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6b 1910 ADIEU DR. FRAENKEL!
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Spa Tobelbad. Alma Mahler and Dr. Joseph Fraenkel are arguing.
FRAENKEL Alma!
What's the matter with you all of a sudden? Did I do something
wrong? Alma, please stay ! Did I say something that hurt you?
... Alma!! Hold on ! Why are you so angry with me all of a
sudden? Remember, Alma! Remember yesterday, won't you! Please,
Alma! Yesterday everything was fine, so good between the two
of us, and now, just like that? Yesterday's operation! Have
you forgotten it already ? You were completely satisfied!
The results are fantastic, aren't they? You've been relieved
of a burden! Please don't run away, Alma! ... At least say
something ! What did I do to deserve such a brutal change
in your behavior? Alma, how can I know what this is all about
if you don't talk to me? What deadly sin have I committed?
ALMA My
poor, sweet Doktor Fraenkel...
FRAENKEL »My
poor, sweet Doktor Fraenkel!« What kind of answer is
that? Is that supposed to be some kind of consolation? For
what? I know I'm poor. In every sense of the word.
ALMA Don't
be ridiculous!
FRAENKEL And
on top of it I'm ridiculous now. I am! You said it! You can't
take it back. , it doesn't make it any easier for me.
ALMA We've
been such good friends... Let's leave it at that.
FRAENKEL I
operated on you! Please don't forget that! I've touched you
...
ALMA Medically,
Doctor, only medically!
FRAENKEL “Only”
medically? “Only”?! That's the most intimate touching
there is, Alma! Far more intimate than the way all other men
continually harass you with their animal eyes! You mustn't
let yourself be defiled !
ALMA Don't
be vulgar!
FRAENKEL And
you've got to stop drinking, Alma. Really. Please give up
the bottle. Try to return to yourself, to what you were before
your miserable marriage.
ALMA What
was I ? I can't remember anymore…
FRAENKEL A
young person with the whole world at your feet. You had the
most wonderful gift a person can have: you had talent--
ALMA I don't
know what's left of it. My head is empty. My heart is mute.
My feelings are dead.
FRAENKEL Leave
that life behind you--
ALMA How
can I? I'm keeping house, I'm supporting Gustav, I have a
young daughter.
FRAENKEL Give
it all up. Take your forgotten songs with you, and go back
to composing.
ALMA How
do you know about my compositions?
FRAENKEL A
guest of ours played one yesterday.
ALMA Nonsense.
I'm not going to be a composer any more. I can't do anything
about it-
FRAENKEL Yes
you can. But this time don't let anyone distract you from
your path .
ALMA Stop
it, Dr. Fraenkel!
FRAENKEL Alma,
I know I'm not Hippocrates.
ALMA Stop
it, Dr. Fraenkel!
FRAENKEL Yes,
you've told me many times.
ALMA I was
joking.
FRAENKEL No,
you weren't. You weren't at all! I know what my colleagues
say about me, I'm not under any illusions. I know they keep
telling you how poor I am. And it's true -
ALMA External
appearances have never interested me.
FRAENKEL But
they do, my dear, they interest you a great deal! I know you
well enough by now to be aware of that.
ALMA Don't
flatter yourself, Doctor.
FRAENKEL You're
after money, talent and fame. I have none of all these.
ALMA That
isn't true. You have talent, and you know it . You're an authority.
FRAENKEL I'm
not so sure any more.
ALMA You're
an authority, Dr. Fraenkel. I can assure you of that.
FRAENKEL But
I'm not a genius. Now you be quiet. . I'm certainly not a
genius. If you believed I was , you wouldn't have let me down.
- Alma! Don't leave me! I want you. I need you. I have to
have you, do you understand?! For ever! I want you for ever.
Do you understand?! I want to shape you, you see?! I want
to form you! Your body! - Don't let me beg like a child. Do
you really have so much to give that others have to beg?
ALMA Yes.
FRAENKEL Well
fine, I have nothing. I have to beg!
ALMA Stop
it! Stop it right now!! I can't bear it! Do you understand
me?! Stop humiliating yourself right now. I can't stand it.
You must never, do you hear, never humiliate yourself in front
of me. You should never, never, never beg for my love!
FRAENKEL If
you don't give it to me -
ALMA Nothing
kills love like begging, , don't you understand that? If someone
asks for help, you shouldn't give it to them. Because that
means they aren't worthy of it! Why can't you see that? If
a man asks me for something - if he begs for it - then to
me, he's dead.
FRAENKEL And
- am I dead to you? (uses his stethoscope)
ALMA You
are doing everything you can to make my departure easier for
me. .
FRAENKEL Your
departure?! What departure?!
ALMA Doctor,
I have an awful dilemma.
FRAENKEL Is
there someone else?
ALMA Please,
Dr. Fraenkel...
FRAENKEL Who
is it? - Don't call me »Dr. Fraenkel«! - Who is
it? I want to know his name!
ALMA It's
Mahler.
FRAENKEL Gustav
Mahler? But he's your husband!
ALMA No,
you sweet little idiot! I'm only experimenting.
FRAENKEL I
know.
ALMA No,
not with you. I'm experimenting with myself: I whisper »My
love«, and it's always Mahler's name that comes out
first.
FRAENKEL And
whose name comes out second?
Silence.
FRAENKEL Whose
name comes out second, hmm? I can already smell him on you.
What has he got that I haven't? Is he younger than me? Better-looking?
Is it Ossip Gawrilowitsch the pianist? I know you, Mrs. Alma
Mahler. You want to sparkle like a star in the sky. The brightest
star. The evening star. And for that you don't need love.
But that's all I can give you. What you do need a rich and
respectable man. - What are you laughing at?!
ALMA »A
respectable Man!« Oh, my God... How do you know!
FRAENKEL So
he isn't respectable ? Then he must be very rich.
ALMA He isn't
rich either.
FRAENKEL Then
he must be famous.
ALMA Dr.
Fraenkel, stop it, please!
FRAENKEL Stop
lying to me! Is he famous? World famous?
ALMA Not
yet.
FRAENKEL Ahhh!
- Who is it?!!!
ALMA It's
Sauerbruch.
FRAENKEL Who?!
ALMA Sauerbruch,
your colleague.
FRAENKEL Stop
this nonsense. I won't tolerate such a man in my house.
ALMA I'm
not going to tell you. So please leave me in peace, will you?!
FRAENKEL Don't
make me crazy! I want to know now, dammit! Who is it? At least
tell me his room number.
ALMA Dr.
Fraenkel! You're getting on my nerves. Stop torturing me!
FRAENKEL I'm
torturing you?! You're torturing me! Who is the man? I want
his room number right now!
ALMANIAC (whispers)
Psst! It's one-one-eight.
FRAENKEL What?
What?! (takes out the list of patients and searches through
it:) No! No, you've got to be kidding! It can't be true! That
animal? That Aryan thoroughbred? That German Schäferhund?!
ALMA He's
in love with me.
FRAENKEL He's
in love with you? But you're a married woman!
ALMA It's
not my fault if I light passion's fire , it's not my fault!
Men swarm around me like moths to a flame , like flies to
a honey pot...! I was made that way! That's why I was born
into this world!
FRAENKEL Flies
swarm to shit in the street too...
ALMA You're
just jealous.
FRAENKEL My
God! You are the most incorrigible Man-Hunter I've ever met!
ALMA What's
wrong with that?
FRAENKEL Well!
Madam!
ALMA I'm
listening, Doctor!
FRAENKEL If
you you don't think there is anything wrong with you, then
I won't disturb your peace of mind.
ALMA Tell
me what you think, what you feel.
FRAENKEL Frankly
speaking, I can't approve of your weakness.
ALMA You
really think people should tie up their whole lives with the
first object that happens to come along?
FRAENKEL An
“object”? You call a Man an object?!
ALMA What's
wrong with objects? They can be very interesting and even
exciting sometimes. But that's no reason to give them all
up for the first object that catches your attention? Why should
one precious stone make you blind to all the rest?
FRAENKEL But
what are you left with when you finish a love affair…?
ALMA There's
always a new love to start up.
FRAENKEL And
you think Mr. Gropius is that a love? What's so new about
him ?
ALMA It quickens
my pulse to feel his desire. It awakens me from my deep sleep.
It's like therapy!
FRAENKEL Go
on devouring life like a pig-- stuff yourself with food, drinks
and cum!
ALMA I am
what I am! I was made to devour life, not to describe it…!
I simply love it when a man loves me.
FRAENKEL Doesn't
faithfulness mean anything to you?
ALMA But
Doctor, that's ridiculous! Faithfulness ! All intelligent
men have the right to enchant me. Denying that would be doing
them an injustice! The purely accidental advantage of the
one who happened to be the first to cross my path should not
rob the others of their rightful claims to my heart.
FRAENKEL What
are you saying, Alma? How can you?
ALMA Women
who are proud of being faithful all their life to one man
- even if the man is exceptional - are certainly not interested
in the intelligence or pure spirit of men! They have to force
themselves to be faithful, through a false sense of honor
that keeps them forever away from all other men. from their
intelligence, from their greatness, from their genius! Women
like that are dead long before they've died.
FRAENKEL Alma!
Why are you talking like this? You are an intelligent woman
with refined tastes. Your music is far superior to anything
that cheap prick of an architect could cobble together in
200 years.
ALMA How
do you know about my compositions?
FRAENKEL A
guest of ours played one yesterday.
ALMA Nonsense.
I'm not going to be a composer any more-- I can't do anything
about it-
FRAENKEL Why?
ALMA The
muses don't like me.
FRAENKEL The
muses?!
ALMA But
men do. Especially the ones the muses love. That's why the
muses are jealous of me. Let them drop dead with envy-- like
their lovers die of love for me. They pray at my altar! I
don't know why, but that's how it is. My husband never was
as absorbed in his work as he was absorbed in his love for
me, believe it or not! Whatever he did, he did for me, to
reach me, to touch me, to worship me...!
FRAENKEL Gustav
Mahler?! Really…?
ALMA And
Walter is going to be the prophet of modern architecture.
I know it!
FRAENKEL Walter?!!
ALMA Walter
Gropius. 1-1-8. He isn't just anybody! He's a genius! I know
it. I can feel it.
FRAENKEL As
an architect he's a disaster, he's a nothing, a Zero! Just
Think of his ridiculous visions of a “Bauhaus” movement!
Ha!
ALMA It's
not his theories. Not in the least . His theories about architecture
leave me cold. It's just … him! Him! It's him that fascinates
me. Only him. It's strange... But I don't know how to say
it.
FRAENKEL Yes,
sure, I know. The “inexpressible ”, that »certain
something«!
ALMA Yes.
Exactly. You see, when a man falls in love with me, I immediately
fall in love with myself. And all of sudden my life feels
so full, so justified!
FRAENKEL Just
because a man passes through your life?! That's ridiculous!
ALMA Why?
FRAENKEL Because
they always leave their dirty footsteps on your soul, and
their greasy fingerprints on your body!
ALMA Oh no!
The more men pass through my life, the more strongly I feel
that I'm alive!
FRAENKEL But
they fill you with their rotten semen!
ALMA Rotten?
No. Nothing tastes better than the sperm of a genius.
FRAENKEL You
should know…
ALMA If I
love a man, I want to have a child with him. If I don't, it
can easily be disposed of.
FRAENKEL Alma!
ALMA What's
wrong with that? You helped me with it just yesterday ...
FRAENKEL Alma,
please! It was against my Hippocratic oath.
ALMA Then
you're a sinner now. Thank you. See you in hell!
FRAENKEL Stop
fooling yourself, Alma. All you want to do is sit on the hurdy-gurdy,
like a fool! All dressed up, with a little red cap, a bowl
of money in your hand, while some silly man grinds the organ!
And the whole world dances to the tune! But not with me, Alma!
Not with me!!
Suddenly Dr. Fraenkel throws himself at Alma, trying to embrace
and kiss her:
ALMA Stop
it! Stop it, Dr. Fraenkel! How dare you…?!
FRAENKEL Alma...
Alma! Come here, come to me!
ALMA Dr.
Fraenkel! Are you completely mad?! Leave me... in peace! Don't
kiss me! Don't touch me! Go away!! Go ... away!!! (pushes
him away and spits out) Urrgh! If only I'd met him a bit earlier,
my body would never have been tainted by yours.
FRAENKEL Ahhhh...
Now I recognize you, Alma. Your boundless vanity, your craving
for pleasure, your ridiculous fantasies! You're dead! You're
lost ...
ALMA Quite
the contrary, my dear. You can keep your advice to yourself.
I won't need it any more. I'll love Walter Gropius for the
rest of my life. That man is pure oxygen for me! Anyone who
steps too close to him catches fire!
FRAENKEL And
what about me? What have I been for you?
ALMA Sulphur.
It burns too - but it's stinkier.
FRAENKEL Well,
then…! Then I insist that you leave immediately, right
away, tonight. Get out of my sight! Fuck yourself to fame
and glory! That's what you were born for!
ALMA That's
not for you to judge, thank God.
FRAENKEL Adieu
ma vie, adieu mon coeur, adieu mon espérance! I have
to drown my sorrows and break the news to our friends. All
I need is a good drink, and some juicy jokes. Enjoy your thoroughbred
German Schäferhund! When you're fed up with him, join
me for an abortion. You'll always be welcome.
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