Bildnis einer Trinkerin. Aller jamais retour (1979) - full transcript

She, a woman of great beauty,

of antique grace
and raphaelic harmony,

a woman, created like no other,

to be Medea, Madonna, Beatrice,
Iphigenia, Aspasia,

decided one sunny winter day
to leave LA ROTONDA.

She bought a one-way

ticket to Berlin-Tegel.

Good morning, madam,
can I help you?

Good morning.

I would like to have a seat reserved
for the next

possible flight to Berlin, please.



One way or no return?

One way — no return.

One way — no return.

She wanted to forget her past,
rather leave it

like a house to be demolished.

To concentrate all her strength
on one affair. Her affair.

It was her desire to finally follow
her destiny.

Berlin, a city completely foreign to her,

seemed to be the place
to live out her passion.

Her passion was to drink —
live to drink —

a drunken life —
Life of a drunkard.

Upon landing at Berlin-Tegel
she's made a decision

that was irrevocable.

Thanks to a Berlin brochure,
given to her



by a friendly stewardess,

she decided to set up
a drinking schedule.

The detailed description
of a sightseeing tour

gave her assistance
and comprehensive help.

She decided to do a sort of
boozer's sightseeing.

Briefly, sightseeing for her
personal needs.

Berlin seemed to be just right
in a special way for her purpose.

Her plans for a narcissistic
worship of loneliness

had become deepened
on the short flight

and intensified to the point
where they enter a stage

worthy of living,
not to risk losing them

in realms of phantasies.

Now the time had come

to make it all come true.

Berlin-Tegel — Reality —

Berlin-Tegel, please — Reality.

Berlin welcome the ladies:

Common Sense, Social Question,
Exact Statistics.

You are expected
at the information desk.

The three ladies, Common Sense,
Exact Statistics

and Social Question,
please go to the information desk.

Fucking pig!

You knocked down all I own!

Fucking bastard!

Have you ever been told

that you look like
a flap-eared gawk?

Got a moustache too,
Mr. Schnauzer!

You're arrogant too,
Schnauzer, you're a swine!

Ruined Everything! Shit!

Please consider that fatal accidents
caused by pedestrians

under the influence of alcohol
amounted to 14% in 1972

and at least 40% of all fatal
road accidents

were due to alcohol.

A blessing in disguise!

The taxi driver seems
to be more like

an unobtrusive drunkard.

Schnauzer! What an asshole!
Everything broken!

Cheat! Crook!

Madam?

Ten marks only for the whole pack!

25, and once more...

Ladies and gentlemen,

baccara can begin.

Please take your
reserved seats.

But consider, my dear,
the emancipated woman

is often insecure and more prone
to alcohol.

Let's keep to the statistics.

This is an extrapolation...

that was made during
a survey in the Bremen area

in 1973...

She never shook hands,

didn't say hello or goodbye,

and she never seemed to hear
"How do you do?"

Berlin will always be Berlin.

Take a city tour...

I'll get your material in time.

... write postcards...

What shall we have?

Pepita?

Yes, 3 Pepitas, please.

To speak of damage from alcoholism
of its various kinds

in marks and pfennigs...

It's a matter of values,
not figures.

... is of special interest to us,
because...

public opinion is more impressed
by figures.

For the necessity of preventive
or rehabilitating measures

against alcohol abuse,
it's insignificant,

whether millions are affected
or millions of marks are spent.

The unknown quantity is also
of importance.

There are always errors in statistics.

But 26%...

Can't you forget figures for a moment

and remember the congress in Kenya

when the little blackmoor served us

a huge banana ice cream
shaped like a swan?

The group of housewives
without other work

represents the majority of alcoholics
with 39.2%.

But amongst the chronic alcoholics
there are

many people with an unstable
character that is

more likely the cause
of their behavior.

In large cities the number
of alcoholics

is said to be 18 to 20%,
for youngsters under 25

it is estimated at 8 to 9%.

Critical milieu punishes the loss
of self-control

with social isolation.

Women over 40 are particularly at risk.

That's the menopause.

There are no statistics

of the money spent
on social assistance.

Statistics! Did you know that between
New York and Moscow

only 10% of the population
is abstinent?

Yes, unfortunately alcohol
has become a status symbol.

This one's good, madam.

Cognac? It's good.

... the well-groomed lady
partial to cognac...

... the ravages caused
by chronic...

That's tasty.

It's my trolley, madam.

Conflict situations
and abnormal attitudes

lead woman, more often than men,
to inebriety.

Unfortunately,
there are no standardized statistics

about the expenditures
of public assistance.

By the way, did you know that between
Moscow and Los Angeles

only 10% of the people
are abstinent?

Yes, alcoholism has become
a status symbol.

The way into an alcoholic subculture
is treaded

the moment the drunkard is thrilled
by alcohol

and tries to repeat this experience.

... brought about...

Now, there it goes!

Get out! Scram!

Disgusting! Women getting drunk
in public!

People always want something better.

They want to change us.

But they didn't succeed, madam.

You're so lovely, madam,
I always have to say so.

You're so lovely.

If my poor mother knew,
my poor mother.

That I... here.

You've got a nice place.

You must be rich, madam.

Madam...

you know society...

doesn't want us, madam.

They drove us nuts

because they don't want us.

But I don't want them either, madam.

Some vitamins, madam?

I nearly choked.

The wine tastes good, madam.

Riesling...

Late vintage. Oh God.

What am I to do with it?
Eat it? Oh God.

They killed Marilyn too, madam.

God, it's so beautiful here, madam.
I'll move in.

You're so kind to me.
Why are you so kind?

RICH FOREIGNER
WENT BERSERK IN MÖHRING

Better than Bahnhof Zoo?

Is she afraid of spoiling
her hairdo?

I dare not do
what you are doing, madam.

I'm far too ugly.

Never been pretty.

I look quite different.

Never been so pretty, madam.

I always thought
you didn't want me.

I've never been so pretty, never,
in all my life.

I always had to push the trolley.

Once I want to kick over the trace
will you then be at that place?

I want to drink
and stay out of bed madly,

with no regrets.

Once to care no straw
for the world...

once to feel as if I'd been purled.

Drink at a stretch,
two times or three

tell me, are you with me?

I spent many times
lots of taxi-dimes,

drove along "Spree" river and
right through the bandy lakes,

hear the moneymeter sound
see the driver count.

I am here, yes, I'm here,
I am here!

Let's drink till late,
let's jubilate!

Gin, wine and brandy
come in so handy.

Late to bed and late to rise
makes a woman drunk and wise!

I stood in the snowfall

drunk after all.

I saw a taxi coming by

and I shouted,
gave it a try but it drove by.

Left me standing in the snow.

Then I was raped,

but the police didn't believe me.

The swine! The swine!

These swine! They're all assholes!

This squalor!

Vodka Tamara, Vodka Natasha,
peppermint liqueur...

Cognac!

Own brand.

Well, personally I like to drink
Meisterkorn and aquavit, they're good.

I'd say super.

Cognac, straight?

No water, no soda, no ice?

Cognac always without water,
soda or ice.

Cognac is always straight, miss.

But I know lots of people

who drink cognac with extras,
with ice and soda.

That's not right!

Cognac always straight.

Cheers!

Well, I think egg flip
or cherry brandy

are also good drinks.
I like to drink them.

Well, OK.

You've changed.

Everybody does now and then.

I drink all I can get.

May I pass it over?

Cheers!

Stark naked, dead tired,
lemon-sweet, chicoballo,

foolish, daring, dull, angelic,

eloquent green, pale as pale,
pale yellow, finely nested,

finely polished, fluffy,
fluffy-hard, fruit-fruity,

gall-gallant, gall-of-age,
finish-off, real-weird,

thundery-bitter, glass-cloudy,

bell-dark, half-eyed, half-nosed,
army-mad, homely,

sky-red, heaven and earth,
flat-busted, flat-liquid,

sparse hair, intact, in the width,
go broke,

very happy, very funny, very lovely,
yo-ho yo-ho,

just baked, just proven,
just divorced, funnily upset,

funny-sad, funny mood, cosmelegic,
cosmelodic,

cos-humane, cosmic, cos-mossy,
liquid corpse,

happy as death, runny,
easily rusting, easily aroused...

Who's the lady?

Have you also read Gertrude Stein,
Eddie?

Words...

I think the ladies are lost.

Abandoning closing time
opens the door to vice.

Berlin is known as a center
of homosexuality.

The homosexual subculture

is basically a recreational pastime.

The attitude towards them varies
from place to place.

In Bavaria every third person
doesn't like homosexuals.

In Hessen and Hamburg
only 13 or 14%.

How interesting.

We still only know
a little about it.

Have they acquired femininity
or masculinity

or been born like it?

I think that vivisection...

Vivisection?

... would help us further.

Right, Kinsey tell us
that lesbian contacts

have been observed amongst mice,
rats, antelopes,

mares, rabbits, hamsters, pigs,
guinea-pigs...

Do you want to dance?

... chimpanzees.

To be, or not to be:

that is the question.

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind
to suffer

the slings and arrows
of outrageous fortune,

or

to take arms against a sea
of troubles...

What did they have in mind?

The leading man is completely drunk.

But it's a man part!

It doesn't justify such a lack
of discipline,

especially in a classical play.

... and by a sleep to say we end

the heart-ache and the thousand
natural shocks

that flesh is heir to,
'tis a consummation.

Devoutly to be wish'd.

To die, to sleep; To sleep:

perchance to dream...

Do you remember last May we had...

the lamp...

She's written small letters
for the 5th time!

What's that?
What are you doing?

That's for the customers only!

Miss! We are a small

but an old-established

and respected, reliable firm.

And the same sense of responsibility
I have

for my, for our firm,

I demand from each employee.

From you first of all.

You're not only my secretary,

you can't write anyway,

but also the receptionist.

You don't only have to look good,
you've got to use your senses too.

Assuming I'd visit you at home,

if you have one,
and I'd open the fridge,

take out the wine and drink it.

What would you call that?

It's stealing. In this case stealing
the firm's property.

What do you say?
Can't you defend yourself?

You smell of the bottle!

You're blind drunk!

How many bottles do you drink?

Stop it!

Look at me!

Listen to what I have to tell you.

That you hang with your ass
onto this chair,

you owe to me.

Without my power,
my persistence and stability

this firm wouldn't exist.

I've had to forgo a lot
to make this firm successful.

Or do you think I had wine like this
20 years ago?

I won't have my success
destroyed by anyone.

Least of all by you.

Irresponsible drunkard!

That's enough!

That will do!

Stop! Out! Out!
Finish! Finito!

Out! Get out!

You're fired!

No net and drunk as well!

Here's a living example of how
permanent disability

arises from damage to people
and property

resulting in a financial
loss of billions.

We sociologists point out continuously

that these factors are so important
for the...

If you want to recommend
a top product to consumers,

then strategic.

Act strategic?

Strategic advantages
against competitors

can be gained by:
position, strength, time.

Position.

Strength.

Time.

The only way to get hold
of the consumer.

To build up and independent
beverage brand

you have to choose a name

that the consumer connects
with what he hasn't got.

Harmony, love, security,

and what he wants to achieve:
success, superiority, exclusiveness.

Harmony.

Love.

Security.

Success.

Superiority.

Exclusiveness!

Your drink, the aperitif,
is that sweet reward

which the individual allows himself

after a long working day.

My analysis of the elastic zones would

recommend the following names
for your product:

To simplify matters we'll
call the product X.

These elastic

associations enable
the exactly determined

consumer of your specific target group
to retreat to an island

of emotional safeness.

The consumer has to be convinced
by this action

to succeed in reharmonising himself
by your beverage.

Reharmonising himself!

The continuous trend
to individualization

within the exclusiveness
of undisturbed harmony,

is facilitated by your product
and conveys

safety and superiority
in a private area.

Private area?

You have to tempt
with romantic idylls,

don't forget, exotic is far,
your drink is near.

Childhood dreams and flight into
free time

are the most important arguments
of your campaign.

Not pleasure gained by aggression
but by regression.

Pleasure gain?

If you act like that and soften up
the consumer,

he'll feel appealed to
and accept your drink

as a substitute for love.

Then we're already top.

From now on the consumer will start

to consume with cogency.

Cogency?

Cogency!

Alcohol in this job...
It had to end in tragedy.

Meanwhile it's become obvious
that alcohol

causes more deaths and far more
material damages

than accidents without alcohol.

Model 1001...

Solid domed coffin.

Of Oak.

White and red gerbera...

Decorative!

Only when there's room...

Or 451 E...

Oak!

Oak?

And oak chest.
Are other combinations possible?

Cover of yellow tulips and fern?

Or pansies...

That's extra.

Richly carved mahogany chest...

Gothic.

- Baroque!
- Gothic!

Model 250.

This small centerpiece
of red peonies.

Peonies, depends on the season.

Or plain layout.

Laying out!

The coffin must speak for itself.

Decorated by tall vases!

Copper vases.

Laid out on palms.

Laid out?

The bouquet from the near relatives.

Would enhance the noble line
of the coffin.

Or 452.

Solid mahogany.

Cyclam-colored orchids.

Cyclamen colored!

On request.

Model Europe...

- 240.
- Empire-style.

Timeless!

Give me two...

for the ladies.

Madam...

for you.

Cheers, ladies.

Welcome.

That's very sensible.

Your girlfriend...

Two more quick ones.

Is there a new supply?

No, I'd rather not leave her alone.

OK. Let's drink now,
just you and me.

My name's Willi.

- I'm a director, Director Willi.
- What of?

Let's have a drink and then...

I suggest we'll get...

... some fresh air.

Us two beauties.

Berlin air.

Then we'll see what happens,

perhaps we'll find places
better than this one.

We'll pay tomorrow.
Bye, Karl.

It's me, madam.

I'm your only friend, madam.

Stop that rubbish.

Come on.

You can't hurt me.

It's so posh here, madam.

Shouldn't we rather go
back to my place, madam?

Come on.

She never shook hands.

Never said hello or goodbye.

She never seemed to hear
"How do you do?"

As far as I know drunkards
they'd rather die than drink.

Wondrous plan,
to heighten a pleasure so that

it leads to death.

I recently spoke about it
with Lipsky, he said:

Our addictions are just
the Erinyes in the theater of cruelty.

I said: So we hate ourselves?

Yes, he said, it's not that bad.

I've a lot in common with Lipsky.

His self-destruction

is attitudinized.

But who's capable of living
otherwise than attitudinized?

That attitude is already
the severity.

Even on the deathbed some believe

themselves to be someone special,

to have been someone special.

That's when alcohol
should be prescribed,

I'm serious.

Again I think of Lipsky.

Laying on the floor
of a station pissoir he said

he regards his nervous system

as a sort of accordion.

Then the police came.

I'm an inventor, Lipsky said,

do you want to force me
to emigrate?

It's a real pity
that you won't see

the press conference,
dear colleague, but...

It's time to say goodbye.

You tarts!

You assholes!

... that amongst alcoholics there's
statistic proof of excessive mortality.

Even the suicide rate is higher
than in the entire population,

e.g. 12 times higher in Saxony,

up to 75 times higher in England.

Society tolerates no visible drinking
effects on women.

Due to the common moral principles

that drunkenness of men
in seen as masculine

and therefore judged positively,

whereas in women drunkenness
is regarded as degrading and repulsive.

No, no thanks.

Have you got the "SPIEGEL"?

The Ladies Journal please.

He who awakes clear-minded and fit
and says,

I'm the most undesired man
in the world,

is ripe for boozing.

He should dress, get on a bus,

go into town.

There he should go into a tavern,
a bar or,

as I've just seen in the movies,
a beer eldorado.

Everything else solves itself.

Generally the best of drinking is:

taking care of itself.

Drinkers are travelers,
who are being moved without moving.

You pick them up and move them.

You see the galaxy, I said.

Drinkers ruin themselves,
it's their self-sufficiency.

Statistics prove that cultures
under pressure to perform

have a permanent increase
of alcoholism.

Believe me, today the socio-ceremonial
function of alcohol

is more than ever
the center of interest.

Earlier, the social control
of aggressiveness took place

by community-supporting

and dept-relieving
sacramental ceremonies.

By giving alcohol
a religious symbolism.

In today's secularized society

cocktail parties assume
a similar function.

Incidentally, our next congress
"Mania and Abuse" in Copenhagen

will be opened with
a cocktail party.

Quite right.

Till then! I wish you
a pleasant journey to...

Bayrisch Eisenstein.

That's it, goodbye.

As you make your bed,
so you must lie on it.