Take the cane.
Get out the food.
In the crocodile-skin case.
And the newspaper... In the blue case.
No, no... In the blue one. Are you colour-blind?
Be careful with my things! I bought that in London.
Take care of this.
Travelling with you is what I'd call a real pleasure.
- May I tempt you? - No thanks.
All the better for me.
And the scarf. The scarf! What an age it takes!
Have you seen how he fusses about? Is this what you would call a holiday?
I must really apologise for my friend.
- Sixten Kvarnström. - Gunnar Wern.
- The critic? - And author... Yes.
- This is Pomp. - Theodor Bäckström.
- Poofter Pomp. - And what does that make you, then?
I only sought out men because I hated women. It's different.
- You're embarrassing our companion. - Embarrassing a critic?
That'd be like asking a cadaver to dance the cancan.
He's not always like this.
Are you off to the continent to celebrate Christmas?
Not exactly to celebrate Christmas. I was thinking of Berlin.
We're also going there. I don't mind if it's destroyed.
- At least you can be yourself. - Of course. Just look at Hitler.
- I hear many authors are off to Europe? - That's correct.
Personally, I'm not travelling to write.
No... but you must surely be looking for something?
Well, this may sound strange and a little na'ive, but.. .
- I'd like to make a difference. - Yes.
Excuse me a second... Excuse me a second!
- Make a difference? - Make a difference!
Do something good.
Imagine helping to construct a Europe that is now so destroyed.
- I heard Berlin has been flattened. - That's exactly what draws me.
No, no, you must think I sound crazy.. .
It's fascinating to be present and assist in the birth of a new, united Europe.
- That's exactly how I feel! - You? That would be fitting.
A poofter as midwife? Like asking an Eskimo to run a banana plantation.
- No one here is laughing. - No, my upbringing prohibits it!
It's all about the will. Who knows, maybe I'll learn how to be a mason.
- I'm looking to believe in something. - I see. Like... Wittgenstein?
Yes, I find Wittgenstein interesting, even if there's much I don't understand.
- Wittgenstein is an idiot. - All people are idiots to you.
Yes, that's true.
- I think you will really like Berlin. - Have you been there often?
- No, never unfortunately. - We bathe in a sea of experience.
Why are you so unpleasant?
I'm unpleasant? Because I doubt the authority that praises a city never seen?
Or that I question a critic who wants to believe -
- and embraces a philosopher who believes in nothing?
Did you know that Wittgenstein, in a debate with Turing was asked -
- just so the discussion could move on, to admit -
- that just at that moment there were no hippopotami present?
But Wittgenstein refused.
And so I ask myself, what can such a philosopher ever get one to believe in?
He doesn't mean for us to reject knowledge, but to constantly question it.
I see. As an apprentice mason, you'll have much to stand in, that's for sure.
''Nothing is necessarily what it appears to be.''
That's not a bad starting point, I think.
- Precisely. - You agree with that bitch philosophy?
- Why do you hate women? - I've never seen good come from one.
But, there's a mirror in the toilet... Take a look in it.
That was funny!
That was, by God, the funniest thing I've heard! I'll live long on that.
Cunt... humour! Well, I'm off to the restaurant car to have a real dinner.
I didn't mean to be funny. It's always wrong. I didn't mean to upset you.
I never get upset. It would disturb the dosage of my alcoholism.
If you could only once sit down and listen to others!
It would do you good to have a little break from your bitter monologue.
But you are really the most egocentric person I ever met!
Am I, who always perceived my surroundings as a personal affront -
- am I egocentric?
