Gasman (2019) - full transcript
Speedy, merciless and with plenty of black humor Gasman shows the picture of a man searching for his inner soul.
What is it? What?
What was I supposed to do?
What?
What?
I'm not guilty!
I'm not guilty!
It's something else. It's...
What is it?
I don't know.
It's something that's not me.
It is... what is it?
It's Nature's revenge growing inside me.
The play has ended.
Techies, lighting team
and stage crew to the stage, please.
Be careful.
Careful.
GASMAN
Hello my dear.
Hi.
Take a seat.
I can't believe it.
This is your role. You can't say no.
A Nazi...
You said I'd get a serious role this time.
That it's my time to shine.
I've always been
a supporting actor in recent years.
Uli, I can't do this anymore.
It's nothing other
than that crappy musical last year.
The stage director is Frank Winter.
It's his first theatre play.
This is gonna be exciting.
Just another guy
who has no idea about theatre.
Those film idiots
just want to make movies.
This play is radical. It's exactly
what you need in your situation.
What has that got to do with me?
Why don't you have a look at it?
The Gasman
What a title!
It's the first play
with original material from Goebbels ever.
What story do you want to tell?
The whole Nazi thing is worn out.
Two guys in a gas van for one hour.
All this Goebbels crap.
They collect gays, Jews
and disabled people. It's heavy on plot.
It's not the lead character.
It's the antagonist of the hero.
That's much more than your last role.
No comment.
Bernd, you can do it.
It's gonna be a huge success.
What's the matter?
Eh, that's not what we agreed upon.
When?
Bye, my little one.
I'm not little.
But the farmer who sows grain,
the blacksmith who shoes horses,
the lumberjack and the groom.
Yet, how real is reality?
So the eyes of the landscape look back.
But what do trees know
about our non-conversations?
Way too journalistic.
No poetry.
Nah, there's no beat.
I wanted it to be factual.
No, it's already close to transgression.
The first lines are still
a bit clumsy though.
A bit crude.
It's not resolute enough,
though it could be a chance.
You're close to something really big.
What? He'll find a publishing company,
if he continues like that.
Are you already talking
about commercial exploitation?
Well, that's what we're here for:
Art and commerce.
Dichotomy.
Just saying. Maybe an e-book.
No way.
A self-published hardcover.
But apart from that...
it's close.
The latest issue of the "Kiezfeger"!
Where?
Huh?
Where is it close?
Well, at the beginning.
After the tree part.
"Kiezfeger"!
Gentlemen, the "Kiezfeger"
with only five copies left for five...
Say, how old are you?
Huh?
Nineteen, twenty? Huh?
You speak German, you were born here.
Yes.
People are fleeing to Europe,
and you shuffle through the pubs
selling this grotty paper?
Get a grip, man!
Are your parents ashamed?
That's where the novel capital goes.
Lefty propaganda is bumf.
A fascist meeting.
What did you say?
He stands with refugees
and you lefty draw parallels to Fascism?
You have no say.
You've achieved nothing in your life!
What?
No arguments.
And you, shut up!
He's just trying
to help you find a solution.
Nazis.
Right.
I joined the Hitler Youth.
I know what critical reflection is.
It's not for the dropout
to name the sick system.
Loser.
Sick loser.
Hey, get a hold of your life.
Piss off!
Off to the refugee camp with you!
Affluent neglect!
First-world hobo.
Nazi.
What a slut.
A clear case of destructive thoughts.
A destructive man.
No creator.
No, not at all.
Motherfucker.
Which tree did you mean?
The beech.
What? There's no beech in the text.
Just hardwoods.
And a hazel nut bush.
Yeah, right!
My father only told it
after my grandparents had passed away.
I mean,
I always thought they were ill tempered,
but they just kept quiet
about it and kept going.
In silence.
Yes.
This structure of silence
is important for this play.
The good thing about theatre
is that you can work more freely.
You're not bound
by the constraints of the film industry,
where each day of filming costs? 20,000
and you just can't be too late.
I'm sorry.
Well, you're here now.
It's okay.
So, "The Gasman".
I'm Frank.
Bernd.
Bernd, this is Mathis. You
already know each other?
Yes.
This is Joachim, my cameraman.
We'll work a lot with videos.
We'll have six weeks of rehearsal
in this room. It's gonna be awesome.
Will we capture the rehearsals on camera?
Yes, we'll work a lot with mapping.
Mapping?
Mapping, 3D. That's the future.
They also use it in some Apple Stores.
Sounds good.
We were on page nine.
We'll start all over again for Bernd.
Yep.
Isn't this the first read-through?
Where are all the other actors?
I've split it.
Yesterday, I had the
first read with the victims
and today, it's the first
rehearsal with the ga
That's what the schedule says.
The gasmen will read the victims
and the victims read the gasmen.
It was great.
You'll read the woman.
Okay.
Good.
The two gasmen
are standing in front of a house.
Please don't take away my Peter.
Gasman 2 kicks away Peter's crook.
Peter collapses.
Gasman 1 stands next to him, smoking.
Do you believe in God?
No, I mean now.
In this second.
Here.
In this wasteland.
No?
Right. A spirited atheist
is more sympathetic
than an indifferent man-of-the-crowd.
She won't die.
Get on with it, don't stop.
You're a man of action. I like that.
She choked to death.
Gasman 1 stops throttling the woman.
She's dead.
Now in real time, please.
Man finds himself in the bowels of a
great machine devised for his destruction.
Why deny the master's plan?
At this depth
there's not merely community.
There's identity.
Cigarette?
Yes.
The men get into the gas van and disappear.
Okay.
We'll distribute the text another time.
That's a rather open process.
Mark, three widows and two orphans on
two pages... that's physically impossible.
It's going well for you, huh?
Johanna, the idea with
Instagram and Snapchat is brilliant.
Tip-top.
Just go ahead and do it.
Thanks Jochen.
I'd say the topic of the day is Korea.
Ulf, could you please make an interview
with the Asia expert Udo Steinbach?
Please get in touch with him
for an interview, okay?
Let's go!
Uh, Mark?
Do you have a second?
I'd like to talk to you.
Mark, I think it's time for Johanna
to get her own workplace.
Who?
Johanna.
You mean the intern?
The trainee.
Mark, I'll be honest with you.
I've already been watching you
for quite some time now.
And all I see
is a smoking employee in the backyard.
See, I believe in your potential.
Yet, I don't know what motivates you.
So here's my
constructive and creative idea:
I'll put Johanna beside you.
You'll benefit from each other.
Wait, you want the Twitter girl
to sit next to me?
That woman is online,
she's a digital native.
She's got what you are lacking.
She could work from anywhere she gets
free Wi-Fi for that little bit of Snapchat.
Hash tag sitting ban.
Hash tag final warning.
The people are not there for the offices,
the offices are there for the people.
One has to work until the work is done.
Could you please turn it off?
Joachim, turn it off.
That is a requirement of the war.
You don't listen, Bernhard.
My name is Bernd.
Bernd, you do nothing.
Yes, I do.
I'm listening.
Goebbels is your commander,
your hero, you are dedicated to him.
Yes.
I want to feel it... more!
I'd like to see your eyes glinting
with silent enthusiasm like Mathis'.
I don't want to ham it up. I rather
have a little secret inside my character.
What kind of secret?
That you're lazy?
Guys, "Downfall" was just the beginning,
this is "The Gasman".
Once again, please.
If the Führer can do that,
so can his paid employees.
Have you got a light?
How long did it actually take
to write "The Gasman"?
Including research... four years.
Uli?
I can't do this anymore.
Every hour feels like five.
They just put me in there
like a lamp and switch me on.
Gentlemen, your gas van.
That's no gas van.
It's a handcart with two lights.
No, it's a gas van.
No!
All I see is a man
in a Wehrmacht uniform pulling a handcart.
We already talked about it
during the first read.
Bodies and costumes are real.
Stage design and props
are rather abstract.
That's not abstract, that's crap.
I've come to collect your son.
I liked how you came in with the van.
But Bernhard, every time you open
your mouth the whole play collapses.
My name is Bernd.
Wait, I'll show you.
I've come to collect your son.
No acting required. Just do it.
No, without the cart. Just the text.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come...
I've come...
to collect your son.
To collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I'll make it easier for you.
Say yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes!
No, that's a no. Say yes.
Yes.
I'll make it even easier for you: Say no.
No.
That's a yes.
The rehearsal is over.
Mathis, I'd like to talk
to you about the text.
Sure.
Shit.
Fuck.
Stop!
To get where you want,
you have to pay 2.20€.
A short trip ticket would cost you 1.60€,
but you'll have to get off earlier.
1.60€?!
Yes, for short distances.
Next stop:
Am Sandtorkai
Why is it not properly packed?
It was.
I left the box inside the car.
You walked over here like this?
It was just a few metres.
Next time, you should ask someone
to help you, okay?
Sure.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son!
I've come to collect your son!
I've come to collect your son!
No, no!
I've...
No, no, no!
I can't feel it.
We don't get you where it hurts.
Frank, may I say something?
Yes.
You wrote that play
and it's incredibly good.
Uh-huh.
We all want
something fantastic to come out of it.
In fact,
it now seems as if Berni can't do it.
And at some point...
sitting in this room
is getting devastating for me, too.
At this point, it's all about intensity.
Right!
Okay.
Joachim, get the script out of here!
I want no more texts in this room.
What about the camera?
The camera stays.
Let's focus on acting.
It's just the bodies and the room.
And the gas van.
Mr Keine,
introduce yourself in one minute.
Here and now?
Yes, you have one minute
to impress your employer.
Hello, my name is Hinrich Keine.
I've brought a file
with all the information you need.
Well, you've used a different font
for covering letter and CV.
Nobody uses Times New Roman.
The picture is quite old...
with rings under your eyes.
Have you ever thought of using make-up?
Makeup?
This could make you end up
in the "50 Plus" drawer.
Anyway, what about your website?
Are you still working on it?
Not yet, but I've created a Xing profile.
Uhhuh.
You should be more open.
Start to approach people!
Anyone can help you find a job.
What about your friends?
My friends?
Yes! Do you join any network meetings?
Yes, sure.
Did you buy something to eat
or does he need a lunch box?
Did you?
You ate that cake.
You ate it.
But I...
How can you say that?
How can I say that?
Are you Mr. Tornau?
Yes.
You know what I'm here for.
I think so.
The outstanding alimony
payments to your wife...
Ex-wife.
Amount to 7584€.
You know you must provide evidence.
Is there any way
you could pay off the arrears?
No.
What is your monthly income?
How do you make a living?
I'm engaged at the St. Pauli Theatre.
What do you earn?
Hello?
Do you have any securities or shares?
No.
Have you invented anything?
Do you have a patent?
No.
Are you a member of a community of heirs?
No.
Do you enjoy any capital-forming benefits?
A savings contract or a life insurance?
No.
Do you get a tax refund?
No.
Are these all of your statements?
All you buy is cigarettes.
Ah, here you were in a pub.
Cigarettes, cigarettes...
Do you have any properties?
No.
Do you get child benefit?
Yes, my exwife already gets half of it.
Okay.
What about your guest performance
at the theatre in Vienna?
You were engaged as a guest actor, no?
That's not true.
It is. It was two months ago.
That's what the programme says.
I'm sure you were paid for it.
I can't find anything in your documents.
Okay guys,
the abstraction part was not so good.
So this is how we'll do it now:
You are the gas van.
What?
You are the gas van.
You want us to play a car?
To be a car.
You need to feel the engine.
Yes, of course!
Let's do it.
Yes, that's what I mean!
That's the energy I need.
Get the chairs out of here!
Mathis, go and fill the room!
We'll focus on the engine.
You weigh five tons.
You consume 50 litres of fuel per hour.
Diesel, no biodiesel.
Mathis, how do you feel?
I can feel the valves rattling.
Bernd?
The lamp is heavy.
Okay.
I'm...
It's very hot.
Okay.
And?
I'd like to have a smoke.
Uh-huh.
What else?
I'm...
I'm suffering an engine breakdown.
That's where it all begins.
Have a safe trip!
Out of the impetus to talk about general
power relations in the case of Kleist.
He makes clear that sex,
suppressing and degrading other bodies
and getting aroused by it,
is an instrument of power.
That's what it says.
Yet, other plays also show that Kleist
had a different idea of gender relations.
So, it's fascinating to see
him transferring it to such kind of story.
WE'RE CLOSED
What's that?
What sort of hipster shit is this?
That's my typewriter.
An original Adler Triumph.
Holy shit.
Say, do you think that's cool?
Do you need that?
How about a skull stamp?
I'm working on the concept of compression
and it's the perfect tool for it.
Tool?
Are you gay?
If I subscribed you to a 10-finger
typing course, would you join it?
I have to pee.
I'm an editor, you Nazi!
We could all type
with ten fingers in the Hitler Youth.
There'd never be
such a sense of security in his room again.
The beads of sweat on her wrist
glistened in the evening light.
They were vibrating
like little Christmas balls.
It was a present.
Well...
You got on top of
these Deleuze-like interpretations.
Right, but the post-truth
part is quite difficult...
Post-truth?
Do you have a fetish for prefixes?
We are far beyond that, if at all.
It's pre-truth, comrade. Pre-truth.
Hey Uli!
I think Hinrich wants to say something.
Are you the avenger of the dispossessed?
I'm just asking you to listen to him.
Let him speak for himself then.
He's not a frosh.
I think that's unfair.
I'd say he thinks it's undemocratic.
Is that what you wanted to say, comrade?
Yes.
Democracy is the
dictatorship of the majority.
The victim status has already become
a part of your identity, Hinrich.
Think about it.
Come on, don't be a pussy.
You're a victim for its own sake.
Disproportional justification
is the first sign for the end of a system.
Comrades, stop wailing!
Next week:
Maximum access in the forest.
General traffic control.
The papers, please.
Where do you come from?
From work.
What do you do?
I'm an actor.
And where?
At the theatre.
Which one?
Huh?
Which theatre?
The St. Pauli Theatre.
Could you please make a query?
Yes.
I'd like to see your first aid kit,
safety triangle and safety vest.
Your first aid kit is incomplete. Where
are your safety triangle and your vest?
Fuck you.
I don't know.
Have you consumed any alcohol?
No.
Could you please stop blowing smoke at me?
It's all fine.
Your pupils are dilated.
Have you consumed any drugs?
No.
And why are you shaking?
I'm freezing.
Would you agree
to a quick drug test right here on site?
No, certainly not.
What is your current role?
I play an SS officer.
Here, could be interesting for you.
The Gasman.
Ah, there he is.
Mr. Tornau studied acting in Hamburg.
After some years in Berlin's off-theatre
scene, Tornau returned to Hamburg,
where he became a member
of the St. Pauli ensemble in 2010.
Famous for his short stage performances,
Tornau now plays a leading
part in "The Gasman".
Not bad.
Negative.
It's all fine.
Well, then...
Good luck!
Gentlemen, "The Gasman".
You know what, Bernd?
The problem with you Germans is that
you simply look good in those uniforms.
And so do you.
That's the revenge of the genes.
It still sticks to us, huh?
What, a hundred bucks?
Listen, that man died a hero.
Fifty.
No thanks for the motherland.
Eighty is my last offer.
Okay.
Do you believe in God?
No, I mean now.
In this second. Here!
In this wasteland
during the reign of Fascism?
No?
Right!
A spirited atheist is more sympathetic
than an indifferent man-of-the-crowd.
Um, hello?
Where have you been?
I'll go and get changed.
You don't need a costume.
Just stay here and look what Mathis
and I have developed in the meantime.
That's a gasman!
Could you do that again, Mathis?
Do you believe in God?
No, I mean now.
In this second!
I can't do this anymore.
Stop comparing me with Mathis!
Stop comparing me with this piece of shit!
What did you say?
Who do you think you are?
Just do your work you asshole!
What's wrong with you?
Go catch it!
You piece of shit!
Oh, an actor.
Do I really have to get on the stage?
Of course.
I could also film from the side.
No, Joachim.
I need you right in the middle of it.
Let's focus on the text now.
No questions, no discussions.
Just do what you're told.
Can we agree on that?
Daddy!
Come on!
Get up.
The vapours of the flayer's huts
still hang in the air.
I can't stand it any longer.
My head...
I'm looking into the forest...
and I see myself.
The decision takes place in man,
and none can take it off his hands.
This explains the manifest grayness
and hopelessness of his existence.
The forest... is secret.
The secret is the intimate.
Let death come over me.
I'm already familiar with it.
In this light
the forest is the great house of death,
the seat of annihilating danger.
It is the task of the spiritual guide
to lead his charge there by the hand,
that he may lose his fear.
Bernd.
Come in, take a seat.
Well, gentlemen,
I was told things are better between you.
It's getting better, yes.
Why are we here?
We have a problem.
I have to prepone my next film.
Lars Einiger's time is limited.
I can't recast his role either,
as all the funding depends on him.
So we'll stop rehearsing?
No, the premiere has been preponed.
Why preponed?
How about postponing or cancelling it?
Bernd, we have to be very quick now.
It's gonna be a huge success.
The Shoa must go on.
I've come to collect your son.
Uh, mother:
The suffering increases in a manner that
must necessarily exclude
any heroic element.
The hopeless encirclement of man continues.
It goes hand in hand with a logical,
seamless explanation of the world.
The societal encirclement
of the opponent...
Finally, at the appointed
hour, he is exterminated
Law has been turned into a weapon.
That's not gonna work.
I can't strangle a tripod.
It's hard to imagine
it's a human when it's not!
But that's the concept.
Victims and gasmen
will only meet at the premiere.
No, you said we'll meet today.
Right! At the final rehearsal.
This is even not the original stage.
You're lying to us the whole time!
Okay, stop!
That's where I need to cut in.
There's so little trust in this room and
you start to cast doubt
on everything we do!
We've developed some great things
and now you ruin everything.
You know what?
You are a sissy!
But Frank, I don't know
how I'll react either.
The whole "first contact
thing" is just nonsense
But the victims also rehearsed separately.
It's gonna be a performative event!
Just let yourself in!
For what, Frank?
All I know is that
this is an overachieving drama student,
and this is an old woman
who could have known Eva Braun personally.
I've experienced so much shit during
my career, but this beats everything.
I thought I'd do you a favour and let
you to practice the sequence of events.
Choreography and camera.
But if you don't want to...
Fine, I don't need it.
Nobody is forced to do this.
I want my actors to be happy.
What if I played the woman?
Come Joachim, let's go.
What?
You damn amateur!
Tomorrow's the premiere.
What?
The bastard preponed his crappy film.
I can't go with you.
And they only told you today?
We could go there in spring.
Shit.
No chance.
The Falckenberg Collection has booked me.
I can't take a leave either.
The trainee is undermining my position.
Shit, comrade.
This is just not possible.
We must go into the forest.
Where's Hinrich anyway?
He went to the coaching.
Oh... what a sucker!
THE GASMAN
DIRECTED BY: FRANK WINTER
This is your time call. It's 7.55 pm.
It's 7.55 pm.
This is your time call.
This is your beginner's call.
Deputy stage manager
and sound engineers in position, please.
The assistant director to the camera
and technicians to the curtain, please.
Stagehands for the gas van
to the left side of the stage, please.
Beginner's to the stage, please: Ms. Klein,
Mr. Kaftan, Mr. Kreiting, Mr. Pflicht,
Mr. Tornau and Mr. van Verbeek.
Mr. Tornau to the stage, please.
Mr. Tornau, please!
Mr. Winter, you're making a
leap from cinema to theatre...
and chose a burning issue for your debut.
How did that happen?
Well, my friend Uli
from the St. Pauli Theatre
came up with the idea to work together.
So after I had made my last film,
I thought: Why not?
Movies are reproduced events,
but theatre is based on real events.
And National Socialism
is the central event of German history.
That's what I put on stage.
I've come to collect your son.
The suffering increases in a manner that
must necessarily exclude
any heroic element.
It goes hand in hand with a logical,
seamless explanation of the world.
It continues.
Finally, at the appointed hour,
he is exterminated.
Help, please! Please!
Please, please!
Law has been turned into a weapon.
Wanker.
Let's go.
Hey!
The offer is limited to three bottles per
customer. You can't
take as much as you want.
This place is crap.
Was everything okay?
Gas or nothing.
Comrades, cheers!
What the fuck!
It's your turn to read.
I don't want to.
What did you say?
My text isn't ready yet.
In stark contrast to Ferouse Doufflé,
whose butt moving up
and down like a gate will
wave until her dissolution or even beyond.
I'd say it's hot.
I like how you've worked out the mutuality.
He's a gourmand and she's his muse.
That's impossible
in this recontextualisation.
You can't portray child abuse
as a natural phenomenon.
Why not?
It's a classic on-off relationship.
I know what it's like.
Paedophile.
Stop, comrade. You can't refuse
to read and then start talking.
You should shut your mouth.
I think there are different forms.
There's a more basal level,
a level of action.
A level at which a child sees
that their dad doesn't feel good.
Right.
When the psychotherapist
faces the question of what has happened.
They are good parents.
They have good ideas.
Their child was obviously switched.
But there's a deeper level underneath,
transferring completely different contents.
And that's what happens in everyday life.
What are you talking about?
Approving child abuse?
No!
Sure. That's bullshit!
Hinrich, you wrote it.
What do you think of that?
I think...
Did I ask you?
That's when it gets a transcendental touch.
When?
When she grabs his
penis. It's a penis, isn't it?
Where?
Here.
Yep. That's a penis.
Luhmann wouldn't call it transcendental.
There's always a marked and an
unmarked element when naming something.
System and environment.
No, it's much more fundamental.
A term always describes something.
That's the marked element.
The unmarked element
is what is left unmentioned.
Right and wrong are categories
that only make sense in specific systems.
It's about compatibility, so to speak.
Yes, Luhmann was a child abuser.
Oh, fuck off!
A merciless war is raging in the East.
The Führer was right when he said...
You can't turn that on.
That's our ritual, comrade.
Last year we heard Ceausescu
and this time we're in the thrilling 40s.
Every time a different leader.
What the hell happened
to you in the Hitler Youth?
I'm glad I'm done with this crappy
Nazi play and you turn on this shit!
Just listen.
GASMAN
What was I supposed to do?
What?
What?
I'm not guilty!
I'm not guilty!
It's something else. It's...
What is it?
I don't know.
It's something that's not me.
It is... what is it?
It's Nature's revenge growing inside me.
The play has ended.
Techies, lighting team
and stage crew to the stage, please.
Be careful.
Careful.
GASMAN
Hello my dear.
Hi.
Take a seat.
I can't believe it.
This is your role. You can't say no.
A Nazi...
You said I'd get a serious role this time.
That it's my time to shine.
I've always been
a supporting actor in recent years.
Uli, I can't do this anymore.
It's nothing other
than that crappy musical last year.
The stage director is Frank Winter.
It's his first theatre play.
This is gonna be exciting.
Just another guy
who has no idea about theatre.
Those film idiots
just want to make movies.
This play is radical. It's exactly
what you need in your situation.
What has that got to do with me?
Why don't you have a look at it?
The Gasman
What a title!
It's the first play
with original material from Goebbels ever.
What story do you want to tell?
The whole Nazi thing is worn out.
Two guys in a gas van for one hour.
All this Goebbels crap.
They collect gays, Jews
and disabled people. It's heavy on plot.
It's not the lead character.
It's the antagonist of the hero.
That's much more than your last role.
No comment.
Bernd, you can do it.
It's gonna be a huge success.
What's the matter?
Eh, that's not what we agreed upon.
When?
Bye, my little one.
I'm not little.
But the farmer who sows grain,
the blacksmith who shoes horses,
the lumberjack and the groom.
Yet, how real is reality?
So the eyes of the landscape look back.
But what do trees know
about our non-conversations?
Way too journalistic.
No poetry.
Nah, there's no beat.
I wanted it to be factual.
No, it's already close to transgression.
The first lines are still
a bit clumsy though.
A bit crude.
It's not resolute enough,
though it could be a chance.
You're close to something really big.
What? He'll find a publishing company,
if he continues like that.
Are you already talking
about commercial exploitation?
Well, that's what we're here for:
Art and commerce.
Dichotomy.
Just saying. Maybe an e-book.
No way.
A self-published hardcover.
But apart from that...
it's close.
The latest issue of the "Kiezfeger"!
Where?
Huh?
Where is it close?
Well, at the beginning.
After the tree part.
"Kiezfeger"!
Gentlemen, the "Kiezfeger"
with only five copies left for five...
Say, how old are you?
Huh?
Nineteen, twenty? Huh?
You speak German, you were born here.
Yes.
People are fleeing to Europe,
and you shuffle through the pubs
selling this grotty paper?
Get a grip, man!
Are your parents ashamed?
That's where the novel capital goes.
Lefty propaganda is bumf.
A fascist meeting.
What did you say?
He stands with refugees
and you lefty draw parallels to Fascism?
You have no say.
You've achieved nothing in your life!
What?
No arguments.
And you, shut up!
He's just trying
to help you find a solution.
Nazis.
Right.
I joined the Hitler Youth.
I know what critical reflection is.
It's not for the dropout
to name the sick system.
Loser.
Sick loser.
Hey, get a hold of your life.
Piss off!
Off to the refugee camp with you!
Affluent neglect!
First-world hobo.
Nazi.
What a slut.
A clear case of destructive thoughts.
A destructive man.
No creator.
No, not at all.
Motherfucker.
Which tree did you mean?
The beech.
What? There's no beech in the text.
Just hardwoods.
And a hazel nut bush.
Yeah, right!
My father only told it
after my grandparents had passed away.
I mean,
I always thought they were ill tempered,
but they just kept quiet
about it and kept going.
In silence.
Yes.
This structure of silence
is important for this play.
The good thing about theatre
is that you can work more freely.
You're not bound
by the constraints of the film industry,
where each day of filming costs? 20,000
and you just can't be too late.
I'm sorry.
Well, you're here now.
It's okay.
So, "The Gasman".
I'm Frank.
Bernd.
Bernd, this is Mathis. You
already know each other?
Yes.
This is Joachim, my cameraman.
We'll work a lot with videos.
We'll have six weeks of rehearsal
in this room. It's gonna be awesome.
Will we capture the rehearsals on camera?
Yes, we'll work a lot with mapping.
Mapping?
Mapping, 3D. That's the future.
They also use it in some Apple Stores.
Sounds good.
We were on page nine.
We'll start all over again for Bernd.
Yep.
Isn't this the first read-through?
Where are all the other actors?
I've split it.
Yesterday, I had the
first read with the victims
and today, it's the first
rehearsal with the ga
That's what the schedule says.
The gasmen will read the victims
and the victims read the gasmen.
It was great.
You'll read the woman.
Okay.
Good.
The two gasmen
are standing in front of a house.
Please don't take away my Peter.
Gasman 2 kicks away Peter's crook.
Peter collapses.
Gasman 1 stands next to him, smoking.
Do you believe in God?
No, I mean now.
In this second.
Here.
In this wasteland.
No?
Right. A spirited atheist
is more sympathetic
than an indifferent man-of-the-crowd.
She won't die.
Get on with it, don't stop.
You're a man of action. I like that.
She choked to death.
Gasman 1 stops throttling the woman.
She's dead.
Now in real time, please.
Man finds himself in the bowels of a
great machine devised for his destruction.
Why deny the master's plan?
At this depth
there's not merely community.
There's identity.
Cigarette?
Yes.
The men get into the gas van and disappear.
Okay.
We'll distribute the text another time.
That's a rather open process.
Mark, three widows and two orphans on
two pages... that's physically impossible.
It's going well for you, huh?
Johanna, the idea with
Instagram and Snapchat is brilliant.
Tip-top.
Just go ahead and do it.
Thanks Jochen.
I'd say the topic of the day is Korea.
Ulf, could you please make an interview
with the Asia expert Udo Steinbach?
Please get in touch with him
for an interview, okay?
Let's go!
Uh, Mark?
Do you have a second?
I'd like to talk to you.
Mark, I think it's time for Johanna
to get her own workplace.
Who?
Johanna.
You mean the intern?
The trainee.
Mark, I'll be honest with you.
I've already been watching you
for quite some time now.
And all I see
is a smoking employee in the backyard.
See, I believe in your potential.
Yet, I don't know what motivates you.
So here's my
constructive and creative idea:
I'll put Johanna beside you.
You'll benefit from each other.
Wait, you want the Twitter girl
to sit next to me?
That woman is online,
she's a digital native.
She's got what you are lacking.
She could work from anywhere she gets
free Wi-Fi for that little bit of Snapchat.
Hash tag sitting ban.
Hash tag final warning.
The people are not there for the offices,
the offices are there for the people.
One has to work until the work is done.
Could you please turn it off?
Joachim, turn it off.
That is a requirement of the war.
You don't listen, Bernhard.
My name is Bernd.
Bernd, you do nothing.
Yes, I do.
I'm listening.
Goebbels is your commander,
your hero, you are dedicated to him.
Yes.
I want to feel it... more!
I'd like to see your eyes glinting
with silent enthusiasm like Mathis'.
I don't want to ham it up. I rather
have a little secret inside my character.
What kind of secret?
That you're lazy?
Guys, "Downfall" was just the beginning,
this is "The Gasman".
Once again, please.
If the Führer can do that,
so can his paid employees.
Have you got a light?
How long did it actually take
to write "The Gasman"?
Including research... four years.
Uli?
I can't do this anymore.
Every hour feels like five.
They just put me in there
like a lamp and switch me on.
Gentlemen, your gas van.
That's no gas van.
It's a handcart with two lights.
No, it's a gas van.
No!
All I see is a man
in a Wehrmacht uniform pulling a handcart.
We already talked about it
during the first read.
Bodies and costumes are real.
Stage design and props
are rather abstract.
That's not abstract, that's crap.
I've come to collect your son.
I liked how you came in with the van.
But Bernhard, every time you open
your mouth the whole play collapses.
My name is Bernd.
Wait, I'll show you.
I've come to collect your son.
No acting required. Just do it.
No, without the cart. Just the text.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come...
I've come...
to collect your son.
To collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I'll make it easier for you.
Say yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes!
No, that's a no. Say yes.
Yes.
I'll make it even easier for you: Say no.
No.
That's a yes.
The rehearsal is over.
Mathis, I'd like to talk
to you about the text.
Sure.
Shit.
Fuck.
Stop!
To get where you want,
you have to pay 2.20€.
A short trip ticket would cost you 1.60€,
but you'll have to get off earlier.
1.60€?!
Yes, for short distances.
Next stop:
Am Sandtorkai
Why is it not properly packed?
It was.
I left the box inside the car.
You walked over here like this?
It was just a few metres.
Next time, you should ask someone
to help you, okay?
Sure.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son.
I've come to collect your son!
I've come to collect your son!
I've come to collect your son!
No, no!
I've...
No, no, no!
I can't feel it.
We don't get you where it hurts.
Frank, may I say something?
Yes.
You wrote that play
and it's incredibly good.
Uh-huh.
We all want
something fantastic to come out of it.
In fact,
it now seems as if Berni can't do it.
And at some point...
sitting in this room
is getting devastating for me, too.
At this point, it's all about intensity.
Right!
Okay.
Joachim, get the script out of here!
I want no more texts in this room.
What about the camera?
The camera stays.
Let's focus on acting.
It's just the bodies and the room.
And the gas van.
Mr Keine,
introduce yourself in one minute.
Here and now?
Yes, you have one minute
to impress your employer.
Hello, my name is Hinrich Keine.
I've brought a file
with all the information you need.
Well, you've used a different font
for covering letter and CV.
Nobody uses Times New Roman.
The picture is quite old...
with rings under your eyes.
Have you ever thought of using make-up?
Makeup?
This could make you end up
in the "50 Plus" drawer.
Anyway, what about your website?
Are you still working on it?
Not yet, but I've created a Xing profile.
Uhhuh.
You should be more open.
Start to approach people!
Anyone can help you find a job.
What about your friends?
My friends?
Yes! Do you join any network meetings?
Yes, sure.
Did you buy something to eat
or does he need a lunch box?
Did you?
You ate that cake.
You ate it.
But I...
How can you say that?
How can I say that?
Are you Mr. Tornau?
Yes.
You know what I'm here for.
I think so.
The outstanding alimony
payments to your wife...
Ex-wife.
Amount to 7584€.
You know you must provide evidence.
Is there any way
you could pay off the arrears?
No.
What is your monthly income?
How do you make a living?
I'm engaged at the St. Pauli Theatre.
What do you earn?
Hello?
Do you have any securities or shares?
No.
Have you invented anything?
Do you have a patent?
No.
Are you a member of a community of heirs?
No.
Do you enjoy any capital-forming benefits?
A savings contract or a life insurance?
No.
Do you get a tax refund?
No.
Are these all of your statements?
All you buy is cigarettes.
Ah, here you were in a pub.
Cigarettes, cigarettes...
Do you have any properties?
No.
Do you get child benefit?
Yes, my exwife already gets half of it.
Okay.
What about your guest performance
at the theatre in Vienna?
You were engaged as a guest actor, no?
That's not true.
It is. It was two months ago.
That's what the programme says.
I'm sure you were paid for it.
I can't find anything in your documents.
Okay guys,
the abstraction part was not so good.
So this is how we'll do it now:
You are the gas van.
What?
You are the gas van.
You want us to play a car?
To be a car.
You need to feel the engine.
Yes, of course!
Let's do it.
Yes, that's what I mean!
That's the energy I need.
Get the chairs out of here!
Mathis, go and fill the room!
We'll focus on the engine.
You weigh five tons.
You consume 50 litres of fuel per hour.
Diesel, no biodiesel.
Mathis, how do you feel?
I can feel the valves rattling.
Bernd?
The lamp is heavy.
Okay.
I'm...
It's very hot.
Okay.
And?
I'd like to have a smoke.
Uh-huh.
What else?
I'm...
I'm suffering an engine breakdown.
That's where it all begins.
Have a safe trip!
Out of the impetus to talk about general
power relations in the case of Kleist.
He makes clear that sex,
suppressing and degrading other bodies
and getting aroused by it,
is an instrument of power.
That's what it says.
Yet, other plays also show that Kleist
had a different idea of gender relations.
So, it's fascinating to see
him transferring it to such kind of story.
WE'RE CLOSED
What's that?
What sort of hipster shit is this?
That's my typewriter.
An original Adler Triumph.
Holy shit.
Say, do you think that's cool?
Do you need that?
How about a skull stamp?
I'm working on the concept of compression
and it's the perfect tool for it.
Tool?
Are you gay?
If I subscribed you to a 10-finger
typing course, would you join it?
I have to pee.
I'm an editor, you Nazi!
We could all type
with ten fingers in the Hitler Youth.
There'd never be
such a sense of security in his room again.
The beads of sweat on her wrist
glistened in the evening light.
They were vibrating
like little Christmas balls.
It was a present.
Well...
You got on top of
these Deleuze-like interpretations.
Right, but the post-truth
part is quite difficult...
Post-truth?
Do you have a fetish for prefixes?
We are far beyond that, if at all.
It's pre-truth, comrade. Pre-truth.
Hey Uli!
I think Hinrich wants to say something.
Are you the avenger of the dispossessed?
I'm just asking you to listen to him.
Let him speak for himself then.
He's not a frosh.
I think that's unfair.
I'd say he thinks it's undemocratic.
Is that what you wanted to say, comrade?
Yes.
Democracy is the
dictatorship of the majority.
The victim status has already become
a part of your identity, Hinrich.
Think about it.
Come on, don't be a pussy.
You're a victim for its own sake.
Disproportional justification
is the first sign for the end of a system.
Comrades, stop wailing!
Next week:
Maximum access in the forest.
General traffic control.
The papers, please.
Where do you come from?
From work.
What do you do?
I'm an actor.
And where?
At the theatre.
Which one?
Huh?
Which theatre?
The St. Pauli Theatre.
Could you please make a query?
Yes.
I'd like to see your first aid kit,
safety triangle and safety vest.
Your first aid kit is incomplete. Where
are your safety triangle and your vest?
Fuck you.
I don't know.
Have you consumed any alcohol?
No.
Could you please stop blowing smoke at me?
It's all fine.
Your pupils are dilated.
Have you consumed any drugs?
No.
And why are you shaking?
I'm freezing.
Would you agree
to a quick drug test right here on site?
No, certainly not.
What is your current role?
I play an SS officer.
Here, could be interesting for you.
The Gasman.
Ah, there he is.
Mr. Tornau studied acting in Hamburg.
After some years in Berlin's off-theatre
scene, Tornau returned to Hamburg,
where he became a member
of the St. Pauli ensemble in 2010.
Famous for his short stage performances,
Tornau now plays a leading
part in "The Gasman".
Not bad.
Negative.
It's all fine.
Well, then...
Good luck!
Gentlemen, "The Gasman".
You know what, Bernd?
The problem with you Germans is that
you simply look good in those uniforms.
And so do you.
That's the revenge of the genes.
It still sticks to us, huh?
What, a hundred bucks?
Listen, that man died a hero.
Fifty.
No thanks for the motherland.
Eighty is my last offer.
Okay.
Do you believe in God?
No, I mean now.
In this second. Here!
In this wasteland
during the reign of Fascism?
No?
Right!
A spirited atheist is more sympathetic
than an indifferent man-of-the-crowd.
Um, hello?
Where have you been?
I'll go and get changed.
You don't need a costume.
Just stay here and look what Mathis
and I have developed in the meantime.
That's a gasman!
Could you do that again, Mathis?
Do you believe in God?
No, I mean now.
In this second!
I can't do this anymore.
Stop comparing me with Mathis!
Stop comparing me with this piece of shit!
What did you say?
Who do you think you are?
Just do your work you asshole!
What's wrong with you?
Go catch it!
You piece of shit!
Oh, an actor.
Do I really have to get on the stage?
Of course.
I could also film from the side.
No, Joachim.
I need you right in the middle of it.
Let's focus on the text now.
No questions, no discussions.
Just do what you're told.
Can we agree on that?
Daddy!
Come on!
Get up.
The vapours of the flayer's huts
still hang in the air.
I can't stand it any longer.
My head...
I'm looking into the forest...
and I see myself.
The decision takes place in man,
and none can take it off his hands.
This explains the manifest grayness
and hopelessness of his existence.
The forest... is secret.
The secret is the intimate.
Let death come over me.
I'm already familiar with it.
In this light
the forest is the great house of death,
the seat of annihilating danger.
It is the task of the spiritual guide
to lead his charge there by the hand,
that he may lose his fear.
Bernd.
Come in, take a seat.
Well, gentlemen,
I was told things are better between you.
It's getting better, yes.
Why are we here?
We have a problem.
I have to prepone my next film.
Lars Einiger's time is limited.
I can't recast his role either,
as all the funding depends on him.
So we'll stop rehearsing?
No, the premiere has been preponed.
Why preponed?
How about postponing or cancelling it?
Bernd, we have to be very quick now.
It's gonna be a huge success.
The Shoa must go on.
I've come to collect your son.
Uh, mother:
The suffering increases in a manner that
must necessarily exclude
any heroic element.
The hopeless encirclement of man continues.
It goes hand in hand with a logical,
seamless explanation of the world.
The societal encirclement
of the opponent...
Finally, at the appointed
hour, he is exterminated
Law has been turned into a weapon.
That's not gonna work.
I can't strangle a tripod.
It's hard to imagine
it's a human when it's not!
But that's the concept.
Victims and gasmen
will only meet at the premiere.
No, you said we'll meet today.
Right! At the final rehearsal.
This is even not the original stage.
You're lying to us the whole time!
Okay, stop!
That's where I need to cut in.
There's so little trust in this room and
you start to cast doubt
on everything we do!
We've developed some great things
and now you ruin everything.
You know what?
You are a sissy!
But Frank, I don't know
how I'll react either.
The whole "first contact
thing" is just nonsense
But the victims also rehearsed separately.
It's gonna be a performative event!
Just let yourself in!
For what, Frank?
All I know is that
this is an overachieving drama student,
and this is an old woman
who could have known Eva Braun personally.
I've experienced so much shit during
my career, but this beats everything.
I thought I'd do you a favour and let
you to practice the sequence of events.
Choreography and camera.
But if you don't want to...
Fine, I don't need it.
Nobody is forced to do this.
I want my actors to be happy.
What if I played the woman?
Come Joachim, let's go.
What?
You damn amateur!
Tomorrow's the premiere.
What?
The bastard preponed his crappy film.
I can't go with you.
And they only told you today?
We could go there in spring.
Shit.
No chance.
The Falckenberg Collection has booked me.
I can't take a leave either.
The trainee is undermining my position.
Shit, comrade.
This is just not possible.
We must go into the forest.
Where's Hinrich anyway?
He went to the coaching.
Oh... what a sucker!
THE GASMAN
DIRECTED BY: FRANK WINTER
This is your time call. It's 7.55 pm.
It's 7.55 pm.
This is your time call.
This is your beginner's call.
Deputy stage manager
and sound engineers in position, please.
The assistant director to the camera
and technicians to the curtain, please.
Stagehands for the gas van
to the left side of the stage, please.
Beginner's to the stage, please: Ms. Klein,
Mr. Kaftan, Mr. Kreiting, Mr. Pflicht,
Mr. Tornau and Mr. van Verbeek.
Mr. Tornau to the stage, please.
Mr. Tornau, please!
Mr. Winter, you're making a
leap from cinema to theatre...
and chose a burning issue for your debut.
How did that happen?
Well, my friend Uli
from the St. Pauli Theatre
came up with the idea to work together.
So after I had made my last film,
I thought: Why not?
Movies are reproduced events,
but theatre is based on real events.
And National Socialism
is the central event of German history.
That's what I put on stage.
I've come to collect your son.
The suffering increases in a manner that
must necessarily exclude
any heroic element.
It goes hand in hand with a logical,
seamless explanation of the world.
It continues.
Finally, at the appointed hour,
he is exterminated.
Help, please! Please!
Please, please!
Law has been turned into a weapon.
Wanker.
Let's go.
Hey!
The offer is limited to three bottles per
customer. You can't
take as much as you want.
This place is crap.
Was everything okay?
Gas or nothing.
Comrades, cheers!
What the fuck!
It's your turn to read.
I don't want to.
What did you say?
My text isn't ready yet.
In stark contrast to Ferouse Doufflé,
whose butt moving up
and down like a gate will
wave until her dissolution or even beyond.
I'd say it's hot.
I like how you've worked out the mutuality.
He's a gourmand and she's his muse.
That's impossible
in this recontextualisation.
You can't portray child abuse
as a natural phenomenon.
Why not?
It's a classic on-off relationship.
I know what it's like.
Paedophile.
Stop, comrade. You can't refuse
to read and then start talking.
You should shut your mouth.
I think there are different forms.
There's a more basal level,
a level of action.
A level at which a child sees
that their dad doesn't feel good.
Right.
When the psychotherapist
faces the question of what has happened.
They are good parents.
They have good ideas.
Their child was obviously switched.
But there's a deeper level underneath,
transferring completely different contents.
And that's what happens in everyday life.
What are you talking about?
Approving child abuse?
No!
Sure. That's bullshit!
Hinrich, you wrote it.
What do you think of that?
I think...
Did I ask you?
That's when it gets a transcendental touch.
When?
When she grabs his
penis. It's a penis, isn't it?
Where?
Here.
Yep. That's a penis.
Luhmann wouldn't call it transcendental.
There's always a marked and an
unmarked element when naming something.
System and environment.
No, it's much more fundamental.
A term always describes something.
That's the marked element.
The unmarked element
is what is left unmentioned.
Right and wrong are categories
that only make sense in specific systems.
It's about compatibility, so to speak.
Yes, Luhmann was a child abuser.
Oh, fuck off!
A merciless war is raging in the East.
The Führer was right when he said...
You can't turn that on.
That's our ritual, comrade.
Last year we heard Ceausescu
and this time we're in the thrilling 40s.
Every time a different leader.
What the hell happened
to you in the Hitler Youth?
I'm glad I'm done with this crappy
Nazi play and you turn on this shit!
Just listen.
GASMAN