Black holes are considered to be the hellmouths of the universe.
Those who fall inside disappear.
Forever.
But whereto?
What lies behind a black hole?
WHERE (WHEN) IS MIKKEL?
Along with things, do space and time also vanish there?
Or would space and time
be tied together and be part of an endless cycle?
What if everything that came from the past
were influenced by the future?
Tick-tock.
DOUBLE LIVES
The sneaky little bitch.
Elli! Where's my lipstick?
-Good morning. -Morning.
I'm going to stop by the home to see Dad before work.
Okay.
I'll take Elisabeth to school.
I don't want her to go by herself.
All right.
WINDEN CAVES
WHERE IS THE CROSSING?
There you are, you stupid cow!
Where's my red lipstick?
I don't have your stupid lipstick.
I'm only eight. I don't use lipstick.
You may be able to fool those two upstairs
with your puppy-dog eyes
and your pitiful deaf-and-dumb act,
but I don't buy it.
Have you packed your backpack? I'll drive you.
Shall I take you too?
Am I a baby or what?
Because of Mikkel?
Yes, because of Mikkel.
Do you know who stole him?
I won't discuss police work with you.
I don't like Mikkel. He's a show-off and a jerk.
I don't really care if he ever comes back.
Hey!
Where are you going?
To school.
You don't have to go if you don't want to.
I can call them.
I'm fine.
Jonas?
We could also do something nice together.
Just the two of us.
Mom.
Okay.
REST HOME WINDEN
Dad?
You can't keep walking off.
I have to tell him.
Tell who what?
I have to tell him.
It has to stop.
It has to...
What has to stop?
Tick-tock.
Don't be sad.
Weeks ago, in the small town of Winden,
a 15-year-old boy disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
MISSING
Residents are now alarmed after a second child has gone missing.
11-year-old Mikkel has been missing for two days.
Please report any relevant information to the Winden police.
There have been repeated blackouts in recent months
Security and public facilities
have not yet been...
However, power grid operators are promising
to find the cause of the cuts and ask the public to report further incidents.
CAUTION! WILDLIFE OBSERVATION CAMERA
Did you just steal something?
I confiscated something, there's a big difference.
Whatever you call it, it's still the same thing.
I'll pick you up afterwards.
I want you to wait for me, okay?
What did I just say?
That you'll pick me up.
Who's he?
Yasin. We're dating.
You're doing what?
Yasin is my boyfriend.
That's how you say it nowadays.
Well then...
A web of symbols and references
runs through the novel.
The "sycamores by the sea" are an example of this plethora of symbolism.
A special form of repetition in Goethe's work is what we call doubling.
The characters consciously and unconsciously...
Magnus, this isn't your class.
Won't you continue?
Where was I...?
Symmetry is a special kind of doubling.
The repetition is mirrored along a central axis.
So, the repetition begins at an imaginary center point
and branches off in two opposing directions.
There are several encrypted references to later events in the novel.
Ottilie's starvation, for example,
is referenced in the third chapter of part one,
as her "excessive abstemiousness in eating and drinking."
This reference is again repeated later.
I have to go to the bathroom.
Yes. Sure.
I'm no ornithologist, but...
these white speckles on the feathers
are not typical of this species.
Let's have a look at what killed you.
Any news on the boy?
Mikkel? Disappeared off the face of the earth.
No, not Mikkel. The dead boy.
Oh, yes.
No.
We ran everything through the missing persons database. No match.
Everything okay with you?
Yeah...
No.
I've seen spots like that on feathers before.
Thirty-three years ago.
As if all this has happened before.
The children,
the birds...
Somehow it's all connected.
I just don't know how.
Where have you been? The phones have been ringing all morning.
Someone must've said something about the dead boy.
What am I supposed to say?
-Is Ulrich here? -No, why?
Go through the missing persons database again.
Include older reports this time.
He may have disappeared a long time ago. Check the last 15 years, okay?
Right, okay.
-Anything else? -No. Actually, there is.
The red soil...
We can't find any. Not anywhere close to where he was found.
It must've come from the crime scene.
Get Jankowski to look into it.
And what do we say about the dead boy?
What time is it?
Just past ten.
Charlotte called.
She still doesn't have a search warrant for the power plant.
It's been nearly 36 hours, Ulrich.
MISSING
TIME OF DISAPPEARANCE 9:30 - 10:30 PM
Should I continue with the tire tracks? Seeing as Ulrich isn't in yet.
Tire tracks?
The treads we found on the road the day Erik disappeared.
No, I'll do that myself.
-I can take it off your hands... -I'll do it!
Okay.
-What's... -A screenshot from a wildlife camera.
I thought it might give us something.
Are you done with the database?
No.
Then why are you asking me about tire tracks?
Fine.
Charlotte?
Is everything okay?
I missed your call on the evening Mikkel disappeared.
I never asked why you called.
Why did you call?
I...
I don't know, I...
I think I was just calling to say I'd be home late.
Nothing special.
You were at the office all day on Monday?
Yes... Yeah.
I was writing reports
until around ten in the evening.
Why do you ask?
TIME OF DISAPPEARANCE 9:30 - 10:30 PM
No reason.
I had something mailed to the office,
and I'd forgotten about it. I was just wondering if it arrived.
We haven't received anything.
Okay.
I'm allowed to be parked here.
I want to know if Peter Doppler was one of your clients.
Last Monday.
Can I see your badge again?
Charlotte Doppler.
Is it a private or professional question?
Does it make any difference?
Was he here on Monday?
Not necessary.
I never forget a dick.
Peter's is slightly crooked, like a dill pickle.
Feels weird in the mouth.
-You probably know that already. -Was he here on Monday or not?
No, he hasn't been back in over a year.
He must get what he needs somewhere else now.
Thanks.
Fuck.
The beginning is the end,
-and the end is the beginning. - Shit.
The beginning is the end,
and the end is the beginning.
The beginning is the end...
I left my kids at home today.
My mom's there.
She's looking after them.
Supposedly they found a body in the forest.
You see...
I have this pathologist friend, he said...
it's terribly mutilated.
-Yup? -Guess what?
-The bird has the same thing. -Has what?
Burst eardrums on both sides.
-And that's how it died? -No.
It probably died from losing its bearings and crashing into the ground.
Cracked skull.
It happens often. Electromagnetic fields interfere with their sensory systems.
-High voltage power lines? -No.
We're talking voltages in the radio wave spectrum.
Electrical appliances.
-And the white spots in the feathers? -The white spots...
They started appearing after Chernobyl. It's a kind of mutation.
Radiation contamination?
I checked, but the radiation levels are normal.
-Interesting. -It sure is.
-Anything else? -Nope.
And did you know the girl snails bite the willies off the boy snails?
You definitely made that one up.
I didn't. Then the boys keep crawling on as girls. No joke.
-Where did you come up with that? -Hey!
-There you are, Yasin. -Television.
Let's go. Grandma's waiting.
Should I give you a ride home?
My mom's picking me up.
I'll drive you home.
It's no problem.
My mom will be here any moment now.
She's the Chief of Police.
Okay.
Come on.
Yes?
He did what?
What the fuck?
What's this?
Money, you idiot. My money.
Why do you have so much money?
Are you dealing drugs?
Is that why you were at the caves?
How I earn my money is none of your damn business.
What are you going to do with it?
What am I going to do with it? I'm getting out of this phoney shithole.
Behind everyone's friendly smile there's nothing but lies.
You're no different.
You pretend to be the straight-A student, but that's not you.
-Maybe you should start telling the truth. -You want the truth?
Fine.
My parents have slept in different beds for over a year.
My mom found out that Dad's actually into dicks.
Their marriage is over, but no one will say it.
Instead, this big fat secret is always with us at the table.
It eats our bread rolls, the butter and the homemade jam.
It gets fatter and fatter, until there's no space left in the room.
Until you can't breathe.
-Did you forget something? -No.
You have to pick up Elisabeth from school. I can't make it.
I have a patient. I have to go to the office.
Just pick her up, okay?
She can wait at your office.
I have to go to the power plant.
Okay, I'll...
I'll pick her up.
Thank you.
Was that it?
Wait.
You made me a promise a year ago.
If there's anything at all you want to tell me...
Hey, I really have to get going, or else I'll be late.
Tick-tock.
Excuse me.
I'm here to pick up Elisabeth.
I thought she had already been picked up.
What?
Mrs. Clemens is sick. School finished at two today.
Didn't Elisabeth tell you?
It was written in her homework book.
Security found him on our grounds, close to the caves.
He must've climbed over the fence.
He hasn't been very cooperative.
You're lucky Aleksander isn't pressing charges.
Everyone understands your situation. Everyone.
But climbing over the fence?
Understanding is nice, thank you.
But it's not enough.
My child is gone, okay?
This isn't just some file on your desk.
It's my child.
Why Mikkel?
I keep asking myself that. Why him? Why my son?
Why not his son?
Why not his?
I'm being punished.
And all I get is fucking sympathy. Well, you can take that and shove it.
Where's the search warrant?
Why is no one doing anything?
Should I tell you why? Because it's not his kid.
And because it's not your kid.
Stop here, I want to get out.
Stop the car!
-Yes? -Elisabeth wasn't there.
What do you mean not there?
She wasn't at school.
Mrs. Clemens is sick.
She wasn't waiting there.
I've been up and down the forest road twice already, but she's not here.
Maybe someone from school took her home? Maybe Yasin?
Go back home.
Maybe she went a different way. Call everyone in her class.
I'll be there in 15 minutes.
Yes, all right.
Thank you.
I've called everyone on the list.
Nothing.
I have to tell him.
He has to stop.
I lost my hat.
Where were you?
You didn't pick me up, so I walked.
And that took you this long?
I met someone.
He gave me this.
Who did?
Ouch! You're hurting me.
I want to know who gave this to you.
Noah.
Who is Noah?
He said it used to belong to you.
-You are all cold... - Elli?
Elli, is that you?
I was so worried about you.
Where were you?
Hands off my stuff!
Hello?
Yes.
No, she's here now.
Just now.
What?
Yes, I'll be right there.
Wöller found Helge in the woods.
FOR CHARLOTTE
We're searching for Ariadne's thread,
the one meant to guide us along the right path.
A beacon in the darkness.
We'd love to know our fate.
Where we're headed.
But the truth is that there is but one path through all times.
Predetermined by the beginning
and by the end.
Which is also the beginning.
He has to stop.
Who has to stop?
I have to stop him.
Stop whom?
Noah.
I'm not a baby anymore.
I can go to school on my own!
You must be Yasin.
Noah sent me.
Subtitle translation by Thomas Atkin, Peter Rigney