The Notebook (A nagy füzet / Le grand cahier) (A Nagy Füzet)

The Notebook

Based on Agota Kristofs novel

Dad! Dad!

Dad!

Look, a warm scarf.

They won't be able to stand it.

They have to stand it for their own sakes.

They'll never get used to it. I know them.

The two of them are one.

Everyone has to live their own life.

Say goodbye to your Father.

He must go back tonight.

Boys, write down everything that happens to you in this notebook.

There is a war going on. We're a family even if we are apart.

I want to know about everything. About everything.

Don't leave out a thing.

There is a war going on.

14 August, 1944

Father and Mother don't know we eavesdrop on them in the evenings.

Father thinks twins attract too much attention in wartime.

So we are to be separated.

Mother is crying.

We don't cry.

We won't let them separate us from each other.

'Cos we can't live without each other.

We're coming from the big city, All night long...

Come!

Hurry up, will you!

Wait for me here.

Mother!

Mother, can you hear me?

For years you didn't think of me. You didn't come. You didn't write.

You know why.

I did love my father very much.

And now, you remember your mother loo, and expect me lo help you?

I ask nothing for myself.

I just want my children to survive the war.

- Why bring them here? - They ARE your grandchildren.

- How many are there? - Two.

What did you do with the rest? Bitches bear litters of four or five.

They keep one or two and drown the rest.

Do they at least have a father?

I wasn't invited to the wedding.

She is your grandmother.

You will stay with her for a while. Until the war is over.

- Open your mouth! - What?

Open your mouth!

Slay strong.

You must survive this until I come back for you.

The war could still last for a long time.

I'll put them to work. Food isn't free around here.

Whatever happens keep up with your studies!

You mustn't give them up! My darlings...

Be good. I'll write soon.

Mum! Mum, don't go away!

Mum!

Go!

Not once did she show up in the past twenty years!

I'll teach you a lesson!

You stay outside, sonsabitches!

Grandma's house is five minutes walk away from the last houses of the nearby small town. After that there's nothing, just the dusty... closed by a barrier.

A soldier is standing guard there, it's forbidden to go any further. The soldier has a machine gun and binoculars and when it rains he huddles in a small guardhouse.

We know that there is a secret army base beyond the barrier, amidst the trees, and beyond the army base the border, and another country.

Grandma's house is surrounded by a garden. There is a small stream at the end of the garden, and beyond that, the forest. All kinds of vegetables grow in the garden, and there are some fruit-trees as well.

There is a rabbit-cage, a hen house, a pigsty and a small goat-pen in one of the corners of the garden.

Grandmother is mother's mother.

Before coming to live in her house,

we didn't even know that our mother's mother was still alive.

We call her Grandma.

She calls us sonsabitches.

Get to work, sonsabitches!

Grandmother lives on the very edge of town.

Damn you two!

Nobody comes there, except for the postman.

That's all I need! Your cursed mother...

She only has one neighbour, an old lady who is blind and deaf.

The hell with all this crap!

No one likes Grandmother.

People just call her the witch.

They say she poisoned her husband, our grandfather.

We didn't even know we had a grandpa.

I'm hungry-

I see you're getting it.

You have to earn your food.

It's not about that.

Working is bad,

but it's much worse looking at somebody else toiling.

Sonsabitches! So you felt sorry for me?

No, Grandma.

We just fell ashamed.

You've earned your food.

So, Sonsabitches... This is where you're going to sleep.

Potato soup!

Eat!

You go gel some firewood, I'll bring the water.

Unfortunately we must do certain jobs for Grandma,

Otherwise she beats us and locks us out for the night.

We study, just as we promised Mum.

And whatever happens to us we write it down in Father's notebook.

We have Father's encyclopedia and the Bible we found here to study from.

We use the Bible for reading, dictation,

and to improve our memory.

"Wake and behold the Lord's house and altar. "

We already know the Ten Commandments by heart.

Sonsabitches!

Wake up! Come on, out!

Go on, get to work! Hurry, hurry!

You go for firewood, I'll fetch the water.

We have to write down what happens, what we see, what we hear and do.

We have a simple rule to decide if our writing is good or bad.

It has to be true.

- A great party. - Yes, I liked it a lot.

- Who are you? - Who are you?

- We live with our Grandma. - They live with their grandmother.

- Are you hungry'? - Are you hungry?

- No. - We're not.

Yesterday a German officer moved into Grandma's other house.

The officer is the Commander of the camp beyond the border The foreign officer

But he spends the weekends at Grandma's place.

Grandma's house is surrounded by a garden,

There is a spring at the end of the garden.

Then comes the forest.

On the other side of the spring is another country.

We're not allowed near the barbed wire because guards might shoot us.

Barrack 2!

Roll call!

There's a war going on.

And people kill each other in war.

Koszeg from the Wes!

It's two weeks since Mum left. She hasn't sent a letter since.

Fresh radishes, ladies! Come, take some.

I have lovely apples, buy one for your child.

I have competes as well! And sausages!

Fragrant sausages and beans. I have beans, madam.

What is it?

Hey, hey. hey!

- Damn you, bitch! - Stop her!

Stop! Catch the thief! Catch her!

Catch her! Catch her!

Thieves, thieves, thieves!

They're fuckin' thieves!

Run!

Thieves, thieves, thieves!

- Let my brother go! - I didn't steal anything.

I didn't.

- What did you steal? - Nothing! I'm not a thief!

- Talk, damn it! - I'm no thief. I didn't steal a thing.

Come here! Go on! Speak.

- What did you steal? - I'm no thief!

- What was it you stole? - I didn't steal anything!

The first lesson is to train the body.

Grandma beats us every morning.

She beats us with a wet towel pulling our ears in the meantime.

The postman, the innkeeper and others also slap and kick us.

We don't even know why.

We decide to train our bodies

to take pain without crying.

- It doesn't hurt! - Thief!

- It doesn't hurt. - Sonofabitch!

- It doesn't hurt. - Dirty pig!

Scumbag! Shithead!

For a start, we slap each other and then move on to punching as well.

Stand up!

At first we cry out in pain, 'cos it hurts so much.

- Dirty pig! Scumbag! - It doesn't hurt, it doesn't...

It hurts so much... It hurts so much...

It hurts so much...

It doesn't hurt! It doesn't hurt!

It doesn't hurt! It doesn't hurt!

Dirty shithead! You pig! You filth!

Potato soup! Bring wood! Fetch water!

Mum hasn't written for at least a month.

It stinks.

Picky, are you, sonsabitches?

- It's shit. - Shut your mouth!

- More! - Give me one, too!

Here!

Look...

We're turning the other cheek, just like the Bible says.

What the hell are you doing?

- What... - It's just a game!

- Fuck! - Stop shouting, hit us instead!

Fuck!

- What the fuck is going on with you? What?

Nothing! Hit us! Just hit us!

What is this?

Hit me! It doesn't hurt. Go on! Hit me!

God damn it!

We spy on Grandma every evening from the attic.

She always gets very drunk and keeps cursing our grandfather.

You damned pig!

You just got what you deserved.

Grandma hides different kinds of treasure in her chest.

Come here, my precious. Come here.

Those sonsabitches. I won't let them take these from me.

I must hide them.

I will hide them. I won't give them away.

Not to anyone. I won't.

I won't give them away.

They can't prove anything.