4:01

The man will later write

4:03

that he took her to

4:05

be a maid with stiff dreary hair,

4:07

with a nose almost broken. I've stolen

4:10

your spotlight. I've ambushed your evening. Oh,

4:12

not mine. Just my handy scripts. Three

4:20

around the table. Phyllis,

4:22

the man, and the man's best

4:24

friend, Max. Is this your

4:26

final proof? No, yes, ish.

4:29

Look, Max, poetry. I'm

4:32

not sending the publisher anything. The whole

4:34

thing's impossible. But damn, Franz,

4:36

everything's impossible for you. University

4:39

was impossible. Work is impossible.

4:41

Writing, waking. But everything

4:43

is impossible, Max. Yet

4:45

you still get up and, well, up

4:47

to a point, get things done. You

4:49

can't give in to all life's little

4:51

impossibilities. Or there'd be no room left

4:53

for the really big ones. I've

4:56

always loved transcribing novels. Oh, it's

4:58

just piddly little short, not even

5:00

stories. Can you imagine being the

5:02

one who first transcribed Goethe,

5:05

for example, but any of

5:07

the greats? You like literature.

5:10

My life is words. This,

5:12

Phyllis, is Franz's first publication.

5:15

Phyllis is a stenographer. Dusty old management

5:18

now. Impressive. Max,

5:21

in future, you must send me your novels

5:23

to transcribe. Don't pay some beastly outsider. And

5:26

you too, of course, Franz. Franz? I

5:28

will, I will. Thank you. You're most

5:30

kind. Franz? Most kind.

5:33

Did you drop any pages on the way here? Huh? Well,

5:36

we can't send this to the publishers. Why

5:38

not? There's nothing here. If

5:41

the print's big. Well, how

5:43

big are we talking? Big enough to frighten a child? We

5:46

had a selection, Franz. You've got half of

5:48

it. Stop fiddling. I could smack you. Lonely

5:51

on our deathbeds can we stop fiddling and

5:53

allow things to remain bad once and forever.

5:56

And stop being clever. It's really

5:59

upsetting when you come back. clever. But

6:02

by the end of the night

6:04

the man who, avoiding his father's

6:06

glare all his life, has learned

6:08

to disappear has even disappeared from

6:10

here too. Max

6:13

and the civil servant escort me back to

6:15

my hotel but by morning

6:18

I will forget that Max's friend had

6:20

joined us at all. The civil servant

6:22

with the manuscript disappears from my memories.

6:25

And so, lights down

6:28

on Prague. Here

6:34

a young woman at the table, work

6:37

attire but with slippers, unmade

6:39

hair. Her mother

6:42

enters and smiles like frost over

6:44

a headstone, prodding it

6:46

a weighty envelope. A

6:48

man's handwriting. Absolutely

6:52

no idea. Thank you. Dear

6:57

Freudline, with an exclamation mark that woofs off

6:59

the page like an untrained Labrador. You'd be

7:01

forgiven for forgetting the man you met in

7:03

Prague. Therefore I shall

7:05

introduce myself again. My

7:07

name is Dr. Franz Kafka. And

7:09

here it, for better or

7:11

worse, begins. Some

7:17

nights later, a pinprick of light

7:19

through a window opens up a scene in

7:21

a Prague home. We see the

7:23

corridor bedroom in a house that

7:26

is now darkly asleep. The

7:28

man is writing. He has

7:30

never written like this before. I've never written like

7:32

this before. All

7:35

night. Till the first wrinkles

7:37

of sunlight shine on the first smoking

7:39

chimney pots. Then I write more. Until

7:41

at last he hears his sis in

7:44

the kitchen. Oh,

7:46

I was just about to like the stove. Give me a hand,

7:48

will you? Are you sucking up to Dad?

7:50

Both of them. He practically

7:52

deafened me when I said I wanted to go

7:55

to agricultural college. I came from

7:57

the bloody countryside and now you're going to

7:59

drug the Kafka's... You can't catch that, did

8:01

you? From the other side of the river.

8:03

My mum's face, like I'd hit her. Oh,

8:06

you'll find something else. I

8:08

won't. I refuse. You

8:12

look pleased. I've read

8:14

something. Otla, last

8:16

night is like a kind

8:18

of outpouring of... like

8:21

a dam had burst and... I

8:24

met someone, Otla, the

8:26

other night and... I can't,

8:28

for the first time in my life, I

8:31

know where I'm headed. Is it a

8:34

way? I can't very much bring

8:36

a wife to live with us here. Drop this.

8:39

If you liked what you wrote, why are you

8:41

piling it into the stove? Oh, this

8:43

isn't that. What's this, then? Everything

8:46

else. Everything up

8:49

until now. Oh. I

8:52

feel fabulous. Look at it in there. Nice.

8:55

Matches. What's

9:00

that? Is it father? Oh, shit.

9:02

Quickly, quickly, don't let him see. It's

9:05

the front door. What? This

9:07

way, this way. For the Cockra

9:10

Chapparella. Oops, we'll pay for

9:12

that. This way, people. Cluster,

9:14

cluster. You,

9:16

are you with the group? She's

9:19

my sister. This is our pretty

9:21

kitchen gown. Absolutely, just two minutes.

9:23

This is the kitchen. Don't touch

9:25

that, please, sir. We call the cops. Replicas

9:28

will be available in the gift

9:30

shop with Kafka rulers, rubbers, caps,

9:33

posable mini figures, posters, postcards, wrapping

9:35

paper, and kipi cups. Kafka what?

9:37

These are Franz and Ottler Kafka.

9:39

Hi. Please leave. Selfies at

9:42

the end of the walking tour, please. Now,

9:44

this is very important moment in

9:47

Kafka's life. Is

9:49

it? Franz here has just completed

9:51

The Judgment, the first truly Kafka-esque

9:53

story. The Judgment was written in

9:56

just one night. And now, inspired

9:58

by his newfound full. This

10:01

is the very moment Franz Kafka is

10:03

going to light the fire in the

10:05

stove and destroy thousands of pages of

10:07

his previous work. Oh, how

10:09

I'm loving it! Oh, if you

10:11

could just happen to read today, yum, yum, yum, yum,

10:13

yum! You

10:15

can go ahead and do that now. Do.

10:19

And then we can go. Do it. Like

10:23

the stove, but I don't want

10:25

to. Franz, do it. Oh,

10:31

yes. The

10:34

Judgment is just the first in

10:36

a colossal outpouring of work unleashed

10:38

when Franz meets Felice Bauer. In

10:41

The Judgment, the hero's tyrannical father accuses

10:43

him of being selfish because he has

10:46

found love and hopes to move out.

10:48

The ailing old man then sentences the hero

10:50

to death and the man goes and julie

10:53

drowns himself in the river. Oh, that's just

10:55

so Kafkaesque. Oh, does

10:57

that happen now? No, that's

11:00

in the story he's just written. Oh,

11:02

amazing. Now, this way, please, ladies and

11:04

gentle roaches. And

11:06

we're going to have a look

11:09

around the workers' insurance institute where

11:11

Kafka works. Fantastic. Thank you. It's

11:14

kind of cute, like an Addams family kind

11:16

of way. Thanks for having me. Thanks for

11:18

having me. Kafka! This way! Who

11:21

were they? I'm

11:25

so sorry, I don't know.

11:28

Oh. The

11:33

civil servants' letter is flattering, but

11:35

I am, as one might be,

11:38

borderline creeped out. However,

11:40

within a couple of weeks, I respond

11:43

and soon we are writing to one

11:45

another two, even three letters

11:47

a day. I don't

11:49

imbibe alcohol or smoke. Avoid

11:51

tea and coffee. I eat

11:54

nuts, dates, yogurt, quality bread, and

11:57

chew every mouthful ten times. A

12:01

smile threatens to crack over

12:03

Felice's mother's face, like

12:05

ice under a child's feet.

12:08

What are you reading? Nothing

12:10

important, Mama? I leave

12:12

home at ten to eight, or whenever my

12:14

father sits down to breakfast. Work

12:17

at the office from eight am, come home,

12:19

ten minutes exercise, naked at the open window.

12:22

Then the factory, which I manage till I'm blue

12:24

in the face. Supper,

12:27

interminable with the family. Dad

12:30

then usually tortures Mother to death. At

12:33

cards. Once they have all

12:35

retired, I begin writing. A civil

12:38

servant, you say? And factory

12:40

manager. Middle class, Jewish, of

12:43

course. And he writes. Show

12:46

me one who doesn't. The cafes

12:48

of Europe are riddled with dubious scruffy little

12:50

men scratching at their magnum opuses. The tomes,

12:52

he writes to you. And they are tomes.

12:58

By February, it's hard to find time to keep up.

13:01

We allude to a life together, but

13:04

maybe this is pure escapism. We

13:07

both crave some form of escape. Your

13:10

letters arrive at my office, and each one,

13:12

I think, will bring me calm. But

13:15

they obsess me further. They

13:17

contain more than I have a right to. Congratulations

13:20

are in order. Max tells me

13:22

Meditations is published. How's it selling?

13:25

Very well. 12 whole copies from

13:27

the local store. Admittedly,

13:29

11 are mine. But

13:32

someone bought the 12th. P.S.

13:35

I include a periodical I had something published

13:38

in. It's dedicated

13:40

to you. Sorry. In

13:42

this periodical he sent with a spatch-court woman

13:44

with the bare bosoms on the front. The

13:46

judgement. See? It's

13:50

dedicated to you. The

13:52

young woman in Berlin takes the periodical from

13:54

her mother who smiles. Like

13:56

a tumour. I would love your opinion, no

13:59

matter how eviscerated. It

16:00

was the Voyager who let it down. Letters

16:03

between us, as ever, thick and

16:06

fast, but never an opportunity to

16:08

meet. I, with my

16:10

work, and he with his, and

16:13

the hobby, which overall seems to bring him

16:15

even less joy than his two jobs combined,

16:18

his ill health, constant, his

16:20

insomnia, chronic. But

16:23

we dream up a future, a flat

16:25

in Berlin, each responsible for

16:27

their own finances, then

16:30

one day, something extraordinary

16:32

arrives. Out

16:36

of the darkness, a park bench, the

16:38

sound nearby of a river, Felice

16:41

and a friend, Greta, pigeons

16:44

throb at their feet. Greta,

16:46

this must be held in strictest confidence.

16:48

God, is it a novel? A letter? Is

16:51

it a proposal? Well, quite. Is

16:54

it? Have a look, really?

16:57

He's very, well, you'll see.

17:00

You have to understand, he's sort of self-effacing

17:02

to the point of, well,

17:04

hypochondria, really, but where

17:06

have you got to? What

17:09

stands between us is the doctor. I've

17:11

not actually been ill, but I am ill.

17:14

It gets better. I

17:16

can't trust the family doctor. He'll say

17:18

nothing's wrong, and I'll only know I

17:20

found a doctor of sufficient expertise when

17:23

he's shrewd enough to admit defeat. Is

17:25

he dying? Usually. Have

17:29

you got to the bit where he asked my father if he

17:31

knows a good doctor? No. Sorry, what? This

17:35

section is a letter to my father

17:37

where he tells my father that by marrying

17:40

me, he'll be robbing me of a social

17:42

life or happy family life. I

17:44

will learn nothing from writing. Well,

17:47

it's all about self-belief. Up here, with

17:50

the four mentioned in mind, which cannot be

17:52

wished away, perhaps you'd like to

17:54

consider whether you'd be my wife if

17:57

that's something you want. And...

18:00

Will you marry him? Well,

18:02

quite. Will I? He

18:04

spends 14 pages trying to talk you

18:06

out of the proposal that he barely makes

18:08

at the end. This morning, I was literally

18:11

banging my head against the kitchen table, going,

18:13

what does one do with a man like

18:15

Franz? She

18:19

said yes. Oh, oh,

18:21

oh, that's the Kafka charm. The whole thing

18:23

is impossible though, of course. I

18:25

laid out Otler in scrupulous detail

18:27

how impossible such a marriage is

18:30

in practice. You're always dying, you're

18:32

always failing. Everything's always impossible. Felice

18:34

still hasn't even mentioned the judgment.

18:37

It's dedicated to her. I

18:39

have asked her numerous times. Well, she's probably

18:41

nervous. But she asks for my photograph and

18:43

I tell her, look, this is my portrait,

18:45

this is me, here, in words, but she

18:47

doesn't see it. But she

18:49

thinks literature is something I can do as a

18:52

hobby, Otler. I can't live

18:54

with this woman, Franz. Shit, is this what

18:56

humans do? We dig escape tunnels and then

18:58

build identical prisons at the other end of

19:00

them. If you end it

19:02

now, I will slap you. ["The

19:06

Star-Spangled Banner"] Lights

19:09

up on the man pressed

19:11

up against his window latch like a

19:13

fly. He has realized

19:16

there are only two options. Wait

19:18

until everyone has gone to bed and then jump

19:20

out of the window or give

19:22

it up. Give up literature,

19:24

resign himself to insurance and factories

19:26

and other societal

19:29

obligations. On the

19:31

window, drizzle plaques. I

19:33

don't sleep. In

19:36

the wainscot, the saturation of

19:38

mice and teeth

19:40

crack the armored shells of

19:42

insects. Everything

19:45

cracks and ticks and

19:47

plaques and scuttles. Everything

19:50

is a snout and an arse.

19:54

Shit's an eat. Life

19:56

is a piss. Everything

19:59

is... Trilling

20:01

genitals in appetite. A

20:31

piss. Lights

20:33

down on the map. Listening.

20:38

Got it. What the hell

20:40

are you doing here? Does

20:42

anyone have a napkin? No, let

20:44

me check. Wet wife? Oh, I

20:47

sent it. Thank you.

20:49

Please, it's... It's two o'clock

20:51

in the morning. But you're

20:53

about to awaken an inspired,

20:55

put pen to paper for...

20:58

The Metamorphosis. Was I?

21:01

So, team, in Kafka's depressive state, the

21:03

seeds of a story start coming together.

21:05

Now! In this

21:07

very room. Oh, thanks.

21:11

In The Metamorphosis, a man, Gregor Samsa, wakes

21:14

up one morning as giant vermin. I

21:16

think it was a cockroach. It is a

21:19

German word, unge siefer, which is house

21:21

pest. Well, it was a cockroach on

21:23

the cover. Please, my parents are next

21:25

door. Anyway, Metamorphosis becomes eventually one of

21:27

the defining works of the 20th century.

21:31

Like all Kafka's seminal work,

21:33

it is part parable, part

21:35

nightmare, part psychological horror, and

21:37

perhaps even prescient.

21:40

Oh, that's so Kafka-y. Oh,

21:43

there's several hundred copies sold in his lifetime,

21:45

but I think Mr. Kafka here would be

21:47

pleased as... Shh, my

21:49

father. To think of what

21:51

a global success his stories will become. Why,

21:54

these days in Prague, we can even purchase

21:56

Kafka-esque cocktails. Cockroach

21:59

tales! I told you

22:01

it was a cockerel. Get out, please.

22:04

This way, team. Please, quiet as

22:06

nice. Quiet as nice.

22:30

Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Hey.

22:46

I'm Ryan Reynolds recently I us Mint

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22:53

inflation. They said yes And then when

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I asked if raising prices technically violates

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those onerous to your contracts, they said

22:59

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23:01

you Insane Hollywood As so to recap,

23:03

we're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited

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23:08

fifteen dollars a month. Give it a

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wasn't pretty good bye to come on South Pole! Turns out Mint mobile.com.

23:26

Are you OK? Why

23:29

does everyone keep asking that? Because you're

23:31

leaning against the wall like a cadaver,

23:33

and this is your engagement party. Smile.

23:36

Where are you? What do

23:38

you mean? Oh, you're so wet. Here

23:41

she is. There

23:43

you are, France. Still

23:46

hiding. I'm

23:49

afraid he has one of his headaches. I'll

23:52

hand him over to you. Apologies, but it

23:54

is imperative that I dance now. Yes,

23:57

of course. I don't know what

23:59

to do. I don't know why Otla said I have a headache. I

24:01

think she was being polite. Oh.

24:04

You barely ate, you've not danced, and

24:06

you haven't smiled once. I'm

24:08

smiling now. So I think your sister was

24:11

covering for you. Maybe making excuses for you

24:13

has become second nature for her. Perhaps

24:16

one day it will become so for me too. I'm

24:20

trying to pull myself together, honestly.

24:24

I don't know what's happened. I

24:26

can't find myself, but I'm trying.

24:28

I'm really trying. It's our engagement

24:30

party. Yes, I'm trying. It shouldn't

24:33

require that. Greta!

24:36

My darling, come, come, come. I

24:40

want you to meet Franz. He's terribly

24:42

shy, but don't let that fool you.

24:44

Hello. He's ready to just pop out

24:46

of his shell at any moment. Watch him. Pop.

24:50

Pop. Pop. And

24:56

that was my engagement. They all

24:58

tried to bring me back to life and, unable,

25:02

tried, instead, to

25:04

put up with me. For

25:06

Felice, it wasn't just awful. It was, of course,

25:08

a threat. I

25:11

love you enough to cast off anything that will

25:13

stand in the way of us, even

25:15

if that means becoming another person. After

25:18

that performance and your engagement, he dares write

25:20

this. Mother, you cannot go through my letters.

25:23

I can and will. If

25:25

you won't take your future seriously, I shall. Out!

25:28

Out of my room, Mother. Please.

25:32

So, to black. Except

25:37

a single morning beam on a

25:40

young woman with letters. Piercing

25:42

the otherwise dark, the beam

25:44

follows her into meetings, illuminates

25:47

her only on a dance

25:49

floor, at her desk, or

25:52

here in a train compartment. She

25:55

reads the short, blunt scraps, a

25:57

man from Prague, censor. correspondence

26:00

now only dribbles. I

26:03

want nothing more in life than a vault, hidden

26:06

in a burrow like a fortress, in which

26:08

there is a desk, a lamp, a

26:10

pen and paper, and time only

26:13

to write. In

26:15

Munich on work, I write, I

26:17

ran into a handwriting expert staying at the hotel.

26:19

I showed him your letter. His

26:22

conclusion is as follows. Always

26:25

resolute in his actions, sensual,

26:27

upbeat and generous with an

26:30

artistic bent. I

26:32

told him I could confirm the artistic bent. Love,

26:36

Felice. Days

26:39

this time. The silences

26:41

between letters draw out. Finally,

26:44

the most bogus part of

26:47

this graphologist shtick is my

26:49

so-called artistic bent. I

26:51

have no artistic bent, Felice. I have

26:54

no literary interests. I

26:56

am literature. Things

26:59

are falling apart and I don't know

27:01

why. During one argument,

27:04

or silence, which also constitutes

27:06

an argument, my friend

27:08

Greta goes to Prague. I ask her

27:10

to speak with him and see, just

27:12

see, if she can unearth what's

27:14

going on. This doesn't

27:17

go well either. It's

27:20

up on only these four walls in

27:22

all the world. Room

27:24

213 of the

27:27

Hotel Askarnishahof Berlin, July,

27:30

the same year. The

27:32

young woman sets out two chairs. Through

27:36

the open window behind her, she

27:38

can hear the market in the square in

27:40

its last gasps. The

27:42

worst fruit sold off cheap

27:45

or tossed. The

27:48

man. Yes? Enters.

27:52

I received your summons. Take

27:55

a seat. This

27:59

is set up like a I feel like a tribunal. Hmm?

28:02

The seating arrangement. I

28:06

feel like the defendant all the way over here.

28:11

I should at least know what I'm charged with. Oh.

28:15

What do you think you're charged with? I

28:18

have to guess. Normally

28:21

the defendant is told about their charge.

28:24

What if I didn't know what you'd done but

28:26

feel owed a confession nonetheless? Phyllis.

28:28

Acts of craven sabotage because how else should

28:30

I interpret it after letters plural to my

28:32

father begging him practically to disallow this marriage?

28:34

And my concern for your happiness is a

28:37

crime? It is when you draw everyone else

28:39

in as conspirators. I haven't drawn others in

28:41

as conspirators. I've read your letters to Greta.

28:47

She visited me in Prague at

28:49

your instruction. Our

28:51

correspondence was in good faith and... It began

28:53

in good faith. Nothing happened that constituted

28:55

a betrayal of any kind. I... First

28:58

you begin by badgering her to talk

29:00

me out of our marriage, which I

29:02

suppose, as your raison d'etre, is to

29:05

be expected. But then exchanging photographs, comments

29:07

on her dresses and... I

29:11

am tempted to do something tantamount to kissing your

29:13

hands. Am I allowed to defend myself or... All

29:15

of which brings me back to my first point.

29:17

You forget you didn't have a first point. My

29:19

first point is... Where

29:23

are you? Right

29:25

now, where are you? When

29:28

we meet, where are you? In

29:31

your letters, you promise me your heart is with

29:34

me, even when your character fails. But

29:36

it's as if you're backing out of the room while

29:38

convincing me you're right here at my side. This

29:41

is why I try to warn you, from the offset. Your

29:44

letters to Greta. I could

29:46

overlook the flattery. I could overlook your

29:48

constant warnings to her about your abject

29:50

failure as a human being. I could

29:52

even overlook the fact your letters echoed

29:54

exactly your early letters to me. If...

30:00

If it was because there's so

30:02

much of you that you cannot

30:04

be contained. But

30:07

you're not there either, are you? It's

30:10

my own tribunal and I can't even

30:12

be heard. Then speak, please.

30:19

The clatter of horses, the ratatact

30:21

of motors. We see a man

30:24

alone in Berlin. He has

30:26

a letter in his hand. Dear mother

30:29

and father, says the letter in the man's

30:31

hand. I write to inform you that my

30:33

engagement to Felice is now dissolved. The

30:36

cost of a cancelled wedding or monstrous

30:38

for a family. Breathes the letter to

30:40

itself in a sack, in a train,

30:42

on its way to Prague. And the

30:44

spiritual impact is not softened, I'm sure,

30:47

by the fact you probably saw, through

30:49

my deficiencies, it coming.

30:51

Says the letter in the trembling

30:53

hands of Herman Kafka, father, businessman,

30:55

over breakfast with his daughter. Father,

30:57

you have often said that we

30:59

have been spoiled. Otler watches her

31:02

father, who reads in silence. I

31:04

cannot tell if he is shaking

31:06

or the house itself. In

31:08

light of recent events, I have come to

31:10

agree. And so I shan't be coming

31:12

home. I will be staying in

31:14

Berlin to pursue my career as a writer. This

31:17

will not be satisfactory news to you, of

31:19

course. Mama.

31:22

Quickly, pen. Right to friends. He has to

31:24

come home now. Mama, he's

31:27

not coming home. He's staying in Berlin.

31:30

No, they won't let him. My boy has to come

31:32

back. He has to come back today, now. Why?

31:36

What on earth's happened? Today,

31:40

Germany declared war on Russia. Swimming

31:43

in the afternoon. Lights

31:46

up on a train, tunneling through

31:48

the darkness. On heath, hills,

31:50

and forest, flashing blackly over the

31:52

train window. Inside,

31:54

empty-faced, a man returning

31:57

home from Berlin. And

31:59

a very, very old man. about him? Cheddar.

32:02

Franz here is returning from a

32:04

code of engagement and a written

32:06

off new beginning as a Berlin

32:08

artist. Returning humiliated

32:10

to mom and pop. If

32:13

he didn't want to be with that young lady, he shouldn't have

32:15

dicked her about. He was always honest. No,

32:17

he hid behind his honesty, and

32:19

he, you, sir, are still hiding

32:22

behind it now. Shame on

32:24

you. Shame on me. It

32:26

was dumb getting engaged after just what,

32:28

six meetups? And it wasn't

32:31

like fireworks either. It was

32:33

largely chemistry free. Okay, okay people.

32:35

But the reason we're here is

32:37

because at the Escarnascher Hoth Hotel,

32:39

the very first seeds of the

32:41

trial were planted in Kafka's mind.

32:44

The trial is a story about a

32:46

man named Hans. You're not serious. Absolutely.

32:49

In the trial, Joseph K., an innocent man,

32:51

by all accounts, is accused of- Everyone knows

32:53

what happens in the trial. The

32:55

trial was based on that. The summons?

32:58

The crime without charge? The logic

33:00

that evades the accused. Oh, that's

33:02

ridiculous. Shame on you. It was

33:04

just the seeds of the idea.

33:06

The seeds, the first tiny zygotic

33:08

trifling seeds. Well. Okay,

33:11

great. Now, as you can see,

33:13

Franz is now gazing miserably out

33:15

the window on his way back

33:17

to Prague. So, if you're

33:19

all quiet, we can sit here and

33:21

watch him. Sorry?

33:26

I don't see anything. Just go ahead and

33:29

do what you do. Stan,

33:32

Mr. Please. That's right.

33:37

Yeah, I don't think I like him

33:39

anymore. Shafts

33:43

of daylight along the

33:46

station platform. Through hissing

33:48

steam and tobacco smoke, the

33:50

shapes of gray uniforms move

33:53

faceless through clouds. Franz!

33:57

Oh, ottler. So,

34:01

what did I miss? D dad

34:10

singing his military songs every night he

34:12

doesn't realise how bad it will be for business. Everyone's

34:15

getting conscripted or signed up

34:18

Oh even Elly and Valley's husband's but Elly's

34:20

only just had a child Elly and Valley

34:22

have moved back in with us. I know

34:25

these sisters are back. Oh

34:28

buddy such a cootchie pudgy little baby baby

34:31

don't pull that face. Can I see? Oh sorry.

34:35

Yes here's little honker.

34:38

You won't sleep. You won't

34:40

sleep. And you? I'm

34:42

enjoying agricultural college and

34:45

dad knows someone who's selling a farm. He's

34:47

never going to let you take it over

34:49

alone. Our crops, friends, hands in the earth

34:52

food and wartime scarce. So

34:56

it's over then. You and Felice?

34:59

Yes. Okay. What

35:02

now? I lose myself

35:04

in work or go

35:06

mad. Aww don't be such a

35:08

defeatist. Educated man like you can do both. I'm

35:12

going to join on. You on the front line.

35:15

Eating your little nuts and seeds like

35:17

a squirrel. Mortars and gunfire? You

35:19

say the canaries give you insomnia? I can't

35:22

face it anymore. It? Any

35:25

of it. Oh friends come on. Shake

35:27

that. We'll get a coffee. Come

35:29

on we've got plenty of time before we see the folks. The

35:37

light through the leaves greenish.

35:41

Two faces dappled sunlit.

35:44

Why didn't you sign up? I

35:46

tried. 1916

35:49

August. A resort in Maria

35:51

M. Checkers, Slovakia. Two

35:53

guests from the hotel take a walk in

35:55

a park. It's been two years since they

35:57

last saw each other. The

36:01

first two times, they wouldn't have me. Health

36:03

reasons. Eventually they became

36:06

so desperate, only a letter from my manager

36:08

stopped them. I was,

36:10

I am, apparently, indispensable at

36:12

my desk. But,

36:14

I mean, why, Franz? The

36:17

absolute horror of it. I

36:20

know. I saw, I see. By

36:22

the time I reach my desk, every morning

36:24

I've walked past two or three

36:26

dozen men. Amputies,

36:29

boys with barely a face, grown

36:31

men with tremors, hysterical

36:34

screaming. All there,

36:36

outside my office door, freshly returned,

36:38

despairing for any kind of

36:41

compensation from the government. And

36:43

still you wanted to fight? I thought

36:45

I'd get it over with. It? Whatever's

36:47

happening, or coming, maybe

36:50

I'd just have less time for this. Me. She

36:54

takes his arm. Do you mind if we stop

36:56

here? It's

36:58

beautiful. The water, in

37:00

the light, and everything. It's

37:04

a strange business. No

37:06

tourists anywhere. Not just at the hotel,

37:08

I mean. Anywhere in Europe. I turned

37:11

it all over and over. Sometimes

37:14

it takes the whole bloody falling apart

37:17

of everything for one to really, finally

37:20

breathe, you know? Everything

37:22

dissolves in war. Our roles,

37:24

the regrets, the crushing

37:26

expectations. Do you not think? Well.

37:32

Well. Perhaps less so

37:34

for you. I was

37:36

surprised you invited me. I was

37:39

surprised you accepted. And glad, of

37:41

course. You know, you

37:43

actually look glad. It's

37:46

very beautiful. The river.

37:50

Letters are monologues at heart, aren't they?

37:53

There's no risk of letting anything slip by accident.

37:56

No risk at all, really. No,

37:59

it doesn't matter now, though, does it? What part?

38:01

I don't know any of it.

38:03

All of it. Whatever bits we like. Come

38:06

on. What? Chews off.

38:10

Are we swimming? We are paddling

38:12

anyway. Darling

38:24

Atla, Felice joined me

38:26

here on holiday last week. And

38:28

since things couldn't possibly become any

38:30

worse, they got better. Wiping

38:33

her hands on her apron, Atla

38:35

receives the letter from the postman.

38:39

Chickens collect around her feet. The

38:42

ropes with which I was bound loosened.

38:46

And Felice, who has always

38:48

held out her hands to me in

38:50

my utter helplessness, helped.

38:54

And we came to a human understanding I

38:56

have never known before. We

38:59

have decided again to marry. Don't

39:02

laugh. This time at the end

39:04

of the war. Then we

39:06

shall rent a two bed apartment in

39:08

Berlin and each assume responsibility for his

39:11

own finances. The

39:13

happiness of these past six days will

39:16

forever be one of the

39:18

greatest unsolved mysteries of

39:20

my life. Lights

39:25

down on the farmer in

39:27

her cold stone cottage, her

39:29

glass of milk, her dirty

39:31

hands, and smile.

39:38

August the 11th, 1917. 4am. From

39:44

troubled dreams, the man stares.

39:47

He is at home. Something is

39:49

wrong. Nothing.

39:52

He doesn't move. Then he

39:55

sits upright, urgent, panicked. Nothing.

40:00

Pause. He

40:02

waits. Was it a dream?

40:05

Moving in his chest, in his breathing, in his

40:07

mouth? He runs to the

40:09

washstand. Something is welling in his throat.

40:12

OK. You're

40:14

OK. His passing...

40:18

It's... Oh,

40:24

hell. He lights the lamp he

40:26

uses to read in bed. Bloody.

40:31

Then he turns back to his bed, and

40:33

he and it and the bedroom disappear. Out

40:41

of the darkness, lights up on

40:43

a man. He

40:45

stands in front of his housekeeper.

40:47

It is morning. The water in

40:50

his washstand, his nightshirt, the pillow,

40:52

the sheets, the mattress, the streaked,

40:55

and daubed in red. You're

40:57

going to die. But

41:00

I slept well. This

41:05

illness is different. I know

41:07

I sound like someone who claims to have

41:09

fallen in love, saying, this is true, everything

41:11

before was a mere fancy. But

41:14

this illness is true. Everything

41:16

before was mere fancy. Yet nothing

41:19

certain. With changes to your

41:21

daily life, your diet, with

41:23

modern medicine, people recover from the most

41:26

extraordinary maladies these days. And

41:28

you and I can still meet? The doctor has

41:30

been very clear. We can't be together.

41:33

Not the kind of togetherness a marriage

41:35

would necessitate. Do

41:38

you know what he said I should do? What? Give

41:41

up smoking and drinking. Give up

41:43

red meat. I

41:45

told him I don't do those things. He

41:48

looked at me as if that were my problem. I

41:51

left myself nothing to give up. What

41:53

will you do? Hautler has moved

41:55

to the country. You're going to

41:57

be a farmer. You? I'm

42:00

going to be a farmer's wife. To

42:05

dark in Berlin and in Prague.

42:10

There nothing until a station

42:12

platform, steam and

42:14

soldiers and smoke. A

42:16

train porter bears the invalid suitcase,

42:19

the invalid nods to the train

42:21

and says, Just pop the coffin

42:23

on board, please. The

42:27

carriage clattering. Here

42:29

at the window, the man who was

42:32

always chased by death is

42:34

now dying. The world

42:36

outside is gone and there is

42:38

only his reflection to see. He

42:41

is at ease. The

42:44

train tunnels through the emptiness. The

42:46

light at the rear of the train judders,

42:49

flickers, rowing tinier,

42:52

thinner. Then

42:54

vanishes. And

42:57

so goes into the

42:59

darkness, the

43:01

light. Out

43:12

of the darkness, one last

43:14

image. Marilyn

43:16

Monroe's multi-story legs and

43:19

sky-high white dress flip-flapping.

43:22

An advertisement for the seven-year itch.

43:26

And below the streets,

43:28

lost in fog, jug-a-jug

43:30

with broad-bonneted chevroness. Los

43:33

Angeles, 1955. Opposite

43:37

the advertisement, an apartment.

43:41

Inside, a woman, a Berliner,

43:44

is looking at letters. For

43:46

the last time. In

43:48

1919, Felice married a

43:51

banker, Moritz. They

43:54

are lucky. They came

43:56

to America and escaped the horror,

43:58

the trenches, the ghetto. and

44:00

pits and camps, the chambers. They

44:04

are lucky. Kafka

44:06

died of tuberculosis in 1924,

44:10

his parents ten years later, natural

44:13

causes. They

44:16

are lucky. Ottler

44:19

and the other sisters, Ellie

44:21

and Valli, are not.

44:26

At the end of the last letter, a note

44:28

from the man, long dead. One

44:32

last thing, he writes. There

44:34

were times when you looked at me

44:36

and something higher seemed to break through,

44:39

but, as in all other respects,

44:42

I was too feeble to hold on to it.

44:47

There are five years of letters.

44:50

The release is 67, a widow

44:52

now. Until recently, she

44:54

was working 11-hour days at her knitting

44:56

shop, but she has, this year,

44:58

had a minor stroke, in time

45:00

there will be more, bigger ones too.

45:05

It's her son, all grown up,

45:07

who's talked her into selling the man's

45:09

letters. Every little helps, the

45:11

bill, someone to come in for the

45:13

cleaning, bathing, maybe one day a

45:15

home, you know the thing. It's

45:19

only after the man's letters are sold

45:22

that she will refer to their writer for

45:24

the first time as my

45:29

friends. In

45:37

Franz and Felice by Ed Harris,

45:39

Franz was played by Ashley Margolis,

45:42

Felice by Abigail Weinstock, and a

45:44

narrator was Anton Lesser. Otler

45:47

was Anna Spearpoint, the

45:49

guide Claire Corbett, Max

45:51

Ian Dunart Jr. and

45:53

Greta was Lillianne Lefkoe. The

45:57

director was Sasha Yeftechenko. It

46:00

was a BBC Studios audio production

46:03

for Radio 4. This

46:10

is a story about one of

46:13

Britain's most revered institutions and

46:17

the theft of ancient treasures that were sold

46:19

around the world. It felt like a

46:21

real punch to the stomach. My God, things are being stolen

46:23

from our museum. I'm Katie

46:25

Rassell, and from BBC Radio 4, this

46:28

is Thief at the British Museum.

46:33

At the heart of our tale

46:35

is an antiquities dealer turned amateur

46:37

detective thrown into the centre of

46:39

a global scandal. I

46:42

was shocked. I remember that, thinking my

46:44

hair stood on it. Search

46:47

for Shadow World, Thief at the

46:49

British Museum, on BBC Sounds. Welcome

46:55

to The Bright Side, a new kind

46:58

of daily podcast from Hello Sunshine, hosted

47:00

by me, Danielle Robé, and me, Simone

47:02

Boyce. Every weekday, we're bringing you conversations

47:04

about culture, the latest trends, inspiration, and

47:07

so much more. We'll

47:11

hear from celebrities, authors,

47:13

experts, and listeners like you. Bring a little optimism

47:16

into your life with The Bright Side. Listen to

47:18

The Bright Side from Hello Sunshine on the iHeartRadio

47:20

app or

47:22

wherever you get your podcasts.