The Door

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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

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