- [bomb whistles] - [distant explosion]
[Von Rumpel scoffs]
[Von Rumpel] I have finally found you!
Marie?
There's nowhere left to run.
I know you are up there, Marie.
There is no escape.
I'm weak and I'm slow, but my need is great.
I'm coming for you, Marie.
[man shouts]
[Marie grunts]
[glass breaks]
[Von Rumpel] I assume you have barricaded yourself up there.
Smart girl.
But now, it must end.
I have a gun, Marie.
And I also have a hand grenade.
There will be no need for any more...
expense of strength or...
or the use of explosive if...
if you were to answer my simple question.
The Americans are at the city walls.
There's no time for games.
All you have to do is tell me where I will find the Sea of Flames!
Etienne, I'm scared.
I need you to come home.
Please come home.
[Werner wheezes]
[coughs]
[men shout in distance]
Professor...
Are you okay?
No...
No, the professor is not okay.
[groans]
It's a good place for this.
For what?
The last lesson you will learn from the professor.
It's that when your soul is leaving this Earth...
you know it.
You can see your whole life laid out in moments.
[man on radio] This is London calling to the people of France.
[pencil scratches]
With a very personal message.
The long sobs of violins of autumn.
I repeat...
The long sobs of violins of autumn.
[French song plays on gramophone]
Thank you.
[Madame Manec sighs]
Uh, before you eat, Madame Manec, you must take your tablet.
Well, I've already taken my tablet, my dear. You heard me.
No, I heard you lift the bottle of tablets and shake them,
but you didn't take the tablet.
[Madame Manec chuckles]
I know, I'm very annoying.
No, you are very amazing. [chuckles]
But, these tablets, I swear, were made for horses.
If you don't take them, the doctor said your heart will give in
and then who will make me this wonderful soup?
- There. Now you can eat. - [laughs softly]
Do you think, Madame Manec, that in heaven
we really will see God face-to-face?
We might.
What if you're blind?
I'd expect,
if God wants us to see something,
we'll see it.
- [footsteps approach] - [stairs creak]
Etienne? What's happened?
The BBC, from London,
they just read the "Autumn Song."
The first three lines of the "Autumn Song."
What is the "Autumn Song"?
"Autumn Song" by Paul Verlaine is the agreed signal.
That the Americans are coming.
The British are coming.
It means we now have so much to do.
It's okay, Etienne. I will do what needs to be done.
We have to watch the port, the yards, the roads...
I'll do it.
No, Sophie, you... The doctor said you have to rest, that anxiety could...
could... could be dangerous.
Now that they've read the poem, how can you do what needs to be done?
I'll simply ignore the doctor.
No, if there's work to do, I'll do it.
Marie, you can't...
How can you watch ships come and go?
Marie can collect messages.
And you?
What will you do?
Etienne.
Don't you want to be alive before you die?
- Marie... - Yes.
When you have finished your soup, you must go to the model your father made
and familiarize yourself with all the streets
leading to the church and the bakery.
You will be very busy in the coming days.
[seagulls screech]
[she mutters]
Ask me again.
[Marie] What?
I once said to you that if it was you that was asking...
I might one day come with you.
So, please, ask me again.
Uncle Etienne...
will you come with me into the world?
Yes.
Yes, I will.
[Marie] Madame Manec!
Madame Manec, we are going out.
What do you mean "we"?
[Etienne] She means "we."
We are going out for a walk.
What's so odd about that?
Very well.
Your hat, Etienne.
You never used to leave home without your hat.
Still here.
How does he look?
He looks like my little brother.
[breathes heavily]
Papa said that you were once a tiger.
[scoffs]
A tiger.
Yes, a tiger I once was.
And will be again.
You will be again.
Thank you.
My God.
[sighs] Yes. It is Etienne.
What's left of him.
From now on, it'll be me collecting the bread.
Now I know we will win.
[softly] It is the burnt one that is not for eating.
Welcome back, sir.
[wheezes, coughs]
- [door opens] - [Etienne] Sophie? We're back.
[door closes]
It's the burnt one.
Are you okay?
Now is not the time for okay or not okay.
Sixteen groups.
Hey.
Are you hungry?
Yes, thank you.
- Grab my cane, I'll go faster. - Where are you going?
- [Marie] We have much to do. - Much to do!
[motorcycle whirs]
[Etienne] A new arrival from Rotterdam under a Dutch flag.
The merchant vessel, the Batista May.
Carrying concrete, the reinforcements, I guess.
What's the registration number?
It's R-D-1-1-2-3.
[footsteps approach]
Boots. Metal tips.
Caught anything?
Not yet.
What's this?
What is this?
[Marie] That's my homework.
I'm blind so it's written in braille.
And what is written on this piece of paper?
Read it out to me.
"Captain Nemo was speaking with captivating eloquence."
"The fire in his eyes and the passion in his gestures transformed him."
"He loved the ship like a father loved a child."
It's from a book. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
We're reading it right now in school and it's also the work of a Frenchman.
Good luck with the fish.
Thank you.
[sighs]
Marie, sometimes it frightens me how good you are at this.
[chuckles]
Well, but if I did that then I'd have my sister to deal with.
[Marie] Smoke?
Shit.
Sophie?
Sophie! Where are you?
[coughs]
Sophie!
No. No. Sophie.
No, no, no, no.
[Marie coughs]
- Etienne? - Over here!
What's happened?
[he cries]
[sniffles]
[Etienne] It was her heart.
She...
She waited until she knew I could take her place.
She never gave up on me, even after I gave up on myself.
We will finish what you started.
We will finish your work. I promise.
We will finish it.
[cries]
Sophie...
Etienne, I'm trying to finish what Madame Manec started,
but I can't do it without you.
I need you here with me. Please.
[Von Rumpel] Enough is enough, Marie!
At last...
I have found you.
Today.
This moment.
This is where it ends.
[soldiers shout]
The Germans are getting desperate.
Marie won't be safe.
You go to her and you protect her until the Americans come.
I will.
When you see Marie...
tell her that a tiger is happier dead than in a cage.
She set me free.
Tell her thank you.
It's all right.
You're a good boy, Werner Pfennig.
You're a good boy.
Don't let this war break you.
You'll protect her.
I promise.
Papa, if you're listening...
I need your strength.
Why are you talking to your father?
You want to know what happened to him?
Then I will tell you.
After he left you here,
he went to Paris to throw the Gestapo off his trail.
Unfortunately for your father, the Gestapo had other plans.
[indistinct chatter on PA]
Never stop walking.
Never hesitate.
You're not so good at this work, Monsieur LeBlanc.
And now, with a minimum of fuss...
you will come with me.
Oh, yes, you smile because they're your old friends.
Once you were the keeper of every key to every lock.
But now, there's only one key that you need.
You can have it.
It's yours, take it.
Take it. Unlock the door and walk.
Go wherever you please.
Go to an expensive restaurant,
buy yourself a bottle of wine.
[inhales] Breathe life in.
I prefer a cheap wine at the kitchen table and you can breathe life in anywhere.
Your bravery is of no concern to me.
In war, bravery is like...
[blows raspberry]
...leaves on a tree, abundant, useless.
Blown away.
You are of no concern to me.
I don't care whether you live or die.
You're a senior officer, what do you want from me?
I am
the most senior officer in a unit of one.
My task is to gather up every precious stone in Europe
and delivered it to the Reich.
I'm good at my work.
I've been successful...
with one exception.
I'm looking for a particular diamond.
Is it for Hitler's private collection?
Or... perhaps it's for you.
You're sick.
You smell sick.
Here's how this afternoon is going to progress.
Between now and the setting of the sun...
You're going to disobey your orders
and then you will try to secure this precious gem for yourself.
If you don't tell me where it is...
I will shoot you.
Through the head, here in this room, before nightfall.
But then I'm already dead.
And you cannot threaten a dead man.
You think you have told me nothing, but you have already told me a great deal
in a short space of time.
In my research on you, I have been told that you are a very rational man.
For example, you don't believe in idiotic things,
like cursed diamonds.
Even though your possession of the particular stone
led to your daughter living her life in darkness.
So, as a rational man...
I don't believe you would give up your life for a simple piece of rock.
[sighs]
But you would give up your life for her.
That means the diamond is with your daughter.
If I find your daughter, I will find the stone.
There are silent bells in rooms like this that only men like me can hear.
I just heard one ring.
Yes, everything has a voice.
You just have to listen.
You believe the Sea of Flames will give you eternal life?
I'm sorry.
Death will come for you.
But if you love someone...
love is what outlasts it.
Which is why my daughter lives in light, not darkness.
[screams]
[groans]
These were my tools to examine precious stones.
But I found...
they're quite useful for occasions like this.
[screams]
We have just over three hours
for you to give me an address.
I've learned, in many such situations,
that pain is stronger than loyalty and patriotism.
But the question of this afternoon is...
is pain stronger than love?
[groans softly]
That was the question.
Is pain stronger than love?
You want to know the answer to that question?
The answer's no.
He did not tell me anything.
I tortured him for three hours and still he told me nothing.
He wouldn't give me an address.
He wouldn't give you up.
And so...
[sobs]
[Marie] No. No...
[Von Rumpel] Yes, Marie, your father is dead.
Dead at my hand.
[soldiers shout]
[gun fires in distance]
Papa, you are not gone...
until I am gone.
Marie, do you understand your situation?
I can blow away this door...
- I will not go... - ...at any moment.
...until he is gone.
Tell me where your father hid the diamond and I will leave you alone.
I am not alone.
You may have a hand grenade.
But I have a gun.
Who would be stupid and reckless enough to give a gun to a blind girl?
My Uncle Etienne gave me the gun and he taught me how to use it.
[glass breaks]
If you come through that door,
I will shoot you just as my Uncle Etienne taught me.
The fact that you have your uncle's revolver complicates things.
But only a little.
- What did you say? - I said...
[groans]
[grunts]
You may have a gun, Marie.
But what you don't have is eyes.
And soon...
you won't have ears either.
I will count down from ten.
And then I will pull the wire that holds the pin of the grenade.
The explosive will be filled with shrapnel,
so I suggest you step away!
Just want to make sure you're still alive after I've blown open the door.
But the explosion will deafen you.
For 30 seconds, you will hear nothing.
And that is when I will enter the room
and take my chances with a half-conscious little girl
with nothing but a sense of smell.
This is your very last chance. Talk to me!
[somber piano music plays]
[Jutta] Werner!
[gasps]
[distant gunfire]
We are not going to die today.
I'm coming, Marie.
Ten.
Even if I'm deafened, I'll still hear your voice.
[Von Rumpel] Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
Four!
Three!
Two.
One.
[high-pitched ringing]
[muffled sounds]
[muffled speech]
[planes whir, guns fire]
[muffled sound]
[indistinct shouting]
Marie?! Are you all right?
Marie! Where are you?
Your Uncle Etienne sent me.
- [gunshots] - [muffled shouting]
[glass crunches]
- Marie! - [Marie] I'm here!
Who are you?
My name is Werner.
I'm a German soldier but I'm your friend.
Your Uncle Etienne was my professor too!
Your story is irrelevant, you traitor!
And rest assured, it will die with you very soon.
Marie, your gun holds six bullets.
I have counted five.
So one bullet left.
So I will deal with this traitor and then I will come for you.
[gunshots]
[pants]
[stairs creak]
He's coming down the stairs.
He's halfway down. I know the sound of each step.
He's almost reached the parlor floor.
Five more steps to go.
He's almost at the foot of the stairs.
He's on the landing, just outside the door.
[gun clicks]
[gun cocks]
[gasps]
Everything has a voice.
You just have to listen.
You're a German soldier.
I'm not anything anymore.
Except alive.
Thanks to you.
[chuckles softly]
What is that?
What?
It must have been inside the model.
- It looks like a diamond. - Don't touch it.
Why not?
Just leave it.
You said
that my uncle was your professor too?
Yes.
[radio hums]
You said earlier...
that the professor sent you?
He, uh...
asked me to tell you...
Tell me what?
A tiger is happier dead than in a cage.
But he...
But he was killed.
He... he said you freed him.
Happier dead...
That is what he said.
I... I...
Is this where he sat?
You listened to him?
He was my father.
It... it was as if he was.
I was an orphan.
I used to see this place when I closed my eyes.
I saw it too.
I didn't need to close my eyes.
The most important light...
[together] Is the light you cannot see.
You look hungry.
I'm not.
I am.
Do you like peaches?
I do like peaches.
Open your hand.
[Marie] Thank you.
[chuckles]
[radio hums]
What are you doing?
[Werner] I am mending the radio.
[hums]
The music that the professor always played.
Do you still have it?
[gentle piano music plays on radio]
My dear sister, Jutta...
- I don't know if you're listening... - [cries]
...but if you are,
then know that I am alive
and that I'm still on the same frequency in my head.
I'm in France.
I will try to come home.
And when I get back, I will tell you everything.
There are so many things.
But the most important thing...
I met the professor. I really did.
He saved my life.
And I'm sitting in his chair.
With a girl who has the most beautiful eyes.
I have to go.
[chuckles]
All my love.
[sobs]
- [radio shuts off] - [music continues]
[music ends]
They are close.
I know the city very well. I know the secret pathways.
I can escort you to the city walls.
No.
No. If you're caught with me, you will be shot as a collaborator.
But we will meet again.
Where?
At shortwave 13.10.
If you broadcast, I will be listening.
And when the war is over, if you want me to come, I will come.
You might change your mind.
I won't.
Then be sure to listen.
I will.
I will as I always have.
[crowd cheers]
You need to surrender to the Americans.
The people here will kill you,
but the Americans will give you boots and food.
And a chance.
Okay.
I'll go with you.
[all cheer]
[man] I want to make sure this whole area is completely sweeped and secure.
I will be listening.
- Sergeant! Secure this man! - Come on.
[crowd boo and shout]
[all cheer]
We did it, Marie! We did it!
[all sing in French]
[singing continues]
[gentle piano music plays]
[pensive piano music plays]