"The Auteur's Film Company presents" "A Wim Wenders Production in black/white" "Aspect Ratio 1.66:1 and live-recorded audio" "Shot in 11 weeks from July 1st to October 31st, 1975 between Lüneberg and Hof along the East German border" "So you were a cinema musician" "Yes, I was" "My wife played the piano, and I was on the violin" "And if it was an epic film like "The Niebelungen" or "Ben Hur" there was other music like a cello, a bass fiddle, and a harmonium or maybe drums and cymbals" "It wasn't easy" "And they all lost their jobs?" "Yes, it was tough when the talkies came" "The real talkies, I mean, not the records" "They had those big records and every film was 12, 14 reels - small reels" "And, you know, the film often broke and we'd have to spend the whole night sticking it together but it was still awful and they'd boo us the next day" "What was your favourite music?" "I'd say "The Niebelungen", the film was in two parts" "First was "Siegfried", the "Kriemhild's Revenge"" ""Ben Hur" was also in two parts" "At least, I think so, I'm not sure now" "Could you make a living from the cinema?" "Impossible, not nowadays" "Can you see cinemas disappearing from small towns soon?" "I think there were too many cinemas round here" "For instance, in Schirnding, Hohenberg, Heckstadt, Thiersheim..." "So there was no market" "Now they're all gone" "But one cinema on its own could still be going in 10 years" "If there are any films, that is, if films are still being made" "Did you make a living from your cinema before?" "Yes, after 1951" "But for many years I wasn't allowed to run it" "Because of the Third Reich, and all that" "Why weren't you allowed?" "Because I was a Party member" "The SPD..." "I mean, NSPDAD, or whatever its name was" "I had to go to court in 1950 to get my cinema back" "It happened to many cinema owners" "In the Course of Time (Kings of the Road)" "They squeak, eh?" "Get your wet things off, I'll lend you some" "I need water for my van" "Sleeping the day away" "Can I have this?" "I need a shit" "Your clothes are dry now" "What's the next big town?" "I go through Wolfsburg" "My name's Bruno Winter" "Mine's Lander" "Robert Lander" "How long have you been going around cinemas?" "Two years" "Alone?" "Two years?" "Where's your home?" "Your base?" "The van's registered in Munich, I bought it there" "How do you cope... being alone?" "It's fine" "Better" "I can't do it" "Any idea where you want to head for?" "Let's see" "This goes to Lehrte Magdeburg..." "Dessau..." "Helmstedt..." "I'm there this afternoon" "At the Roxy" "Finished yet?" "What day is it today?" "Monday" "I've just had a beer" "I was in Genoa yesterday" "I'm tired." "I've driven enough" "I can make up another bed" "I'll take a walk... to the railway" "Do you know what "loon" means?" "Crazy person" "Can't be that" "What's the whole sentence?" "There was a grey light on the lake and when he heard the loon he knew exactly what it was, listening to the raucous, idiot voice" "A water bird... a diver" "Want some music?" "Aha... gone" "Kamikaze..." "Daredevil..." "I've got something for breakfast" "The cup's had it" "Do I get another?" "Where is it?" "It's okay" "It'll fall off again" "Come, children, inside" "When can we start?" "The kids are getting restless" "I didn't know I'd have to mend a loudspeaker." "Lucky I had a spare" "The kids have been waiting half an hour already" "We install this and we're ready" "Quiet please now" "The men are repairing something, we'll start in five minutes" "I can't see" "The men are mending the loudspeaker" "Turn the light off" "The next turning goes to the village "Powerless"" "Only one road" "A dead end" "About 6km, there and back" "Not worth it, it's just another village" "Ever been there?" "I saw it on the map" "So I did a detour to "Powerless"" "The village on the other side of the hill is "Peaceless"" "Yes... and the hill?" ""Dead Man"" ""Powerless", "Peaceless", "Dead Man"" "It can't be" "I bought a few things" "But the only shirt I found had a high collar" "They rub my neck" "It's so sticky, with this hot wind" "I feel like going swimming" "Maybe later on... in Baggersee" "I've no time" "I can always go on alone" "A nine-figure number!" "A matter of life and death" "The town..." "Schöninger" "When I was on the ladder..." "I suddenly felt frightened" "I was watching my shadow and at that moment I noticed..." "that you were watching me" "That was it!" "I wanted to stop" "I was angry sort of... helpless" "I didn't know how I'd got involved" "But you kept playing the fool, so I had to follow you" "That made me more angry" "Same with me" "What?" "Stop that now" "I'm not sleeping in here again" "Sleep where you like" "How was the sausage?" "Good" "D'you do anything else, apart from racing driver?" "I'm a paediatrician... a sort of children's doctor" "I left my wife in Genoa" "I didn't ask you that" "No need to tell me your history" "What then?" "Who you are" "I am my history" "The mattress is in the back" "Take a cushion" "What a racket!" "Beat it!" "What's wrong?" "Can I help?" "Leave me alone!" "I'm not hurt" "It isn't my blood" "I wasn't even in the car" "It's my wife's coat" "It was a word" "A remark" "Yesterday" "Something set it off" "She drove straight into a tree" "We'd spent a few days..." "at a village inn" "There were these beds, twin beds" "The kitchens were underneath and when you opened the window..." "Suddenly she said "This stinks"" ""The bed stinks, the basin stinks, the kitchen stinks..." ""...the lamp stinks, the picture..."" "Suddenly, the smell from the kitchen..." "Suddenly..." "She'd had enough" "She even said she'd drive into a tree" "She told me" "It was sort of blackmail" "I told the police what she said she would do but... they couldn't care less" "Accident!" "She was still warm" "She's dead" "Didn't she understand...?" "There is only life" "Death doesn't exist" "Kamikaze, have you got a lodger?" "There used to be an ink you could erase old writing with and write something new at the same time" "I keep thinking the same thing, and writing it down even when I keep waking from my dream" "Abstract repetitions courses, paths that I experienced and wrote" "That means the dreaming was writing, circular" "Then, in my dream, I thought of the idea of changing the ink" "With the new ink I could suddenly think new things see, and write, new things" "The problem was solved" "I think not" "You're still in the dark" "Is the car still there?" "Yes, still by the tree" "Can I stay?" "What?" "Till they fetch the car" "No, we have to move on" "They're coming for it tomorrow" "Can't be done" "I can't bear to see the car again" "You don't have to walk past it" "We must move on" "No, we don't" "I don't" "What did I say last night?" "You weren't feeling good, because of the accident" "The car's being towed away" "Tell me when it's gone" "They're lifting up the front" "It's a truck with a crane" "They're pulling it up the bank" "Now it's on the road" "They're leaving... no they're turning..." "Now they're driving away" "And now... they're gone" ""I'm going to my father's at Ostheim." "I know your route"" "Robert" "Listen to me" "Still doing everything alone?" "The paper still coming out daily?" "No, only three times a week" "The house is run down" "You know all this time that I've been away these ten years whenever I think of something, or talk about something the first thing I do is imagine it in print" "I see you, setting the print" "I know that..." "Be quiet!" "Just hear me out" "If you talk, I'm leaving" "Last time I tried to talk to you I had to listen to you" "I was too embarrassed, standing next to your desk because I didn't want to admit that you just babble on and I know you babble on" "Mother couldn't get a word in either" "That's what I wanted to talk about" "She got nothing out of it..." "her life with you" "Shut up!" "Why didn't you let her..." "Got a light?" "I've just won it" "Aren't you cold?" "The sun was out just now" "Can I have a ride?" "The ticket office is closed" "I could pay you" "Nothing smaller?" "No, hold this fellow" "You can ride for ever with this" "Is she with you?" "Ice-cream?" "If I change?" "Tonight?" "I'm at the cinema then" "Here?" "I'll come" "That's my automatic press" "I've had it for three years" "I'm not interested" "I want to talk about my mother" "I know... but you've said nothing for three hours" "Listen to me anyway" "I want you to listen to me" "Film started?" "Ten minutes ago, but you haven't missed anything" "You tricked me" "You're all dressed up" "Waste of time... or shall we go to the cinema anyway?" "Best seats?" "Yes... two" "8 marks" "Nothing smaller?" "I'll have some almonds too" "You owe me 2 marks... no, I'll treat you to an ice afterwards" "Better go in, the tickets expire" "Your wife, I never met her" "We don't live together" "Unlike you I separated from my wife" "How about a coffee..." "ah no, I forgot" "Don't you like the film?" "Words fail me" "The film's out of focus, too dark in the middle" "It's badly framed too" "Sorry...it's not my field" "Had the job long?" "I'm helping my gran" "Honestly!" "Call the projectionist" "He's helping out too" "Whet do I say?" "I'll do it" "It's out of focus" "Who says" "I do" "It's clear enough" "Clear, eh?" "Put it back" "That's why it's dark in the middle" "I'm working here for nothing" "And why not?" "Shit on you!" "I'm off" "You can't do that." "I'll put it back" "Go fuck yourself" "Leaving?" "It's unbelievable" "What's wrong?" "He just left" "What did you do?" "I have to go... change the reel" "And my projectionist?" "He'll be back." "Don't worry." "I'll do it tonight" "D'you know how?" "Don't pretend again" "Shit!" "Will you be here all night?" "Yes" "I'll show you something" ""Brutality, Action, Sex." "A film TV won't show"" ""Brutality, Action, Sex." "A film TV won't show"" "A woman had vaginal cramp in here recently" "Grandpa had to call an ambulance" "She and her lover had to be carried out" "He couldn't get it out of her" "I met a man this morning whose wife killed herself last night" "She drove into a tree" "Yesterday I saw a woman sitting in the sun under a hair-dryer her hands folded in her lap" "Did you talk to the man?" "Yes" "He said "Life is all there is"" "But which one?" "And you?" "I live alone with my daughter, I always will" "Did you know my mother died when I was born?" "What?" "And now?" "Now I'm in the dark too" "What?" "I'm tired" "Father!" "Got a pen?" "Paper?" "On the back" "Don't you need it?" "Keep it... it's from Wolfsburg" "I'm leaving" "Good to see you... wait" ""How to Respect a Woman"" "Not get much sleep?" "Oh, I didn't have a bad night, compared to your travelling museum" "Satisfied?" "What do you mean?" "You printed a special edition" "It was meant to be a speech" "Did you have to?" "Why not leave an old man in peace?" "I always left him in peace..." "but he never did me" "You probably can't imagine" "No, I never had a father." "Mine got it in the war" "How long since you last saw him?" "Since my mother died..." "eight years" "I thought the Kings of the Road didn't like history" "Where to now?" "I've a job in Hassfurt" "The C.C. cinema?" "You know it?" "Yeah..." "I spent my money there when I was a kid" "Secretly, I didn't dare go in my village" "Shouldn't your headline have a question mark?" "I left it out on purpose" "Did you learn typesetting?" "Of course" "Do you have to go to the next cinema?" "No" "Let's go somewhere else" "To Genoa?" "Not necessarily" "Where then?" "Where did you grow up?" "On the Rhine" "Alone with your mother?" "Yes" "Let's go there" "It all looks the same, we'd better hurry" "Paul's still here" "Paul" "This is Bruno" "Remember your dad's old BMW?" "The one we ran around in?" "Without a licence..." "Still got it?" "It's mine now, it's a gem" "Is it in the garage?" "You know I ran into someone in Sicily..." "on Mount Etna?" "Softly" "Soft-ly" "Aha!" "Geography!" "As security" "Paul, you still owe me" "Got a licence?" "He's Mike Hailwood's brother" "Here" "On the island?" "Yes, there's a house..." "it's hidden in summer" "You row there?" "The current's very strong" "Don't worry, I know how it's done" "Can we sleep in the house?" "No" ""Shortly before dawn..."" "What a racket!" "They're dredging the channels" "Can you drive the bike?" "I think so" "I'm too tired" "I had some sleep" "Got it?" "Yes, but I promised to show the film tonight" "The projectionist is ill, the grandmother..." "What's in it for you?" "An apple, and an egg." "They won't have a show otherwise" "Can you get me a free ticket?" "You get the egg" "I'm too generous" "It has it's good side" "Generous!" "How long still to go?" "Three reels" "What if you leave one out?" "Or two?" "Let's go!" "Quiet!" "Right, slowly does it" "Walk, don't run" "Hang on... it's the other way" "Waste of time..." "What?" "You said something" "What?" "What did you say?" "Everything's gone to sleep" "Coffee!" "Let's have some coffee" "The Champ!" "An organ's home. 4 letters..." "Loft" "That's it... been to the river?" "Yes" "Can I phone?" "If it's not long distance" "It is long distance" "It's me" "How are you?" "You the projectionist?" "Yes" "Come with me" "They didn't teach you much" "I learned by watching" "Know what a Maltese Cross is?" "Maltese?" "Some kind of booze?" "The picture was shuddering" "No more than usual" "It's filthy" "This is a mess" "The whole film industry depends on this" "It moves the pictures on 24 times every second" "It advances the mechanism" "Ingenious!" "How come the juke box?" "I swapped it for a projector" "Good move" "And you?" "Had an accident?" "Yes, with a motorbike" "I've seen it done better" "Shall we take the base down?" "Yes" "I'm glad we went to the Rhine" "I suddenly see myself as someone who has lived through a time and that time is my history" "It's a comforting thought" "Shit!" "Here's the border, we can't go on" "Leave the headlights on" "Careful!" "You might get shot" "Bring the whisky" "Yanks!" "Holiday Inn?" "Not exactly, but..." "Beds... pictures" "Colorado" "Fort Worth..." "Texas" "Taris oats, Indiana" "We can fetch the mattresses" "Texas" "Turner..." "Bad ass from Georgia" "That's for you" "Don't talk crap" "A children's doctor shouldn't be so sensitive" "I'm not a children's doctor" "You said you were" "Yes, but..." "I'm somewhere between paediatrics and linguistics" "So, you are one" "I don't have patients, I do research into a child's first months of reading and writing" "What happens?" "At that stage figures and letters are still an adventure" "Later, as writing becomes routine this fantasy is lost and only the problems caused by this fantasy remain" "There was a boy for whom the lines were paths along which letters moved by means of a motorbike the pen" "The "i" and "e" always rode together" "The "i" was clever and pointed" "So I'm "i", and you're "e"" "For instance, "e" was stupid and lazy a crook living in the underworld dirty and evil" "Mean mean as she can be" "What?" "Sometimes I've a tune in my head, often with English lyrics but I don't think about the words, until suddenly..." "I once quarrelled with a girl and the whole time I was humming a tune even when she shouted at me" "Then I left, and when I got outside I remembered the lyrics" "I've got a woman, mean as she can be" "The Yanks have colonised our subconscious" "You weren't really stupid enough to try it?" "I got an American operator" "I should've asked for Tennessee" "Why not go back to your wife, if you miss her so much?" "It's not possible" "Why not?" "I'm no longer myself when I'm with her" "Why keep phoning her then?" "I'm afraid she'll hurt herself" "You fucking coward!" "You're afraid for yourself" "That way you'll really kill her" "She'll be all right" "You don't know her" "But I know you" "You're talking nonsense" "You sit in your truck like in a bunker and spout off about being alone" "Nothing can happen" "Enough has happened to me" "Not any more, you're like a corpse, Have you no desire?" "I have desire" "For a woman... any woman" "All women arouse my desire" "I think all men are like that" "But I know it, and I can't pretend I don't so I don't get involved now" "I'd know it could be any woman - not just the one I'm with" "I don't know how a man can live with a woman" "If a thing isn't possible, you have to make it possible" "It's not really a life if you can't imagine change or want it" "Of course I'd like to be close... to a woman" "But I want to be alone just as much" "I won't give that up again" "We live with the contradiction" "Nor do I believe in..." "For instance, when you fuck, you're inside a woman" "But have you ever felt you're really close to her?" "I always felt lonely inside a woman" "Lonely to the core" "I can't imagine you fucking" "I can, I can imagine you" "I bet you pant, like in a bad porno film" ""Everything must change." "So long, R"" "What are you writing?" "I'm describing a station, everything I see" "What do you see?" "Tracks, gravel, timetable" "Sky, clouds" "A man with a suitcase" "An empty suitcase" "A grin" "A black eye" "A fist throwing a stone" "That easy?" "That easy" "If you give me your notebook, you can have my glasses and case" "It's a good swap" "All right, I'll do my best" "Kamikaze, don't think I haven't seen you" "Better and better, eh?" "Not showing films now?" "No" "But I keep the cinema ready to re-open" ""Films are the art of seeing", that's what father said" "So I can't show those films which exploit everything that can be exploited in people's heads and eyes" "I won't be made to show films which leave people stunned and rigid with stupidity and which kill the lust for life inside them and destroy their feeling for themselves and the world" "My father wanted there always to be a cinema here" "Me too" "But it's better to have no cinema than the kind of cinema you get nowadays"