Despair Page #3

Good riddance.

Surely the unemployed should be

able to share what's available.

When unemployed increases,

then the share decreases.

When it doubles, they should get half.

- That's a bit rough, sir.

- Well...

you have to take the rough with the smooth.

If the government could

reduce unemployment to about...

...oh, a dozen,

they would be billionaires.

Have you joined

the boy scouts or something?

Do you mind me wearing

uniform in the office, sir?

No, not at all.

Most appropriate,

a chocolate-colored jacket.

This chocolate...

this chocolate tastes, um...

Bitter?

What are you doing?

It's Saturday. We're waiting for you.

We're going to the lake.

Don't you remember?

You said you wanted to draw me.

Will you wait a minute?

La Boheme, huh?

Is this your contribution

to political art?

Oh... no, no. No, no, no.

That was done by the housekeeper's son.

He is interested in politics.

You can have it.

- 35 marks.

- No thank you.

Get dressed, Ardalion.

Liddy?

Ardalion!

Come!

Let's start.

Start what?

Oh... oh. Start the art, huh?

Are you in a hurry?

Yes. I'm in a hurry.

By the way...

you've got a tricky face, Hermann.

Would you consider my face unusual?

The modern school.

It looks a bit like Hermann.

It looks more like Hermann

than Hermann himself.

And all's right with the world.

Oh, please!

- Have one of these!

- So kind.

All in order.

And, frankly, it's a bargain.

The premiums were set a year ago

and are well below

under the actuarial reality.

- And what kind of reality is that?

- To me, the only kind.

And, to you, it's not reality

at all:
a statistical probability.

Do you mean the probability of my sudden

death has increased in the last year?

No. Statistically.

Oh... political riots and

violence in the street.

And violence in the families. Violence...

violence in the houses and... violence,

- even in the Reichstag and so on and so on.

- But I am a foreigner in this land.

It would be presumptuous of me

to have a political opinion...

And bad manners...

to express it.

Insurance is above politics.

The Brownshirts and the Communists

and... the immigrants...

and Chancellor Brning, himself:

They're all equal...

under the slide rule.

Each man's risk gravitates to the mean...

One premium for all:

according to age and health.

Is the Chancellor a customer of yours?

Oh, no!

As a matter of fact, he wouldn't be

considered such a good risk at the moment.

Trying to force a budget through

the Reichstag by presidential decree...

well, it's not considered

good for the health.

I think you're so clever!

- Oh, please. Have some more wine.

- Thanks.

You don't have to worry about Brning.

He is firmly in the saddle.

You don't think there will

be an election this year?

No chance. He's got Hindenburg behind

him and the army behind Hindenburg.

Why don't you ever talk like that to me?

Brning can count

on the Social Democrats,

on the Nationalists, and

on the National Socialists

who will vote against

the Brownshirts and the Bolshies.

But the National Socialists

are the Brownshirts.

- You are a stupid idiot.

- So what, clever dick?

You can forget about them.

What did they get at the last election?

Three percent:
twelve seats.

There you are!

I know what I'm talking about!

But if there is an election,

that will let the extremists in.

There will be no election.

I fear the National Socialists.

Oh! What can you expect of Bolsheviks?

Nazis, not Communists.

As far as I'm concerned,

a Socialist is a Socialist.

Listen. The National Socialists

are against the Socialists...

and also against the Nationalists.

That's stupid!

It doesn't make sense!

And the People's Party

is against the people!

Stop it!

What do you think, Hermann?

I don't think, Lydia.

I've just insured my life.

Here's to my long and happy life.

It looks like Hermann...

in Ardalion's cesspit mind.

Snap!

- Don't waste time. Your turn.

- That's for me!

No, it's mine! Oh, yes...

- Snap!

- Forfeit! That's the Queen!

- Where is the masterful one going?

- I forget.

It sounded like a hat.

Come back and play!

- Panama!

- What?

There is only one city

in the world like a hat.

Don't be sillies!

Where are you going, dear?

- Oh! There's another one! Hamburg.

- That's it!

Not so far.

- Overnight, though?

- Oh!

My tummy is feeling funny.

I think I'll spend the whole time in bed.

- Your tummy is feeling funny, Lydia?

- Yes.

- Perhaps too much gogel-mogel, yeah?

- Yeah...

I wasn't... I wasn't sure if

I'd remember you but...

but, as soon as I saw you,

I remembered everything...

except the mustache.

There are... there aren't...

There aren't any sparrows here this year.

They had to be destroyed. They all...

They all got parrot fever

or something like...

like that.

I like sparrows! I... I like sparrows.

I... I understand them.

Street painters.

I like squirrels, too,

and moles are all right.

I'd like the world to be full of

squirrels and moles because...

they are against landlords.

You are a philosopher.

Philosophy is an invention of the rich.

So is religion... poetry.

I don't believe in love either.

Now...

friendship...

that's a different thing.

I'd like to have a friend.

I'd work for him...

as a gardener.

And afterwards, his garden

would become mine, and...

I'd live in joy, and...

in joy and dignity... and in...

...in a natural state.

So what do you want?

I told you. I am a film star...

You are a storyteller!

Felix, please.

Felix, Felix, now...

now listen.

Do you know what a double is?

No.

But you have been to the cinema?

Well... yes.

When I want to spend money, I find

something better than the pictures.

Thank God most people don't feel as you do,

otherwise my profession would be in ruins.

What profession is that?

I told you. I am a film actor.

Ah, yeah.

A double, Felix, is a person who,

in an emergency, can stand in...

for a given actor.

Now, imagine this situation... Come.

Imagine this:

I, a film actor, am about to make

a film in which I have to play twins.

- I saw a film with uh...

- Would you please let me finish?

Thank you.

Sometimes that means that I must be at

both ends of the screen at the same time.

A bare-faced swindler.

I once saw a film with twins.

You only saw them one at a time...

except when there was

a line down the middle.

Are you listening to me?

Go on.

Imagine another situation.

The film is finished. Hmm?

There is only one last shot to do...

where the hero has to drive his car

past... but he cannot do it because...

because he's ill, has a cold,

has the flu... he's in bed and ill.

And the double has to do it.

But the audience is none the wiser.

And the double has

100 marks in his pocket.

Are you following me?

It's unkind of you to

pull a poor man's leg.

I am offering you... uh...

money beyond your

wildest dreams of avarice

and a job beyond your

fondest dreams of idleness.

We need each other.

It seems you need me.

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