Original subtitles

FAMILY

No, that wasn't the right way.

Max and Felice are important, but not the most important people.

If you want to understand who he really was,

you have to start completely differently.

With the child.

That's where you usually start, isn't it? With the child.

Mum, I'm thirsty.

- Franz, what happened? - I'm thirsty.

Hermann, keep sleeping.

I'm thirsty.

Calm down, Hermann.

Dad! Dad!

YOU WERE SUCH A GIANT IN EVERY RESPECT.

LETTER TO HIS FATHER.

Don't fall asleep.

Franz?

Franz?

Franz!

The Czechs are lazy, I tell you!

Not as lazy as the Hungarians,

but they're much bigger liars.

Though no one lies as much as the Poles.

They're all trash,

but the Jews are the worst trash.

Yes, the Jews are the worst trash.

Then there's the Germans. They're the worst.

The only ones worse than the Germans are the Czechs.

That cow is too slow. Why is that cow so slow?

She's trying, Hermann. Please don’t upset him.

She isn't trying. Look at her. Everything's getting cold.

This swill is barely edible as it is, it tastes even worse cold!

Sit closer. Why are you sitting so far away?

Calm down, Hermann. Remember your heart.

She's sitting 10 metres from the table.

Look at the big fat lump.

Eat up.

Don't stare while eating.

What's up with our esteemed son?

- What is it that displeases him? - Nothing, Father.

"You'll recall a Peter Schlemihl,

"who you met at my house in former days.

A long-legged fellow thought to be clumsy, because he was unpolished."

Franz, go to the store. The shop boy is off sick.

Father has work, and I'm visiting my aunt.

- Now? - Yes, now!

The shop can't be left unattended.

The-Hermann Kafka Goods and Accessories, store.

Life revolved around it.

All conversations, all thoughts, everything revolved around the shop.

The store belonged to the family

but the family also belonged to the store.

Hello. Hello.

- Do you sell Wot jacks? - Of course.

I'm not sure. Do you have a different one?

Of course.

It's heavy.

- Do you have any. others? - Of course.

- Yes, I'll take this one. - Yes?

I read Elective Affinities.

A lot of good that will do you.

- Elective Affinities. My God. - It's such a rich book.

I'd rather you were rich, not the books you're reading.

Always with the books.

This is what I worked so hard for,

so the young gentleman can amuse himself with his books?

You know what was hard for me?

I'm dying to know what was hard for you.

When I was a teenager.

My classmates all knew everything about...

You know, about things someone has to tell you. And I didn’t.

My classmates had to help me out and explain things to me.

Why didn't you go to the whorehouse?

You should've gone to the one over there.

You can still go now. It's safe there, you won't get infected.

There won't be any babies, and you'll learn everything you need to know.

- Valli, what's that? - Let go!

- What is this? - Stop it!

- Did you take my necklace? - No.

- Did you take it or not? - I told you I didn't.

- Give it back! - It’s my necklace!

Elli! Yes?

Someone needs to mind the shop.

I can't right now, I'm meeting Sarah at the Altstatter Ring!

- Someone has to mind the shop! - Then you go, Mum!

- I can't, your father needs me! - I can't either!

Nothing's tidy in this pigsty, nothing's in order.

Nothing's tidied away, nothing's clean.

If I ever find a room in such a state again,

then you can pack your things!

Remember that!

Yes?

- Can you come a minute? - What is it?

Father wants to speak to you.

Karl Hermann, Kafka's brother-in-law, his sister Elli's husband.

An arranged marriage, but not a bad marriage.

Nothing against arranged marriages, most of them are fairly durable.

They just have to be arranged well.

- Franz, sit down. - Franz.

This is a really good one.

- Franz. - Go on.

You know I was looking for something I can produce in Prague.

- Which isn't produced here. - So I won't have any competition.

- And Karl found something. - Yes.

I've found something, Franz.

A new material that protects against fire.

- Extremely heat-resistant. - Extremely heat-resistant.

- A revolutionary product. - A revolutionary product.

Listen, Franz. A revolutionary product.

Therefore I'm considering...

- opening a factory. - With Ellis' dowry.

That's how it was done in middle class Jewish families.

You marry, you invest.

It was the same with the Hermann Kafka Goods and Accessories store

founded with Julie's dowry.

Of course. Who can you trust if not family?

Yes, that's true enough.

Be quiet, Franz.

Be quiet for once and don't interrupt. Listen!

Hermann and I have agreed that your family will retain control, of course.

And we've thought how to do it.

I can't just hand over a year's worth of earnings.

- Karl, you understand? - Yes, I understand. You can't just...

So instead of giving him the money, I'll give it to you.

Me?

- He's a bit slow. - You see, Franz. The idea is...

Be quiet when the men are talking.

Yes, please, Elli. Let us discuss this.

I'll give you the money and you'll become a partner in the factory.

That way, you can keep an eye on the books.

Which means I have an eye on them.

And if things go well, you can quit your job at the insurance company.

Go from being a silent partner to an active one...

- An industrialist. - We all profit.

All of us.

I have

extremely important things to do.

- For the office. - Stay here!

- No! - It's me, Franz.

- Not now. - Please, Franz.

Come in then.

Franz, all you have to do is sign. For Elli.

- I don't want a factory. - It's not yours.

It'll belong to father and Karl Hermann.

You'll stand between them, on paper.

I'll be lying between them, on the floor, till I'm swept away.

Come on, Franz. Nothing changes for you.

Karl Hermann will run the factory,

Father will control it, you won't do anything.

Don't ruin this for Elli.

Trust me.

Hold on. What's this thing called?

This material of the future that Franz Kafka's factory will produce,

the only one in Bohemia and Moravia.

This revolutionary product where nothing can go wrong,

what's the material called?

- Asbestos. - Thank you.

IN YOUR PRESENCE I'D LOST CONFIDENCE

LETTER TO HIS FATHER.

Yes, it is. Our factory.

I didn't say it was beautiful.

It doesn't have to be. It's a factory.

If it's not supposed to be beautiful...

- Why are you here? - I'm Franz's best friend.

If he owns a factory, I have to see it.

Careful. It's easy to stumble.

- I'm good at stumbling. - Not now, Franz.

My brother-in-law always says things...

Yes, I know. I've known Franz much longer than you.

All right.

They're not here yet.

- Who? - The inspectors are visiting today.

I thought that, since I have an expert in my family...

I'm not an expert, I act like one.

That's called a profession.

They're late.

I wonder if that's a bad sign.

We're here.

We've been here a long time and we can tell you,

you don't seem to have adequate safety measures

in place for your workers.

- Your methods are contrary to usage.

- Excuse me, ? Are you quite... - Who are you?

Dr Kafka, deputy department manager

with the Workers' Accident Insurance Institute.

Frankly, I'm puzzled. Why send businesses a questionnaire

to render them moot through personal inspections?

By no means. Our inspection is an additional means of discerning

the risk classification companies are legally obliged...

No meed to explain risk classification to me, sir.

According to the questionnaire you sent,

which I have of course duly answered,

and which at the very most warrants a risk class 2 with a risk of 60%,

no reassessment of the operation is anticipated.

But according to the official risk catalogue...

Which you needn't explain to me either, dear sir, I co-authored it.

A risk class 12 with a risk percentage of 75 seems utterly excessive.

If that's the official ruling,

there's no doubt that a lawsuit on our part would be successful.

No doubt? Hardly. On the high seas and in court...

How can you be so sure?

Because I'm usually the one

who protests the insurance institute from such suits.

But in this case, if I were acting for you,

I'd put my hands up.

The aim of your ruling isn't risk prevention,

- but usury by means of premiums. - Are you insinuating something?

I don’t think I've been remiss in my specificity.

May I say something, please?

How dare you!

You come here and keep our workers from their work.

You make a scene with your grandstanding, while...

I mean..

What have we done to deserve this?

What are you thinking? At least listen to him.

We've established that,

as a supplement to the usual questionnaire,

a personal inspection can serve as a preventative against mistakes.

At the Workers' Accident Insurance Institute,

we’ve had rather the contrary experience.

With all respect, Dr Kafka, we already know who you are.

We're familiar with your work on wood planing machines.

But in this case,

the issue isn't the optimisation of the risk criteria catalogue,

but the material in question itself.

And with all due respect to your good selves,

asbestos is considered a safe fibre throughout the world.

- But here in Prague we know better? - Of course not.

But it'd seem the jury is still out.

Then let's await the verdict.

I'd very much regret us having to meet in court.

- No less than we would, good sir. - It's been an honour.

- We'll write to you. - We'll reply immediately.

If only we could talk that sensibly to all the manufacturers.

I completely agree.

"Optimise the criteria catalogue"

What just happened?

- Everything's fine. - Really?

They'll write to us, we'll reply.

Everything's OK, there won't be any problems.

I agree.

I FOUND JUST AS LITTLE ESCAPE FROM YOU IN JUDAISM.

LETTER TO HIS FATHER.

You shall obey your father, pious and obedient, you shall heed me.

My word shall be law, then you shall be a happy family!

What are they doing, what’s going on? Describe it to me.

- It's not worth it. - They're doing this and that.

The father wants to be a big shot, but they won't let him.

You call that a description?

- That's all you need to know. - What kind of friends are you?

Brod, why are we here?

This is real Jewish theatre from the East.

Max has been unbearable since he became a Zionist.

The wellspring of our tribe, here in all its unvarnished glory!

"Unvarnished" maybe, but do you like it?

- That's not the point. - So what is?

I think it's great.

- Seriously, Franz... - Seriously, it's great!

- This is total tosh. - You're admitting it now?

I didn't say it wasn't, I said it wasn't the point.

Get along, children! I don't want fights at the table!

Not on Shabbat, or ever!

You fat, misshapen tomato!

Blessed be you, Eternal one,

our God, King of the world.

Bravo!

This is Yitzchak Lowy.

These are my friends, Kafka, Weltsch and Baum. The Prague Circle.

What are we?

Did he call us the Prague Circle again?

Poets, philosophers, learned gentlemen.

It's a great honour for a poor Jewish boy like me to meet such people!

Won't you sit down with us, Mr Lowy?

If you buy me a drink,

I'll sit with you until the Messiah comes.

Why does he talk like that?

My grandfather, the rabbi in Zavale, talked like that.

That was a wonderful piece, Mr Lowy,

full of life and freedom, and funny.

Thank you very much.

I'd say the same about your writing, should I chance to read it.

Which reminds me of an old story.

There was a dybbuk

who came to an old man in Chernivtsi and said,

"I'll give you three things,

but you may keep only one."

- I don't understand. - Just listen to him.

It's our ancestors' language.

And he said to him..

- Whereas Franz again? - He has a lot of work.

- So-called work. - You really can't say that, Father.

Are you telling me what I can say in. my own house?

Father. Mother.

This is my friend Yitzchak Lowy. He's joining us for dinner.

A very blessed evening to you all.

Such a lovely family!

I'm sure the boy brings you much joy, your Franz,

this fine young man.

Please set a place for my friend.

This has never happened before.

A guest here with us.

No, there was one once, a Mr...

What was his name? But he left quickly.

What was Franz thinking?

Thank you very much.

God bless you.

I always say there must be a God,

because if there isn't, who's playing all those games with Yitzchak Lowy?

Where were you born, Mr Lowy?

A tiny village in Poland, so small it hardly has a name.

My parents were devout Hassidim.

All there is to do there is to run away, that's all.

You're going to have to start eating like a human being one day.

Now, dear Kafkas,

I'll tell you the story of a poor man who loves art.

I later came to perform in the big cities.

Yitzchak Lowy was in Paris, in London too,

but the Yiddish theatre became my calling.

And those whom God gives a talent, he punishes harshly.

What beautiful sisters you have, Franz,

such a fine family!

What's wrong with your dear father?

If he's sick, give him some St John's wort and some valerian.

My Uncle Ebenezer, God rest him, always recommended that.

And he lived to be 203 years and 7 months old.

Mr Lowy, maybe we should go to my room.

Such a beautiful mother!

No wonder the girls are so beautiful,

with such a beautiful mother!

Franz, you're a great writer.

I'm a very small writer, if I am one at all.

You recommended me for the performance at the Bar-Kochba.

Don't you want to speak beforehand,

give a lecture for the people,

explain to them what Yiddish literature is?

- But I don't know what... - You do.

I've never... Except in court, of course.

I attend court for the insurance institute.

Otherwise, I've never spoken in public.

Why be a writer if you don't want to speak to people?

Fine, I'll do it.

God bless you, Franz.

I very much doubt that. He never has, and he isn't about to start now.

You sent for me, Father?

- The factory. - Excuse me?

I don't shit gold.

It costs and costs, and nothing comes in. Your factory.

My brother-in-law Karl's factory.

The last time I checked, you were a co-owner. Where are they?

Only on paper, so that you could keep control, but not really.

I'm paying for your factory, Franz!

Not really. Am I not really paying?

- Where are they? - In front of you.

Father, you asked me to.

You made us plead with you, and now you're letting it fall apart?

Do you want us to plead again?

Take care of your factory.

Karl says you haven't been there for weeks.

Greetings, madam. How can I be of service?

Do you have a lemon squeezer?

Of course I have a lemon squeezer.

From Krakow.

Zionism is nonsense, Max.

The escapist fantasy of disgruntled cafe-goers.

What do you want in Palestine? Or will it be Uganda after all?

Let me ask you, what do you want here?

If we all emigrate, isn't that what the anti-Semites want?

The real escapist fantasy is assimilation.

Sending our children to their schools,

wearing their clothes, reading their books.

Then maybe they'll come to like us. That's the fairy tale.

Not Palestine. Palestine is the way out.

But they aren't their books, they're ours.

The German language belongs to us too. None of us talks like Lowy.

And you, Franz?

I'm sorry. What?

Don't talk to Franz, he's nervous about his lecture.

You've become half a Zionist already.

Me? No. What do I have in common with Jews?

I hardly have anything in common with myself.

Here we go.

Our Western European conditions,

if we give them but a cautious fleeting glance, appear well ordered.

Everything takes its quiet course.

Jargon is the youngest European language,

only 400 years old.

I didn't expect the suppliers to suddenly raise their prices.

And the new machine parts won't arrive for 3 months.

How can we hold out without raising our prices?

- "How can we hold out"? - Franz, I'll tell you honestly.

I can't read these ledgers very well. It's not my area, it's yours.

My area...

It consists solely of foreign words,

but these words are' not firmly rooted in it.

They retain the speed and vitality with which they were adopted.

Great waves of migration traverse jargon, from one end to the other.

Jargon can't be translated into German.

The ties between jargon and German are too delicate and significant

not to be torn apart

the instant jargon is transformed back into German.

Because of the purse. And then he simply has a shave.

"Deut", for instance, isn't the same as "dead”,

and "blüt" is far from being "blood".

"But once jargon takes hold of you,

"and jargon is everything, the words, the Hasidic melody,

and the essence of this Jewish actor from the East,

"you will forget your former reservations.

"You will come to feel the true unity of jargon,

"and feel it so strongly that it will frighten you.

Yet it will no longer be jargon that you fear, but yourselves."

And so Dr Franz Kafka gave his first public lecture.

Why does he keep saying "jargon"?

Because he's Franz.

He never says anything how anybody else would say it.

His first and his only lecture.

About the Yiddish language and about the relatives in the East,

whom the bourgeois Prague Jews would've preferred to forget.

"Enjoy it as well as you can!

"But later, when it begins to fade away, tomorrow and after,

"then I wish that you might also forget the fear.

For it was not our intention to punish you.”

RESERVED FOR HERMANN KAFKA RESERVED FOR JULIE KAFKOVA

It's ice cold. Why can't that oaf hurry a little?

- Please, Hermann. - Everything she feeds me is cold.

- How can I not get worked up? - Yes, she should speed up.

They cheered!

Everyone loved Yitzchak!

And Franz spoke so wisely, like a real poet.

I can't speak like a real poet.

Only a real poet would say something like that.

Thank you.

Only once have I experienced something so wonderful.

I performed for the tsar in Riga,

and he threw me a gold necklace

and shouted, "Lowy, Yitzchak is a man after my own heart!"

Franz, we need to talk about the factory.

- The factory? - You have to do something.

And he said to me, the tsar of all Russia,

"If there were more Jews like Lowy,

"then I'd tell my Cossacks not to carry out any more pogroms.

I would grant peace to all the Jews."

And suddenly he asked me...

My God. Hermann.

- My God, I beg you! - He should leave. I won't have him.

- Hermann... - In my house.

- That filthy scoundrel! - Please...

That Yiddish prattle.

Who talks like that? The dirty scoundrel!

Don't make a scene.

If you lie with dogs,

you wake up with fleas!

I'm sorry, Mr Lowy, I think it's best if you leave.

Me?

What kind of Jews are you anyway?

Is this food kosher? What do you do on Passover?

Do you know what an afikoman is, do you even celebrate the Seder?

You're neither here nor there. Where do you belong?

Franz, where do you belong?

Madam, dear ladies, thank you for everything.

Thank you for everything. A blessed evening to you.

Is he gone?

Yes, he is.

Please calm down.

- Eat! - Yes, Father, eat up.

Be quiet.

Sit a bit closer to the table.

You bring vermin into my house.

Disgusting vermin!

Instead of looking after the factory.

I don't feel well. Please excuse me.

- Stay where you are. - Just a moment, Father.

Vermin.

Vermin.

Vermin.

It's me, Franz.

Come in.

- I'm sorry. - He called him vermin.

- You know our father. - Yes, but...

Franz, about the factory...

"Your factory", he always says now. "Your factory", as if...

You have to do something, Franz.

"Do"?

The factory's doing badly. Karl's beside himself.

He says you never go there or do anything.

- He says wha't? That I don’t... - You’re the expert.

Karl said when the inspectors came, you sorted it.

- But now you're busy with actors... - "Sorted it"?

Father says he has no more money.

Karl's no good at bookkeeping. Someone has to do it.

He also says we have to hire new workers.

They have to be recruited.

- Don't let your family down. - You were there!

You said, "It won't change your life", and "only on paper".

But now we need you.

If the factory goes under, what will happen to Elli?

If I have to look after the factory, when will I have time to write?

You and your writing.

You live here with us, but you act as if you don’t belong here.

Franz.

I'm begging you, Franz, look after the factory.

Did you ask him why he brought that monkey into my house?

- Gregor! - Gregor!

- What is it? - It's quarter to 7.

- Gregor, open the door, please. - Didn't you want to be on your way?

- Gregor? - Gregor, do you need anything?

And so the insurance clerk Dr Kafka,

at the age of 30,

wrote the most famous story of the 20th century.

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams,

"he found himself transformed in his bed into a vast verminous insect.

"He lay on his hard, armoured back

"and saw, as he raised his head a little, his domed brown belly,

"divided into stiff arched segments,

"on top of which his quilt struggled to stay in place,

seemingly ready to slide off."

Stop.

Keep going.

"His numerous legs, pitifully thin in comparison to his new girth,

"waved helplessly before his eyes.

- 'What’s happened to me?"' - No, stop.

- I beg you, stop. - Keep reading.

Where's Mr Rowohlt?

His room.

A regular-human bedroom, only rather too small,

lay quietly between its four familiar walls.

Gregor then turned to look towards the window,

and the dreary weather made him quite melancholy.

'How about I sleep a bit longer and forget all this nonsense',

he thought.

But this was entirely impractical,

for he was accustomed to sleeping on his right side.

But in his current state, he could not get himself into this position.

However violently he threw himself onto his right side,

he always found himself rolling onto his back again.

Dead?

- I should say so. - Now we can thank God.

Look how thin he was.

He hadn't eaten for such a long time.

You needn't trouble yourselves about how to get rid of this thing.

Consider it sorted.

They decided to spend the day resting and going for a stroll.

Not only had they earned this respite from their work,

they sorely needed it.

They discussed their prospects for the future,

and found, upon closer consideration,

they weren't bad at all.

No matter how you start, this is how it ends.

Hermann and Julie Kafka were, lucky.

They died in time. They died in peace.

- Gabriele Kafka, known as Elli,

was murdered in the Chelmno extermination camp in 1942.

As was Valerie Kafka, known as Valli.'

Ottilie Kafka, known as Ottla,

was deported to Theresienstadt in 1942.

She volunteered as a helper, so the children wouldn't be alone.

She accompanied a transport of children to Auschwitz,

where she was murdered.

Franz Kafka's friend, the actor Yitzchak Lowy, was deported

from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka concentration camp.

He was gassed to death there in 1942.