Budapest, 1960's
Good morning!
Good morning!
I'd like to ask your help.
My husband and I live just opposite,
we moved here a few days ago.
Our former flat was smaller,
so I could take care of it myself.
But now I would just like to write.
- What do you write?
- Novels.
Up till now I taught.
Well, if you can find someone to give me
references to what sort people you are
I might consider it.
I'm busy right now.
I don't do washing for anyone,
you know.
Good day!
I could start work for you tomorrow.
Excellent!
Come in!
Tibor!
Emerenc Szereds.
Pleased to meet you. Szabados.
- You're from Hajdusg too, aren't you?
- How did you know that?
Your ass.
My father spoke like that.
Yes, well I'm from the Great Plains,
from Csabadul.
I'm from the Great Plains too.
And how much would you like
for your services, Emerenc?
Well, I tell you at the end of the week,
when I know how much work there is to do.
I will go now.
I wish the master good evening!
- Master?
- Master.
...when she wandered around the house,
nervous and without appetite...
they avoided her
so as not to disturb her.
- What's she doing at this time of night?
- She brought the carpet back.
- Now?
- When she has the time.
But now she's washing up!
- She probably saw the dishes from supper.
- You see!
- Oh, you want me to be ashamed of myself?
- At the least!
Oh, the windows!
What's wrong with her?
She's terrified of the storm.
There's probably a reason.
Emerenc!
Could you hurry, please, because I must go
and I want to ask you to do something for me.
Don't you go disturbing me after hours,
I'm not paid for that!
I wanted to ask you whether you could
accept a parcel for me
because I must go to
the police station.
Ever since we've lived here
- about 20 years now
Emerenc has never let
anyone into her home.
She guards her cat inside.
We hear meowing occasionally.
But who knows what else
she's got to guard beside the cat.
She even receives her own relatives
and her colonel friend on the porch
Yes
winter and summer.
Please sit down, wait here.
Those, who are waiting for address registration,
please, proceed to window no. 3.
- We haven't met yet, madam. Bthorffy.
- Szabados.
Please, come into my office.
Are you getting along with Emerenc?
Yes.
She's not an easy person.
She has her whims.
None of us is easy.
When I was just a Lieutenant,
we opened a special file on Emerenc
because we got so many letters about her.
Killing Jews and robbing them. What she
actually did makes very little difference.
One said she was an American agent, secretly
trying to over through the peoples democracy
details included
awful accusations against her.
One said she is hiding treasures
You don't have to be afraid of Emerenc.
At first I was very scared of her.
Only Emrenc is not scared of anyone.
She's weathered a few storms.
Emerenc would have done anything
for her first cat.
And that tomcat
was a great hunter!
A pigeon breeder - a very decent man
by the way - used to live here...
Decent?
He hung that cat by a wire
from Emerenc's door handle.
I saw it myself.
Because the cat killed his pigeons
one by one.
That's not true.
...Her nights were never undisturbed...
...but in summer she often
did not sleep at all.
She could not bear the heat.
Her husband, mother-in-law
and the servants took it for granted...
...they let her sleep in the daytime as long
as she wanted and whenever she felt like it...
Hello, darling!
...And when she wandered
around the house, nervous...
What a lovely music.
Do you know what I'd like,
just once?
Silence
They give piano lessons even on Sundays.
I've brought back your dish,
thank you for the wonderful feast.
Dish?
That's not mine.
I have never seen that dish before.
Have you ever seen that dish, Polett?
- I
- Have you?
- I
- Have you?
I haven't.
Dear Emma, since my last letter
I found some help to keep the new flat clean.
She keeps magnificent tidiness
at our place.
But I often don't understand her reactions,
and sometimes she evokes answers
from me which surprise me.
- Hello, Darling!
- Hello, Darling!
Doesn't Emerenc
come here any more?
Never on white days
She says we have a roof
over our heads
so we should sit it out till she has time
for us again and she'll make up for it.
And a bit of bending
does me no harm.
Aren't you feeling well?
I think I've got
a temperature again.
Cover me, sweetheart!
I haven't told you how much
I love you today.
How much?
Not for eternity.
- How long then?
- Just as long as I live.
Oh, thank you!
Don't you dare try to tip me!
Where are you off to?
To church.
Wouldn't you like to come?
I'm not a fine lady to get all dolled up
go trotting off to church.
Sol have no need of the church,
or the priest.
I saw how God works during the war.
I've nothing against the carpenter
Joseph and his son, they were working people.
The son got upset
with the lies of the politicians
and when it became unpleasant
for the leaders,
they got him mixed up in something
so that they could execute him.
The mother I feel the most sorry for.
Well, then, good-bye.
It's easy to be godly when you got
someone else doing the work for you at home.
Look at this!
- What is it?
- Take a look!
- Where did you get it?
- I bought it.
- So the girl's book's been published?
- Aham.
Ask her to sign it for me,
please!
Are you upset because they wrote
bad things about you in the paper?
How do you know that?
Well, it's your fault for choosing
such a rotten profession
where any idiot can pour
dirty water over you.
You should take care of
the master instead!
He's ill.
His lungs are sick.
How do you know?
I just know.
We're hoping to remove
the lung tumor in one piece.
Drink!
Drink!
- No! No!
- Drink! Drink!
Now, don't spend the night worrying,
because there's nothing to worry about.
I can always feel the death coming.
Besides, the dogs haven't given a signal,
and no glass cracked either.
'Course you don't have to believe me
you can turn to the heavens, if you like,
I'll go and get your Bible.
- You don't have to talk to me.
- I'm going back to the hospital!
No, you're not.
You're not.
- Let me leave
- You are not!
You are not going back to the hospital!
I'm scared
My father was consumptive.
He was a cabinetmaker
and a carpenter too.
But he died before I was three.
My mother couldn't cope alone,
so she married the first assistant.
Only he was one of the first men
to be called up, and he was killed almost immediately.
So I had to leave school and I cooked
for everyone by the time I was 9
and I looked after the twins.
After my stepfather died my mother
decided that she loved him as well,
so now she had two men
to mourn.
One day after she hit me
I decided to run away.
And I wanted to take
the twins with me
but we didn't get very far
because the twins
decided they wanted some water.
So I ran to the well with a tin cup
which I wore round my neck on a string.
I just got there when the storm broke.
Never in my life
have I seen a storm break so fast.
The sky didn't turn black like it did
at other times, but it was purple
as if someone had made a fire
up in the clouds.
The thunder split my ears.
I started running back,
because I couldn't see the twins
but instead I saw that the lightning
had struck the tree above them.
Everything was smoking.
I was just standing there bewildered,
wondering where the twins had gone
because those two black stumps
couldn't be my sisters.
So I yelled so loud
that it could be heard at our house.
My mother ran out barefoot in her shirt,
she fell upon me, she beat me all over.
She didn't know what she was doing.
And then she saw the children. Then she
tore away from me in the rain
her hair was dragging along
the ground behind her as it came loose.
She ran like an arrow,
and she screamed.
Birds screech like that sometimes.
I saw her jump into the well
but I couldn't move.
If I'd run for help right then,
they could have saved her.
But I just stood there,
wondering what my mother was doing for so long
at the bottom of the well.
Afterwards my grandfather came for me,
a young couple came from Budapest
looking for a maid,
...and he gave me to them.
They took me away
right after the funeral.
Do you know
what I'm saving up for?
A crypt.
As big as the Taj Mahal.
In every window there will be
a different coloured glass
and on every shelf there'll be a coffin,
my father's, my mother's, mine, the twins'.
Do you believe me?
I believe you.
Were you worried that I'd go?
No.
Emerenc said that no glass had cracked
and the dogs didn't howl, so nothing would happen
Don't let there be storm!
That brings the reaper.
Don't let there be a storm
Storm, lightning, a well.
How are the intellectuals today?
Oh, thank you.
We're much better!
- You see, hm?
- We are very well!
Great!
Welcome home, Master.
Good Morning.
I wish the Master a speedy recovery!
Thank you.
Are you admiring my tureen?
One of my employers,
Mrs Grossmann gave it to me
in the time of the anti-Jewish Laws,
in 1944.
That woman had
the most beautiful china and glass.
The chalice I brought the other day,
that was hers as well.
That's for the Master.
Thank you!
What strange stuffs Emerenc brings.
It's the Grossmanns' inheritance.
Maybe she didn't know
where they were being taken.
- It seems I was lucky during the war.
- Lucky?
I mean, I was among decent people
and I knew everything.
What did you know?
I knew who the wagons were transporting,
and for what purpose.
And you call that lucky?
Is that the right word?
It may not be the right word.
It isn't.
And all we've got are words.
So what should the word be?
I don't know.
Perhaps the Grossmanns left these things
with Emerenc for safe keeping.
Or she thought,
like so many others
that if she didn't take them away
someone else would.
Maybe the handyman's suspicions
are justified.
Perhaps there are valuables
behind the locked door,
confiscated treasures belonging
to people taken away.
Things that shouldn't be put on show.
How obscene - the Grossmanns in
the gas chamber, without even a grave
while she is saving up
for a Taj Mahal!
She keeps a captive animal as a cover.
Not a bad idea.
Are you writing a novel?
Didn't the master like it?
It was too much for him.
Oh poor little puppy,
come here!
Let me warm you up.
Give me your scarf!
Let's cover him.
Give me your scarf!
Emerenc, look!
You are home
You will have a good place, don't worry!
That's great!
You don't feel cold any more.
- Good evening!
- Good evening!
Emerenc, come straight away!
We've got a burst pipe!
I've already phoned the plumber.
Hurry and turn off the mains.
I hope he likes the 18th century.
We're lucky dogs only chew everything
for the first two years.
A few months later
You can jump up at your mistress,
you can sleep beside her on the sofa.
Your mistress allows that
because she loves you.
The master is quiet, like water,
you never know what's at the bottom of water.
You mustn't annoy the master
because hell get rid of you
Come!
You should hear this.
But this is a good place for you.
Sit, sit Viola!
- Sit!
- Viola? But he's a boy!
Sit. If you don't sit you won't get any sugar.
Sit.
I told you to sit!
The vet said it was forbidden
to give the dog sugar.
The vet's an idiot!
Sit, Viola, sit. You'll get a treat.
Sit. Sit. Sit.
Lay down!
Can I take him for the day?
He can guard the house while I'm out.
Aren't you worried about your cat?
Why should I be?
I will teach him he has to like other animals,
not hurt them.
Viola! Come with me!
Come with your mistress.
Let's leave Emerenc in peace!
Behave yourself! Viola!
It's Magda now, come on,
come on, you'll get a sugar lump!
Come here!
Let's leave Emerenc in peace.
It's Magda now, not Emerence.
Behave yourself!
Viola, come back!
Who do you think you are?
Charging over here and making a row.
Go back home!
I'll see you later on tonight.
Sit!
You scamp!
apologize!
Don't worry about him,
he will have lunch with me today.
Go home, your leg's bleeding.
I'll see you later!
May I ask you something?
Go ahead.
Sit!
Emerenc, wouldn't you like
to keep the dog?
We only wanted to give him
shelter anyway.
Well, I'd have got a dog long time ago,
but I'm only allowed one animal in my flat.
But if you're offended that Viola likes me,
well I can solve that out.
It is possible
to alienate an animal.
Now, what I
what I wanted
to say was, I'm expecting a guest
in a few days time.
Would you allow me to meet
with my guest here, in your home?
You want to receive a guest here?
All you have to do is make my guest believe
that I live here with you.
We'll be gone before the master gets home.
It's Wednesday, at 4 o'clock.
Just say yes!
If this is a secret dinner,
why are you lugging your stuff down the street?
You can use our plates.
Take out anything you like from the sideboard,
use my mother's silver cutlery!
Or do you think I am too mean
to lend them to you?
Thank you.
I never forget a gesture
be it good or bad.
But this dinner service is very important to me
to make my guest remember.
I just don't want the person in question
to know I've no family around me
and I have no wish to explain why
I don't open my door.
Can I have this?
It was made for my mother's figure.
I wouldn't be alone.
Why are you alone?
Why do you lock everyone out of your flat?
Keep your nose out of my business!
I don't harm anyone
by living like I do.
I don't like it when you preach.
If you give something to me, give it
without a lecture or don't give it at all.
Fine.
If anybody calls,
I'll be back in the evening.
Hello.
Yes.
Good.
I'll tell her.
You ungrateful, bitch!
Drop dead!
Drop dead!
Ungrateful!
Disloyal!
Lousy capitalist!
Eat!
Get off, Viola!
My mother's Murano!
What's going on here, Emerenc?
Are you out of your mind?
Viola!
Get off!
Ungrateful! Disloyal!
You rotten liar!
Lousy capitalist!
You... you can't come
with business reason.
You can't fly to Europe...
the visit cancelled.
And youll let me know
when you can come.
I'm sorry.
I shouldn't have done this.
Oh, come on,
that's going too far!
Will you please get rid
of the mess in my mother's room?
Thank you.
I want to take Viola for
a walk in the forest.
I want to apologize
for my behaviour.
This never happened to me before.
And it never will again.
Serves you right. Why the hell do you have to
take everything so seriously?
Get the food out of the fridge
and take it back to her
I'm not going to eat the leftovers.
I'm not Viola.
Emerenc, I'm afraid
I can't keep the festive feast.
It's here on the porch table,
come out and get it whenever you are ready.
Is the master ill?
No, he's not.
I'd like to come in.
I'm hungry.
Have you got any food left?
Good night.
I'll never forget this...
Thank you for your love and care,
The food I eat, the clothes I wear,
Thank you, father, for bringing me up,
Thank you, mother, for filling my cup.
Mistress, happy birthday from your servant,
To your wishes always observent,
And here I bring you many a present,
To make you house both sweet and pleasant.
Thank you!
Come!
Whats the point of living,
to wake up in your own home
to find a blasted garden dwarf
standing on the carpet,
a riding boot in front of one's books,
and the bookshelf
full of all sorts of junk!
This is how Emerenc tries
to express her affection.
Affection?
This is crazy!
Have a nice day.
All men are idiots
Viola!
Stop it!
Viola, give it to me!
Give it to me!
Where did you put the little China dog?
I hid it from view because it's dreadful.
Are you some sort of a slave?
I know the master doesn't like dogs,
but is that mean that you can't put up
with a nice little china one?
Is this ugly shell any better?
I'll smash this
one of these days.
Emerenc...
could you please take
the little statue back to the attic?
It's tasteless.
Kitsch.
What's kitsch?
Kitsch, kitsch is something
fake, false.
What is fake about this little dog?
Hasn't he got everything
legs, ears, a tail?
Why are you lying to me?
If you don't want anything from me,
just say so.
I know you're frightened of the master,
but don't hide your fear
by pretending that this is a kitsch.
Are you out of your mind?
Who keeps umbrellas in a boot?
You're a blind, idiotic coward.
Don't know why I like you.
Maybe when you get older you find
some courage and your taste will improve.
My aunt has asked me to tell you to look
for someone else to help, she is resigning.
She doesn't understand a word of
this modern world.
Were not going to beg her to come back.
I offended her because I wasn't prepared
to let her turn my home into a flea market.
The only trouble is, sir,
that when she looks for a present for you
she is thinking of two children.
Whatever comes of this,
please don't bear a grudge
because there are few such
good and upright people on this earth.
What? You mean she
considers us children?
Now, you can't talk to her,
maybe later. Goodbye!
Well, we've fixed that alright.
You're happy about this?
We'll get along fine
without her crazy whims.
Are you put out
because she's become fond of me?
Have you gone insane too?
Polett, how would you like
to work for us?
Two or three times a week would be enough.
Just some cleaning...
washing, ironing,
perhaps cooking too.
What about Emerenc?
Emerenc doesn't want
to work for us.
You can ask her.
I certainly won't, God forbid!
You're the apple of her eye.
She only calls you the girl..
If Emerenc would ask me,
that would be different. I'm sorry.
I can't accept.
I can't take her place.
I see.
Parlez-moi en Frances,
quelquefois... Un peu...
We should resolve the issue
with the china dog.
It could be on this place when she's here
and than put it away again.
It's too much for you to do the housework.
You can't write.
We'll have to apologize.
Come on out, Emerenc,
I want to talk to you.
Have you come to apologize?
No...
Our tastes differ, but that doesn't matter,
and we didn't want to hurt you.
Won't you come back?
Will you give a home
to a china dog?
Yes.
Where will you put it?
Wherever you want.
Please, Madam!
Polett has killed herself.
What?
I've just found her...
She hung herself from
the walnut tree in the garden.
She pulled a cap over her head.
Have you come about Polett?
I found her at dawn when
the dog gave the signal.
We didn't talk about the cap,
but we agreed on what dress
she should wear when she's buried.
I gave her a black petticoat,
because she didn't have one of her own.
I couldn't find her shoes.
Did you find her shoes?
You knew what Polett was about to do?
One thing we did agree on
was that she shouldn't take poison.
Can't rely on poison.
Anyway it hurts.
No, no.
Hanging is much easier
It were enough of them in Budapest
when the Whites were in power
they did the hanging,
when the Reds came it was their turn, but
the hanged people kicked out just the same,
no matter what the
colour of the politics.
And you didn't try to stop Polett?
If she had enough of life
no one has right to stop her.
You know,
she ironed beautifully,
better than any of us.
Emerenc, shouldn't we discuss
what you're going to say at the police station?
Don't think I didn't make her
write a farewell letter.
I dictated her letter to the police, myself.
I, Polett Came, did take my life of my own
accord because of illness,
old age and most of all loneliness.
We weren't enough for her,
any of us.
Did you lose your keys?
I want to take Viola for a walk.
Alright.
When the time comes, you must tell the vet
to give Viola the injection.
If you love someone,
you must be willing to kill too.
The Lord kills.
Don't think I didn't love Polett.
If I didn't,
I would have stopped her.
'Cause if I yell at someone,
they do what I say.
Come!
Emerenc! Emerenc, Imagine!
The librarian from Csabadul has just rung
to invite me to meet the local reading public.
If I accept will you come with me?
Why did they invite you?
Because of my novels.
Do we have to stay the night?
Because that's out of the question.
Aren't you dressed yet?
For heaven's sake, Emerenc!
- Well... is that what you're wearing?
- Yes
You can't go there like that.
With all that make-up on?
- What will they think of me?
- Stop moaning!
Will you let me give you a book?
Will you write in it
that you gave it to me?
Of course.
You know I haven't been to
Csabadul since 1944.
My family all upset and...
I'm not loved there.
Please, madam,
I can't stand in for Emerenc
because I've been summoned
by the district council.
Its about my shop permit.
My living.
Couldn't you ask for another appointment?
- From whom?
- Drop dead!
You see,
your God doesn't want me to go.
It's a shame.
I'd like to see how you fit in a village.
Would you go out to the railway station
at Csabadul and walk along the ramp?
But if anyone asks about me,
don't chat, alright? I'm fine and healthy.
Good morning.
My uncle wasn't as impetuous as his daughter.
He kept everything for himself.
So he died young.
Emerenc is here with her little daughter vike.
This whole time we have not heard
any news of her life.
When she turned up with her baby,
who he knew nothing about,
we thought he would beat her to a pulp.
If he hadn't been recovering from a stroke,
he would've too.
Who's this child?
- vike.
- Who's child is it?
Mine.
How dare you bring your bastard
into the home of your parents?
Who made you pregnant?
Who did you roll in the hay with, you slut!
Who's the father?
What's the name?
vike.
There, yes!
In the end, he came to love the child
more than his real grandchildren.
He burst into tears when I took her away,
and never forgave himself
for letting the child be taken from him,
when she was so sweet.
Just wait till the truth comes out!
That's vike Grossmann.
That's the person
I was waiting for the other day.
She lives in America,
she sends me money.
That's what she looked like when I took her
home to Csabadul from Pest,
only now I don't want to see her face,
because she wouldn't come when I asked her to.
Yet if it wasn't for me, she would have
her head smashed against a wall
or been killed in a gas chamber.
Up until then
I was respected by everybody.
Well, you can imagine how pleasant it was
for me to have to tell my grandfather
that the baby that I'm carrying
in my arms is mine
and would you please feed her until after the war
because I can't provide for her in Pest.
You remember the
Jewish Laws, don't you?
Yes.
The old ones chose to drink yanide,
but the young paid to escape,
so they gave her to me,
and I took her home to the village.
Don't ask me what reception I got.
Take it.
You're a thief too?
You think because of the war
you can get away with everything?
They took very decent care of the child
for over a year.
And then the Grossmans came back
and I went to fetch her.
Poor things,
wanted to start their life again,
but in the end they went abroad.
And I said goodbye
to the little girl for ever.
Did you walk along the ramp?
Yes.
I had this heifer,
she was a sandy colour,
I looked after her
since she was a calf.
People used to laugh at me,
because she followed me everywhere.
But in the end
we had to sell her.
No! No!
No!
Viola! Viola!
Viola!
- What happened?
- People, the calf jumped off!
Viola!
Get up, Viola!
I want her to learn never to love anyone
because then no one of hers
will ever be beaten to death
and she won't jump off from anywhere either.
Go on home now.
We have talked enough.
Take Viola home with you.
The heifer was named Viola?
Go on.
The dog's tired.
Good morning!
Good day to you!
Give extra for the collection box
it's bound to count double at Easter.
I would be grateful if at least on Good Friday
you could leave me alone!
And when you've finished,
could you please cook the plum soup.
The fruit is out on the kitchen counter.
Why don't you try some sweeping?
After all you're off to church to weeps,
so you may as well do bit works as well.
Because there are two kinds of
people in this world:
those who sweep,
and those who get others to sweep.
Jesus swept.
Sometimes she irritates me so much
- forgive me Lord - I feel like killing her.
Although she is self-sacrificing
and generous.
Her goodness is natural,
whereas I was raised to be like that.
What I think is faith
is perhaps only discipline.
Why does everybody trust her
when she does not trust anyone?
Whereas everyone
looks at me with suspicion.
Just be more straightforward
in the words you use.
Whether you are asking or giving.
To people or to God.
I couldn't wait for you,
I was so hungry.
Good Friday was the only day
my father would fast.
Even the piano lid was locked
so nobody would start playing.
I keep this fast,
as you very well know.
Don't look so triumphant because
I haven't even tasted your chicken paprika,
and I'm not paying for it,
because I didn't order it.
It's a fine God you've got
if he judges with plum soup.
My God, if he exists,
is everywhere,
he is at the bottom of the well
and in Viola's soul too.
Now you listen to me,
because I'm about to strike.
The master's not got long to live,
you know that yourself.
There'll be no fasting in that house
- at least I won't be the part of it.
Princess of Plums.
Go on, go home.
It's Friday, you've got to read
the Bible in German.
Now listen.
I'm going to show you something
that no one has ever seen before
and no one ever will again
until I'm in the grave
If you tell anyone,
I will curse you.
The Grossmanns' safe?
That was pried open back when
the Arrow Cross Party was still in power.
Who's that handsome man?
That's the lawyer's son.
He's different from
what I have imagined.
He came to me one night. I'm on the run. Hide me!
I didn't ask him who was after him. I hid him.
Why did they look for him?
Well, they said he was a communist.
A few years later his
communist comrades took him away,
accusing him of
being a British spy.
But then later on
he became atop dog.
He never mentioned me in his biography,
though I was certainly part of it.
It was after he left that I found my tomcat
strung up from the door handle.
Well, another one came to replace him,
but than that one was poisoned,
I think by the same person.
So than I decided that a cat
doesn't have to go out,
he can live indoors
like a posh Pekinese dog.
Can't, for the life of me,
tell you howl manage to have nine.
They're prisoners but they're alive.
That's why I never open my door.
Because if the tenants here found out
I had to get rid of seven of them
because you're only allowed two.
When I die you must tell the vet
to put them all down.
Because you can't do more for a person
than to stop them suffering.
Suppertime!
We should invite her in!
She wouldn't come anyway.
The pavement has to be clear.
You haven't slept for days because
the God forsaken snow keeps on falling.
When you are done with this
you have to start over again.
- But you're ill!
- Alright... go home!
Emerenc, you should be in bed!
Go away.
Can't you see I'm busy?
You go home,
you look after the Master.
You do the cooking and cleaning
while this damned snow keeps falling.
It's nobody's business
whether I stay in bed or not!
I can't stand when they spy on me.
Yes?
Good morning.
Yes, she's here.
The Minister of Culture.
Is somebody pulling my leg?
Yes...
...yes, it's me.
Thank you.
Thank you very much!
Thank you!
He said he finished my book last night.
He likes it very much.
He told me I should ignore the critics.
They're only party soldiers.
He'd like to meet me.
What could that mean?
Does he think he's the member of
some other party perhaps?
You have to be careful
what you say to him.
About what?
Anything,
anyone he asks you about.
Sign it here, please!
It's come from Parliament.
- Thank you!
- You're welcome!
Am I to have a Kossuth Prize wife?
You're allowed to be happy
Very. very happy!
Do you know how long it is since Emerenc
last appeared on her porch, madam?
At least two weeks.
The porch is covered in snow.
Something must be done,
or the old woman might not make it.
I'm in a hurry Mr. Brodarics.
Let's wait until tomorrow.
I must talk to Emerenc face to face.
Why are you sitting here?
I've opened the brandy.
The men have decided
to break the door down.
The doctor will be waiting outside
and I'll get her up the stairs to your flat.
If you could just get her
to open the door a tiny bit!
Just make her turn the key
and we'll do the rest.
I don't really like having strangers in the flat,
but the old woman needs to be taken care of
and kept in a warm flat.
Bring her round to us.
Good Lord!
You've grown fond of her.
If she doesn't get medical attention, that'll be it.
The only way I can save her
is if I betray her.
Emerenc
I vow I'm not going to neglect you just
because you won't open the door.
Nobody will come in,
but you must come out.
You don't even have to go to hospital
if you don't want to.
You can stay with us
in my mother's room with Viola.
The doctor's ready to see you.
If you don't go away I'll report you all
for disturbing my peace!
I've got a right to be on sick leave.
Then just step outside your door for a moment
so people will see that you are alive.
You know how fond
they all are of you.
I'm alive.
Bring me a box.
My old cat has died.
You have to bury him.
You can say you're taking away the laundry.
All right.
The smell has become awful.
If I didn't know it was impossible
I'd think it was a dead body.
During the war I often smelled
this ghastly stench.
Could you all move aside?
I've got to stay by the door
until I've received a package from Emerenc.
Thank you!
It's me, Emerenc.
Don't come in,
just give me the box!
- Now?
- No, wait please.
Alright.
The box was too small.
Don't you know how big a cat is?
Could you do something for me?
Could you run across and lock the door
to Emerenc's flat for me before anyone goes in.
Don't look inside,
and as soon as she gets here
give the key back to her.
See you at the Parliament.
Hurry!
Excuse me.
Can we do a television interview?
Oh, yes, of course.
- You taught me in primary school.
- Did I?
Yes. You haven't changed at all.
Well, I started teaching
when I was very young.
I could mention the names
of all sorts of people,
first of all my family,
my parents...
my husband and all those
whose story I have written.
But right now the first name that comes
to my mind is the name of a woman
who helped with around me
so that I could work in peace.
Behind every visible result stands an invisible
person without whom there'd be no life-work.
And in my case this person is...
Eremenc Szereds.
- Congratulations!
- Thank you very much!
- Congratulations!
- Thank you!
- You didn't come.
- I couldn't.
What's the Kossuth Prize like?
Nice!
This is ward 25.
But she hasn't arrived yet.
How can that be?
Than where is she?
I had to send her to be disinfected first,
because she couldn't have been put to bed
in the condition we found her.
By the time I got to Emerenc
the doctor had managed to catch her arm.
But she couldn't really resist anymore
Later on the doctor told me that she must have
had a mild stroke sometime earlier...
she could have been paralyzed for days.
Emerenc!
I should have suspected
something like that ages ago.
But nowadays I don't take notice of anything
apart from myself.
You received a Kossuth Prize,
Magda dear.
I could have done without that scene.
Which scene?
Emerenc in her own filth,
surrounded by rotting meats and putrid soups.
E- me-renc sur-round-ed by
rot-ting meats and put-rid soups.
Are you writing a poem?
Suppertime!
Behind every visible result stands an invisible
person without whom there'd be no life-work.
And in my case this person is...
Eremenc Szereds.
- Congratulations!
- Thank you!
Congratulations!
Emerenc was pure and upright,
as we all would want to be.
A queen.
And I allowed them to expose her
in a single humiliating moment of her life.
Whatever Emerenc says now,
that overwhelming stench and filth will discredit.
We wrecked a long life's work.
Maybe Emerenc no longer
wishes to persevere,
because we have destroyed
the legend of her name.
If I'd stay with her when they opened the door
a lot of things wouldn't have happened,
or at least not like this.
What do you plan to do?
Nothing.
If she survives
I'll take her to stay with us.
- I'm not going to fail her again.
- Don't dramatize things!
I'll keep watch over Emerenc.
I had a car accident
and my daughter was killed.
I wanted to commit suicide.
Emerenc came to see me
in hospital for months.
She brought me back to life.
I told you...
Let's stop this!
If you hate me so much
because I didn't let you die, I accept that...
but don't keep covering your head,
just tell me openly
I meant well..
It didn't work out that way, but...
I wanted the best for you.
Emerenc...
had this happened the other way round,
would you have let me die?
Of course.
And you'd have no regrets?
No.
But I couldn't have saved you
from anything.
Everything would have come to light.
The cats, the filth...
So what?
What does a dead person
know or see?
You are the one who thinks there's
something up there waiting for you,
angels gonna carry up your typewriter,
everything's gonna carry on as normal.
Such an idiot!
For the dead nothing matters any more,
the dead is zero.
What's the marble crypt for then,
Emerenc?
What's the point of gathering your mother,
father and the twins?
If it's so, the weeds in the ditch
would be good enough then.
Maybe for you, but not for me,
and not for my dead.
One should honour the dead.
What do you know about honour?
You throw me a bone in Parliament,
you think I'm gonna follow you around like Viola?
You know how to make statements,
but to be there when you're needed,
to hide my misery from the eyes of the world,
for that you didn't have time.
Go away,
make more statements.
You had the nerve
to thank me for your prize?
Are you looking after
the animals properly?
Did you clear away the rubbish?
Did you fix up some kind of door?
Now I'll tell her
that she's only got half a flat,
the door has disappeared,
the animals are lost.
No one has put afoot
in your home but me.
As the doctor picked you up in her arms,
my husband fixed the door.
I went that night
and saw to everything.
The scouring proved difficult,
but I managed it.
I divided the rubbish up
among the bins in the street.
The cats are well, except of course for the one
that I buried under the pinetree.
They eat meat
because I haven't got time to cook.
I must go now, Emerenc,
because we haven't had our lunch yet
and I don't want
to get caught in the rain.
Magda dear!
With these clumsy fingers?
All alone?
What are you crying for?
Why are you crying, hm?
Now I'll definitely come home.
I promise.
Take these home for Viola!
He loves chocolate.
Excuse me, please...
Sutu paid me a visit and told me that,
should it so happen,
she would be happy to close her stall
and take over Emerenc's jobs
- What do you say to that?
- What would I say?
Nothing!
It's a disgrace.
So it's a free for-all now?
That's exactly what I thought.
What a nerve!
Tibor! Did you hear that?
Look here,
he'll refuse Sutu's offer now,
but Emerenc has
little strengths left for her job.
Broken pipes,
snow, officials...
Emerenc will have to stay with us
from now on to make a full recovery
or she will lose her flat too.
God almighty,
what will I do with her?
How will I be able to fit
a paralyzed patient into our lives?
When will I have time
to take her the bed pan,
do her washing, cook for her
and protect her from bedsores?
And what will I do
when I have to go away?
And what will you do?
You haven't told her the truth
about her condition.
We haven't either.
Truth is not always a cure. "
But now she's got the strength,
and at some time she must face up
to what's happened.
She can go home in a few days.
Not yet!
Her flat is just as it was
after the fumigation.
You must realize she is under the impression
that I sorted everything out,
she wasn't put to shame, she can happily
come home, the cats are waiting for her.
Now it's time to tell her the truth.
You can always count on me.
After all I too am just
a jumped up peasant girl, like her.
- Have you met the professor?
- Yes.
- Where did we meet?
- You're the chellist.
I live opposite Mr. Brodarics.
- Oh yes.
- You play beautifully.
Thank you! In fact the Doctor says
Emerenc can thank you for her life.
Isn't that right, Doctor?
You won't believe this, but they
didn't let me see Emerenc again.
I don't know what happened.
How many cats are left?
None, Emerenc.
We think we found three of them dead.
The rest are lost.
Go on looking for them. Because
if they're alive they'll be hiding in the garden.
All right.
We'll look.
You lied to me when you said
you cleaned up my place.
There was nothing to clean, Emerenc.
The fumigators did it all.
What sort of people are you?
You and the colonel?
The Master is the only decent one;
at least never lied to me.
If you'd let me die I would have looked after you
even beyond the grave,
but now I can't bear you
near me.
You don't know how to love,
I thought perhaps you do.
But you don't, you just put people in boxes
and you take them out when you need them.
This is my friend, this is my old godmother,
this is... this is my love,
this is a pressed flower
from the Great Plain...
Go away,
just leave me in peace!
You thought you could save me for
what's coming? You are such an idiot!
Emerenc...
you'd be in a good place with us...
In your house?
Go to hell!
The only sane person
in your house is Viola.
Quarter past eight.
Quarter past eight?
Quarter past eight.
The lady was looking for Emerenc.
I thought I'd bring her round to you.
Thank you.
Eva Grossmann
vike.
Excuse me...?
vike Grossmann.
Yes...
that's what I was called
when I was small.
I can't remember her face.
When she returned me to my
parents I was still very young.
I can feel her strong arms,
and the way she hugged me.
I even remember her smell
because I liked that very much.
But...
I've completely forgotten her face.
Haven't you got a photo of her?
There used to be
a photo of you and Emerenc,
but it was burnt
at the time of the fumigation.
Burnt?
How is your life?
Are you happy?
Yes... I am.
You see, you can thank
Emerenc for that.
She saved your life
and you became happy.
I saved her life
and with that I betrayed her.
She loved and saved.
I loved and killed her.
How can one make sense of that?
That's Emerenc's grave.
Emerenc, please,
forgive me!