Despair Page #2

All right. Tell me then.

She never quite...

puts out her cigarette.

- Orlovious!

- Huh?

My friend says you look like a quack.

He wants to speak to you.

Well, I have more reason than most...

Then you mean you are?

Oh, my dear sir!

Would you mind just talking

shop to me for a moment?

- Not at all but, uh...

- Please, do sit down.

- Thank you.

- No, thank you.

What do you know...?

What do you know about

this subject:
dissociation? Huh?

The, uh... the split person...

The man who stands... outside himself.

I'm thinking of writing a book about

such a person. Maybe two books.

What... what... what does it mean?

What is known about it?

What do you think it means?

Does it only happen when you are drunk?

Me?

What do you make of that... Doctor?

- Sex or violence?

- Oh, please!

Oh, please! Or tell him

he's in love with his mother.

And why shouldn't I be?

She was beautiful and refined.

Pure Russian... of old, princely stock.

I remember, in the summer,

she used to wear lilac silk...

and sit in a rocking chair,

fanning herself.

I seem to hear Chopin.

Rather badly played...

It is myself... at the piano,

under the careful eye

of Frau Schiller, my governess.

Still talking politics?

This is Dr. Orlovius and my name

is Hermann and this is my wife.

- Mr. Orlovius.

- You're not a doctor?

I am in the insurance business.

- But surely you implied that you--

- That I don't mind talking shop.

Tell me. Do you have a life policy?

No?

Then perhaps I might explain

some of the advantages.

"Come on out, Silverman! --

We've got you surrounded!"

"Isn't that Sergeant Brown?"

"That's my brother.

I'm going to talk to him."

- How do they do it?

- There's a line down the middle.

This cherry brandy is disgusting, Hermann!

"Don't you ever think of mother?"

I can't see any line!

- A line has length but no breadth.

- Beautiful.

"The many tears she has shed have

washed the life from her eyes."

If you could see it,

it wouldn't be a line.

It would have breadth!

"Mother always loved you more than

me. All the more since the accident."

The fact you can't see it,

proves it's a line.

Too much sugar in the schnapps, Hermann.

Change the recipe. That's my advice.

Give me your hanky, p*ssy!

Hanky, dear!

"He's dead."

"That's not Sergeant Brown.

It's Silverman."

"He's dead. We always

respected you, Sergeant Brown."

Good morning, Mr. Hermann.

Good morning, sir.

The liquor centers are not moving well.

Two consignments have

been returned already.

Not enough sugar in the schnapps.

Hello, you!

I've seen you before somewhere.

Your face.

In the cinema.

I never go to the cinema.

Don't lie to me. I know.

If you're not coming to bed,

you could at least bring me my book!

Please!

Thank you, Elsie.

Lydia?

Lydia!

I'm thinking of going to Dusseldorf

for a couple of days.

- Where's that?

- In the Ruhr.

- Is that in Germany?

- For the moment, yes.

Something important happening?

A chocolate factory is

on the verge of going bankrupt...

And I am going to do a murder.

A murder?

Merger.

I shall gobble them up!

Hermann, you're wonderful!

But I'll be terribly lonely without you.

Why don't you get Ardalion to amuse you?

Isn't that what cousins are for?

I made a small donation.

Those are the only people not

prepared to sell us down the river.

This is an unusual line. Ginger creams!

It appeals to sophisticated tastes.

How many hours a day

are these machines idle?

I'll tell you frankly:

Until last year, the problem was staff.

There were plenty of

better paid jobs around.

Now I can have

all the people I want, but...

sales are down.

What's the answer?

It's murder!

Merger. Ah, yeah.

The wrong people have got the money.

You know what I mean?

If that man was in charge,

things would be different.

- Hugenberg?

- No. Well...

they're all working together,

but Hugenberg...

he's too soft... too sophisticated.

Ginger cream... hmm?

An Easter novelty.

Very popular.

Chocolate men... like puppets.

Not the usual clumsy things.

Two Easters would put

a chocolate business back on its feet.

There's a lot of potential here, Hermann.

Let me sleep on it.

Tomorrow is another day.

Tomorrow is the same day

in my experience.

I'll call the hotel.

Look...

Is Hermann your first name

or your surname?

What you like:

Hermann Hermann Hermann

Hermann and hum?

My father was a German

speaking Russian from Ravel.

My mother was a Rothschild.

On their wedding day,

he gave her rubies.

Her dowry was her own weight...

in gold coins.

The investigation proved

them to be chocolate.

My father died of grief,

my mother of diabetes.

I inherited the balance

of the chocky-wocks...

and I have never looked back!

My wife is a Finkelberg.

And her dowry...

was her weight.

Most of my information...

comes from forged documents.

As is my fate.

When the war started,

I procured some papers

which stated that I was

a Blackshirt... fighting the Reds...

in the White Army.

But after Revolution,

I got out...

as a Caucasian...

fighting the Brownshirts...

in the Red Army.

All I really am...

is just a yellow belly

in a brown hat.

But I'm holding on for myself.

Mr. Hermann?

I have decided.

Keep your f***ing sheckles!

- Don't you see anything?

- What's up?

What's the idea?

Are you blind, or...?

You have my face.

If you say so, mister.

But the rich man never quite

resembles a poor man.

With a haircut and a shave,

we would be indistinguishable.

The price of a haircut and shave

would come in very handy.

Mister!

You got a match?

Couldn't you find... some work for me?

Hmm?

You know we are... we are strangers.

We have, as... as you might say, a...

a bond.

- You can see it?

- Yes.

We are as alike as... as two peas.

It's a freak of nature.

Will you turn sideways please?

Oh... excuse me... look this way.

I stand before me.

I'm all right for the summer.

I like travelling.

Picking up this and that.

But come the autumn...

The chromosomatic scale

is dotted to infinity,

- But nature's prone to doubles.

- It's amazing.

- About this job...

- Where will I find you?

This autumn I'm sure to be at the same

village where I worked last year,

near Hamburg.

- You could write to me at the post office.

- Oh? ...well...

- I'll write it down for you.

- Thank you.

Felix.

Weber.

Hamburg.

I hope your trip was successful, sir.

These are difficult times, Frau Schmidt.

Yes, Sir.

Did you hear that

Mr. Mller had resigned?

No.

How could he resign...

without telling me?

- Telling you, sir?

- Yes, me.

Am I mad? Do I own this factory?

Or am I some tramp?

Wandering around, looking for a job?

Oh. Not our Mr. Mller.

I mean the chancellor.

The government has resigned.

Oh, the government...

- Hello!

- Hello?

You are still giving

an excellent performance.

Bravo.

Have you forgotten your place?

No.

Mller...

Why did the government resign?

Mller wanted to cut unemployment

benefits and got voted out.

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