My Brother's Name Is Robert and He Is an Idiot (2018) - full transcript

Are you sleeping?

Are you awake?

How can something
that has a right to exist perish?

What is time?

The basis of time is hope.

My brother's name is Robert and he's an idiot.

Stop it.

Wake up.
- Augustine says,

even in my sleeping cock, god is wholly...
- Stop it!

... present!

Stop, do that with your sister!



Do you love me?

Robert...

Do you love me?

Are you coming or am I?

Are you coming or am I?

Me.

Then come.

So?

MY BROTHER'S NAMED ROBERT AND HE'S AN
IDIOT

What time is it anyway?

Come on.

No, wait.

That'll take hours.

The weekend won't last for long.



Nonsense.

It's your final exam.

So where do we start?

Being,

knowledge...

Elena, where do we start?

Freedom.

Consciousness.

Language. Essence of mankind.

Fate.

Questions of reality.

How is knowledge even possible,

Mr. WeishDupl?

Consciousness.
- You already said that.

It's about sound reasoning.

No preconditions and free of purpose:
Philosophy is radical, no restrictions.

Right: idealism.

Man, it's so stupid.

So what do you take?

Happiness.

Very clear definition:

Happiness is lying on a blanket
and thinking nothing.

There, done.

Right, Sis.
- Don't call me Sis, jerk.

See that dog?

If it goes to the left,
you get the beer yourself.

One, two...

Six...

Nine...
- Hey, dog!

Time. We'll take time.

Now look. Look!

It's over.

Should I get you anything?

Beer!

You're crazy.
- What? Drinks are free.

That's the deal!
Otherwise you would've paid 100 euros.

If you get drunk, I'll kick your ass.

Should've thought of that earlier.

Robert, my final exam is on Monday.

In philosophy.

Great. Just great, Robert.

I'm stupid, you're not.

Idiot.

And that's great.

Because you're a jerk and failed,
I have to go to university alone.

But you want to go.

What would I do here?

You're an idiot.

1:56 PM

Philosophy means working on truth.
Are you ready to work on truth?

My sister Elena's ready to work on truth.

My sister Elena's ready to work on truth.

Where's your twin?

How much, Adolf?

Ready.

2:14.

What's that even supposed to mean, "2:14?"

What do numbers have to do with time anyway?

So what is time?

The basis of time is hope.

How was it with Cecilia?

Come on, tell me the truth.

Truth takes place.
- No, you didn't.

Here you go.

The first encounter with the world is wonderment.

World begins with wondering.

And philosophy begins with wondering.

For Heidegger, truth is encounter.

But we can't initiate it.

You didn't.

Truth reveals itself.

Whether a truth reveals itself or not,
is not for us to decide

Robert,

did you sleep with her?

I don't know!
- Did you sleep with her?

I don't know.

Language is the house of Being...
- Cecilia will tell me anyway.

Before my final exam, I'm screwing someone.

Bullshit.
- It's not bullshit.

Here?

By Monday?
- Correct.

Bullshit.

So humankind must listen to language...
- Wanna bet?

... to hear what it says.

I'm gonna.

... to hear what it says.

I'm going to.

Yeah, sure!

Sure.
- And with whom?

Whoever.

Him?

Him?

Now tell me!

Second concept: Clearing.

Being clears up in truth,

un-concealing what is otherwise concealed.

Again including the term time.

Truth takes place in time.

Wanna bet I do?

That's right.

Go ahead.

Betcha.

What?

Whatever you want.

You did it, right?

The VW Golf.

The VW Golf?

Are you nuts? That's a bit much, isn't it?

I'm getting it for my final exam!

I need a car now.

Idiot!

You're such a jerk, Robert.

I don't care.

That Golf is so great.

It's fun to win.

What do you get if I lose?

If I win,

you get a wish from me.

If YOU win?

If I win,

YOU get a wish from me.

Whatever you want. No objects.

Explain this to me.

All questioning is searching.

Every search is guided by that which is sought.

Questioning qua questioning posits the questioned.

All asking about...
is in a certain way an inquiring of...

Besides what is asked... what is interrogated
also belongs to questioning..

Right!

That implies..

no question exists that doesn't know its answer.

If a question can emerge,

its answer is already possible.

Very optimistic, the maestro. OK.

In turn,

if the answer
lies too far below the horizon of thinking,

then the question can't even yet come to mind.

As if posing the question already answers it.

As a result,

truth is a facility of un-concealing..

Thus waiting is the central category of thought.

The waiting that leads to the purest of thought
is the opposite of seeking.

Yeah, because you can't choose what you think.

You don't produce thoughts. They come to you.

That's the great part!

Or they don't come. Not so great.
- Yeah, not so great.

Go on.

Go on.

Real thinking is based on "releasement".

It's a waiting
that doesn't know what it's waiting for.

Right, and the questions are always the same.

But the answers are always different.

Robert!

Don't confuse me!

Just tell me what to do on Monday!

Just say:

Thinking is waiting.

Truth is all there.

It just needs to reveal itself.

Empty.

Nonsense.

So he basically says
that we can't do a thing...

I need beer.

In turn,

if the answer
lies too far below the horizon of thinking,

then the question can't even yet come to mind.

Pick up.

Sweet Cecilia.

Not at home.

Phone turned off.

Wearing a really tight top.

Sweet Cecilia!

Shall we go on?

On we go.

"3:08 PM"

I need to use the bathroom.

Come on.

Just around the corner, you know that, Elena.

See, wasn't all that bad.

It was really terrific, Adolf.

Is he still staring at my ass?

Of course.

I'm definitely winning that bet.

It's not about seduction, but fucking.

I know.

Saint Augustine asks,

what then is time?

As long as no one asks me, I know the answer.

If I have to explain it to someone who asks,
I don't know the answer.

Yet I confidently claim to know

that if nothing ever came to pass,
there would be no past.

And if nothing ever came about,
there would be no future.

And if nothing at all existed,
there would be no present.

But in what way do these two times exist,
past and future,

if the past is no more and the future isn't yet?

But if a present were always present
and wouldn't pass into the past,

it would no longer be time but eternity.

If then the present is only time
because it passes into the past,

how can we say it exists,

when the basis of its being
is that it will cease to be?

So we can only truly say of time that it exists
because it passes into non-existence.

Are you even listening?

That's beautiful..

What's sound reasoning?
That's the main question.

In terms of time.

The closer you look at it,
the more it fades away.

There.

But you still have to think about it.

Because: Humans are primarily creatures of time.

For that reason, they can think.

If thinking is waiting.

One can only wait
when one sees oneself beyond time.

And can therefore choose.

Animals are unable to wait.

Children too..

Right.

Why is that?

No freedom of choice.

Without time, there's no choice.

No choice, no freedom, no thinking...

Animals don't have time.

Neither do children.

When I love, I don't notice time, either.

So do you love her?

Do you love Cecilia?

Cecilia's lips are so large and luscious...

so large and red and luscious...

so luscious and large...

And when she's undressed...

Did you get completely naked?

And when you kiss...

Robert...

Give me a kiss.

My name is Robert and I love Cecilia!

My name is Robert and I love Cecilia...

Nothingness is fear.

Sorry.

No need to apologize.

Really, I am.

Don't apologize.

I'm sorry.

Stop, I hate that.

I forgot, sorry.

I don't want an apology!

I apologize.

I'm really terribly sorry. Elena, please.

I apologize, I apologize, I apologize!

I apologize!

I apologize!

I'm so sorry.

JUST STOP!

I totally cut myself.

Nonsense.

So?

Smoke.

Marlboro.

Elena, since when do you smoke?

She's starting right now.

I'm starting right now.

I have a pebble in my foot.

In your shoe.

You're okay?

So,

what is time?

What is the present?

And?

The future isn't yet,
and the past is always already over.

So we are left with the present.

But in the present there's no time.

Present is the opposite of time.

Right.

What?

What you say.

What Augustine says.

So, what is time?

Why am I thinking about time?

I want to understand why I can remember.

Where is time?

Come on, show it to me. Where?

What's this?

It's foliage, Robert.

No, this is time.

It used to be a tree.

Now it's foliage.

Next it'll be crickets.

Or an ant.

Or soil.

This is time.

So is it time?

Yes, it's time.

Then explain it to me.

Where is it? Here?

This is just foliage.

This is pure present.

If time stopped, this would be foliage forever.

Just as it is now.

Foliage is the present.

And the present isn't time.

Stop it.

My final exam is on Monday, Robert.

Time definitions,
..second law of thermodynamics.

Entropy increases with time.

This is a bottle without beer.

And now it's shards.

Bastard!

That's time!

Can you put them back together?

Go ahead, turn them back into the same bottle.
Then you'll have conquered time.

And how do we get back
from time to the present?

Is there such a thing?
a return from time to the present?

In bottles...

Will you carry me?

This is all my time.

The rain,

the clouds, the grass,

the shards...

All my time.

Mine, too.

Yours, too.

Elena, I don't want that stuff here.

You just keep an eye on my sister's things, Adolf!

Are you crazy? Robert!

Are you deaf?

I won!

Come here.

Let me see.

Open up!

Let me see. Open up!

Show me, open up now!
- Show me, open up now!

It's Zorg!

He's mine.

I'm here.

Me.

Robert...

If one could simply see this,

could simply see this tree,

and not see the THING OF THE KIND OF THE
TREE-

All would be won.

What would be won?

Then one would be in the present.

One would be at home.

Then one would see what is..

Say again?

If one could simply see this tree,

without seeing the THING OF THE TREE KIND

not knowing what a tree is,

Then all would be won.

Then one would see what IS.

That would be the present.

Then one would be at home

in the present.

But maybe one would see nothing then..

Great wisdom.

Right, wisdom's on its way.

That's not for swimmers. It's for divers.

Humans are in a dream, according to Plato.

That's their consciousness.

The gods are awake.

Animals have the present, but don't dream.

That's why they have
no consciousness at all for Plato.

So who sees the image of the lion's eyes?

Of the eagle's eyes?

No one there.

Pure present.

The present sees itself in the animal.

The consciousness of time
is the sine qua non of the OTHER..

That's hope.

Who can think time, can think
something other than the absolute moment.

Hence freedom.

And hope?

Why hope?

How do you know
that your memory isn't the present?

Because you factor in the past.

Thus consciousness of time is a construct.
Time is consciousness.

But why?

As a bridge over
the unbearable of the absolute moment.

Time is the bridge over abandonment.

Like these moments in infancy..

the total abandonment of infants

Who cannot imagine there
ever being another moment.

That's when time emerges. They suddenly realize:
There's something other than this absolute mome

Fundamentally different.

"4:33 PM" - Thus he writes:

At the basis of time lies hope.

Without time there'd be no hope at all?
- Hope is future modality.

Great, so is fear.

So is fear.

So is freedom.

Shut your windows and doors,
this is private property! Get in your cars!

Stop that, and I mean fast, Robert.

Remain calm! This is private property!

Leave the people alone immediately!

Close your windows and doors and you'll be safe!
- Leave the people alone!

Robert, do you hear me?

Stay in your cars!

This is private property!
- Enough already!

Robert, that's enough!
- Stay calm...

I said stop it!

The source of danger will be removed at once.
I shall be removed at once.

Hold this, you idiot.

I love you.

I think you're great, too.

I love you.

I love you.

Stop it.
- I love you.

I don't want to anymore.

Get off me, asshole.

Get off.

Making a fool of me, huh?
- Get off!

Make a fool out of me, go ahead.

Stop it!
- Go on, make a fool of me.

I love you! Make a fool out of me!

Stop it! Let go of me!

I don't want to anymore!

That's a good girl...
That's good.

So, you won?

He didn't want to.

Could've told you so.

So why didn't you?

Jerk!

Hello?

Before the question how to act
comes the question how to think

for thought is the essential action,

because...

all philosophy tries to facilitate action..

proper action.

All human action serves the search for happiness.

The truth of philosophy aims at happiness.

Are Being and God the same to Heidegger?

I need to use the toilet.

Go in the back.

Time for dinner.

No.
- Come on, please.

Or else...

I'll toss a coin!

It's your call.

I'll join you

if the coin stays in the air.

That's cheating.

Move.

Stop!

Move.

Stop!

Robert.
- No! I didn't move at all.

You were obviously offsides!

No way.
- What's an offside here?

Erich!

Fast, fast...!

Hey, that was a foul.
- No, it wasn't.

Humans are a kind of poem anyways.

Stop it.

Who am I when I'm afraid?

My father!

This is Robert. - Yes..

If I cut off your legs, are you still Elena?

Disgusting.
- Are you?

What's your substance?

You're so disgusting.

Your breasts, Elena: Substance or accident?

Is your hair Elena?

Your lips?

Your shoes?

Damn, I'm stuck!

Your shoe!

Me!

Why am I doing this? Why am I helping you?
- Because you need beer.

I don't need beer!

Because you need money for beer.

So you pass your final exam while I stay...?

I'll pass it either way.

What is your substance?

Is your head an accident?

Is Elena without a head substantially still Elena?

Elena without arms, without legs, head, breasts...

Is that still Elena?

Is that you? Is it still...

your substance?

Elena without breasts.
- ... is just Elena in another present.

Without a head, as long as she has her iPod!

I'm hurt!

Me!
- Idiot!

Why am I doing it, why am I helping you?
- Stop it.

It's true!

Why do I have to grow up in the country
just because my father needs peace and quiet?

My best friend is my dog.
- Your dog has been dead for three years, Robert.

Come! Come to me! Come here...

Good, good dog!

Hush! Drop it! Stop it!

Now stop it!

I'm not going to Mallorca again.

It was a horror. Every time.

Every time.

We're not going there anymore, Robert.

Once I have the Golf, I'll total it.

Keep still!

Ouch!

No.

No, go away.

This fire

marks the birth of a new Robert.

This fire...

I don't want that.

I don't want that.

I don't want it to be so cold within you..

This is...

Robert, you jerk!

Wait a sec.

Help me.

Take this.

Ok...ok..

Feeling better now?
- Hey, Sis.

Robert... little Robert.

Put that back.

It has to add up.

Sure.

He'll be asleep for a while.

Want a coffee?

Hmm... He looks good in your shirt.

It's an old rag.

Lovely.

I already had it, when the two of you were still a
kid..

Put it back.

I'll pay for it.

Ouch!
- Shit.. You ok?

What do you need this for?

Service.

Think we can leave?

You can hear the ignition crackling all over Europe
now.

Switch that thing to radio!

What?

Switch your cell to radio!
You can hear that crackling all over Europe now.

Man, You're right! Wow!

The waves are everywhere.

You can't hear them with your ears,

but in your bones...

You can hear them in your bones.

There you can hear the music -
can you hear it?

That?

The whole body feels it.

The ears hear nothing.

Feel this, Erich?

Stop it now!

Sleep with me, Erich.
- No!

Come on, it's a bet.

I don't sleep with women anymore.
I'm doing these exercises.

You have to separate from your body.

Humans are only

a harbinger...

Wow, my favorite song!

That's MY song! Listen!

That's my song!

Pull up further, man!

Shit.

Shit.

It's not even on.

That can't be!
Why don't these fucking things work?

Someone got a cigarette?

What?

You can't smoke here.
- Shut the fuck up, man!

Cut the shit and take off!

The station is closed!

That's Robert! Cecilia!

Take off!
- Come on out!

Robert, what are you doing here?

I'm watching Cecilia kiss that guy!

Your Robert! Yeah, give him a wave!

Wave! Robert!

Come on, let's go.

Leave me alone.

Wave. Wave.

Oh man, not him...
Come on, lets go

Let's go.

Oh shit!

Move it, fatso!

Hello, Robert.

Are you coming or am I?

Are you coming or...
- You.

Do I get the Golf?

So far.

It never gets dark.

Yes it does.

Humans are thus
the fissure through which can pro-trude

nothingness and therefore EVERYTHING...

Only one who knows otherness

can experience time.

Otherness is the price of hope.

What does this say?

The treasure must be here somewhere.
- Nonsense.

Lucy found it once.

Florian!

Robert?

Robert?

Come on, we'll bury him.

You see the dog?

This sucks.

The bet sucks.

Stop it, that's disgusting.

Why? I always do it!
- Doesn't work anyway.

..Paying you all the beer
and the car on top or what?

Why would I give you a 17,000 Euro car?

GIVE it to me?

I'm supposed to give it to YOU!

You're not giving me it, you're losing it.

Then I'll win.

It's made of bones, this gum.

It'll take 10,000 years until I'm gone.

"2:12 p.m."

By now, there are many surrounding hills,

and one must stride
from virtue to virtue with lofty steps.

At the summit is the end of all things.

And the destination

whither our pilgrimage is headed.

I stood benumbed by an amazing breeze of air

and by the view, in all directions free.

And then another inkling
took possession of my mind

and drew me from musing upon space
to the musing upon time.

And man comes to gaze upon the soaring peaks,

the ocean's overwhelming ebb and flow,

the far-flowing streams,

the circling of the stars

and is not aware of himself..

How much? Full?

I'll take you to the cash register.

Want to sleep with my sister?

How much?

Her?

She costs nothing. She's on the house.

OUT!

Shit.

Being has future...

Get him out, man.

... except in the moment
when the future comes to an end.

This is my body, which is now...

Time is in my body.

That's where it is now.

That's how you notice life.

That it saves itself.

And if time is hope,

is there no time without hope?

Is that possible?

How can reality work without time?

I heard all about it.

It wasn't...
- Just drop it.

Can we stay?

Fate

versus coincidence.

Physical definition:

Nothing is faster than light.

Not even time.

The light-cone of future

is what is yet to happen

and what we can still influence,

but can't yet know.

You... We can either know,

or influence.

Not both at the same time.

And this

is the ELSEWHERE

You can neither influence nor know it.

It's the ELSEWHERE of time.

So,

a meteorite races towards us at nearly the speed of light.

It's the ELSEWHERE.

We can neither influence nor know it.

The impact would be the present.

Its approach is not in the future..
Because it's outside of the future light cone.

vice versa if the meteorite

raced past the Earth
one hundredth of a second ago at a distance of
300.000 Km

we would be saved, but it's not yet the past.

It is past at the earliest after one second, when we
can know it.

Elsewhere is beyond

future and past.

Neither influenceable nor knowable.

The present is precisely here.

One quarter future, one quarter past,
two quarters elsewhere.

So, in principle,

the present is neither knowable nor influenceable.

That's the innocence of the present.

Will you get me some ice-cream?

Work.

These were once oceans.

I just want to know
why you kissed that guy last night.

Why me?

I thought it was me you kiss.

It didn't even get dark last night,
you notice that?

It's so quiet in here at night.

It was like in an aquarium.

I was the fish.

Didn't you see me do this?

With my mouth?

Humans have gills under their arms.

Covered by skin.

You can cut them open, it doesn't hurt that bad.

Hey, I never lie!

Well, OK, I did once.

That time, too.

That time, too.

That wasn't a lie, it was made up!

I do think I love you.

But you know, lies...

Hey, we caught a cricket.

It took off in a boat across the lake.
No, I'm not lying!

Adolf!

I'm Erich, Robert.

Yeah, I know.

Fantastic.

Will you give me a beer, Erich?

Will you lend me one?

No.
- One?

One!
- No.

Come on, give me one.

Here.

Give me five euros for this.

I bought this only yesterday for 19 euros!

Robert, I said no.

Two beers...

No.

Five beers.
- Are you nuts? I said no.

Eight beers?!
- No!

Robert, stop that. Stop it!
- Refreshing!

Robert, get lost, you're out of here.
- Refreshing!

Get lost, you two are out of here.

You two get out of here!

Stop that right now!
- Hands on the counter!

Elena, give it a rest.

Hands on the table!

Like this?

Don't touch that!

Hey, are you nuts?

Put that right back! Hey!

Put it back!

Bastard!

Hands on the counter, don't you move!..

Hands on the counter, Erich!

Stop it.
- Keep still and you won't get hurt.

Keep calm.

Oh no, not this!...

Robert, I said stay away from there!

Hands on the counter!

Robert, don't you touch that!!

Hands on the counter right now!

Hands on the counter!

Sorry, Erich.

Do you have the exact amount?

No, unfortunately not.

Damn.

Isn't it working?

Do you have cash?

Yes, but that's too much.

Yeah, sure.

Remember when I came
to the gas station by bike long ago?

And my princess dress got caught in the spokes?

I totally ripped up my knees.

You got my veil untangled.

But it must work.

Why doesn't it?

Take it for free.

Wha...? That's not possible.

Come on, I'll write down my name
- Fine.

and ID number.

What's your name, by the way?
- Hans.

Hans.

I'll definitely bring you the money.

Good.

I will. I really will.

I need your jumpsuit, Erich.

Please, Erich.

Otherwise they'll notice.

That would suck.

Come on, Erich.

Don't be so stupid.
- Aim higher, on the nose. And mouth.

Know-it-all.

Will you tell us the code, Erich?

I want that number.

Future, present, past:

bullshit.

Duration, instant, progression.

Those are the three modes of time.

The present doesn't exist at all.

Everything is lasting.

Duration is always here.

This floor is here now.

And I assume it'll be here in an instant, too.

Better!

Pure present without duration
would be pure panic.

And all objects are nothing but protocols of time

leading up to this instant,

to the form they now embody.

This stone..

tells us how it got here from the Big Bang.

It's all protocols of time.,

So the universe is just the surface of time.

"11:38 p.m."

I'm cold.

Come on, Erich.

Come on. It's a bet.

Come on, Erich.

Come on.

Come on, man.

Idiot!

Well, hello there!

I thought you were doing those exercises?

I won.

Do it, do it. Do it.

It's not a real one.

Do it.

Are you coming or am I?

Are you coming or am I?

Me.

Then come.

I have to pee.

Listen, Robert...
- Shut up!

That's enough!

Robert, that is enough!

Bet you can't do it.

But then you have to make a wish.

You have to make a wish.

I brought you my favorite song.

Listen.

It's not a real one.

It's not real.

It's not a real one!

It's not real, it's not real!

It's my turn.

Busted.

Shall we go on?

So what is time?

The meaning of all Being is time.

Time however isn't real
in the same sense other things are.

Man alone experiences how something that is,
soon thereafter is no more.

And something which is not yet, then enters being.

Man is the open place in Being,

the arena where Being turns into Nothingness
and Nothingness into Being.

The meaning of creation lies in
the witnessing of becoming.

Man is the organ of this witnessing.

Time is the medium.

So what is the meaning of all Being?

The meaning of all Being is time.

I'm so tired.

Fill it up, please.

You got a beer?

Fill it up.

So you got a beer?

This is my brother.

You have to make a wish.

What?

My prize. I won.

You got lipstick?

That.

I am almost done.

Here.

You look tired.

Can you do it?

Sure.

How's Robert?

Robert's doing fine.

Elena?

What is a melody?

We think we know what a melody is.

But does it exist?

How?

How does a melody exist?

At any given moment

only the respective note exists.

The melody is not the present note

but their succession.

At any given present moment,

only the current sound exists.

Past notes exist only as memories,

future notes as mere expectation.

So, strictly speaking, there is no melody.

Melodies don't exist in the classical sense.

And yet we carry melodies within us as defined
objects.

Melodies are pure objects of memory

that never corresponded to anything existant.

How can we remember something
that has never been?

I'm going to sing a song.

The song contains pauses.

A pause is a distance in time.

The sheltered space between two notes.

In terms of time, a pause

is what the sheltered space of a house is
in relation to space itself.

Singing a pause is just as exhausting,

just as intense
as singing the notes before and after it.

I'll sing now.

Listen up.

I've now sung the melody, that is, the song.

It's in your memory now...

I hope!

I'll sing it again.

Listen up.

I'll no longer be singing now.

And the sheltered pause

becomes an opening into the infinity of time.

it lasts

still lasts

still

It's no longer a pause..

It is nothing but time.

As if the walls of this room had collapsed

into the infinity of space.

I shall speak about time now.

MY BROTHER'S NAME IS ROBERT
AND HE'S AN IDIOT

Subtitles by Way Film Translation et al.
Matthew Way et al.