Forbrydelsens element (1984) Movie Script
[ Man Chanting In Arabic ]
[ Man ]
Fantasy is okay, but my job
is to keep you on the right track.
We are after the facts.
You seem to return to Cairo and me
whenever you have a problem.
Two months ago,
you left Cairo, your wife,
everything
for a police job in Europe.
Now you are back,
haunted by headaches.
If you want me to help you
get rid of these headaches,
we must go back
two months in time,
back to where it all started.
All I know, Europe
has become an obsession to you.
What was the name again?
[ Woman ]
Mr. Fisher.
An obsession, Mr. Fisher,
a state of mind.
I have no doubt the stay
in Europe has been painful--
painful.
So you must go into that part
of your memory.
It's hard for you
to remember, you say.
Yes. Yes.
So to help you to remember,
we have agreed to try hypnosis.
Hypnosis is a sound method.
It cannot fail.
If you feel uneasy, tired, worried,
I'll bring you out of it.
Just ask me.
No problem.
No problem at all.
I want you to go back...
two months in the time.
I want you to leave Cairo--
the sand, the desert...
Hoppitiher...
Nile...
Nilehralik.
It's too much for Europeans.
Yes.
You're going to see Europe again...
first time in 13 years.
[ Fisher ]
I'm going to see Europe again...
for the first time in 13 years.
But Europe is not the same.
I have arrived at dusk.
The trip has made me restless.
I cannot sleep.
Water, water everywhere...
and not a drop to drink.
[ Therapist ]
The story-- What is the story ?
- Hello?
- [ Fisher ] I'm a policeman.
I've finally been called
back to Europe to solve a murder case.
- Hello?
- They told me I was able.
That's all I know.
I'm looking up Osborne,
- Hello !
- the only one I want to see again.
I've brought him something
from Egypt.
Where's the stairs?
You've moved the fucking stairs.
[ Therapist ]
You must tell me everything, Mr. Fisher.
What do you see?
Is anyone there?
[ Fisher ]
There's a smell in the moist
corridor like burnt leather.
The housekeeper is leading me on.
She's grown old.
[ Wheezing ]
[ Fisher ]
Good evening.
It's Fisher.
It's been a long time.
[ Wheezing, Coughing ]
Fisher, for Christ's sake.
[ Coughing Continues ]
You really thought
I wouldn't recognize you?
So, tell me about yourself.
Italy.
You went to Italy.
- Cairo.
- Really?
-Just a minute.
- [ Wind Howling ]
- The wind's picking up.
- Shhh. Shh, shh.
You were wise to go.
Best away.
They treated you badly.
But... Cairo?
How are things at the academy ?
I haven't taught for years.
The teaching was restructured.
That was actually
the word they used.
I suppose I was
restructured too, hmm?
But now I'm quite content.
Did you see anybody out there?
Kramer's found a job for me.
Why not?
You're an able man, Fisher.
Not many left with your training.
Kramer knows.
Yes, I must admit I'm
really looking forward to it.
"The Element of Crime" in Egyptian.
Your paper.
The translation took two years.
Footnotes and everything.
The complete work.
Without asking my permission?
It didn't occur to you that I'd like
to know what happened to my book?
I did.
I wrote you.
- I would remember.
- You replied.
I don't recall that.
My wife died.
I sold all my books and papers.
Eine Kugel kam geflogen,
gilt sie mit order
gilt sie dir ?
Yes, I finally
decided to get married.
She died for me.
[ Fisher ]
I'm sorry.
She could do nothing by halves.
She certainly knew
how to be remembered.
It's the most important
thing-- the family.
I had a wife in Cairo.
Why do men leave their wives?
I cannot understand it.
It's incomprehensible to me.
[ Fisher ]
The city was sanding over.
It was impossible to stay.
She was born there.
She couldn't leave.
I was the last
European to go.
A mixed marriage, hmm?
I find it hard to talk
about these things.
I loved her as much
as I could, and that's all.
It was such an extraordinary
joy for me, Fisher.
The bosom of a family,
cheerful smile--
[ Wind Howling ]
I don't know what to say
about your books.
Hmm. They guided me.
Not just in my police work,
my whole way of thinking.
- [ Tapping ]
- No, no, no, no.
I was furious when they removed
my books from the academy library.
Now I understand.
I wrote fiction. It wasn't science.
What I wrote
was naive, dangerous.
The worst thing that can happen
in the name of science...
is when the system
becomes all-important.
We always looked for
the element of crime in society.
But why not look
in the very nature of man?
So much has happened in Europe.
This book has become dangerous.
[ Phone Ringing ]
Excuse me.
[ Man On Phone ]
Fisher ? Back from the promised land.
I thought I'd find you
at the old man's.
Straight in there, eh?
Now, let's see what you can do, Fisher.
They just found another mutilated body--
a little girl. Somebody's gutted her.
This time down at the harbor.
So chop, chop. Fifteen minutes.
[ Dial Tone ]
[ Water Running ]
I'm sorry.
I had to take my medicine.
It was Kramer for you?
He's a busy man.
[ Stirring Liquid ]
He's very important these days.
[ Fisher's Voice ]
Kramer's nothing.
[ Therapist ]
Is this the job Kramer
has in mind for you?
[ Fisher's Voice ]
It's incredible.
Europe lies dormant..
There's a man with a horse
harnessed to a wagon.
The wagon loaded with apples.
Very peaceful.
[ Girl ]
They found her up in the coal.
They're bringing her down now.
Here comes a candle
to light you to bed.
Here comes a chopper
to chop off your head.
Chip, chop, chip, chop.
The last one's dead.
[ Fisher's ]
Someone is asleep up there.
[ Therapist ]
But, Mr. Fisher, I have to know
more about Kramer.
What did you mean,
he's nothing?
Nobody move ! This is
Chief of Police Kramer speaking.
- Nobody move.
- [ Fisher ]
I know him from the old days.
- [ Indistinct ]
- The police academy.
[ Sirens Wailing ]
He was always a pain...
and now he's chief of police.
Fisher, good of you to turn up.
I see you found
your friend Osborne then.
I didn't see you at headquarters.
Nancy boy.
Funny world, Fisher. You were always
so much more promising than me.
Now I'm chief of police.
Did you know I was the one
who offered Osborne the job,
when he was ditched
from the school ?
I've got the world
by its balls, Fisher.
The short and curlies.
[ Horse Neighing ]
[ Neighing Continues ]
[ Fisher ]
This is the clumsiest
police job I've ever seen.
- Shhh.
- [ Kramer ]
Yeah, all right, Fisher.
Let's say clumsiness
is a principle which we use.
There's a special kind of evil
around. You can feel it.
You've seen the changes
everywhere.
Believe me, Fisher, the same thing
has happened in these people.
You know what the Dive is? A jump from
a height with a rope around the ankle.
They call it a ritual.
I call it crime.
We've got to keep them under.
[ Kramer ]
You've always been a good boy, Fisher.
All work and no play.
You want to understand everything.
Why did you ever try for the force?
I didn't think blood
was in your line.
Your people
have never known joy.
You know what this is?
This is the difference
between you and me.
Look out !
[ Girl Whimpering ]
Have you gone completely mad?
[ Whimpering Continues ]
- Why did you run away?
- I don't know.
There's a girl
been murdered up here.
- I was the one who
told them where to look.
- You're a dreamer, Fisher.
- Did you see who did it?
- No, I just arrived.
Did you know her ?
She shouldn't
have come here tonight.
I tried to tell her.
She was my sister.
We sell lotto.
You don't seem to understand.
Your methods
are old-fashioned and too risky.
Lottery tickets?
Lottery tickets?
We're the ones
who are getting killed.
She knew the risks.
Lotto murders.
Someone's killing
the ticket sellers.
So we stick together.
We always walk
in twos and threes.
He said he'd buy a lot of lotto
if she came alone tonight.
She said it was stupid
to be scared.
- Was there a little figure?
- [ Fisher ] A little figure?
That's his way.
Don't you know ?
- Did you see him when
your sister spoke to him?
- From far away.
- When?
- Yesterday.
- Would you recognize him?
- No.
Can I take
my sister's tickets?
Sure.
Shouldn't I have been
informed about this?
I decide what happens.
You don't make a move without me.
I'm your boss now, not Osborne.
So don't step
out of line, Fisher.
[ Siren Wailing ]
When a job like this
really hits the mark,
I've been out there
screwing God.
[ Snickering ]
Look at the lights.
It's okay, Fisher.
It's still okay.
[ Fisher ]
I can feel the talisman in my pocket.
It's slippery
in an unpleasant way.
I've never seen a body
mutilated like that.
The Lotto Murders.
[ Therapist ]
Relax, Mr. Fisher.
You're doing fine,just fine.
[ Fisher ]
Really ?
Fisher.
Inspector Fisher.
Can you show me to my office?
- Kramer sent for me.
I want an autopsy.
-Just one?
Please hold the card a little bit higher
so we can stamp it.
[ Laughs, Panting ]
Osborne had me come back.
Osborne.
The great Osborne.
If I've heard about him,
I've already forgotten it.
Just mindin' my own business
when the new sheriff rides into town.
He walks into that saloon,
pulls out his six-shooter,
and he says,
"I'm gonna clean up this mess."
And I believe he will, 'cause he's got
the fastest draw I ever did see.
How did I get involved
with a couple of assholes like you?
That's not even funny.
Take a look at yourself.
[ Fisher ]
Headquarters.
I've been longing
for these endless corridors with
nowhere just around the corner.
I don't know why.
I've got some unpacking to do.
The office is familiar.
It used to be Osborne's
in the old days.
There was a videotape
in the machine.
[ Man On TV ]
Please, Mr. Osborne,
hold it a little higher.
Four murders.
A month between each. Talismans.
All the bodies mutilated
in the same obscene manner.
The disfigurements never publicly
revealed. The work of the same man.
I've been feeling old lately.
Chief of Police Kramer has
agreed that we bring in a man...
with the expertise
to handle a case like this.
Does that mean that you
accept the criticism that you're
primarily a man of theory ?
Excuse me. Do you have a comment
on the Dive, Chief Kramer ?
"Dear Osborne,
thanks for the loan.
"We think the pictures are part...
" of tailing report 19040616-JJ...
concerning Harry Grey. "
[ Fisher ]
I'm trying to remember
an easier way to the archives.
There must have been one long ago.
The note in the tube mail
has made me curious to see
what's in this Harry Grey file.
Osborne had something going on.
I want to find out what.
So far, no one's told me
much about anything.
I didn't expect much
from Kramer,
but Osborne
should have said something.
I'm going through the motions
and just drawing blanks.
I can think of things
I'd rather do than attend
the autopsy on the little girl.
[ Therapist ]
But it's part of the routine,
Mr. Fisher, isn't it?
[ Fisher ]
Cairo seems far, far away.
It's a very beautiful corpse.
You can see that.
The corpse is impersonal.
What interests the scientist
is the marks of the murderer.
We are looking at the workings
of a mind, a man's mind.
That's the thrill of it.
[ Fisher ]
Is it a Lotto Murder ?
Oh, yes, no question.
She's cut up
precisely the same way.
Can you not take a rest now?
[ Fisher ]
Could it be an imitation?
[ Doctor ]
If so, it's a good imitation.
There is one thing
about the killings which hasn't
been mentioned in the press.
That death has taken place
before the disfiguring.
What was the cause of death?
Suffocation. Look.
These lottery dealers
are weak persons and--
[ Indistinct Shout ]
and unprotected invalids...
and young women and so on.
This disfiguring--
Was it done with a knife?
Broken bottle.
Does it shock you?
[ Dog Whimpering ]
[ Fisher ]
I've been out of practical
police work for some years.
[ Doctor ]
But you are a professional.
We both are.
Our admiration
is for the criminal, not the victim.
She's gone.
He remains out there,
leaving his little traces,
his own little system.
He cuts
and leaves himself bare.
[ Phone Ringing ]
Where did you get
your training? Auschwitz?
Mr. Fisher, it's
from Osborne's house.
There were those who did.
[ Indistinct ]
[ Woman On Phone ]
Mr. Fisher, you must come at once.
I think something's
happened to Mr. Osborne.
After you left, he told me
not to let anybody in,
- [ Knocking ]
- but just now I heard him
arguing with somebody.
And now he doesn't answer.
[ Gasping ]
Tora, Tora.
[ Gun Splashes ]
[ Gasping ]
I fell. I get
these attacks, you know?
Th-That'll be all.
I don't know how
to explain this, Fisher.
I don't know if you understand
the meaning of a word like "expiation."
I feel I have to pay somehow.
Do you know what I mean?
You don't want to know.
[ Fisher ]
Earlier in the evening,
I was called out to a homicide.
A girl. The case resembled something
you were working on before you retired.
Mom does it.
Dad does it.
- Horses have a try and--
- I think I'll come back tomorrow.
[ Osborne Muttering ]
Who's Harry Grey?
Yes, that's a good question:
Who is Harry Grey?
Harry Grey
doesn't exist anymore,
and the Lotto Murders
are a closed book.
Those murders
were ritualistic,
bizarre,
the fruit of a sick brain,
maniac.
But they were systematic--
systematic
to the last detail.
Inhuman.
Now, this is the only
existing picture of H.G.
There were four murders.
It sometimes helps to study...
the geography of a crime,
remember ?
But there was a connection
with a three-year-old tailing report.
A man called Harry Grey,
suspected
of subversive activity.
Wrongly, turned out.
I wondered if he'd made preparations
those three years earlier.
You know, groundwork--
groundwork
for the Lotto Murders.
A field trip.
Oh, bugger.
I used the old methods..
I lay in ambush
and waited for him.
He must have known.
He tried to escape in his car.
I followed.
He drove fast.
In spite of the wet
and the dark, surprisingly well.
Went into a slide.
Came off the road.
He hit a concrete pillar.
He died in the flames.
It was as if
he wanted it like that.
I couldn't help him.
Just one question.
Who's this picture
supposed to convince?
Me or you?
These talismans have been
seen all over the papers.
Anybody could make one like it.
This is the route according
to the three-year-old tailing report.
These are the four sites
of the murders.
Halberstadt, Friedingen,
Oberdorf and Neukalkau.
As you see, the corners
of a perfect square.
Four murders with approximately
one month between them.
Grey is dead
and his work completed.
A nice little
geometric puzzle.
- Past and present.
- No, Osborne. That's not good enough.
You deport a man...
for 13 years...
in the sand.
You bring him back to Europe...
where something
apparently has gone wrong.
He looks up his old teacher,
a teacher who has
unfortunately gone mad.
You asked me
who Harry Grey was.
I told you,
Harry Grey is dead.
I don't rule out--
This able-bodied man...
gets work
with the police force.
The only thing is,
there's no police force.
The old teacher
has been threatened.
He's like a dog.
He's scared.
Changes the facts
to cover for a criminal.
Furthermore, he advocates
the brilliant theories of his youth.
That's treason.
That's worse.
I can see you're scared.
You're being threatened.
Where's the tailing report?
Crime today is like
a chemical reaction.
It can only happen
in the right environment.
Intelligence and sensitivity
must be affected out there.
Don't talk to me in those bloody
clich? ! The academy days are over.
[ Fisher ]
I found this girl cut up
in Innenstadt harbor.
Innenstadt is on the square too, right
here in the middle. Grey is alive.
[ Osborne ]
So don't tell me.
If the square describes a closed figure,
this must be an opening.
Very touching.
You're happy now, aren't you?
But... take care, Fisher.
Police work has become so much more
dangerous now than it was in your day.
I know I'm a silly old bugger.
For Christ's sake, you'll do
what you think is right anyway.
[ Fisher ]
We never quarrelled before.
[ Woman ]
He really cares for you, Mr. Fisher.
I know.
He's so scared...
even of the smallest things--
the house and the dark.
He never rests.
He just walks around
up there. Listen.
[ Footsteps ]
Is it always as dark as this
this time of year ?
There are no seasons anymore.
The last three summers
haven't been summers.
The weather changes all the time.
It never alters.
Would he hurt himself?
This morning he asked me to burn
all his books and papers.
Tell me about his wife.
They were married a few years
before she died, right?
Did he say that?
Suddenly, when he came back
a month ago, he was married.
She stayed a week.
She isn't dead.
She just left.
[ Woman ]
Have you seen the child?
It's hers from a previous
marriage. She left it.
How can anybody do that?
Shhh.
There, there now.
Now, now, shhh.
There.
[ Humming ]
[ Baby Talk ]
[ Humming Continues ]
[ Therapist ]
Talk to me, Mr. Fisher.
[ Fisher ]
I've found the missing tailing report.
Harry Grey has been here
to frighten Osborne,
to destroy any
information on him.
Osborne was getting too close.
I owe it to him
to go on with this.
[ Therapist ]
How can this tailing report help you?
It's a surveillance report
on an innocent little trip...
that Harry Grey took
years before the Lotto Murders.
[ Fisher ] If you'd read
"The Element of Crime, " you'd know.
[ Commotion On TV ]
[ Man On TV ]
Let Osborne speak.
[ Jeers, Booing ]
Let the man speak !
Remember, gentlemen,
we are Europeans.
"The Element of Crime" sets out
a series of mental exercises...
designed to improve our understanding of
the behavioral pattern of the criminal.
[ Man On TV ]
Understanding? Don't you know
what's going on out there?
[ Osborne On TV ]
Next question.
"The Element of Crime"
is a method...
based on the reconstruction
of a known part of a criminal's life.
It is, if you like, a psychological
identification that enables a policeman,
through his own mind,
to work his way into the unknown
activities of the criminal--
to work his way
into the crime in question.
[ Man On TV ]
That's a dangerous way
of reaching understanding.
[ Osborne On TV ]
We always run the risk
of being corrupted.
The morality of the police
is no different from that of society.
[ Man On TV ]
You claim that crime can only
arise in a specific element.
- [ Osborne On TV ]
Yes. Next question.
- [ Man ] Metaphysics !
I never claimed that the method
had been completely developed.
[ Osborne ]
What am I doing here?
[ Man Singing In Arabic ]
[ Phone Ringing ]
[ Woman ]
If you leave now,
you will never come back.
[ Singing Continues ]
[ Phone Ringing ]
- Hello?
- [ Man On Phone ] Osborne?
- We can open the locker now.
- Hello?
This is the Hotel Schatz
in Halberstadt.
I've been thinking--
If you really think it's important--
What locker ?
Harry Grey's locker.
Isn't this Mr. Osborne?
[ Man On TV ]
Why don't you defend yourself, Osborne?
I'm on my way.
[ Commotion On TV ]
[ Car Engine Starts ]
[ Fisher ]
I am no on my way,
chasing a man... Harry Grey.
I'm carrying the tailing report
like a recipe book...
listing all the ingredients
needed to make Harry Grey.
I know everything he did on his
field trip three years ago.
[ Tires Screeching ]
[ Sheep Bleating ]
I'm on my way...
to Halberstadt--
- [ Horn Honking ]
- to the locker.
[ Therapist ]
Were you asleep when
the telephone rang, Mr. Fisher ?
[ Fisher ]
I wouldn't call it sleep.
I wouldn't call it sleep.
- You're not Osborne.
- Will you open the locker ?
Are you from the police too?
It's a very nice hotel.
We have cola.
If you like yellow girls,
I can get you yellow girls.
The locker.
Is this connected
with the Lotto Murders?
They found the body
behind Frau Gerda's house.
Where did you get that from?
The tourists are crazy about them.
When they've seen
the site of the murder,
they want something
to take home with them.
What can you tell me
about Harry Grey ?
He was a nice man.
He tipped the maid.
He had a car.
We never had no trouble with Mr. Grey.
He only stayed here
a short time.
Okay.
So many tourists come here.
I can't remember them all.
Let's get one thing straight.
Not many tourists come here.
This is a dump.
"This is a dump" ?
[ Fisher ]
Halberstadt is everything
I thought it would be,
[ Fisher ]
Halberstadt is everything
I thought it would be,
only worse.
The place has
three attractions.:
the Hotel Schatz,
the site of the Lotto Murder...
and Frau Gerda's whorehouse.
[ Wind Howling ]
[ Bell Clanging ]
[ Woman Speaking German ]
Can we offer you
anything to eat, mister ?
Did you feel the sheets?
It's not a dry wind.
This is the cow
with the crumpled horn...
that tossed the dog
that worried the cat...
that killed the rat
that ate the mold...
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
This is the maiden
all forlorn...
that milked the cow
with crumpled horn...
that tossed the dog
that worried the cat...
that killed the rat
that ate the mold...
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
This is the maiden all forlorn that
milked the cow with the crumpled horn...
that tossed the dog
that worried the cat...
that killed the rat
that ate the mold--
What is your name?
You can call me Harry.
My name's Kim.
What do you see, Harry?
A line of washing
left out to dry.
It never dries.
She brings it in wet.
Do you like Halberstadt?
I'd rather live
in a hole in the ground.
I hate Halberstadt.
Do you want me now?
They say that people
living in Innenstadt are evil.
I'm gonna fuck you
back to the Stone Age.
Harry came to Halberstadt
and stayed with Kim...
die halbe Nacht.
[ Moaning ]
[ Sloshing ]
[ Fisher ]
Kim was gone when I woke up
at Frau Gerda's.
I couldn't have slept
more than a few minutes.
I took the ferry
on my way to Friedingen,
and suddenly she's here again,,
standing by the side of the road.
She looks wet.
So this is the Stone Age.
Are you going to Innenstadt?
Not right away.
I'm going to Friedingen.
Where did you go?
I'd like to come with you.
You're a cop, aren't you?
[ Grunting, Moaning ]
[ Fisher ]
Do you believe me?
That I'm in the middle of Europe
screwing a Volkswagen 1200?
[ Therapist ]
I believe you.
I thought I remembered you, Mr. Grey.
You still owe us for two nights
and the medicine.
Put it on my bill.
Same room as last?
It's a single.
What medicine?
Salycin. Quite a lot.
For headaches.
When you were here last,
you turned on the stairs and said,
"My face is a city."
What did you mean by that?
What city?
My face or your face?
What are you talking about?
My face or your face?
What city?
What city?
Why did you write "Harry Grey" ?
Is that your name?
[ Therapist ]
Yes, why did you write "Harry Grey"?
[ Fisher ]
This is the next step
in Osborne's method.
The tailing report tells me
that Harry Grey was here.
Maybe he's the one
who chipped the sink.
I like this room.
It's a nice room.
It's a room full of--
Headaches?
- What are you doing?
- Mapping out a route.
Coffee?
No, thanks.
I think you should have some.
[ Kim ]
I couldn't stay in Halberstadt.
It's always 3.:00 in the morning.
Do you know what I mean?
[ Fisher ]
I believe in joy.
You want me to say that again?
I believe in joy.
[ Kim ]
I want to show you something.
[ Therapist ]
What is it you want to show me?
[ Fisher ]
Kim's taking me for a ride.
[ Therapist Chuckles ]
Down the drain...
into the tunnel of love.
[ Kim ]
They're all right for screwing,
but you feel terrible afterwards.
Well--
You and your wife--
What happened?
We got sanded over.
And you just left?
I remember a little
tattoo, blue star.
Where?
Above her right breast.
- Did you like it?
- No.
Maybe I did.
I remember...
we were together.
People move on.
You have to survive.
No. No.
[ Fisher ]
We're having sex.
Kim's drug works.
I feel fine.
[ Therapist ]
But this isn't what you are after.
Let me get one thing clear.
You're trying to reconstruct
Harry Grey's headaches...
by means of the side effects
of these pills.
[ Fisher ]
I need something to work on.
[ Kim ]
Don't move.
[ Groaning ]
[ Groaning Continues ]
[ Dog Whimpering ]
I told you, lie still.
No.
No.
I said I wouldn't
be home right away.
Okay. Now I want you
to do something.
I want you to arrive on the bus.
I mean it.
[ Fisher ]
At this point three years ago,
Harry Grey's mistress arrived
to accompany him on his journey.
[ Therapist ]
But three years ago, the buses
were running, weren't they ?
Are you sure
this is police work?
[ Fisher ]
I'm sure that on the trip
covered in the tailing report...
Harry Grey was planning
the Lotto Murders...
even though it might appear
quite innocent to you.
Harry Grey.
I've waited half an hour for you.
The bus is late.
You're looking forward
to being with me again.
You've asked the driver
to drop you off at Friedingen.
You are in your summer clothes,
but it's still stifling.
The bus is crowded,
and the windows won't open.
Last time we were together,
we had a little quarrel.
But you're sure everything
will be okay now.
There's a dog
somewhere on the bus.
[ Dog Whimpering ]
[ Bus Driver ]
Next stop, Friedingen.
[ Chattering, Traffic Noises ]
- Aren't you glad to see me?
- You know I like to see you.
"You know I like
to see you, Harry."
You know I like
to see you, Harry.
Do you like me a little now?
[ Therapist ]
Who's following you, Mr. Fisher ?
You should try
to sleep a little.
[ Fisher ]
But I can't sleep.
[ Kim ]
It's all those pills. Try counting.
[ Fisher ]
One, two,
three, four,
-[ Kim Singing, Indistinct ]
- five, six--
- [ Continues Counting ]
- [ Therapist ]
Mr. Fisher, where are you?
[ Fisher ]
Europe. It must be.
ten, eleven, twelve...
thirteen, fourteen, fifteen--
- [ Counting Continues ]
- [ Therapist ]
Do you wish to continue?
[ Fisher ]
I have to.
[ Therapist ]
How do you picture Harry Grey ?
[ Fisher ]
How do you picture a man
who's killing little girls...
and cutting them up
with broken bottles?
Twenty five, twenty six--
But it doesn't help.
Thirty three, thirty four,
thirty five, thirty six,
thirty seven, thirty eight,
thirty nine, forty,
-[ Bell Chiming ]
- forty one, forty two,
forty three--
- I don't understand it.
- What?
What was Harry Grey
doing in Dritten Marsk?
I don't care.
One murder per month.
That means we're missing one.
Come on, we're
going for a drive.
[ Car Passing ]
[ Therapist ]
It sounds like you're on to something.
En route, Mr. Fisher.
En route !
[ Fisher ]
En route, you bastard !
[ Knocking ]
Is the library open?
Do you realize
what time it is?
I want to see all the newspapers
from the last two months.
Books and bother
killed my mother.
Books and bother
killed my mother.
And my father too.
[ Fisher ]
There's no mention in the papers
of a lotto murder in Dritten Marsk.
But what if the body
had never been found?
Well, I've just found a grave--
foot and mouth.
It looks like I'll need
Kramer's men after all.
[ Fisher ]
Damn it, H.G., damn it.
[ Kramer On Radio ]
Damn it, Fisher, damn it !
Okay, we're going in.
[ Kramer On Radio ]
What the hell's going on here?
[ Man ]
Let go !
[ Kramer On Radio ]
Damn it ! Damn it !
Damn it ! Who's in charge
of this operation?
Ah, you feel good now, Fisher.
You don't give a fuck
for anything I say.
I hope you choke yourself
in this shit.
Who's in charge
of this operation?
[ Gagging ]
This is Kramer.
I'm taking over.
I want this hole
emptied and sifted,
every last bit.
[ Kramer On Megaphone ]
You're trying to get one up, Fisher.
I've read my Osborne too.
Did you know that?
But I'm the one
who knows what's what.
The girls on the square
were naughty and fair.
Mostly Marie, mostly Marie.
So you got yourself
a China doll, Fisher ?
You fuck 'em in the ass.
[ Helicopters Hovering,
Chattering Continues ]
Harry Grey would never hide a body.
[ Fisher ]
The dead lotto girl
was there, all right.
But Harry Grey doesn't kill
to hide a body.
The murder is for the sake
of a pattern.
Someone else
must have hidden her.
Do you believe in good and bad?
Can you make the bad good again?
[ Therapist ]
Do you believe in good and bad?
Come, come, Mr. Fisher.
Did she really say that?
We're closing in on Harry.
I can feel it.
I want you to screw God into me.
I'm Kim, and you're Harry.
Your wife is in Cairo
with a little blue star on her breast.
I'll get God in there
as fast as I can.
[ Kim ]
Shhh.
[ Helicopter Approaching ]
[ Kim ]
But He'll only stay until I get up.
[ Fisher ]
I don't care about Kramer anymore.
I'm proving that Osborne's
method still works.
It feels good.
Do you have to leave?
Harry hunts alone tonight.
What's the matter ?
I got scared.
I'm all right now.
[ Fisher ]
Harry is going places.
[ Therapist ]
You're drifting.
[ Fisher ]
If I'm drifting, so was
Harry Grey at this point.
I'm only doing what
the tailing report tells me to.
[ Therapist ]
It doesn't seem connected
to the story, Mr. Fisher.
He's out there somewhere.
He'll show up.
First part, the body.
Second part, the soul.
[ Therapist ]
You're drifting, Mr. Fisher.
Take care.
[ Fisher ]
I'm so close to him.
He's right here... somewhere.
[ Leaves Rustle, Wings Flapping ]
[ Fisher Whispering ]
Harry me, marry me, bury me.
Bind me.
[ Wood Snaps ]
[ Wood Snaps ]
Okay, H.G.
[ Therapist ]
What are you doing, Mr. Fisher ?
[ Fisher ]
I honestly don't know anymore.
[ Therapist ]
But you are overlooking that
someone made the third cross.
[ Fisher ]
That's right.
The third cross I do not see.
[ Fisher ]
Kim? Kim?
[ Coughs, Gasps ]
What sort of a house is this?
[ Kim ]
Can't you see somebody
wants to scare you?
What happened?
Somebody was standing behind
the door when I came in.
I didn't see him.
This is not a game.
You'll get killed.
I found how to close
the system.
You are not Harry Grey.
You're Fisher.
[ Man Muttering ]
And the monarch
thwarts dominion.
It stood there.
Never seraph spread opinion
over fabric half so fair.
This is Halle.
If we take the harbor
in Innenstadt as the center,
take the first four murders...
and duplicate them,
we get two points:
Dritten Marsk...
Halle.
We don't just have
a geometrical figure,
but a letter.
If the system is going
to be closed like this,
he will commit his seventh
and last murder in Halle...
in ten to fifteen days.
Does that mean we can stop now
you've found what you wanted?
But the motive?
The mind?
Mad men don't have motives.
I need to know everything.
It's my work.
It's not your work.
Why can't you leave him to Kramer ?
Kramer and his men
will get him in Halle.
That's the difference
between Kramer and me.
I cannot stop until I understand.
I owe it to Osborne.
You understand less and less.
I must do it according to the book.
I can't stop now.
You leave me behind, Harry.
[ Therapist ]
I'm afraid you leave me
behind too, Harry.
[ Quiet Groaning ]
[ Kim ]
I must go. Shhh.
Kim?
[ Groaning Continues ]
Try a little salycin.
It's no good.
Who were you talking to?
What do you mean?
Nobody.
[ Panting ]
The string, the string.
Tighter.
Tighter, tighter.
[ Thunder Rumbling ]
[ Groaning Continues ]
Why do you keep
torturing yourself?
I have to.
I believe in joy.
[ Groaning Intensifies ]
[ Screaming ]
I believe in joy !
[ Therapist ]
It's not your headache, Mr. Fisher.
Days go on and on
with no change.
Hey, schmuck of ages,
the sabbath's over.
My name's Harry Grey.
Have I been here before?
- No.
- Check the book.
Check the book.
- You were here two months ago.
- Not me.
- Harry Grey.
- Three years ago.
Hello? Fraulein?
[ Man Muttering ]
You had double room 5.
I'll take that again.
- But we don't want any mess this time.
- What are you talking about?
Maybe I should say it to the missus.
You know, this might not be the Savoy,
but we do try to keep the rooms clean.
Okay?
[ Traffic Noise ]
I want to show you something.
Later.
Harry came to Halberstadt...
and stayed with Kim
die halbe Nacht.
[ Whistling ]
If you could only see yourself.
I didn't know
you would take it like that.
Look what I got made.
This is not the first time
you've stayed in this hotel, is it?
What do you mean?
What did Harry Grey feel
about the blood when you screwed?
I don't know
what you're talking about.
[ Groans ]
Whore !
[ Gasps, Panting ]
You're sick ! Oh, no !
No ! Oh !
[ Screaming ]
Is that your friend out there?
Relax, for Christ's sake.
Relax !
You're trying to drive me mad,
scare me. It's a plot.
- What is it you want to know?
- Everything.
Did you talk about the Lotto Murders
when you fucked?
Was he religious?
Did he take sugar in his coffee?
I have a child with Harry Grey.
[ Horn Honking ]
[ Fisher ]
The blood made me think.
It's something I should have
realized long ago.
By following the same route as H.G.,
I ran into the same girl.
Kim had been with Harry Grey.
I'm getting rid of the pills,
getting rid of Harry Grey for good.
It's not my headache.
I've made up my mind.
I can't stay.
My Cairo jacket is too thin
for this climate.
It seems Europe
will never let me rest.
Too tired right now
even to wonder what happened.
Discipline is a prerequisite.
Discipline is a prerequisite.
I would describe the development
as a growing hunger,
an insatiable appetite
for the hunted.
The criminologist
can afford no weakness.
He must remain untouched,
detached, clinical, objective.
To do otherwise would be
to misuse my method.
[ Therapist ]
So that's all, Mr. Fisher ?
That's your story ?
Yes, that's all.
[ Bell Rings ]
[ Fisher Reading ]
"Dear Mr. Fisher,
"We're contacting you
on the recommendation of Mr. Osborne.
"Our granddaughter sells lotto.
"Mr. Osborne was afraid
she might be contacted...
by a certain Mr. Grey
here in Halle. "
[ Man ]
Got you, Sheriff.
[ Therapist ]
So Cairo will have to wait.
[ Man ]
He wanted to meet her alone tonight.
Of course we told the police
straight away.
We want to help.
We had a lot of respect
for Inspector Osborne.
Nothing can happen.
All the police will be there.
[ Therapist ]
What's the plan?
[ Fisher ]
Harry Grey is meeting
the lotto girl tonight.
I'll be there.
Now I've got him.
[ Thunder Rumbling ]
[ Girl ]
Where are the other policemen?
We can manage. The other police'll
make a mess of things.
Have you heard of Kramer ?
Kramer must not come.
[ Glass Clattering ]
I've got something to show you.
[ Thunder Continues ]
Push me.
[ Fisher ]
We don't have very much time.
Yes, we do.
[ Thunder Continues ]
Is he here now?
I'm scared.
[ Doll Squeaks ]
[ Thunder Continues ]
Are you ill ?
[ Glass Shatters ]
[ Crying ]
[ Doll Squeaks ]
[ Crying Continues ]
[ Girl Screaming ]
[ Screaming Continues ]
[ Gasping ]
Stop it!
Can't anyboy make them stop.
I don't give a fuck for the dive.
Fuckers shit!
Fuckers! Shit!
Shut up!
This is Kramker.
Don't Jump!
Well, if it isn't Fisher.
How are your theories doing, Fish?
I have something which might interest you.
Did you get my note about Osborne?
Messages can go around
that tube mail system for weeks.
He wrote to me, a confession.
The murder in the harbor
and one more here in Halle.
Do you know anything about that, Fish?
So I think I solved
your little mystery for you.
You reconstructed that three year old
field trip of Harry Grey's.
Got a bit over-involved you could say.
You know how these things
can happen, Fish, do you?
It's anarchy in these parts,
not freedom. Anarchy.
It confuses people.
They succumb, go under.
The Osbornes. He couldn't quite cope
with the element of crime.
He loved system did Osborne.
When Harry Grey died, Osborne brought
his system to completion. It took him over.
You believed his act.
I want to wake up now.
Are you there?
You can wake me up now.
Are you there?
[ Man ]
Fantasy is okay, but my job
is to keep you on the right track.
We are after the facts.
You seem to return to Cairo and me
whenever you have a problem.
Two months ago,
you left Cairo, your wife,
everything
for a police job in Europe.
Now you are back,
haunted by headaches.
If you want me to help you
get rid of these headaches,
we must go back
two months in time,
back to where it all started.
All I know, Europe
has become an obsession to you.
What was the name again?
[ Woman ]
Mr. Fisher.
An obsession, Mr. Fisher,
a state of mind.
I have no doubt the stay
in Europe has been painful--
painful.
So you must go into that part
of your memory.
It's hard for you
to remember, you say.
Yes. Yes.
So to help you to remember,
we have agreed to try hypnosis.
Hypnosis is a sound method.
It cannot fail.
If you feel uneasy, tired, worried,
I'll bring you out of it.
Just ask me.
No problem.
No problem at all.
I want you to go back...
two months in the time.
I want you to leave Cairo--
the sand, the desert...
Hoppitiher...
Nile...
Nilehralik.
It's too much for Europeans.
Yes.
You're going to see Europe again...
first time in 13 years.
[ Fisher ]
I'm going to see Europe again...
for the first time in 13 years.
But Europe is not the same.
I have arrived at dusk.
The trip has made me restless.
I cannot sleep.
Water, water everywhere...
and not a drop to drink.
[ Therapist ]
The story-- What is the story ?
- Hello?
- [ Fisher ] I'm a policeman.
I've finally been called
back to Europe to solve a murder case.
- Hello?
- They told me I was able.
That's all I know.
I'm looking up Osborne,
- Hello !
- the only one I want to see again.
I've brought him something
from Egypt.
Where's the stairs?
You've moved the fucking stairs.
[ Therapist ]
You must tell me everything, Mr. Fisher.
What do you see?
Is anyone there?
[ Fisher ]
There's a smell in the moist
corridor like burnt leather.
The housekeeper is leading me on.
She's grown old.
[ Wheezing ]
[ Fisher ]
Good evening.
It's Fisher.
It's been a long time.
[ Wheezing, Coughing ]
Fisher, for Christ's sake.
[ Coughing Continues ]
You really thought
I wouldn't recognize you?
So, tell me about yourself.
Italy.
You went to Italy.
- Cairo.
- Really?
-Just a minute.
- [ Wind Howling ]
- The wind's picking up.
- Shhh. Shh, shh.
You were wise to go.
Best away.
They treated you badly.
But... Cairo?
How are things at the academy ?
I haven't taught for years.
The teaching was restructured.
That was actually
the word they used.
I suppose I was
restructured too, hmm?
But now I'm quite content.
Did you see anybody out there?
Kramer's found a job for me.
Why not?
You're an able man, Fisher.
Not many left with your training.
Kramer knows.
Yes, I must admit I'm
really looking forward to it.
"The Element of Crime" in Egyptian.
Your paper.
The translation took two years.
Footnotes and everything.
The complete work.
Without asking my permission?
It didn't occur to you that I'd like
to know what happened to my book?
I did.
I wrote you.
- I would remember.
- You replied.
I don't recall that.
My wife died.
I sold all my books and papers.
Eine Kugel kam geflogen,
gilt sie mit order
gilt sie dir ?
Yes, I finally
decided to get married.
She died for me.
[ Fisher ]
I'm sorry.
She could do nothing by halves.
She certainly knew
how to be remembered.
It's the most important
thing-- the family.
I had a wife in Cairo.
Why do men leave their wives?
I cannot understand it.
It's incomprehensible to me.
[ Fisher ]
The city was sanding over.
It was impossible to stay.
She was born there.
She couldn't leave.
I was the last
European to go.
A mixed marriage, hmm?
I find it hard to talk
about these things.
I loved her as much
as I could, and that's all.
It was such an extraordinary
joy for me, Fisher.
The bosom of a family,
cheerful smile--
[ Wind Howling ]
I don't know what to say
about your books.
Hmm. They guided me.
Not just in my police work,
my whole way of thinking.
- [ Tapping ]
- No, no, no, no.
I was furious when they removed
my books from the academy library.
Now I understand.
I wrote fiction. It wasn't science.
What I wrote
was naive, dangerous.
The worst thing that can happen
in the name of science...
is when the system
becomes all-important.
We always looked for
the element of crime in society.
But why not look
in the very nature of man?
So much has happened in Europe.
This book has become dangerous.
[ Phone Ringing ]
Excuse me.
[ Man On Phone ]
Fisher ? Back from the promised land.
I thought I'd find you
at the old man's.
Straight in there, eh?
Now, let's see what you can do, Fisher.
They just found another mutilated body--
a little girl. Somebody's gutted her.
This time down at the harbor.
So chop, chop. Fifteen minutes.
[ Dial Tone ]
[ Water Running ]
I'm sorry.
I had to take my medicine.
It was Kramer for you?
He's a busy man.
[ Stirring Liquid ]
He's very important these days.
[ Fisher's Voice ]
Kramer's nothing.
[ Therapist ]
Is this the job Kramer
has in mind for you?
[ Fisher's Voice ]
It's incredible.
Europe lies dormant..
There's a man with a horse
harnessed to a wagon.
The wagon loaded with apples.
Very peaceful.
[ Girl ]
They found her up in the coal.
They're bringing her down now.
Here comes a candle
to light you to bed.
Here comes a chopper
to chop off your head.
Chip, chop, chip, chop.
The last one's dead.
[ Fisher's ]
Someone is asleep up there.
[ Therapist ]
But, Mr. Fisher, I have to know
more about Kramer.
What did you mean,
he's nothing?
Nobody move ! This is
Chief of Police Kramer speaking.
- Nobody move.
- [ Fisher ]
I know him from the old days.
- [ Indistinct ]
- The police academy.
[ Sirens Wailing ]
He was always a pain...
and now he's chief of police.
Fisher, good of you to turn up.
I see you found
your friend Osborne then.
I didn't see you at headquarters.
Nancy boy.
Funny world, Fisher. You were always
so much more promising than me.
Now I'm chief of police.
Did you know I was the one
who offered Osborne the job,
when he was ditched
from the school ?
I've got the world
by its balls, Fisher.
The short and curlies.
[ Horse Neighing ]
[ Neighing Continues ]
[ Fisher ]
This is the clumsiest
police job I've ever seen.
- Shhh.
- [ Kramer ]
Yeah, all right, Fisher.
Let's say clumsiness
is a principle which we use.
There's a special kind of evil
around. You can feel it.
You've seen the changes
everywhere.
Believe me, Fisher, the same thing
has happened in these people.
You know what the Dive is? A jump from
a height with a rope around the ankle.
They call it a ritual.
I call it crime.
We've got to keep them under.
[ Kramer ]
You've always been a good boy, Fisher.
All work and no play.
You want to understand everything.
Why did you ever try for the force?
I didn't think blood
was in your line.
Your people
have never known joy.
You know what this is?
This is the difference
between you and me.
Look out !
[ Girl Whimpering ]
Have you gone completely mad?
[ Whimpering Continues ]
- Why did you run away?
- I don't know.
There's a girl
been murdered up here.
- I was the one who
told them where to look.
- You're a dreamer, Fisher.
- Did you see who did it?
- No, I just arrived.
Did you know her ?
She shouldn't
have come here tonight.
I tried to tell her.
She was my sister.
We sell lotto.
You don't seem to understand.
Your methods
are old-fashioned and too risky.
Lottery tickets?
Lottery tickets?
We're the ones
who are getting killed.
She knew the risks.
Lotto murders.
Someone's killing
the ticket sellers.
So we stick together.
We always walk
in twos and threes.
He said he'd buy a lot of lotto
if she came alone tonight.
She said it was stupid
to be scared.
- Was there a little figure?
- [ Fisher ] A little figure?
That's his way.
Don't you know ?
- Did you see him when
your sister spoke to him?
- From far away.
- When?
- Yesterday.
- Would you recognize him?
- No.
Can I take
my sister's tickets?
Sure.
Shouldn't I have been
informed about this?
I decide what happens.
You don't make a move without me.
I'm your boss now, not Osborne.
So don't step
out of line, Fisher.
[ Siren Wailing ]
When a job like this
really hits the mark,
I've been out there
screwing God.
[ Snickering ]
Look at the lights.
It's okay, Fisher.
It's still okay.
[ Fisher ]
I can feel the talisman in my pocket.
It's slippery
in an unpleasant way.
I've never seen a body
mutilated like that.
The Lotto Murders.
[ Therapist ]
Relax, Mr. Fisher.
You're doing fine,just fine.
[ Fisher ]
Really ?
Fisher.
Inspector Fisher.
Can you show me to my office?
- Kramer sent for me.
I want an autopsy.
-Just one?
Please hold the card a little bit higher
so we can stamp it.
[ Laughs, Panting ]
Osborne had me come back.
Osborne.
The great Osborne.
If I've heard about him,
I've already forgotten it.
Just mindin' my own business
when the new sheriff rides into town.
He walks into that saloon,
pulls out his six-shooter,
and he says,
"I'm gonna clean up this mess."
And I believe he will, 'cause he's got
the fastest draw I ever did see.
How did I get involved
with a couple of assholes like you?
That's not even funny.
Take a look at yourself.
[ Fisher ]
Headquarters.
I've been longing
for these endless corridors with
nowhere just around the corner.
I don't know why.
I've got some unpacking to do.
The office is familiar.
It used to be Osborne's
in the old days.
There was a videotape
in the machine.
[ Man On TV ]
Please, Mr. Osborne,
hold it a little higher.
Four murders.
A month between each. Talismans.
All the bodies mutilated
in the same obscene manner.
The disfigurements never publicly
revealed. The work of the same man.
I've been feeling old lately.
Chief of Police Kramer has
agreed that we bring in a man...
with the expertise
to handle a case like this.
Does that mean that you
accept the criticism that you're
primarily a man of theory ?
Excuse me. Do you have a comment
on the Dive, Chief Kramer ?
"Dear Osborne,
thanks for the loan.
"We think the pictures are part...
" of tailing report 19040616-JJ...
concerning Harry Grey. "
[ Fisher ]
I'm trying to remember
an easier way to the archives.
There must have been one long ago.
The note in the tube mail
has made me curious to see
what's in this Harry Grey file.
Osborne had something going on.
I want to find out what.
So far, no one's told me
much about anything.
I didn't expect much
from Kramer,
but Osborne
should have said something.
I'm going through the motions
and just drawing blanks.
I can think of things
I'd rather do than attend
the autopsy on the little girl.
[ Therapist ]
But it's part of the routine,
Mr. Fisher, isn't it?
[ Fisher ]
Cairo seems far, far away.
It's a very beautiful corpse.
You can see that.
The corpse is impersonal.
What interests the scientist
is the marks of the murderer.
We are looking at the workings
of a mind, a man's mind.
That's the thrill of it.
[ Fisher ]
Is it a Lotto Murder ?
Oh, yes, no question.
She's cut up
precisely the same way.
Can you not take a rest now?
[ Fisher ]
Could it be an imitation?
[ Doctor ]
If so, it's a good imitation.
There is one thing
about the killings which hasn't
been mentioned in the press.
That death has taken place
before the disfiguring.
What was the cause of death?
Suffocation. Look.
These lottery dealers
are weak persons and--
[ Indistinct Shout ]
and unprotected invalids...
and young women and so on.
This disfiguring--
Was it done with a knife?
Broken bottle.
Does it shock you?
[ Dog Whimpering ]
[ Fisher ]
I've been out of practical
police work for some years.
[ Doctor ]
But you are a professional.
We both are.
Our admiration
is for the criminal, not the victim.
She's gone.
He remains out there,
leaving his little traces,
his own little system.
He cuts
and leaves himself bare.
[ Phone Ringing ]
Where did you get
your training? Auschwitz?
Mr. Fisher, it's
from Osborne's house.
There were those who did.
[ Indistinct ]
[ Woman On Phone ]
Mr. Fisher, you must come at once.
I think something's
happened to Mr. Osborne.
After you left, he told me
not to let anybody in,
- [ Knocking ]
- but just now I heard him
arguing with somebody.
And now he doesn't answer.
[ Gasping ]
Tora, Tora.
[ Gun Splashes ]
[ Gasping ]
I fell. I get
these attacks, you know?
Th-That'll be all.
I don't know how
to explain this, Fisher.
I don't know if you understand
the meaning of a word like "expiation."
I feel I have to pay somehow.
Do you know what I mean?
You don't want to know.
[ Fisher ]
Earlier in the evening,
I was called out to a homicide.
A girl. The case resembled something
you were working on before you retired.
Mom does it.
Dad does it.
- Horses have a try and--
- I think I'll come back tomorrow.
[ Osborne Muttering ]
Who's Harry Grey?
Yes, that's a good question:
Who is Harry Grey?
Harry Grey
doesn't exist anymore,
and the Lotto Murders
are a closed book.
Those murders
were ritualistic,
bizarre,
the fruit of a sick brain,
maniac.
But they were systematic--
systematic
to the last detail.
Inhuman.
Now, this is the only
existing picture of H.G.
There were four murders.
It sometimes helps to study...
the geography of a crime,
remember ?
But there was a connection
with a three-year-old tailing report.
A man called Harry Grey,
suspected
of subversive activity.
Wrongly, turned out.
I wondered if he'd made preparations
those three years earlier.
You know, groundwork--
groundwork
for the Lotto Murders.
A field trip.
Oh, bugger.
I used the old methods..
I lay in ambush
and waited for him.
He must have known.
He tried to escape in his car.
I followed.
He drove fast.
In spite of the wet
and the dark, surprisingly well.
Went into a slide.
Came off the road.
He hit a concrete pillar.
He died in the flames.
It was as if
he wanted it like that.
I couldn't help him.
Just one question.
Who's this picture
supposed to convince?
Me or you?
These talismans have been
seen all over the papers.
Anybody could make one like it.
This is the route according
to the three-year-old tailing report.
These are the four sites
of the murders.
Halberstadt, Friedingen,
Oberdorf and Neukalkau.
As you see, the corners
of a perfect square.
Four murders with approximately
one month between them.
Grey is dead
and his work completed.
A nice little
geometric puzzle.
- Past and present.
- No, Osborne. That's not good enough.
You deport a man...
for 13 years...
in the sand.
You bring him back to Europe...
where something
apparently has gone wrong.
He looks up his old teacher,
a teacher who has
unfortunately gone mad.
You asked me
who Harry Grey was.
I told you,
Harry Grey is dead.
I don't rule out--
This able-bodied man...
gets work
with the police force.
The only thing is,
there's no police force.
The old teacher
has been threatened.
He's like a dog.
He's scared.
Changes the facts
to cover for a criminal.
Furthermore, he advocates
the brilliant theories of his youth.
That's treason.
That's worse.
I can see you're scared.
You're being threatened.
Where's the tailing report?
Crime today is like
a chemical reaction.
It can only happen
in the right environment.
Intelligence and sensitivity
must be affected out there.
Don't talk to me in those bloody
clich? ! The academy days are over.
[ Fisher ]
I found this girl cut up
in Innenstadt harbor.
Innenstadt is on the square too, right
here in the middle. Grey is alive.
[ Osborne ]
So don't tell me.
If the square describes a closed figure,
this must be an opening.
Very touching.
You're happy now, aren't you?
But... take care, Fisher.
Police work has become so much more
dangerous now than it was in your day.
I know I'm a silly old bugger.
For Christ's sake, you'll do
what you think is right anyway.
[ Fisher ]
We never quarrelled before.
[ Woman ]
He really cares for you, Mr. Fisher.
I know.
He's so scared...
even of the smallest things--
the house and the dark.
He never rests.
He just walks around
up there. Listen.
[ Footsteps ]
Is it always as dark as this
this time of year ?
There are no seasons anymore.
The last three summers
haven't been summers.
The weather changes all the time.
It never alters.
Would he hurt himself?
This morning he asked me to burn
all his books and papers.
Tell me about his wife.
They were married a few years
before she died, right?
Did he say that?
Suddenly, when he came back
a month ago, he was married.
She stayed a week.
She isn't dead.
She just left.
[ Woman ]
Have you seen the child?
It's hers from a previous
marriage. She left it.
How can anybody do that?
Shhh.
There, there now.
Now, now, shhh.
There.
[ Humming ]
[ Baby Talk ]
[ Humming Continues ]
[ Therapist ]
Talk to me, Mr. Fisher.
[ Fisher ]
I've found the missing tailing report.
Harry Grey has been here
to frighten Osborne,
to destroy any
information on him.
Osborne was getting too close.
I owe it to him
to go on with this.
[ Therapist ]
How can this tailing report help you?
It's a surveillance report
on an innocent little trip...
that Harry Grey took
years before the Lotto Murders.
[ Fisher ] If you'd read
"The Element of Crime, " you'd know.
[ Commotion On TV ]
[ Man On TV ]
Let Osborne speak.
[ Jeers, Booing ]
Let the man speak !
Remember, gentlemen,
we are Europeans.
"The Element of Crime" sets out
a series of mental exercises...
designed to improve our understanding of
the behavioral pattern of the criminal.
[ Man On TV ]
Understanding? Don't you know
what's going on out there?
[ Osborne On TV ]
Next question.
"The Element of Crime"
is a method...
based on the reconstruction
of a known part of a criminal's life.
It is, if you like, a psychological
identification that enables a policeman,
through his own mind,
to work his way into the unknown
activities of the criminal--
to work his way
into the crime in question.
[ Man On TV ]
That's a dangerous way
of reaching understanding.
[ Osborne On TV ]
We always run the risk
of being corrupted.
The morality of the police
is no different from that of society.
[ Man On TV ]
You claim that crime can only
arise in a specific element.
- [ Osborne On TV ]
Yes. Next question.
- [ Man ] Metaphysics !
I never claimed that the method
had been completely developed.
[ Osborne ]
What am I doing here?
[ Man Singing In Arabic ]
[ Phone Ringing ]
[ Woman ]
If you leave now,
you will never come back.
[ Singing Continues ]
[ Phone Ringing ]
- Hello?
- [ Man On Phone ] Osborne?
- We can open the locker now.
- Hello?
This is the Hotel Schatz
in Halberstadt.
I've been thinking--
If you really think it's important--
What locker ?
Harry Grey's locker.
Isn't this Mr. Osborne?
[ Man On TV ]
Why don't you defend yourself, Osborne?
I'm on my way.
[ Commotion On TV ]
[ Car Engine Starts ]
[ Fisher ]
I am no on my way,
chasing a man... Harry Grey.
I'm carrying the tailing report
like a recipe book...
listing all the ingredients
needed to make Harry Grey.
I know everything he did on his
field trip three years ago.
[ Tires Screeching ]
[ Sheep Bleating ]
I'm on my way...
to Halberstadt--
- [ Horn Honking ]
- to the locker.
[ Therapist ]
Were you asleep when
the telephone rang, Mr. Fisher ?
[ Fisher ]
I wouldn't call it sleep.
I wouldn't call it sleep.
- You're not Osborne.
- Will you open the locker ?
Are you from the police too?
It's a very nice hotel.
We have cola.
If you like yellow girls,
I can get you yellow girls.
The locker.
Is this connected
with the Lotto Murders?
They found the body
behind Frau Gerda's house.
Where did you get that from?
The tourists are crazy about them.
When they've seen
the site of the murder,
they want something
to take home with them.
What can you tell me
about Harry Grey ?
He was a nice man.
He tipped the maid.
He had a car.
We never had no trouble with Mr. Grey.
He only stayed here
a short time.
Okay.
So many tourists come here.
I can't remember them all.
Let's get one thing straight.
Not many tourists come here.
This is a dump.
"This is a dump" ?
[ Fisher ]
Halberstadt is everything
I thought it would be,
[ Fisher ]
Halberstadt is everything
I thought it would be,
only worse.
The place has
three attractions.:
the Hotel Schatz,
the site of the Lotto Murder...
and Frau Gerda's whorehouse.
[ Wind Howling ]
[ Bell Clanging ]
[ Woman Speaking German ]
Can we offer you
anything to eat, mister ?
Did you feel the sheets?
It's not a dry wind.
This is the cow
with the crumpled horn...
that tossed the dog
that worried the cat...
that killed the rat
that ate the mold...
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
This is the maiden
all forlorn...
that milked the cow
with crumpled horn...
that tossed the dog
that worried the cat...
that killed the rat
that ate the mold...
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
This is the maiden all forlorn that
milked the cow with the crumpled horn...
that tossed the dog
that worried the cat...
that killed the rat
that ate the mold--
What is your name?
You can call me Harry.
My name's Kim.
What do you see, Harry?
A line of washing
left out to dry.
It never dries.
She brings it in wet.
Do you like Halberstadt?
I'd rather live
in a hole in the ground.
I hate Halberstadt.
Do you want me now?
They say that people
living in Innenstadt are evil.
I'm gonna fuck you
back to the Stone Age.
Harry came to Halberstadt
and stayed with Kim...
die halbe Nacht.
[ Moaning ]
[ Sloshing ]
[ Fisher ]
Kim was gone when I woke up
at Frau Gerda's.
I couldn't have slept
more than a few minutes.
I took the ferry
on my way to Friedingen,
and suddenly she's here again,,
standing by the side of the road.
She looks wet.
So this is the Stone Age.
Are you going to Innenstadt?
Not right away.
I'm going to Friedingen.
Where did you go?
I'd like to come with you.
You're a cop, aren't you?
[ Grunting, Moaning ]
[ Fisher ]
Do you believe me?
That I'm in the middle of Europe
screwing a Volkswagen 1200?
[ Therapist ]
I believe you.
I thought I remembered you, Mr. Grey.
You still owe us for two nights
and the medicine.
Put it on my bill.
Same room as last?
It's a single.
What medicine?
Salycin. Quite a lot.
For headaches.
When you were here last,
you turned on the stairs and said,
"My face is a city."
What did you mean by that?
What city?
My face or your face?
What are you talking about?
My face or your face?
What city?
What city?
Why did you write "Harry Grey" ?
Is that your name?
[ Therapist ]
Yes, why did you write "Harry Grey"?
[ Fisher ]
This is the next step
in Osborne's method.
The tailing report tells me
that Harry Grey was here.
Maybe he's the one
who chipped the sink.
I like this room.
It's a nice room.
It's a room full of--
Headaches?
- What are you doing?
- Mapping out a route.
Coffee?
No, thanks.
I think you should have some.
[ Kim ]
I couldn't stay in Halberstadt.
It's always 3.:00 in the morning.
Do you know what I mean?
[ Fisher ]
I believe in joy.
You want me to say that again?
I believe in joy.
[ Kim ]
I want to show you something.
[ Therapist ]
What is it you want to show me?
[ Fisher ]
Kim's taking me for a ride.
[ Therapist Chuckles ]
Down the drain...
into the tunnel of love.
[ Kim ]
They're all right for screwing,
but you feel terrible afterwards.
Well--
You and your wife--
What happened?
We got sanded over.
And you just left?
I remember a little
tattoo, blue star.
Where?
Above her right breast.
- Did you like it?
- No.
Maybe I did.
I remember...
we were together.
People move on.
You have to survive.
No. No.
[ Fisher ]
We're having sex.
Kim's drug works.
I feel fine.
[ Therapist ]
But this isn't what you are after.
Let me get one thing clear.
You're trying to reconstruct
Harry Grey's headaches...
by means of the side effects
of these pills.
[ Fisher ]
I need something to work on.
[ Kim ]
Don't move.
[ Groaning ]
[ Groaning Continues ]
[ Dog Whimpering ]
I told you, lie still.
No.
No.
I said I wouldn't
be home right away.
Okay. Now I want you
to do something.
I want you to arrive on the bus.
I mean it.
[ Fisher ]
At this point three years ago,
Harry Grey's mistress arrived
to accompany him on his journey.
[ Therapist ]
But three years ago, the buses
were running, weren't they ?
Are you sure
this is police work?
[ Fisher ]
I'm sure that on the trip
covered in the tailing report...
Harry Grey was planning
the Lotto Murders...
even though it might appear
quite innocent to you.
Harry Grey.
I've waited half an hour for you.
The bus is late.
You're looking forward
to being with me again.
You've asked the driver
to drop you off at Friedingen.
You are in your summer clothes,
but it's still stifling.
The bus is crowded,
and the windows won't open.
Last time we were together,
we had a little quarrel.
But you're sure everything
will be okay now.
There's a dog
somewhere on the bus.
[ Dog Whimpering ]
[ Bus Driver ]
Next stop, Friedingen.
[ Chattering, Traffic Noises ]
- Aren't you glad to see me?
- You know I like to see you.
"You know I like
to see you, Harry."
You know I like
to see you, Harry.
Do you like me a little now?
[ Therapist ]
Who's following you, Mr. Fisher ?
You should try
to sleep a little.
[ Fisher ]
But I can't sleep.
[ Kim ]
It's all those pills. Try counting.
[ Fisher ]
One, two,
three, four,
-[ Kim Singing, Indistinct ]
- five, six--
- [ Continues Counting ]
- [ Therapist ]
Mr. Fisher, where are you?
[ Fisher ]
Europe. It must be.
ten, eleven, twelve...
thirteen, fourteen, fifteen--
- [ Counting Continues ]
- [ Therapist ]
Do you wish to continue?
[ Fisher ]
I have to.
[ Therapist ]
How do you picture Harry Grey ?
[ Fisher ]
How do you picture a man
who's killing little girls...
and cutting them up
with broken bottles?
Twenty five, twenty six--
But it doesn't help.
Thirty three, thirty four,
thirty five, thirty six,
thirty seven, thirty eight,
thirty nine, forty,
-[ Bell Chiming ]
- forty one, forty two,
forty three--
- I don't understand it.
- What?
What was Harry Grey
doing in Dritten Marsk?
I don't care.
One murder per month.
That means we're missing one.
Come on, we're
going for a drive.
[ Car Passing ]
[ Therapist ]
It sounds like you're on to something.
En route, Mr. Fisher.
En route !
[ Fisher ]
En route, you bastard !
[ Knocking ]
Is the library open?
Do you realize
what time it is?
I want to see all the newspapers
from the last two months.
Books and bother
killed my mother.
Books and bother
killed my mother.
And my father too.
[ Fisher ]
There's no mention in the papers
of a lotto murder in Dritten Marsk.
But what if the body
had never been found?
Well, I've just found a grave--
foot and mouth.
It looks like I'll need
Kramer's men after all.
[ Fisher ]
Damn it, H.G., damn it.
[ Kramer On Radio ]
Damn it, Fisher, damn it !
Okay, we're going in.
[ Kramer On Radio ]
What the hell's going on here?
[ Man ]
Let go !
[ Kramer On Radio ]
Damn it ! Damn it !
Damn it ! Who's in charge
of this operation?
Ah, you feel good now, Fisher.
You don't give a fuck
for anything I say.
I hope you choke yourself
in this shit.
Who's in charge
of this operation?
[ Gagging ]
This is Kramer.
I'm taking over.
I want this hole
emptied and sifted,
every last bit.
[ Kramer On Megaphone ]
You're trying to get one up, Fisher.
I've read my Osborne too.
Did you know that?
But I'm the one
who knows what's what.
The girls on the square
were naughty and fair.
Mostly Marie, mostly Marie.
So you got yourself
a China doll, Fisher ?
You fuck 'em in the ass.
[ Helicopters Hovering,
Chattering Continues ]
Harry Grey would never hide a body.
[ Fisher ]
The dead lotto girl
was there, all right.
But Harry Grey doesn't kill
to hide a body.
The murder is for the sake
of a pattern.
Someone else
must have hidden her.
Do you believe in good and bad?
Can you make the bad good again?
[ Therapist ]
Do you believe in good and bad?
Come, come, Mr. Fisher.
Did she really say that?
We're closing in on Harry.
I can feel it.
I want you to screw God into me.
I'm Kim, and you're Harry.
Your wife is in Cairo
with a little blue star on her breast.
I'll get God in there
as fast as I can.
[ Kim ]
Shhh.
[ Helicopter Approaching ]
[ Kim ]
But He'll only stay until I get up.
[ Fisher ]
I don't care about Kramer anymore.
I'm proving that Osborne's
method still works.
It feels good.
Do you have to leave?
Harry hunts alone tonight.
What's the matter ?
I got scared.
I'm all right now.
[ Fisher ]
Harry is going places.
[ Therapist ]
You're drifting.
[ Fisher ]
If I'm drifting, so was
Harry Grey at this point.
I'm only doing what
the tailing report tells me to.
[ Therapist ]
It doesn't seem connected
to the story, Mr. Fisher.
He's out there somewhere.
He'll show up.
First part, the body.
Second part, the soul.
[ Therapist ]
You're drifting, Mr. Fisher.
Take care.
[ Fisher ]
I'm so close to him.
He's right here... somewhere.
[ Leaves Rustle, Wings Flapping ]
[ Fisher Whispering ]
Harry me, marry me, bury me.
Bind me.
[ Wood Snaps ]
[ Wood Snaps ]
Okay, H.G.
[ Therapist ]
What are you doing, Mr. Fisher ?
[ Fisher ]
I honestly don't know anymore.
[ Therapist ]
But you are overlooking that
someone made the third cross.
[ Fisher ]
That's right.
The third cross I do not see.
[ Fisher ]
Kim? Kim?
[ Coughs, Gasps ]
What sort of a house is this?
[ Kim ]
Can't you see somebody
wants to scare you?
What happened?
Somebody was standing behind
the door when I came in.
I didn't see him.
This is not a game.
You'll get killed.
I found how to close
the system.
You are not Harry Grey.
You're Fisher.
[ Man Muttering ]
And the monarch
thwarts dominion.
It stood there.
Never seraph spread opinion
over fabric half so fair.
This is Halle.
If we take the harbor
in Innenstadt as the center,
take the first four murders...
and duplicate them,
we get two points:
Dritten Marsk...
Halle.
We don't just have
a geometrical figure,
but a letter.
If the system is going
to be closed like this,
he will commit his seventh
and last murder in Halle...
in ten to fifteen days.
Does that mean we can stop now
you've found what you wanted?
But the motive?
The mind?
Mad men don't have motives.
I need to know everything.
It's my work.
It's not your work.
Why can't you leave him to Kramer ?
Kramer and his men
will get him in Halle.
That's the difference
between Kramer and me.
I cannot stop until I understand.
I owe it to Osborne.
You understand less and less.
I must do it according to the book.
I can't stop now.
You leave me behind, Harry.
[ Therapist ]
I'm afraid you leave me
behind too, Harry.
[ Quiet Groaning ]
[ Kim ]
I must go. Shhh.
Kim?
[ Groaning Continues ]
Try a little salycin.
It's no good.
Who were you talking to?
What do you mean?
Nobody.
[ Panting ]
The string, the string.
Tighter.
Tighter, tighter.
[ Thunder Rumbling ]
[ Groaning Continues ]
Why do you keep
torturing yourself?
I have to.
I believe in joy.
[ Groaning Intensifies ]
[ Screaming ]
I believe in joy !
[ Therapist ]
It's not your headache, Mr. Fisher.
Days go on and on
with no change.
Hey, schmuck of ages,
the sabbath's over.
My name's Harry Grey.
Have I been here before?
- No.
- Check the book.
Check the book.
- You were here two months ago.
- Not me.
- Harry Grey.
- Three years ago.
Hello? Fraulein?
[ Man Muttering ]
You had double room 5.
I'll take that again.
- But we don't want any mess this time.
- What are you talking about?
Maybe I should say it to the missus.
You know, this might not be the Savoy,
but we do try to keep the rooms clean.
Okay?
[ Traffic Noise ]
I want to show you something.
Later.
Harry came to Halberstadt...
and stayed with Kim
die halbe Nacht.
[ Whistling ]
If you could only see yourself.
I didn't know
you would take it like that.
Look what I got made.
This is not the first time
you've stayed in this hotel, is it?
What do you mean?
What did Harry Grey feel
about the blood when you screwed?
I don't know
what you're talking about.
[ Groans ]
Whore !
[ Gasps, Panting ]
You're sick ! Oh, no !
No ! Oh !
[ Screaming ]
Is that your friend out there?
Relax, for Christ's sake.
Relax !
You're trying to drive me mad,
scare me. It's a plot.
- What is it you want to know?
- Everything.
Did you talk about the Lotto Murders
when you fucked?
Was he religious?
Did he take sugar in his coffee?
I have a child with Harry Grey.
[ Horn Honking ]
[ Fisher ]
The blood made me think.
It's something I should have
realized long ago.
By following the same route as H.G.,
I ran into the same girl.
Kim had been with Harry Grey.
I'm getting rid of the pills,
getting rid of Harry Grey for good.
It's not my headache.
I've made up my mind.
I can't stay.
My Cairo jacket is too thin
for this climate.
It seems Europe
will never let me rest.
Too tired right now
even to wonder what happened.
Discipline is a prerequisite.
Discipline is a prerequisite.
I would describe the development
as a growing hunger,
an insatiable appetite
for the hunted.
The criminologist
can afford no weakness.
He must remain untouched,
detached, clinical, objective.
To do otherwise would be
to misuse my method.
[ Therapist ]
So that's all, Mr. Fisher ?
That's your story ?
Yes, that's all.
[ Bell Rings ]
[ Fisher Reading ]
"Dear Mr. Fisher,
"We're contacting you
on the recommendation of Mr. Osborne.
"Our granddaughter sells lotto.
"Mr. Osborne was afraid
she might be contacted...
by a certain Mr. Grey
here in Halle. "
[ Man ]
Got you, Sheriff.
[ Therapist ]
So Cairo will have to wait.
[ Man ]
He wanted to meet her alone tonight.
Of course we told the police
straight away.
We want to help.
We had a lot of respect
for Inspector Osborne.
Nothing can happen.
All the police will be there.
[ Therapist ]
What's the plan?
[ Fisher ]
Harry Grey is meeting
the lotto girl tonight.
I'll be there.
Now I've got him.
[ Thunder Rumbling ]
[ Girl ]
Where are the other policemen?
We can manage. The other police'll
make a mess of things.
Have you heard of Kramer ?
Kramer must not come.
[ Glass Clattering ]
I've got something to show you.
[ Thunder Continues ]
Push me.
[ Fisher ]
We don't have very much time.
Yes, we do.
[ Thunder Continues ]
Is he here now?
I'm scared.
[ Doll Squeaks ]
[ Thunder Continues ]
Are you ill ?
[ Glass Shatters ]
[ Crying ]
[ Doll Squeaks ]
[ Crying Continues ]
[ Girl Screaming ]
[ Screaming Continues ]
[ Gasping ]
Stop it!
Can't anyboy make them stop.
I don't give a fuck for the dive.
Fuckers shit!
Fuckers! Shit!
Shut up!
This is Kramker.
Don't Jump!
Well, if it isn't Fisher.
How are your theories doing, Fish?
I have something which might interest you.
Did you get my note about Osborne?
Messages can go around
that tube mail system for weeks.
He wrote to me, a confession.
The murder in the harbor
and one more here in Halle.
Do you know anything about that, Fish?
So I think I solved
your little mystery for you.
You reconstructed that three year old
field trip of Harry Grey's.
Got a bit over-involved you could say.
You know how these things
can happen, Fish, do you?
It's anarchy in these parts,
not freedom. Anarchy.
It confuses people.
They succumb, go under.
The Osbornes. He couldn't quite cope
with the element of crime.
He loved system did Osborne.
When Harry Grey died, Osborne brought
his system to completion. It took him over.
You believed his act.
I want to wake up now.
Are you there?
You can wake me up now.
Are you there?