in the West, too.

They'll go all cultural on us, they won't show it.

They certainly didn't expect this from us

or we wouldn't have got the commission.

Well, we're over the first obstacle, we've got the money.

But will we get them up on the billboards?

The project's called "Women Photographers Look at their City".

So now we look at our city and we're appalled by what we see.

Maybe Edda could explain her series.

Maybe it won't be as drastic after all, when things are in a context.

Here you see the Wall, a row of houses and junk.

Who'd want to live there?

You think it's provocative?

Yes. No one wants to live in a street like that.

You can't offer this to people.

But people are used to it. You can see photos everywhere

that show Berlin with all the rubble and the ruins.

But not in the newspapers.

And what the papers don't show is taboo for us, too.

I don't know...

Please explain your series.

I have three main points.

First: What is similar in West and East? We're always shown the differences,

so I shot the all-German square

and his prize possession, the car.

And the cityscape still presents many similarities.

Here are the Metro tracks, and here again...

The political slogans everywhere are typical of Berlin.

Only in the East they're official and in the West

people just graffiti buildings with them.

I have more shots of that.

My second point is: Where does the Wall have openings?

Edda secretly enjoys watching East German TV

and imagining that only five miles away

the "fully developed socialist personality"

is watching West German TV.

But it's realistic. Here, for example, people can still see each other.

You can see that the houses are built in the same style.

I do think it's a pity we couldn't hang our curtain here.

It would've been so much clearer: radio, TV and germs crossing the border.

I didn't make it up: the love stories, the bi-party energy deals, it's all real.

So, that's what I've been concentrating on,

all these things and the slogans.

Other cities have graffiti too, but here it's especially significant.

It turns the Wall into a sort of bulletin board.

Now that they're making the Wall higher, whiter and nicer all the time,

it's like they're asking for graffiti.

Well, that's one way I look at my city.

I would like to choose the photos according to two main criteria.

First: alternative publicity.

It's important that large photos that you wouldn't get to see otherwise

are shown all over the city.

Certain groups can't express their views on billboards.

Grassroots movements have no advertising budget.

They do have a message, like any company, but could never pay for a billboard.

But the public's always participated in this.

Those slogans are made by the public.

So the public's on our side. We just have to make that clear.

This looks as though only the GDR was walled in.

But if you look at a map,

you'll see that the wall is really around us.

So it's us who live in a prison and are subsidized

because it's in the interests of capitalism or America

that West Berlin exists.

That's why we're allowed to leave this prison every now and then.

We should be prepared for the project being rejected.

We should think about what to do if it is.

After all, it's expensive to enlarge the photos and hang them up.

And if they reject the project, what do we do?

The work will have been paid for,

but we're not doing this for ourselves. We want to reach the public...

I want to know how people will react if we enlarge them.

But that's not the question.

People will look at the photos once they're up there.

But how do we get them up on the billboards?

Will they allow us to put them up?

I don't think it makes sense to go on speculating.

We should stick to our concept and be as clear as possible.

And if it fails...

- I don't think it will. - Let's risk it...

We can either take the bull by the horns or just give up.

Not just on this project, but also professionally.

- I agree. - That's too pessimistic.

They won't let us spoil their image of Berlin.

The pictures are harmless, but in context...

- I'm afraid they'll ban the photos. - I don't think they can do that.

Here. What does Ulrike do?

She makes fun of important values.

Heike and her tunnel photos in search of subterranean military bases.

Which might not be wrong...

Or this one, the curtain project.

I think we should tell them

that there are surprises in store for them.

The discussion went on for some time without any conclusion.

Because they were not familiar with their sponsors' way of thinking,

they decided to ask lawyers, journalists and artists

versed in all this for help.

Edda shoots this anti-rape demonstration without a commission.

She hopes a newspaper will buy and publish her photos.

You didn't like the idea of the silent march, did you?

Could you tell me why?

It's important that those women

who always come home at 2 am do something,

It could have been them.

More needs to happen, but you shoot first.

DISARM ALL RAPISTS

She thinks that not enough

of her socially significant photos are bought.

After all, more than 6,000 women are marching here.

Women! Fight back against rapists!

All-German literature: Thomas Brasch.

"After the concert we went to the Wall. 'I thought it'd be higher', said Sophie.

We returned to Alexanderplatz singing, 'There is a house in half-Berlin...'

Robert said all things are whole,

West Berlin and East Berlin and all-Berlin and half-you and I.

All things are whole, and if divided they become whole again."

Phone bill, 10, 19, 21...

34.

Darkroom, 4 hours...

She has no time to reflect on nagging questions.

...one hour.

A question she'd like to give serious thought to is

"In what universe could a female cook possibly find time to run a state?"

...this I wasn't able to do.

She'd like to understand physics and biochemistry.

...schedule: ten minutes.

She fantasizes about an orgy

but can't imagine the faces to go with the bodies.

Werner's a stray she took in at some point.

She's secretly surprised he's still with her.

He's of more use to her than vice versa, as Dorothea is very attached to him.

The two play well together.

On the other hand, he's so low-key she can only just stand it.

She sometimes wonders what it would mean for her daughter if they broke up.

Edda likes his stories and his harmlessness.

So this guy in a uniform, the one who takes your ticket and ushers you in,

comes out, walks up to me and taps me on the shoulder saying:

You're not allowed to smoke inside the theatre.

Get it? He came out while I was smoking outside and told me

- that smoking inside was not allowed. - What a silly story.

Oh, the stories you tell me.

Here, so you don't get cold.

One day, I'll sew this one on for you.

Let's do something together tomorrow, okay?

Tomorrow I'm busy.

Doing what?

Today we mounted our first large-scale photo, one of my photos.

We'll carry it through the city to test its impact tomorrow.

We want to show it in a different context than originally planned.

And now I doubt whether my photos of the Wall

really do show Berlin from a different angle

or whether they're simply a reversal of the usual tourist shots.

That's been on my mind for a while now.

I'm thinking if the photos should be confronted with a situation

that is just as impenetrable as the Wall.

Like if you put it up outside a military site,

or outside private property, or a factory site,

and then take a new photo of this situation.

I'm hoping that new photo

might not only describe Berlin,

but also show us our everyday limits that are more important than the Wall.

Sunday morning.

Three of the women mount the photo so it can be carried through the streets.

The work takes longer than planned.

In addition, a male friend makes fun

of their plan to actually carry the photo around,

instead of sitting down and thinking through the pros and cons

of contrasting the photos with their environment.

We're just going to pick up Tarzan at his father's.

And then he'll have to help us.

Couldn't you leave your son at your ex's for a whole day? Just for once?

It's really a bother, one of you always bringing a child.

Beautifully said.

FIGHT THAT DIRT.

The first shock:

Will the photograph be noticed at all among all those ads?

They weren't allowed to shoot

near the American military training sites.

The radar station is not a military plant.

Edda has the wrong lens.

I'll just take Tarzan upstairs. I'll be right back.

Is the sun coming out?

My feet are wet. I need to go home and change. My wellies are leaking.

Do you think they'll have put up the curtain rods?

I'm afraid of how they'll react on the other side.

You think they'll take us for provocateurs?

- Wow, where did you get these? - Tarzan left them.

Want to hear a joke?

An East German policeman asks a man on Potsdamer Platz:

"Can you identify yourself?"

The man points to his reflection in a shop window and says:

"Yes, that's me!"

DOWN WITH HONECKER! DOWN WITH SCHMIDT!

SUPERPOWERS OUT OF GERMANY NOW!

Front-row seats for a little world drama.

We'll put up a machine: Pay ten pfennigs

and the curtain will open.

Ah, people, houses, cars, but not so many.

A tram...

AP reports

that at the UN headquarters in New York today, Secretary General Waldheim

and delegates from 14 countries recorded a message to intelligent beings

which Voyager I might encounter on its journey beyond the solar system.

"I greet you on behalf of the people of our planet," Waldheim's message says.

"We are taking a step into the universe and seek peace and friendship."

Mir i druzhba.

"We want to teach if we're asked to do so and learn if we're fortunate."

Somehow all are disappointed.

The curtain is not as impressive as they had thought.

Doesn't the curtain enhance people's expectation

of catching an intimate peek at the workers' fatherland?

Could this also be the motherland for the hopes of women?

Oh dear.

FOR A UNITED BERLIN IN AN INDEPENDENT SOCIALIST GERMANY!

Complex things go on in our brains,

the nerves they bear the strain.

- We jump at the slightest sound... - I'll be right back.

...nervousness creeps all around.

There's an oppressive atmosphere,

our scalps are tingling with this strange old fear.

You're tired and just want to go home,

but the voices you hear won't leave you alone.

'There's someone behind you, someone's after you, don't turn around.

Don't make a move now, just stay calm now, keep your head down.'

Let her get a stomach ache.

Let's close this. Today wasn't a very nice day, was it?

No,

I didn't like it either.

Tomorrow we'll have a better one, OK?

- Now I'll read you something. - Yes, Winnie the Pooh.

- Okay. - The one where Eeyore loses his tail.

That was further back.

Let's see, how's your tooth doing?

Here, this is where we were.

"Eeyore loses his tail..."

All sorts of Asian influences find their way to Berlin via the USA

and help the disoriented to find themselves, the right diet or God.

At age 34 Edda decided to do something healthy for her body.

She was taken by the beauty of the movements

and joined her friend Werner's Aikido class.

But in the last three months, she was able to attend only five times.

Tonight she decides to give it up.

We just decided to get in touch with the press right away after all.

I'll see Hoffmann tomorrow.

Marianne wanted to do that, but this time I won out.

...the area's most important source of income,

but also the basic resource for the chemical industry.

The earthquake has put all this in jeopardy,

including the infrastructure...

I'll miss you a lot when you're gone that long.

How will I manage without you? Maybe I should get married again.

That won't help either.

"Before falling asleep I think that life is made up of days like this one.

Points which, at the end, are connected by a line if you're lucky,

and they could also fall apart, a meaningless heap of time spent,

and only a constant effort

gives meaning to the units of time in which we live." Christa Wolf.

Edda, wake up.

A phone call for you.

- I'm not home. - It's urgent. Come on, wake up.

Not again!

Come on!

- Urgent? - Yes.

Night assignments always seem to promise that long-awaited scoop,

but then it's just a routine job.

Oh, my Berlin, you're the city to which our hearts belongs.

Berlin, Berlin, my ties to you are so strong.

But West Berlin, oh, West Berlin, your fate Berliners does not please,

you're not happy to be the city at the front,

but it'll be alright someday. This is what Berliners say:

When the chestnuts and the lilacs bloom,

then West Berlin will be a free town.

No wars to fear and free the city at the front will be.

When the chestnuts and the lilacs bloom,

send the Yankees across the pond.

Peace will come and all Berlin will be happy once again.

...beginning with the new term at the vocational schools of the GDR,

"socialist law" will be introduced as a foundation course. Details will be...

...the further development of our socialist society

in all its aspects

is closely linked with the consolidation of...

- Alright, darling, have a wonderful day. - Yes. Bye.

Monday. Going through the Sunday papers.

You need to be up-to-date.

Appointments for the day:

managerial course on occupational health, International Tourism Fair,

various meetings about the billboards and with editors.

A gallery opening at night, to meet the right people.

If Mr Bartel isn't in, I'll just talk to you.

Last week, on the 26th, to be exact,

I discovered one of my photos in your paper.

I didn't call earlier because I thought you'd send the fee.

And I wasn't credited.

You used my photograph and I'm really quite annoyed now,

because this is the second time it's happened and...

It just mustn't happen again.

So, please tell Mr Bartel to call me on Wednesday.

Not today. I'll be leaving now.

Wednesday between noon and 2 pm.

What do you mean by angry?

Friendliness didn't get me anywhere. OK. Chiemnyjewski.

Thanks, bye.

What did you say?

- Please take your films out of the tub. - Yes, will do.

OK. Now the fire department.

...equality of the sexes is codified in the West German constitution. But...

Mr Mahn? Hello, it's Ms Chiemnyjewski.

Do you have anything for me?

Nothing?

Well, that's good for you, bad for me.

...with the aid of national conservative groups. He failed.

The spread of godlessness among the proletariat could not be contained.

100 years have passed. On March 9th, the Mission celebrates its anniversary.

Things have changed fundamentally.

579 exhibitors from 80 countries presenting their holiday packages.

Also on this week is the boat and sporting exhibition,

where everything from rubber dinghies to saunas is presented...

The parking spaces at the fairground are full up.

Visitors are asked to use...

That was our traffic report.

On the eve of International Women's Day,

the East German Women's Association celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Chairwoman Ilse Thiele proclaimed in her speech,

"Our organization's 30-year history

reflects the enthusiasm and capabilities of women,

their responsibility and enthusiasm for the common task,

their love for our socialist country and its leading force,

the Socialist Unity Party.

Our organization has grown strong

and became the one socialist women's organization of our Republic.

It embodies the best traditions

of the progressive German women's movement.

The valiant example set by Clara Zetkin and countless women and girls

who fought against militarism, fascism, and imperialist war,

will continue to inspire us and be an obligation for us..."

Obsessed with everyday life: how other women see it.

Letter from her aunt, Katharina Chiemnyjewski:

"Dear Edda, please show the difficulties of women

who are married to tyrants in your photos.

Tyrants are even worse in old age! They drive everyone crazy!

Your dad sent Hatschi a nice book written by a doctor from Berlin.

We're both reading it. Karl also sent us one of his poems.

He wrote it during the war in Russia,

when he was thinking of your mother, Erika.

The sun is shining into my room, but it rains a lot.

That makes me sad somehow.

You can always call us, also at night. Please write soon or call us.

Love and kisses, your aunt Katharina."

Today, they're off together to see the people in charge of the billboards.

They're going together so they'll come across as more assertive.

Oh dear, is this the garbage that gets taken to the GDR?

Yes, that's exactly right.

You have to push it down or you won't get it all in.

My garbage photos are proving to be much more difficult than I thought.

You can't show the whole exchange process in one photo.

All those cows and pigs and debris and junk that are carted to and fro

can't be shown in one photo.

And if you also want to show where the Wall is porous to a certain extent,

and how...

Give me some more.

...how West Berlin, East Berlin and the GDR are mutually dependent,

you'd have to do a series, but I haven't finished that yet.

Well, no more room in this can.

They again discuss which photos to submit.

Still, I'm very curious about how it'll look and how people will react.

The problem is, if the man is prejudiced, and they tell him too much,

he might mobilize others, opponents they don't know anything about yet.

I don't see why not.

On the other hand, this photo is part of a documentary series,

and we do see these things every day.

It reflects reality.

As a photo documentary, I don't see why it shouldn't be accepted.

Even if there are 100 photos

and you can see there's a group behind it?

You might have to ask a politician about that. I'm a businessman.

I can't tell you how Berlin's politicians would react to such a campaign.

They were naive in expecting a more precise answer.

Viewed optimistically, however, Edda could interpret the results

as meaning that the way has been cleared for her dormant plans.

- Not today. - Not today?

Nor tomorrow either.

But you're working here!

She's dusted herself off and put on a dab of perfume,

ready to meet an important editor.

She is oppressed by the thought

that visiting these offices should come naturally to her

if she were to have a respectable career.

The rest in brief:

It took us two years to get the Art Society to accept the project.

Then we submitted it to the council,

applied for lottery funds, ran into difficulties,

and eventually the FDP's women's group supported us.

They wanted to prove their worth and show that they could organize things,

so they put pressure on their man on the lottery board.

In other words, it was no longer about us.

When the project was accepted,

they all expected us to show miserable, destitute women in Berlin.

But we were much more interested in Berlin as a city and its functions,

i.e. its legendary status as capital,

as the "Window to the West", as the "German Las Vegas and Disneyland".

We even remembered that plan to move Berlin to Lüneburg Heath.

All the normal and abnormal things that make up Berlin.

Here are some photos. We hung up a curtain in Bernauer Strasse.

- It didn't work as well as Christo's... - That's for sure.

It was interesting to see all those people gathering, though.

This is where we wanted to put it up originally.

- And there's an idea behind this? - Of course there is.

And now we're afraid that the billboard project will be rejected.

These are photos from the exhibition.

So you're trying to sell me a story.

- Which group are you with? - A group of women photographers.

I'd have thought that feminist women would tackle women's issues.

- Thanks. - Thanks.

I see you're fighting for women's lib yourself, huh?

Be that as it may, you're trying to sell your story.

It would certainly be for your benefit if we wrote a story about you

and you became known beyond Berlin.

Why don't you leave these things here,

and if something new develops just drop in and see us.

I really expected something more substantial,

a short news item at least.

We'll see.

The parliamentary committee for domestic affairs

will be investigating the wiretapping scandal.

Committee chairman Wernitz, SPD,

opposed creating a special investigating committee.

Two days after the meeting the FDP will debate the issue.

The Interior Minister will take part.

The Supreme Court officially confirmed that it has issued a warrant

for the arrest of an employee of the CDU/CSU parliamentary party.

Her husband, suspected of espionage for the GDR, is still at large.

Edda promised her mother to accompany her visitor from the East.

What's in here? Let's repack these bags.

This is Aunt Gretchen from the other side,

officially a "travelling cadre",

i.e. somebody who, because of their age or Party function,

is allowed to visit the capitalist West.

Let's put these oranges in this bag and throw this one away.

No, it's a perfectly good bag. I'm taking it with me.

OK.

Give my love to Aunt Martchen.

The "Grey Panthers"

who bring cheap potatoes and take new jeans

are important west-east diplomats.

They give detailed accounts of daily life, are good observers

and carry information back and forth.

Maybe I can still eat it. Here.

Ah, you kids.

We can't do it any better.

Shall we go on?

Hi, yes. I'm drying my hair.

To an art exhibition. I have to make contacts.

Yes, I do.

She's doing fine, she's going to bed now. Yes, we were there, too.

Yes. She's no longer sick.

Oh, but you knew that.

OK, let's do that. What day?

- Almost ready. Just getting dressed. - What? Come on.

- This is Wolfgang. - What Wolfgang?

Boy, you're stressed out. You asked about the billboards.

Right, I'm sorry.

What Marianne was told is only partly true.

I asked an old buddy from the student movement days

who'd tried to get this firm to put up posters against the emergency acts.

At the time they refused.

They said it was incitement, violation of police regulations, etc.,

and that Berliners had enough worries.

He took it to the courts, but he lost.

But that was then, and it was much more political.

- We're only documenting Berlin. - Still...

You have to take the political situation into consideration.

The SPD is caught up in so many scandals that it won't be re-elected.

The CDU is therefore in an excellent position.

Both coalition parties know

that one of them will govern with the CDU next time.

It's Karin. I have a huge favour to ask.

Could I bring my youngest son over to your place tomorrow afternoon?

You're my last chance. I have this important appointment

and I'll be back as soon as possible, OK?

If there really is no other way, I'll do it.

Oh, wonderful. You're a dear. I'll bring him round at 1.30 pm.

Well, that's taken care of.

- You're wearing the same things again. - Couldn't find anything else.

Leave that here.

- You've been wearing those for weeks. - No, I have two pairs of these pants.

- Why? - I bought them because it's practical.

Thanks for clearing the table.

And this one's missing, too.

What about this?

Just throw it out.

Let's go. Here's your coat.

- Do you think this will stay on? - Sure.

Then we can go.

...won't be forgotten.

Things have changed over the past few years.

I don't mean in terms of the Cold War, but psychologically.

Lately,

people have been trying not to present Berlin

as Germany's window-dressing for the East anymore.

People are trying to put on cultural activities for the people here.

External publicity for Berlin has to work first and foremost inside of Berlin.

It has to be for the people.

In this respect, Berlin's different from other Western cities

like Hamburg or Stuttgart.

Here, the arts carry more weight.

They're an important characteristic of the city's viability,

its ability to survive.

The arts are a political issue here.

As you know, we supported your women's group

against considerable opposition from within our party,

not because we thought you would produce propaganda,

but we did think you'd show the working people, the women of Berlin.

But then you only show walls, you only captured negative impressions.

Don't you think it might be wiser to exhibit them in a small gallery first,

before putting them up on these huge billboards?

A gallery is not at all what we agreed upon.

That would limit our audience right from the start.

I suggest we talk about this later, all right? Shall we go this way?

Don't forget that the state ad corporation might say,

"On principle we have nothing against it, but these photos are objectionable

and might lead to legal complications.

Therefore we don't have to put them up."

What if we put them up on construction site fences?

That depends on who the owner is.

If it's the ad company, then the situation is the same.

If they're private property then the decision lies with the owner.

And I'm pretty sure that a private owner won't put them up.

In this case I'd suggest you use more cunning tactics

and not demand too much from the institutions.

We journalists could clarify the group's intentions

in a review on the day of the opening

if they're not adequately expressed in the posters.

Since the days of the emergency acts,

our tactics for dealing with the Berlin senate have always been the same.

We try to find support abroad.

If you want to succeed, and I like your work, find support abroad.

I know a jury president in NYC.

That's Berlin politics, take it or leave it.

But then we'd be adding to the politics that we don't agree with.

So you don't want to get involved in the wheeling and dealing. That's not fair.

Well? Were you successful?

That editor's on our side, she'll write something.

I was given a lecture on Berlin...

Berlin in general, in particular, yesterday and today.

The construction fence idea is good but not feasible.

- I don't think so. How do you know? - A lawyer explained it to us.

- Not all lawyers know the game. - That's true too.

There's someone else I know, let's go see him.

Do you remember my first exhibition 11 years ago?

- I was in the tobacco trade then. - Doing what?

Trading in tobacco.

Well, and then a newspaper wrote we were cultural Bolsheviks.

That first exhibition brought me success and I showed what I wanted to show.

What was that?

I showed people in their social and political situations,

as I wanted others to see them.

Once, I opened an exhibition for the Arts Festival and said

that the Berlin Senate was interested in publicity

and not in the arts.

No mention of it in the papers,

even though some journalists had even interviewed me afterwards.

That was the first time I felt the power of the senate and the mafia.

Later a cabinet member told me,

"You shouldn't step on people's toes. Be careful, think it over."

I received lucrative commissions and learned how things are done.

And now I know how to go about getting my work shown.

But there's something else.

I catch myself not photographing those things I really want to show.

I realize that when I'm choosing photos for an exhibition,

I've become very careful, a kind of pluralism seeps into my work.

I like this city. I want to stay here, and that's why I do it this way.

Please do what you set out to do. It's very courageous, do it.

Well hello, Edda. Long time no see!

- How are things? - I could do with a shot!

- Well, have one on me. - Yes, please.

- Thanks. Cheers, Bernie. - Cheers.

"There are things we never hear about, yet they happen in our time.

Thus we move on, bit by bit.

Our feet on the ground and heads in the clouds."

"I don't want to go any further.

If you ask someone about their diary, you won't be told everything.

Plans, entered clearly in the diary, could not be discussed

when they were changed, dropped, failed or unexpectedly appeared out of nowhere.

Impossible to describe the attempts

at distancing oneself from immediate experiences,

and the errors made in the process.

Of course the names, written once or often in a diary, go unmentioned."

By Christa Wolf.