Aquarium

grown-ups

Konrad is a master of verbal violence. He used to be quite the opportunist and is prone to autocratic behaviour. He decides to withdraw from the world into isolation in his own house but in fact leaves his door unlocked as he is in need of company and hopes that something will pull him back to the centre of action. His obsession with the film Casablanca which he watches over and over, stems from a feeling that in the film, the city of Casablanca is like the aquarium he owns where his rotting fish owns nothing that could be exchanged for a transit-pass to access the open sea. Konrad finally loses the feeling of being in control when an old school friend pays him a visit. The visitor reveals that Konrad is the father of his grandson and that this grandson would like to meet Konrad on his birthday. The child’s honesty and the promise of pure innocence give Konrad hope that perhaps he might be able to leave Casablanca after all.

MATTHEW: You probably don’t even know how I suffer when I see you
as you are now. And our family. What has become of it.

CONRAD (confidentially): Can you tell me something? What kind of feeling is this? Suffering. Describe it to me.

MATTHEW: Are you poking fun at me?

CONRAD: Why can’t you see in my words only what they contain? You told me, sincerely, that you suffer. And I asked you, no less sincerely, to describe to me something I no longer feel. Not for some years. I’ve given up suffering. In the same way I gave up smoking.

MATTHEW: Don’t you miss it?

CONRAD: Smoking no, suffering yes, frequently. Not because of suffering itself, mind you, but because of laughter. When I could still suffer I was able to laugh more often, openly, from the heart. Now my laughter, rare as it is, sounds somehow…

MATTHEW: Hollow?

CONRAD: In a way.

MATTHEW: And that bothers you.

CONRAD: It does, somewhat. I don’t see why I should laugh at all any more. And if I can’t laugh, what else is there to do?

MATTHEW: If you want to suffer again, and so have a reason for laughter, I can help you. I can tell you something you don’t know.

CONRAD: I absolutely forbid you. I know you’re full of unrealized terrorist tendencies. But don’t please, break my ignorance with information which is of greater interest to you than to me.

MATTHEW: I have information which would make your corpse at least twitch, if not come alive.

CONRAD: And you would convey it to me with the greatest of pleasures, as I can judge by the malicious smirk on your face. Keep it, I’ve had enough for today. (Looks at his watch.) “Four watch? Impossible. Such much?” A quote from Casablanca.

MATTHEW: I will tell you anyway …

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