Die Auslöschung (2013)

When Judith Fuhrmann meets the widowed art historian Ernst Lemden, the sharp-witted intellectual sweeps her off her feet with his humor and eloquence. What begins as a one-night stand turns into a deep love, and Judith and Ernst move in together. Over time, signs of dementia begin to multiply. Ernst misplaces things and forgets everyday details, such as his grandson Emil’s name. He also gradually loses his rhetorical skill and intellect—at first almost imperceptibly, then severely. At first, Ernst still jokes about it, shocking Judith by pretending to have forgotten their relationship and her. But the situation increasingly becomes serious, and arguments about dementia become more frequent, partly because Ernst grapples with his illness every day, trying to learn everything and know everything about it. Eventually, he obtains poison that he intends to take if his condition becomes unbearable. Judith opposes this, but Ernst persuades her at least not to destroy the poison. He hides it in his bookcase, directly behind Seneca’s collected works, and leaves himself a note that reads, “Seneca brings release.” As the illness progresses, the extent of the dementia becomes apparent. In what was once his favorite painting, The Painter Hans Burgkmair and His Wife Anna, by Lukas Furtenagel—which he used to interpret in many layers and even wanted to write a book about—he now sees only funny little skeleton men. The more distant his connection to people had been, the sooner they disappear from his memory, so that even his recognition of his children gradually fades. He plays with his grandson Emil like a small child. In a delusional state one evening, Ernst tears down his bookcase, instinctively searching for the poison, which Judith has since found. The happy, vibrant love becomes a one-sided caregiving relationship. Ernst needs care around the clock and must be looked after. Eventually, he can no longer walk and is confined to a wheelchair. Judith is responsible for a man who can no longer communicate and has forgotten his past and his family. Nevertheless, the bond between Judith and Ernst lasts until the end. Judith cares for him devotedly. One evening, when Ernst can no longer even speak, she mixes the poison she has kept into his semolina porridge, and Ernst seems to be aware of what she has done after all. He eats the porridge without hesitation and dies.