BRIGHT NIGHT
I remembered it being much bigger.
You were a baby then.
I wasn't a baby. You're a baby!
How come we never came here?
It's a little paradise.
Bernd!
Go on, get up.
Looks very East Germany.
That is my childhood.
This is where I grew up.
There used to be a cherry tree here.
Anna?
Hi, what a surprise. I'm Bernd.
Stefan.
- Good you could come. - It was now or never.
I'm Marc.
Hello, Stefan.
Your drop-top?
No, mine. It's good you could come, too.
Nice.
We went for a picnic in the woods.
Before they disappear.
Here, the key.
Thanks for doing all that.
I'm going to need a quick signature.
Right there.
So that's taken care of.
You'll stay a while, won't you?
You're not dashing off?
We'll see.
Stefan, can you get the shutters?
It smells the same as ever.
What will you do with all this stuff?
I've no idea.
Nothing?
Long time no see.
Way too long.
You know how it is.
Stefan, come upstairs.
I'll show you my old room.
The nearest hotel's an hour away now.
There's nothing around here anymore.
What's up?
If you want to take anything, just say.
I'm glad you came.
Look...
There you are.
Where?
There. The little cutie-pie.
Me, Heiko...
No kidding.
Which one's you?
There.
Anna, condensed.
Sweet!
Bernd?
She never even opened it.
Look, his doctoral thesis.
Good-looking guy.
When the village was relocated,
I represented Anna's aunt and others in their lawsuit.
And?
And what?
What happened with the suit?
What does it look like?
You go back a long way, Anna and you?
When we met, most likely you weren't even born.
We haven't seen each other for ages, either.
Everything okay?
Sure.
And you two, all good?
Sure.
Same as ever.
That's good to hear.
You got yourself a younger man, I see.
I sang it once or twice, it's not my "party piece."
Please.
You're such a liar!
- Shame, it'd be fun. - Go on, do it.
Or I'll sing it.
I've never met Stefan, and you're raising expectations.
It's a song we used to sing.
I'm no singer.
- Please. - It went like this.
Beetle on a leaf
What's that then?
The leaf gets knocked back
The beetle gets squished flat
Beetle on a leaf
What's that then?
In the city, eye contact
What's that then?
The city turns its back
Contact is soon snapped
In the city, eye contact
What's that then?
A hand in a hand
What's that then?
The first hand's given a gun
The other cleans up when the killing's done
A hand in a hand
What's that then?
That's all.
A scream!
They're bad this year.
Why don't you sleep over?
Hitting the road now is crazy.
To be honest, I was hoping you'd say that.
- Right? - Sure.
Cool. You can have Gitti's room.
Great.
Good health!
Cheers.
Since when do you say, "A scream"?
I have no idea.
I like it a lot.
I'll say it all the time now.
Please do.
How'd it happen, you two?
How'd what happen?
How did you get together?
It's the giant excavators at the open-pit mine.
Getting closer and closer.
I met Bernd in my first year at college.
After the Wall fell, I moved to Berlin.
And he answered an ad,
"Seek man hung like a horse. Pony tails okay."
Back then, it was still on with Anna.
Back then.
And how...
Did you always know you...
Was it...
Was it like love at first sight?
What's with the girly questions?
What is your question exactly?
Did you guys know right away
you were gay?
Sure.
I don't know.
Marc is the second great love of my life.
Who was the first?
How come conversations always get to when someone realizes they're gay?
I never rave about realizing I'm into cocks.
I'll drink to that.
You're into cocks?
Plural.
I'd no idea you two were together.
It was nothing serious, a quick fling.
A four-year fling, Anna?
Why'd you bring your shoes?
God!
You'll get over it.
Will you marry me?
How do you mean?
How I say it.
I thought I got to ask.
Ask me then.
Why didn't you tell me you used to be with Bernd?
Are you jealous?
Goodnight.
Go to sleep.
Morning!
Good morning.
Did you sleep well?
And you?
Sounded like it.
Morning.
Mrs. Steiner was outside her store...
- Only specialist psychology books. - Really?
Trauma and Stages of Resilience.
That's just...
I mean, who reads this?
You'd have to drive to the back of beyond...
A handful of people, nerds mostly.
If you guys are staying, we'll buy food, you'll cook up a storm.
Don't let him fool you.
He has revolutionized psychoanalysis.
It's based on Freud's remembering, repeating, working-through.
Sorry,
if you're really leaving tomorrow,
would it be okay if we stay
another few days?
Sure. Enjoy the countryside.
I have a patient who turned shaman and moved to Sauerland.
Know what you're missing?
A big pair of glasses
and knowing nod, so I feel totally understood.
He doesn't need glasses.
He snaps his fingers
and we're all hypnotized.
I'll go see.
The box had fallen on the floor.
With its contents scattered.
Photos...
films and stuff.
Bernd, tell them your dream.
I guess it felt
pretty real.
I dreamed
that noises had woken me up.
I get up and hear you two talking in the kitchen.
But it's dark in the kitchen.
You're not there. No one's there.
I go back upstairs
to your bedroom,
open the door...
You're lying in bed, asleep.
I sense something.
There's something there.
Then I open the door a little bit wider
and I see it.
Standing there is a...
shadowy figure
that was
looking at you.
Gives me the creeps. And then?
Then I woke up.
What did this figure look like?
Kind of human.
How does it end?
Who knows?
Maybe it hasn't yet.
Awesome!
"The trauma-burdened ego is destroyed."
It's a fairly common phenomenon.
The ego splits into ego and double-ego.
Look, Bernd!
The old records you gave me.
Is there some kind of happy end?
At a certain point, it escapes my control.
Some patients stay tangled up in their past.
And then?
I don't like summer.
I like fall and spring.
Can you rub lotion on my back?
Sure.
Stop that!
- What the hell! - Rub some on me too!
Why is it, when men play, they always play at killing each other?
Darwin, perhaps?
I am naked.
What's going on?
That was long ago. Stop!
Get away from me!
We're not giving up
Your home, defend it!
- Mrs. Steiner. - Good afternoon.
Look who it is! Bernd!
How are you doing?
And you?
How do you expect?
You put up a good fight at court.
For all the good it did.
David against Goliath.
- You're still open? - Absolutely. Be my guest.
What do we need?
Onions!
Can't go wrong with onions.
Excuse me...
- What's this? - You don't know?
Parsnip. Delicious!
We have our dinner right there.
Eat them raw. Or make soup with them.
Or they're good with butter and sugar.
Toss in a few onions...
And you'll eat to music!
To music?
Playing the butt trumpet!
Want some caraway?
No, we're music lovers, Mrs. Steiner.
6 euros!
And what do you have there?
24, in all. You have the exact change?
I have a 20 and...
Do you have 2 euros?
Have you guys got 2 euros?
Yeah, I have.
Well, if it isn't Anna Bergmann.
- Hello, Mrs. Steiner. - Hello.
Take care, Mrs. Steiner.
You too. Be good.
Never expected to see you again.
I thought you must have died or something.
Yes, it's been a long time.
So Gitti...
wanted to be scattered over the lake.
Totally anonymous.
Didn't want anybody there.
My condolences.
Thanks.
Who's this fella?
He's my fiancé.
Nice to meet you.
A good-looking young man.
This is your first time here?
It's beautiful.
Not for long.
What's that?
That's Bright Night .
The haven of the heart.
It looks pretty gloomy.
I see security.
Warmth.
I see solitude.
It has been a long time.
Well...
Goodbye.
How do you know her?
Since when am I your "fiancé"?
Was it okay, seeing her again now?
It's fine.
Since when am I your fiancé?
What's your problem?
Forget it.
So many memories.
All in all, school was okay, wasn't it?
You remember where you sat?
It was never the same place.
And it was all so long ago.
Where have our men gone?
I always sat at the back.
Did you have Böhmer in Physics?
The old witch.
Stefan?
You were always the teacher's pet, as I remember it.
Say,
are you happy, you and Marc?
Yes.
And? He still needs room to roam?
How come you didn't tell Stefan about us?
Because it hurt.
There you are!
- There you are. - You disappeared.
Anna and I have something to show you.
Something
nice.
Anna and I often used to come up here...
To admire the sunset.
Romantic.
It's a real shame there's nothing left here.
There's our energy revolution.
Wasn't it here, Bernd?
Yes.
What was?
A friend of ours jumped...
Seriously?
And?
Dead.
When was this?
When we were in high school, during the summer vacation.
The building was near-deserted, he came up here and...
jumped off.
It's getting chilly. I think we should go back.
Didn't they spend days looking for him?
His whole body was covered in layer after layer of ants.
He was invisible.
The ants around here were huge.
That big, right?
How did that happen, Anna?
What are you trying to say?
Can you just let it go?
You knew the guy well?
Who?
This friend of yours.
Not really.
He wasn't my friend.
Really? I thought he was.
Heiko was the biggest asshole ever,
constantly teasing people, over and over.
Then he started coming onto Bernd,
and suddenly being gay was trendy.
I just wanted to protect Bernd.
What?
Protect him? In what way?
In what way?
Bernd was my boyfriend, after all.
So, you knew Heiko pretty well.
Yes, I vaguely knew him.
Can we stop the cross-examination now?
What was it like being gay in East Germany?
Openly gay, I mean.
Marc, that's enough.
We're going. You don't have to answer, Anna.
What do you want from me?
You knew Heiko well enough to out him.
To the whole village
and all his classmates.
And then...
- Don't listen. - It's okay.
And you, Stefan?
Have you ever kissed a guy?
Hands off my boyfriend.
I've not done anything yet.
It's exposure therapy.
Let go of me!
I'm into women.
I mean, that woman.
Fidelity.
I must analyze it someday.
The passion for property is in it.
Doze off here and you start having crackpot dreams.
That smells wonderful.
Sausage hotpot, right?
You feeling okay?
And you?
I know I insisted we come here.
I just wanted to know you and your past better.
And?
You're definitely different here than at home.
For good or bad?
How's that soup doing?
Almost ready.
What's the story with Heiko?
He had personal issues.
How about we set the table?
Sure, of course.
Is that him there?
"17-year-old found dead.
"People's Police treating it as accidental."
Why accidental?
In East Germany, everybody was happy.
Nobody had a reason to take their own life.
What else could the paper print?
"Tuesday noon, Kerkwitz People's Police
"made a gruesome find.
"The corpse of a 17-year-old male
"on the north side of Golyadkin High School.
"The police believe the young man
"fell from the roof of the 4-story building on Friday night.
"He died of his injuries on Tuesday morning."
Tuesday morning?
So what do we do now?
Sleep?
I'll open another bottle.
Did you know, the plural of penis is penes?
I once had a guy with one that big.
I hardly slip salami through a barn door, but that?
No way.
What are you saying?
Can we stop talking about penises, please?
Penes!
- Come on, let's dance. - No!
I don't feel like it.
I think I'm done. I'm going to bed.
Come on, stay a bit longer.
Yeah, stay a bit longer.
I think tonight needs a little...
reflection.
Reflection?
That can be very bad for you.
Exactly.
I always get into a kind of pose...
Please tell.
It's like I'm watching myself,
down on my knees,
giving you head,
and I start wondering
if I shaved my pussy properly.
While thinking of your father?
No, you.
Leave me alone!
I didn't say a word.
Very interesting, Anna.
Tell us what you guys could improve.
Eventually, I get a reaction from you.
"Great, thanks, but that's enough."
How else is sex bad with me?
It's good you can talk about this.
Well, you...
You could grasp hold of my head more often.
You're so hesitant.
I don't want to ruin anything.
Bullshit!
What about you?
What would you like to improve?
Yes, tell me.
You pose.
You strike a pose.
The bed isn't a catwalk.
And when you blow me...
You gnaw on it.
Sometimes.
Kind of.
What did you mean earlier with the salami, please?
It's been ages since we had sex that blows your mind.
What do you mean?
Sex that totally knocks you out.
Sex always knocks me out.
We haven't had mind-blowing sex in ages either.
What kind of sex then?
Basically, it's been limited to fucking.
How can it be anything else when you're not faithful?
We're very faithful to each other.
Sure!
We only sleep with others.
The rule is, nobody else fucks us.
Usually.
That wing chair would be wonderful for your office.
Take it.
- What the heck! - Stay on topic.
What topic?
Alternative love and lifestyles. And wing chairs.
I'll leave the tableware to the neighbor.
We had great sex, Bernd.
I'm pleased to hear it.
I'm very pleased to hear it.
Yeah, me too.
You know the Kafka quote?
"Intercourse is punishment for being happy together."
Kafka...
Poor sucker.
Can you explain what's wrong with Anna?
Bring her to see me at the office.
Do you love me?
Why don't you say anything?
You can't be asleep already?
Can't you sleep?
You're sad.
What?
You've got a boner!
In commemoration
of old times.
Morning.
Good morning.
Pass me a roll, will you?
Thanks.
I'd like to stay here a bit.
I have a load of meetings lined up.
Two days, we said.
But it's beautiful here.
I want to stay a few days,
before going back to the office.
It wasn't such a good idea, the four of us here.
I'm going to pack my bag.
If you touch him, I'll kill you.
I'll call you.
Bright Night I shine so wonderfully bright...
You'll be okay. We'll get through this.
If it isn't the Bergmann girl!
You have a nerve coming here.
Know what I think?
I didn't believe for a moment
that Heiko was so
inverted.
I think he was a real man.
There's therapy for stuff like that.
It's no reason to kill yourself.
We were all young once.
We all did our thing.
We got it out of our systems.
But we're not him, are we?
Jealousy's a shit, little Anna.
What are you doing here?
What?
Paying your condolences?
Lost for words?
That's not like you.
What do you want?
To say farewell?
Or what do you want?
That's enough of that, woman.
People get beautiful new houses. Or so they're told.
Poor consolation. Have you ever actually seen one?
What about Jadwiga?
And her blackcurrant bushes?
She'll have to transplant them to make her homemade brandy.
Anna, Jadwiga's been dead two years.
Only specialist psychology books.
Old Mrs. Steiner
was outside her store as usual when we drove past.
Trauma and Stages of Resilience.
Who reads this?
If you guys are staying, we'll buy food...
The box had fallen on the floor,
with its contents scattered.
Photos...
films and stuff.
Bernd, tell them your dream.
I guess it felt
pretty real.
Since when am I your fiancé?
What's your problem?
Say, are you happy, you and Marc?
Sure.
And does he still need room to roam?
She finished the bottle?
No, there's a bit left.
No wonder she fell asleep.
She never could hold her drink.
She's had some practice since.
Guess who I made out with today.
Do you think you could stop being
so insensitive?
Insensitive?
When was I insensitive?
All day.
- Back on the roof. - Come on!
You behaved impossibly.
It's nice you noticed, at least.
How do you guys do it?
Your open relationship?
Doesn't it hurt?
Bernd chooses to be with me and me with him.
That's the main thing, right?
So what do you want from me?
The question is, what do you want from Anna?
Anna is...
She knows what she wants.
She's always in the here and now.
Without the relationship crap and psychobabble.
I love her.
And I love Bernd.
I love my mom, I love you...
Where's the problem?
That's not the point.
You don't sleep with your mom.
I wouldn't be so sure.
Was that an offer?
Precisely.
- So you've always been faithful to Anna? - Sure.
No other women?
No.
Listen...
Anna has to leave tomorrow.
Bernd and I are staying a bit longer.
Why not stay, too?
With us.
Lake...
Sun...
You guys are great.
Maybe even a bit...
seductive.
But I'm into women.
I mean, that woman.
Fidelity.
I must analyze it someday.
The passion for property is in it.
Doze off here
and you start having crackpot dreams.
It's you.
Who did you expect?
At a certain point,
it escapes my control.
You know what you have to do now, right?
Why'd you hit on Stefan, asshole?
Because I can, silly bitch.
What are you guys doing?
Your head still hurt?
I was wondering where you were.
Why don't you give me away?
Why should I right now?
Where's the other one?
Gone for a walk.
This is full-scale group therapy.
I don't understand your open relationship.
What does being open mean?
Rubbing lotion on someone's back?
Or kissing them?
The catalogue of rules would make me feel unfree.
Just the two of us is enough for me.
So that sounds possessive to you,
and I find your open relationship egotistical.
Constantly having to prove to yourself
how attractive and irresistible you are.
What do you really think of free love?
It's instinct.
I feel compelled.
I prefer to be open about it than secretive.
That's why Bernd and I are still together after 20 years.
Gay relationships are calculated in dog years
Multiply by 7.
Looking at it that way, we've been together 140 years.
Now I'm going to bed.
Goodnight.
You coming to bed?
Soon.
My new house has everything.
Tip-top.
Central heating.
Touchscreens.
You see...
Everything.
Only no soul.
Do you need help?
I can manage.
These days...
I can't stop thinking about my Heiko.
Me too.
Often.
Tomorrow, this all will be gone.
All of it.
Morning.
I feel reborn.
Pass me a roll, will you?
With your hand's okay.
Thanks.
Great few days with you guys.
Everything's a bit clearer now.
For me too.
Stay here a bit longer.
You have some time off.
Enjoy a few more days here.
All three of you.
Didn't you two want to stay longer?
Before...
Up in the cherry tree...
I always thought,
there was nowhere more beautiful than this garden.
It won't be here much longer.
Yes, absolutely!
In September, we'll check out the new village.
Next time we meet, you'll have a little...
baby bump.
Definitely.
- I had a great time. - Me too.
All the best, both of you.
You too.