"A FILM BY ALEXANDER KLUGE" "In the opera "Tosca",  the chief of police is killed." "He has tortured the young lover of Tosca, the singer,  and wants to shoot him." "Tosca sacrifices herself." "She is prepared to give herself to the chief of police." "The power of yesterday's destiny." "SCARPIA:" "What an unequal deal:" "You ask for a life, I want only an hour!" "TOSCA (contemptuously):" "Off with you!" "I'm horrified!" ""Freedom, for us blaze red," "Strike the enemy dead!"" "It is merely one form of brutality." "For him, love also has a place within the sphere of brutality, at least until he possesses the person, the woman, he desires." "He subjugates her using indiscriminate means, at the risk of destroying her." "For him, it is essential to dominate both the woman and the situation." "Just like the rulers of Rome." "Does he want her to tremble?" " Yes, I think he does." "He wants her to tremble, and her submission itself is what is comprehensible for him." "It's a submissiveness that lies within his scope of understanding." "The opera does not reveal what else might slumber within him." "The picture of the dead chief of police." "The power of yesterday's destiny is that those involved have no time to reflect." "THE BLIND DIRECTOR" ""What does one decline advise the next to do...?"" "The story that is being told here is older than the novels." "A dinosaur's egg found in China." "Frankfurt, 4 a.m., night shift." "Dr von Gerlach, in your talk show you made an interesting comparison." "Which one?" "Could you repeat this comparison for our listeners?" "I made several comparisons." "I mean that... one." "But which?" " You know which one..." "I uttered more than one sentence." "It wasn't a sentence you said, but a number." "A number?" "I was struck by it." " But you can't remember it?" "I'm not able to repeat it." "And what struck you about it?" "I thought, "This will interest the listeners."" "And you can't say what it was?" "Only that it would be of interest to the listeners." "Numbers." "Did these numbers refer to kilogrammes, degrees Centigrade, production numbers, dates?" "The latter." "It was about the century." " I see." "Was it the sentence that 16 years have passed since the student protest movement?" "Exactly." "Dr von Gerlach, would you be so kind as to repeat these numbers for our listeners?" ""16 years have passed since the peak of the 1968 student movement..."" " Carry on." ""In another 16 years we shall march, if we don't do anything about it, into the 21st century."" " Barely prepared." "The way it looks, we're barely prepared for it." "Yes..." "And 16 years before?" "Before what?" "Yesterday you said, "16 years before..."" "What is this?" "A guessing game for your listeners?" "You must know what you want to ask!" " I do know." "Then ask!" " I am!" "You said something about 16 years before..." "Maybe "16 years before 1968"?" " Yes, that's it." "That was 1952." "And then?" "You have to try and imagine what this is: 1952." "It's not the same as 1968 or 1936." "Yes, that's how it went on: 1936." "But that is not a question." "It continued, without question." "But now you have to ask something." "For your listeners." "Yes." "Ladies and gentlemen," "I am still at 1952, trying to imagine that year." "And then 1936 the end of the first 4-year plan." "And four 4-year plans would make 16 years." "And those 16 years somehow rule, says Dr von Gerlach, the number 16 I mean, rules the century in a certain way." "So with this number, the counterpoints of this century become evident." "Whereas with 15, 17, 12, 22, 18 or 32 they don't." "16 years before 1936 you have the year 1920, and 16 years before 1920 you have the year 1904!" "Multiplied by 6 then 16 makes 2000." "That makes 244-year plans." "So you could divide the century into handy 4-year plans." "Yes." "You see, this is where I thought, "This will interest the listeners."" "Between 1904 and 1920 there's quite a difference, of course." "Quite." "Yes, quite." "And 1936 too?" " Yes, one could say so." "But not between 1984 and 2000." "Not what?" "No difference." "What makes you think that?" "I feel it in my bones." "Well..." "Dr von Gerlach, don't you agree that there's too much mysticism in these numbers?" "Why?" " I just thought..." "The 20th century, which can easily be divided into work periods of 4 times 4 years each, hasn't worked anything practical, has it?" "It could have." " Yes..." "Warsaw, New Year's Eve 1939." "Poland has fallen." "The film studios stand empty." "The caretaker Wronski and his wife look after the empty studios,  the film negatives,  the left-overs of production." "The couple have a daughter." "Despite the wartime ban,  there is a firework display." "A German soldier, Siegfried Welp,  has fallen deeply in love with the young lady of the house." "Her parents hope her relationship with the enemy will help protect the treasures of film history entrusted to them." "They accept many things." "Cinema is born!" "From now on, it will live, grow, become perfected, invent novel tricks, sound, colour..." "But modern film, which today celebrates its 50th anniversary, won't forget the international pioneers who realized mankind's old dream:" "the living image of movement." "THE SUPERFLUOUS WOMAN" ""For further treatment we recommend Voltaren 50 three times daily, and Musaril three times daily." "Both drugs can be tapered off eventually." "At the same time, physiotherapy and underwater gymnastics should be given intermittently." "The patient will be unfit for work for another three weeks." "At that point, an appointment for a check-up..."" "And so forth." "She is a doctor." "She's going on holiday." "This was her room." "During her leave, her boss, for whom she's run the practice for years,  takes on a young doctor who has just left university hospital." "The machine, which cost 200,000 marks." "The young colleague bought himself in with it." "He will be given her room." "The staff inform her." "During the neurological examination the patient was in pain and could only limp a few steps, without using his left leg." "The lumbar spine was sensitive to palpation and pressure..." "Superfluous!" "Her new colleague is ambitious." "He wants to be the boss." "You can tell from the way he walks around here." "He'd prefer that he be addressed as professor, but we won't do him this favour." "I won't, and you won't either." "But surrender, leave him a clear field..." "For God's sake, no!" " Leaving doesn't mean giving up." "It does!" "The patients always ask for you." "Before going to see the professor, they'd ask for you." "They went to you to get things off their chests, their problems, and not only physical problems." "They got the pressure off their souls with you." "You'd just say a few words and they'd feel better." "That's why I wouldn't..." "If I were you, I wouldn't leave him a clear field." "She's been given a new office in the basement." "Professor Vetehoff has grown old." "He can't afford loyalty." "He is filled with remorse." "They have worked together for 15 years." "NO ENTRY" " X-RAY" "She resigned without giving notice." "One adult, please." "Eight marks?" " Yes." "Here you are." "Is it a good film?" " Yes." "It's very popular." " Oh, really?" " Yes." "Oh well..." "They have been standing there for two hours." "The young people..." " You've got a nice jumper." "It's a present from my daughter." " Is it hand-knitted?" " No." "What's her occupation?" " She's a housewife." "The ticket: unused." "For a moment she hoped she would be needed." "Someone who loses their job won't take the first job offered,  but the worst job,  and only if it's provisional." "She acts in a provisional way." "For 100 years people have led provisional lives." "They couldn't stand it otherwise." "The present is stretching." "Our ancestor, four billion years old,  goes into its little house." "From the point of view of the new media, pre-history is superfluous." "Cinema is also considered superfluous." "Cinema is 90 years old." "For human beings,  that is 16 generations." "I need the wealth, the splendour, the villa..." "Dr von Metzig..." " Melzig, with "l"." "Melzig." "As Scrap Association chairman, how do you see the future of scrap?" " I don't see it, I experience it." "The future has already begun?" " It never stopped beginning." "You're asking because of our 150th anniversary?" "No, the reason is, I quote:" ""...the rapid fall in price of scissor scrap, shredder scrap and refrigeration scrap following raw material price falls in the Third World."" "Quality appears superfluous." "But what appears is always just an appearance." "Talking of appearances:" "You are counting notes there." "Are they scrap?" "What is scrap anyway?" " That is the question." "How precious is scrap?" "Precious." "Are there especially scrap-intensive, precious times?" "Times of need." "Is our time scrap-intensive?" "Yes." "Earlier, you mentioned another scrap-intensive time." "In 1944, a big battleship was very valuable, but no longer nine months later." "The screw which was so important in 1944 was scrap by 1945." "That reminds me a bit of culture." "Although there it is reversed." "Very often that which is new is not very valuable, but later it becomes very valuable when it is maybe not of immediate use anymore." "Are you interested in art?" "I'm interested in scrap." "Perhaps my question surprises you, but my field is actually 'New media and art', with a focus on 'Art in Building'." "I'm just standing in for my colleague who covers metal processing." "Did you ever have a particularly precious piece of scrap?" "Non-ferrous scrap." "And prices are compared, as with antiques?" "Yes." "And prices rise sometimes, as with antiques?" "Scrap is a matter of time." "It fluctuates." "You have to try and picture this..." "Maybe there is a synthesis." "I'm thinking of Alexandra who had an accident in a white Mercedes." "You got scrap there and others had songs which only then became a real success." ""My friend, the tree, is dead."" "What is squabbling?" "I don't even know anymore." "It is what you're performing here." "These men wonder whether to take delivery of a load of scrap or whether to get into new media." "There's always arguing around you." " You think arguing is squabbling?" "But you don't have any arguments." "Should cinemas be abolished and the images explained via telephone?" "Superfluous people's dreams don't fit to this project." "Before, we had to keep a deadline." "And again no time to think it over." " No time for me, for both..." "The hasty ones ponder." "The era gives them an eerie feeling." "There are two sorts of time." "One comes quickly and goes after a moment." "The Greeks call this 'kairos'." "And there is another sort which flows along slowly but extends into infinity." "The Greeks call it "chronos"." "And from these antithetical conditions arises all the rest." "The essential thing about kairos is, as I said, that it is there only for a moment." "In Greek 'chronos ou polys' means 'time exists for only a moment'." "Chronos explains kairos." "Or 'oxys'..." "Kairos is oxys, it is sharp, it rushes off as soon as it's there." "Pindar even said that kairos is the time "that does not wait for man" in Greek:" "So this time has, as it were, a certain maliciousness." "Kairos is what seems to be most important in all things, a big chance, a guarantee of success." "Chronos is quite different." "It is the time that flows slowly." "You can imagine it as a grey-haired old man." "I, being today's ceremonial speaker, am pressed for time." "In five quarters of an hour I have to hold a speech." "I actually don't have time to listen to my knowledgeable colleague, who's trying to explain the ancient Greek notion of time." "They called justice 'chronou pais'." "Justice is 'time's child'." "Related is the idea that truth is also a child of time." "So truth too is something that becomes visible only in the course of time." "Therefore truth is 'chrono thygater'." "And now something very surprising:" "It says, 'chronos eratos pater', 'time is the father of love'." "This is very strange." "One would think that love fades with time." "But here it's quite the opposite." "Love grows with time." "This is how the Greeks saw it." "And... thus it... this time has..." "This time has certain limitations which consist in..." " More coherence, please!" "One thing even this time can't do:" "It cannot undo things that have happened." "It is the only limitation of a time that can do anything." "'Eumares', it creates easily." "Eumares is a god who creates easily." "But whose limitations consist in..." "To quote Pindar again, our main witness to the Greek notion of time." "That means time cannot undo anything that has happened." "A young man hurrying along, wings on his ankles and on his back." "A strongly-built forelock to grasp:" "'Take opportunity by the forelock'." "The back of the head is bald:" "'lf you come too late, you slip off'." "THE HASTY ONES" "Max, the chauffeur,  driver for a big boss." "His talent lies in his feet which, in an emergency,  swing from accelerator to brake." "The purpose of a hasty one is to be everywhere and to make quick and clear decisions." "Airport?" "As if the decisiveness of all those who have no say was united in him." "Home?" "Madam said you should hurry." " I wish we were already there." "His empire will last 1440 days if he doesn't die earlier." "His successors count on this." "Minute by minute,  death is approaching." "The planner's glance." "I think we are very short of time." "It's a mistake to think that the New Media are about entertainment." "They are a new industry." "The Burk family at their computer." "At night,  the wife watches over the device." "Mr Burk's working day allows him to walk around in a square for 15 minutes twice a day." "For thousands of years people have lived in houses." "Outside: murder, industry, war, world." "All this time,  feelings remain the same." "Most of the time is spent waiting." "The daughter guards the machine." "Fingertip on glass...  fingertip on cotton wool...  fingertip in the fire." "Lips and mouth are hardly needed by the computer." "We bid classical industry farewell." "Manual work is becoming superfluous." "Now it is all about taking apart the brain and the senses." "Outwork." ""I'd rather die in an anthroposophical hospital than under machines where they dismember you before you die."" "There are no such hospitals." " And I don't want to be dismembered." "Don't worry." "I'll be there." " Why?" "I'll look after you." "I'll protect you." "I'll be there." "What makes you think you'll be there when I'm dying?" "Just an example..." "Not a very good example." "I'd make sure that..." " You just assume you'll survive me." "Suppose that..." "...that you take that for granted, whereas I might be by your deathbed and make sure that the machines don't dismember you." "That would be the reverse case." "Exactly." "Five in the morning, summer time." "A night drive across Europe." "Reims, Brussels,  Prague, London, Darmstadt," "Bonn, Edinburgh in three nights." "The hasty one concentrates on two crucial decisions." "He has to say 'no' twice." "He can manage that." "He won't stay for dinner." "Dr von Gerlach,  a man of quick decisions." "He doesn't have time to watch TV,  therefore he plans new TVprogrammes." "His job demands decisiveness." "Then you went to the registry office?" " We handed in the papers first." "Again no time to consider?" "Such a decision takes two people." " Right, but we couldn't decide." "So you were automatically married, out of politeness, as it were." "You didn't dare to say no because of signs of weakness on her part." "And then you faced the result?" " Precisely." "Does she see it that way?" " She can't talk about that." "Your argumentation seems wrong." " It's a gradual process." "Out of disagreement?" " Initial disagreement." "Who loses when you argue?" " Both of us." "I win, she gets sick." "And it can't go on like that?" " Yes, it can!" "When you squabble it seems you were made for each other." "Others don't squabble so well." " Don't always say squabble." "What do you call these fights you inflict on your friends?" "Strife." "What is the difference?" "Initial disagreement." "So you shouldn't have got married?" " No." "She argues with weapons that don't match mine." "Her aims are different." "So you must serve her, resulting in agreement?" "Against my will." " And against hers." "Yes, she can't accept the way I serve her and becomes weak." "Which is her strength." " In her argumentation." "It's her strongest argument." " It creates agreement." "If you like." " So strife is actually agreement?" "Yes, if you insist." "He's able to make clear decisions,  but he rarely gets the opportunity." "The forest lay in silence." "None of the dead reported the crash." "No!" "Don't want to!" "No, I don't want to!" "Down!" "No, I want down!" "They spent half their lives together." "They will lie together for two more hours until they get taken away." "THE HANDOVER OF THE CHILD" "The opportunities life gives..." "She acts with deliberation,  she isn't indifferent." "She quit the Civil Service." "The state acts indifferently." "Lisa,  whose parents died in an accident,  has been sent from one children's home to the next for two years." "Now Gertrud Meinecke has taken her in." "There she was in her little house with her prey." "One has to give happiness a chance." "Are you Ms Meinecke?" " Yes." "Giglatz." "A beer!" "I'm here because of your ad." "Fine." "Reality has caught up with the picture." "One must be sceptical, or everything will be ruined." "So, it seems we've come together." "I don't want any beer." "Would you like..." " No, thanks." "I don't want anything." "If I may." "I haven't shaved." "I decided to do so because I think black suits me more." "This is too fast for me." "I have no grounds to blame myself or the child." "REGIONAL COURT" " DISTRICT COURT" "The court has found relatives of the dead parents." "They are granted custody." "Gertrud Meinecke must hand over the child within the specified time." "She has to drive 560 kilometres." ""All day they had travelled through the tundra." "The wolves came closer by the hour." "The men had 37 rounds of ammunition." "But there were over 100 wolves."" "Her husband is three years younger." "In four years he'll dump her." "She furnishes the house for him." "The child must always have these toys." "That won't be possible." "And her nap is in an hour." "She's used to it." "Then she has to change." " What's for lunch?" "She can eat in the restaurant." "Can someone sit with her?" " I don't think so." "And were shall I put all my stuff?" "Put it on that heap there." "She had prepared notes saying what the child was used to." "That was very nice of you." "You can leave the squirt here." "Elsa will take care of her later." "Which room will the child have?" " The nursery on the fourth floor." "Are you still here?" " And the child too." "We're waiting!" "Secretly she thinks, "She's a princess, a millionaire's child,  and maybe she will remember later how well I treated her"." "Leave the child on her feet!" "Maybe she doesn't want to be picked up." "Or bend down if you're too tall to see her face." "Mind your own business!" "I meant to say..." "If you read to her for 15 minutes in the evening, you can reduce it to 3 minutes once she gets used to you." "I would even consider taking orders from you." "Are you experienced with children?" "No." "Miss Elsa can sit with her in the evenings." "I'll arrange it." "Then I shouldn't be telling you, but Miss Elsa." "Can you let her off for an hour so she can listen to me?" "Take the child away to sleep for a few hours." "By then we'll be done." " Couldn't we talk over a cup of tea?" "Leave the child and the toys here." "The men will get the bed from the car." "Come to see me tomorrow, then we can talk about everything." "You'll take care of the child?" "I don't know." "Our tasks have not been finalized yet." "That's what I was told." "I wasn't told explicitly." "May I explain how to treat this child?" "I know that!" "No, you haven't studied the child!" "I don't need to study for that." " Listen to me!" "Here are a few notes." "The cuddly toy must be in her bed." "Her bed must go in the right corner of the room." "The heating must be off." "She likes to have her arms on the cover, and when she goes to sleep you have to sit with her." "The best thing is to read from this book." "But if she reaches for the book, give it to her." "I can't remember all this." " It's written down!" "I can't read your handwriting." "Do you intend to continue this all day?" "It's taking too long for me." "You are not very sensitive." "Have you not noticed that we are moving in?" "The set of armchairs goes to the salon." "The cupboards there." "Put the glassware in them." "That leaves the parlour free for the bearskin." "My husband arrives at four, and the guests at six." "Is that woman still here?" "You think the child is a hypochondriac!" "From what I know of my dead sister, this is not true." "She's quite a robust child, no need to mollycoddle her." "We'll find out what she likes to eat." "She'll have it good with us." " Don't be sycophantic!" "Fine, then let's talk." "Get it off your chest." "Her news was unwelcome." "She took the child away again." "They were both very tired." "Time is what you can measure with a clock." "A child, a city,  a love, death... these are clocks." "One cannot measure that which we consider past, present, future." "People, being at fate's mercy,  interpret the period of time in which they decide as 'the present'." "They want this period to be long." "This is the source of illusion." ""The patent text and the sketches prove that the brothers Lumière have solved this problem." "Figure 1 is a front view, figure 2 is a cross-section of the plane perpendicular to the plane of 1." "The mechanism enclosed in the case is driven by a single shaft." "On the shaft is an eccentric disc which moves the vertical slide piece to and fro that slides in the guides." "A horizontal blade adjoins the slide,  which forms a hinge at one end and at the other end carries two pins which penetrate the partition in two places." "On top of the device,  a box contains the perforated strip which runs down behind the partition." "The regular perforation of the strip's edges can be crossed by the pins." "The strip is drawn down by the pins which lift in a rising movement to keep it in position..."" "Everything is ready." "The modern magic of the darkened halls begins." "...like glowing coals, he is heated and his heart melts..." "The winter was bitterly cold..." "When the director,  and this happens often now," "looks into the projector's beam,  his assistants say:" ""He's looking at the light,  taking his daily light-shower."" "Indeed, the apparatus projects 24 frames every second." "But in the same second it projects darkness 24 times." "This is cinema's secret." "He's been a director for 38 years." "One could say he eats little bits of darkness every day." "Quiet now!" "Clapper!" "Please!" "What..." "What's the matter?" "The ceilings are too low." " I don't agree." "Excuse me, but the..." " The boss said no, okay?" "32 films: 22 feature films, 10 documentaries... all those films were quite topical." "And now a Middle Ages story, 'The girl and the monk'." "Contemporary?" "The subject is love." "Contemporary!" "Your other films were contemporary." "Now you go back to the Middle Ages." "Do you see a bridge to the present?" "Of course." "The subject of love." "No bridge is necessary." "Then why not a contemporary story?" "Boy meets girl in the 20th century." "Why a story in the Middle Ages?" "I'll do contemporary history as my next film." "Why a story that... is so complicated?" "Why not a simple story?" "Why a dead girl and a monk's lust?" "It's a simple story, not complicated." "But it seems complicated when you see all the characters." "I didn't see what the gypsy baron had to do with it all." "The soldiers..." "The low ceilings..." "Listen..." "don't you have any other questions?" "The story is:" "A girl from a good family dies young." "The family is mourning." "A monk keeps vigil by the body." "The parents can finally get some sleep." "But then he's overcome by his lust for the corpse." "He rapes the girl, thinking she's dead, but she was only apparently dead." "Then, nine months later:" "a little boy." "Why not a more contemporary story?" "Have you actually... seen the film?" "I have watched you work, including scenes you didn't shoot in the end." "I think you only want to keep the conversation going." "I want to know what film you're making." "I've seen all of your 32 films." "I found the feature films more interesting than the documentaries." "I'm just trying to understand the film you're making." "But I gave the answer to that!" "What do you associate with the Middle Ages?" "The Middle Ages was a time when people were not capable of really loving." "That applies to the present, too." "People today are no more capable of loving than in the Middle Ages?" "Are you an iconoclast?" "All strange figures in the film, what is the role of the soldiers, and the gypsy baron, why a dance with a doll?" "I can't see this in the story of the monk and the girl." "I've read the script." "Iconoclast..." "Yes." "Yes, I... am..." "I am an iconoclast, that's correct." "You became one while making this film?" "No." "I've always been one." "Have you maybe..." " I hate images, I hate images!" "Have you put together all your images in 32 films in order to destroy them in the end with this one film?" "Perhaps..." "Perhaps." "Can you bear to see images if you hate images?" "I..." "I hate... seeing." "I hate seeing." "Have you ever seen..." "Have you seen any of your films?" "Camera 4 metres left!" " The lights are off." "Light on Ms Doubek." " The scene's already..." "Don't interrupt me!" "I was just saying..." " Then speak clearly." "I can see all that." "Fetch my chair." "Camera 4 metres to the left!" "Where's the chair?" "What are you waiting for?" "Camera 4 metres to the left!" "The reporter had a suspicion." "I must tell you that the film has to be continued in any case." "It may become expensive." "Can you afford it?" "The film is at such an advanced stage that we have to finish shooting it." "Do you need more footage, or could you maybe use material you have to finish it?" " No, that is not possible." "Why?" "Are decisive scenes missing?" "Decisive scenes, yes." "You'll keep this director?" "It may be expensive." "I've seen him continue shooting when it was completely dark." "Maybe you should try to finish it with another director." "This director has worked so much on this film that we don't want to risk taking another one." "The result perhaps won't meet your expectations." "Do you have an insurance policy that would pay for that?" "The insurance won't pay!" "Why not?" " Because the director has gone blind." "This has never occurred before?" " No." "You've never worked with a blind director before?" " No." "What do you want to do if an actor is drawn to a scene he doesn't belong to?" "The director wouldn't see it." "Well, we want to solve this by giving him an assistant who communicates this to him." "That is possible." "I hope the assistant is able to see." " Yes, of course!" "The film won't be finished by ear?" "No!" "The question of colour is quite decisive in this film." "How about shooting in black and white?" "It'd be simpler for a blind director." "No, because we assume that an assistant will communicate the colours to him." "So your assistants are colour-fit?" " Yes, they are not colour-blind." "You stand by your man, then?" "Let's talk about the following thesis:" "Can one dispense with the director?" "No!" " But you are working via assistants." "Still, he can't be dispensed with." "This could lead to building a team." " No." "It's not possible." "The director as figurehead, while others steer the ship." "No, the director is essential." "The director as figurehead..." "No, he is essential." "Even if this man is blind, he holds the reins." "He can't see them though." "No, but... he still manages." "If I understood rightly, he hasn't seen a single scene." "No." "Not personally, but he has a feeling for it and I think he has managed very well so far." "Or the assistants have..." "With..." "Not, and yet..." "Well, you can't really define that." "Both, though!" "The assistants guide the film, as it were?" "And he... he..." "Blind people feel rather than see." "And... he's got things under control." "Let's talk about the thread running through the film." "A blind director would hardly be able to see it, would he?" "Well..." "Difficult question." "Did you see any thread?" "Yes, but... it's hard to see, I admit that." "How will you get your director through the press conferences if you want to keep his blindness a secret?" "Yes..." "This will be a problem." "We don't really know." "He has practised already, he will with the help of the assistants..." "And... it won't be too difficult." "So you don't only attempt shooting, but also walking?" "You could say so." "Excuse me, but I find your laughter quite cynical." "Are producers that cold?" " No." "And not unfeeling either." "But..." "One needs a feeling for box-office success." "As producer you need that." " Yes." "You should have invested more in an insurance policy, perhaps?" "No, the insurance won't pay in such a case." "They pay in case of inability to work or sudden death of the director." "Then they pay." "But if he goes blind they don't pay." "Blindness, for the insurer..." "...is not grounds to stop working." "A blind director is not considered unable to work?" " No." "Not in an insurance case." "As a producer, you have no experience with blind directors?" "So far, no." "Talking about loss of senses suffered by film directors." "If you had the choice between a blind, deaf, or a mute director, what would you prefer?" "I would say blind." "Because if he can make himself understood, and blind people have a very good sense of touch..." "They are said to see with their hands." "And..." "Therefore I'd say he should rather be blind." "You want to continue working with this director?" " Yes." "The film must be finished." "This film, yes, as you pointed out." "But what about future projects?" "That I don't know yet." "You want to see if anyone notices?" " Yes." "We'll see." "What kind of description?" "A film of love and desire." "A description..." "I don't want an interpretation." "Tell me what you see!" "Now I see two men who..." "And a train, apparently..." "A lot of people." "Now a weightlifter." "A magician." "A monkey." "There's a..." "Now I see two men with top hats and a beautiful young woman... in black and white, and a sad..." " Who's black?" "She or he?" "No, the film is black and white, the whole picture is." "They are both white." "Now I see a man." "A beggar." "A man creeping along, very quietly." "It seems to be night-time, it's quite dark..." " Okay, okay." "A woman with a mirror." "It has become light." "They are indoors." "Three men..." "Now a very sad-looking young man." "He recognizes someone." "Now there's a fight." "Now I see a house, now a tennis-court." "Cut." "A rather dilapidated house." "A tennis-court again." "A man standing in front of a lamp." "A woman on the phone." "She's talking to another woman." "It's a green phone..." "Something's wrong with the picture!" " No, it's okay." "The woman sits down..." " It's wrong!" "Now there's a cut." "Well." "Thursday morning." "Opera rehearsal." "Give me some more tea." "He used to be one of the hasty ones." "The projector room is 23 metres from the studio." "He waited two hours for one of the assistants to come by." "Inside he was full of pictures." "THE BLIND DIRECTOR" "Untertitel Vanadis Buhr, Alex Zuckrow" "Film und Video Untertitelung Gerhard lehmann AG"