Ben X (2007) Movie Script
It's hard to explain.
It's hard to explain myself.
But I never tell lies.
Everything I say is true,
even when
I don't say a thing.
Someone always has to die first
before anything happens.
Otherwise life just goes on
as if there's no problem.
No. Someone always
has to die first.
And then everyone
suddenly wakes up.
But it's too late then.
That's why
someone had to die.
Every morning I play my game
from 5:45 till 6:33.
Always.
I've now reached level 80.
If you don't know
what that means,
it's just... high.
It means you're strong,
respected in the world.
Hundreds of thousands
of people online.
But for more than a year,
I've only been playing
with her.
REMEMBER, PRINCESS MAY BE
A MAN IN REAL LIFE
YOU ARE YOU
GLAD YOU ARE YOU TOO
In games you can be whoever
and whatever you like.
Here you can only be
one person...
the jerk you see
in the mirror.
I have to teach him
everything.
For example, I have to
teach him to laugh.
People like that.
To "give them a smile,"
as they say,
which means smiling when really
there's nothing to smile about.
That's how you create
your own avatar.
for my hands...
and 15 for my hair.
You're as strong as
your weapons and tools.
My heart rate meter,
for example,
to keep track of my heart,
as they say,
for when I get nervous.
Not that it makes me
less nervous,
but now I can see exactly
how nervous I am.
My mother.
Now she's going to say,
- "Good morning, Ben."
- Good morning, Ben.
People say that whether
it's a good morning or not.
"Good morning, Mom."
People never say,
"Bad morning."
Did you sleep well, son?
"Really well, Mom.
It's nice of you to ask.
Thank you."
Have you seen
my troll, Ben?
My brother Jonas.
He's still small.
I have to be
his big brother and all.
Trolls don't have horses.
But somehow I never seem
to know how to.
Calm down, Ben.
Calm down.
Easy now, Ben.
Okay?
Don't take
any of it to heart.
"I won't, Mom."
I won't, Mom.
I won't take heart.
Won't take it to heart.
You are allowed
to take heart, son.
Use your head,
don't get worked up.
Give me a kiss.
Go on.
I've also got a weapon
for fighting noise...
other noise, but nicer.
Nicer noise.
I've got to use my head.
Think ahead
and think a-heart.
Be prepared, be forewarned.
Forewarned is forearmed.
It's all a matter
of planning, of strategy.
I can't say I was taken totally
by surprise, but...
it just proved that...
that everything that'd happened
up till now wasn't right.
Before you do
something like that,
things must be...
it simply
proved to me that
things had just gone too far.
Way too far.
People are strange.
They talk
and talk and talk.
And they drink
each other's saliva.
All I can do is watch
and copy them,
imitate them.
Everything
I'll never learn.
Because there was always
something the matter...
with me and with my hand.
Throw it to someone.
This is getting
out of hand!
- Wrong.
- What's wrong with you?
I'm the man
who's always wrong,
but no one
could tell me exactly
how to be right.
Hi, you faggots!
Pat's got a new girlfriend.
Sit down, darling.
Not bad, eh? When an old girl's
in heat, sparks can fly.
Do you know what your hand
in her knickers feels like?
I don't want to know.
Have you ever given
a horse a lump of sugar?
Bogaert and Desmet.
I'm their best friend.
At least,
that's what they say.
Oh, there's Benny,
our best friend.
Our alien from Pluto.
Living proof that man
descended from mussels.
- Mussels?
- Hi, Benny-Boy.
The man from Mars!
Hi!
Whitney Houston
for Benny-Boy. Over.
Come in, Benny-boy, over.
Over, Benny-Boy.
Do you read me?
Hey, Benny-Boy.
Masturbation
makes you deaf!
Is anyone home?
Deaf.
Why did they always
come up with that?
If I sat there
playing quietly,
they thought my ears
weren't working.
The doctor said
I could hear
perfectly well
but I didn't listen.
He doesn't listen.
Then they thought there was something
wrong with my eyes.
Can you see what
those letters are?
- Yes.
- Yes.
Can you tell me
what those are?
Yes.
The idea is that you tell me
what the letters are.
C-O-H-Z-V,
S-Z-N-D-C,
V-K-C-N-R,
K-C-R-H-N,
V-O-R-K,
R-H-S-O-N, K-S-V-R-H.
He always
looked away as a baby.
He never looked at me.
He always looked
through me.
Think of them as a computer that is
configured differently.
They see everything.
They see every leaf
extremely clearly,
but they don't see
the tree.
They literally can't see
the wood for the trees.
The big picture...
that's what it's all about.
You have to try
to see the big picture
and see that
they don't see you.
- Look where you're walking.
- Retard.
Look where you're walking.
Retard.
Whitney Houston
for Benny-Boy...
we have a problem.
For Benny-Boy,
the man from Mars.
There are a couple every year.
Always on their own
in the playground.
It breaks my heart
to see them,
but what can you do?
You can't nanny them.
You can't hold their hand.
Not now, that's for sure.
I wanted my son to go
to an ordinary school.
My wife... my ex-wife...
and I sometimes
argued about it.
But he was much smarter than some
of the other kids there.
An understandable question.
Where is God?
Where is He?
Where is this man
with His long grey beard?
With all the wars, the poverty
and the injustice...
where is God?
People asked themselves
the same question
in Jesus's time.
Jesus was hanging there
on the cross
and they said, "Jesus,
why don't
you do something?
If your dad is
boss of the universe,
if you can raise
someone from the dead,
it's child's play for you.
Click clack and you're free."
Jesus, himself, wondered too.
What does
the New Testament say?
At the ninth hour,
Jesus cried with a loud voice,
"My God, my God,
why hast Thou forsaken me?"
At that moment Jesus
himself wonders that too.
He is so humiliated,
dispirited, disheartened,
that Jesus himself
doubts God.
He lets go.
In fact,
Jesus commits suicide.
Until he rises from the dead.
Until the resurrection.
And so God...
God damn it, Bogaert!
Leave Ben alone!
It's not the first time
I've had to tell you this!
You're going to
be in trouble!
Ben's just different
from you,
from the below-average
members of the class.
Fortunately for him,
if you ask me!
But you obviously find it
very difficult
to accept that someone
is different.
Or is there something
you want to share with us?
Maybe your thoughts
on the text
you no doubt studied
in detail last night?
- Yeah, okay.
- Right.
We're dying of curiosity.
Does anyone know
what Jesus said
when they took him down
from the cross?
"Hey! My feet first!"
That joke's grown
really long whiskers.
My God,
why hast Thou forsaken me?
I ask myself the same question
numerous times a day.
Whoa whoa whoa!
Hey! Calm down!
Take it easy.
Don't let them
push you around, Ben.
Keep your cool.
Kids like him
don't stand a chance.
They're easy prey.
They once stuck
a bandage over his mouth
and told him the headmaster
had said they had to.
He walked round all day
with the bandage over his mouth.
He always brought
a packed lunch with him,
but he never managed
to eat it.
But what are
you supposed to do?
What we always do...
too little. Nothing.
Here's our favorite boy.
Well, Benny-Boy?
Our Boy Jesus.
Leave him alone, guys.
Fuck off,
Freddy faggot.
It can't be easy, being different,
eh, Benny-Boy?
Whoa!
Better than average, eh?
In fact, we should
look up to you.
You're the man!
Calm down.
Don't get worked up.
Don't get worked up.
Just stay calm.
Smile.
They said
to keep on smiling.
Then it'll stop.
They'll stop.
Movie time!
Action.
Faggot!
Loser!
Faggot!
Loser!
Look at me, son.
If you don't tell me,
how am I supposed
to know, Vertriest?
Well, well!
Look who's here.
My favorite clients.
- The 10th visit is free.
- Do you know why you're here?
- I don't know.
- You really have no idea?
Is it a quiz?
Do you think
it's funny, Desmet?
To be honest, I don't think
it's the least bit funny.
Apparently you have been...
how shall I put it?
- Bullying Vertriest.
We teased him,
we didn't bully him.
We do it
to each other too.
But a normal person realizes
it's only in fun, sir.
We try to treat him
normally,
but normality doesn't come
easy for him.
We're not the ones throwing chairs
through windows, sir.
It's not easy
for us either.
That'll do. Save the act
for the playground!
As for you...
now's the time
to open your mouth.
Go on. Go on,
say something.
Tell me what
those two clowns did.
But it's easy
with hindsight.
Well, easier.
That's to say...
you feel like
an old campaigner
after the war's
been lost.
I can't remember how many times
I went to all these schools.
Always the same old story.
At this school
we try to prepare
the pupils
for the harsh realities
of life.
Sometimes we succeed
and sometimes we don't.
About the glass...
The headmaster said
they would let it be...
Thank you.
...if I let them have
another look at me.
I hope we don't meet
again soon.
So do I.
And you'll let us know
what the doctor decides,
whether he'll stay
at this school?
Yes.
Come on, Ben.
Your camera, Ben.
Take a look at it.
Seriously, look at it!
Come on, Ben.
It can't go on like this, Ben.
It just can't.
They come up with a theory
about my personality,
my character.
But they don't
even know me,
and they make me sound
like a monster.
And I wonder...
MARTIAN STRIPS
Well, son,
are you okay?
Is something wrong?
Do you want
to tell me something?
No.
You've got a message.
Oh, it's from that girl Scarlite.
When are we going
to see her in real life?
Or doesn't that
happen these days?
I'll leave you to chat,
or whatever you call it.
Good night, sleep tight.
Why do they say
"sleep tight"?
How do you sleep tight?
But she was waiting.
For me.
For me, Ben X.
Ben X.
She was waiting...
for me.
NOT WELL
I'M DEAD
I'M DEAD TIRED
REVIVE YOU TWO-BIT HERO
ARE YOU MAD?
It's nice weather.
Let's go to the hospital again, eh, Ben?
Let's go and see
the doctor.
Tell them everything again.
Dr. Meyvaert will
be pleased to see us.
What is everything?
I wasn't normal.
- I was special.
- You're special.
They all said so.
Your son is hypersensitive.
He's just sensitive.
Emotionally dysfunctional.
A light form
of psychosis.
Just a bit stressed.
Like his mom?
Let me give you this.
We can always take
a closer look.
"Take a closer look."
Closer to what?
WAITING ROOM
There's always a camera...
that sees everything.
Who's mad and who isn't.
Sir.
It's a waste of time.
Just a waste of time.
You've got to
face up to it, Bob.
It can't go on like this.
We need help.
The kid has no business
being here.
None.
None whatsoever.
I don't want
to lose my mind!
You won't lose anything.
They said, "Just let yourself go."
But they wouldn't
let me go.
A new line.
Suddenly they knew what it was.
I had a bad brain.
Asperger's Syndrome.
Asperger's Syndrome.
It's a form of autism.
That's what they discovered.
I've got autism.
Or autism has got me.
The man had spent
but hadn't learned
to leave his nose alone.
It's not easy.
And it won't get
any easier.
But you have to remember that Ben
isn't feeble-minded.
On the contrary,
he's very strong.
You could almost say
strong-minded.
He talks and talks
and talks,
the man who understands me.
He has extraordinary perception.
In fact, he's an extraordinary boy
who, every day,
fights to be ordinary.
The question is, should we help him
to dispel the illusion
that he can live
like a normal boy?
I've heard that
his grades are good.
- Yes. Yes.
- Excellent even.
So why would we take him
out of that school?
Because he's being
bullied to death.
That's why.
Right.
That happens.
It shouldn't,
but it does.
At some point,
they stick a label on you.
Autism.
Do you see?
But that word...
to me, my child was
simply my child.
To me, Ben was Ben.
They're volcanoes.
They're walking
volcanoes.
We don't know
when they'll erupt.
Time bombs living undercover
in our world.
And the reaction often happens
much later than the cause.
We'll just carry on
like before. We can do it.
We won't let them
get to us.
Then my fingers
told her everything.
But she said,
"No endgame without me."
COME
Come.
END = BEGINNING
The princess of letters
on the other side
of the land...
who is always by my side
when things
get out of hand.
Who knows me
without knowing my name.
Who could put me back
together again.
Who could make me
sleep tight.
She said, "Well, man,
where's your plan?"
The one-word plan.
"Let me help you,"
she said...
"to rise above it all.
To rise above yourself."
Calm down, Ben.
Calm down.
What's wrong
with you today?
Got your phone?
Call me if necessary.
Don't take
any of it to heart.
Give me a kiss.
And don't get worked up.
What exactly
happened that day?
Who can say?
I only knew that he...
I knew how my son felt
by the way he slammed
the door in the morning.
It wasn't a bad door
that morning.
At least
that's what I thought.
HEY MARTIAN,
HE WHO TALKS IS GETTING I
Me, the Martian.
I'd be getting it.
Getting it.
Getting it.
But getting what?
I was always getting it.
Always.
Ben?
Did you see it?
Did you see what I filmed?
Yes.
Right...
I didn't know you were
such a Holy Joe!
Are you okay, son?
You know you can tell me
if something's wrong.
Is there a problem?
- No.
- Okay.
What the hell
do you think you're doing?
Did you think
that was funny?
- Yes, I thought it was pretty funny.
- Am I laughing?
Maybe you haven't got
a sense of humor, sir.
Don't start, Bogaert.
Whoa whoa
whoa whoa whoa.
- You're playing with...
- Fire!
Yes, you're playing
with fire.
Can't you take
a joke, sir?
You should defend yourself, son.
Arm yourself against it.
Arm yourself.
Arm myself. A death cross.
Its costs 350 gold
in Archlord.
"If only we'd known,"
they say.
"If only we'd known."
What would
they have done?
You see it coming
every year.
You see it coming.
Every evening
you pray to God
that it'll turn out okay.
And usually it does.
But I guess...
this time
we forgot to pray.
You only know
how things turn out.
And we know that now.
I know one thing.
The school will
never be the same again.
Hi.
Uh... Ben X.
I don't know you
in real life,
but I still
know you really well.
I just want to say
that what counts in-game
counts in real life too.
You can't play an endgame
without your healer, and that's me.
I'm worried about you.
Tomorrow I'll catch a train
that gets to where
you live at 10:22.
I know you'll be there.
You've never failed
to keep an appointment, so...
see you tomorrow.
- Hi, Martian!
- Hi, Benny-Boy.
Hey, pal,
you're so tense.
Let's exchange ideas.
If you have any
in that retarded head.
The bus. My bus.
My always-there bus
that drives off.
It's nice here
amongst the trees.
Shall we sit on a bench
next to each other?
Beardman told you
not to get worked up.
And he's right.
Heart rate: 94.
What's that?
- That's some watch!
- You're spoiled.
Let me see!
Don't get aggressive!
Not like last time!
- Take it easy.
- You know what'll happen.
- We're friends.
- You know what'll happen.
Take it easy, Desmet.
We're all friends here.
Jesus, you're
really nuts.
- Relax.
- Call me if necessary.
- Yes, Mom.
- We're friends, aren't we?
- Hey, what's that? Hey!
- What's that?
A Nokia 3250. Christ!
What have you got that for?
You can't talk, so how can you
use a phone?
- We should have it.
- It's to text his mommy.
To send text messages?
Let's see.
Here, look at this.
An MMS from...
Who's that?
- Frankenstein's got a girlfriend!
- Scarlite.
She's called Scarlite.
Let's see.
Who's that?
Who is it?
He's got a girlfriend.
- Hey, she's not bad!
- Definitely isn't!
I just want to say
that what counts in-game
counts in real life too.
You can't play an endgame
without your healer.
Your healer?
Is she your healer?
Dealer more likely!
Incredible!
Tomorrow I'll catch a train that gets
to where you live at 10:22.
Tomorrow at 10:22,
at the station,
on the platform.
We'll be there too, eh, Desmet?
We've got to see this!
We can't miss out on our
best friend's first date!
True or not true?
Telephone.
Telephone, Benny.
- She's phoning him!
- It's Mommy!
Hello, Mommy.
I'm in the park
with my friends.
Leave a message
after the beep. Bye.
Bye, Mommy.
Oops, mailbox.
Let me know
where you are, okay?
Don't you mind being
stalked, Benny-boy?
Always having to listen
to bullshit from your mother?
I'll keep your phone,
eh, Benny-Boy?
What do you think?
- Easy! Easy with the crucifix!
- You are mad after all!
Hey, Benny, telephone.
It's Mommy.
Aren't you going to answer it?
It's Mommy.
She'll come and get you.
Come on, Ben.
Answer your phone.
My buddy Benny-Boy.
You crazy Martian!
We're not taking you with us again!
And to think we had
a present for you as well.
Look, this is only
for our best friends.
It's a little pill
that has a big effect.
It's called a Superman.
Superman.
Open your mouth.
There's a smiley on it,
for people like you
who never laugh.
Want it?
Some water to
wash it down.
You'll feel just
like Superman!
There! Now swallow.
The first one's free
because you're our friend.
It'll do you good.
You won't be so aggressive any more.
Here.
So you know what time it is when you go
whining to the fatmaster.
I don't believe this!
Jesus Christ!
I don't believe it!
Phone me, please.
What's that, Mom?
Nothing, son.
It's nothing.
Let's go and look
for Ben.
Damn it.
God damn it!
Damn!
Damn me!
Where are you?
Where are you?
Feel.
Feel me, Ben.
Ben.
You have to learn
to feel
if you want
to learn to feel good.
Ben!
What's up, son?
What happened?
Are you okay?
Just look at you!
Is everything okay?
What's the matter?
What's the matter
with you, Ben?
That'll do, son.
It's nothing, Mom.
That's what people
always say, it's nothing.
I'm healed, Mom.
I'm really healed.
Completely healed.
Your big brother
is Superman!
Calm down, Ben,
please!
That's enough!
There's water coming
out of your eyes, Mom.
Water is coming
out of your eyes
but I know what it is.
Salt and moisture.
Salt and moisture!
People say
I don't understand
because I don't understand
feelings, but I do.
I know what they are.
Do you remember
when I was little
I tried to push
those tears
back into your eyes?
It was just because
I didn't want you to be sad.
It's all right, Mom.
People always say
it's all right
and they ask,
"Is everything all right?"
And then you reply,
"Yes, yes!
"Yes, everything's all right.
Everything is right.
Everything's going right."
Everything's all right.
Everything's going right.
- I'm not crazy.
- No!
- Just a bit difficult.
- Calm down, Ben.
Yes, I'm a different cult.
But I'm training myself.
I'm training, training,
training.
I'm in bits.
But I've been reborn,
like in video games.
- You always get a new life.
- Come on, son.
Let's go home.
Come on, son.
That's it.
And then it was over.
I was over.
Eyes open again,
head shut once more.
Ben.
What's that, Ben?
Why didn't you tell me?
- Ben...
- Then it was time for truthfulness.
Shamefulness, painfulness.
Who did that?
Tell me, Ben.
Everything can be
destroyed so easily.
Everything can be
destroyed so easily.
Why couldn't I just be
destroyed too?
Stop it, Ben.
Stop it!
Jonas!
Jonas.
Then I saw that jerk
standing there again.
And I attacked him.
I'd heard it before,
the calling
of night falling.
Going right
to the end of pain.
How beautiful!
Blood flowing from a vein.
A bit later
my father came round.
My dad,
who also never knows
what to say.
So I usually
understand him that way.
She'd come too.
Sabine, his girlfriend,
as he'd always say.
Who always asked how I was
holding up.
How are you holding up?
- It can't go on like this.
- No, Sabine.
It can't go on like this.
But still, it will have to.
It will have to.
It's not the first time
and it won't be the last.
Come on, Sabine. Leave it.
It's okay, leave it.
Look after him.
The endgame.
The end, the end,
the end, the end.
The end, the end,
the end.
The end, the end,
the end, the end.
The endgame.
The endgame.
Heart rate: 55.
Under 13
and you're dead.
Then you've done it.
You're finished.
and you arrive.
Where there's death, there's life.
You can't play an endgame
without your healer
and that's me.
Tomorrow I'll catch a train that gets
to where you live at 10:22.
- And I know you'll be there...
- 9:36.
Got to go
to the station.
I've got to go
to the station.
Calm down.
Calm down, Ben.
GONE OU DON'T WORRY
I'll keep your phone.
The station.
The station.
on the platform.
We'll be there.
We've got to see.
I can't be late.
She shouldn't
have to wait.
She who doesn't know
what I look like, who I am.
That I'm not there.
But them...
I knew I'd find her.
I'd smell her,
like the dog I am.
There she was.
She'd come.
She'd really come.
For real!
She was waiting
for me.
She was sending
a text message.
Probably to me.
To me about whom she can only fantasize,
whom she doesn't recognize.
To me who is here
with a phone that's disappeared.
Then everything happened
so quickly, as they say.
But everything always happens
too quickly for me.
She left.
Because she couldn't see
the invisible me.
But what my head couldn't do,
my legs were able to.
There's the train.
A spaceship that has come
to collect us from a barren planet.
Courage is everything.
Doing what you thought
you couldn't do.
Her scent was enough.
The scent of a season
that had
yet to be invented
on a continent
still to be discovered,
but that I could smell
miles from the coast.
With her perfect neck
turned towards me,
she was dreaming
up a landscape.
I imagined how
I'd place my lips there,
staking my claim.
My claim to liberation.
Just sitting here
in the warmth from her body,
briefly, everything
was perfect.
This is a passenger
announcement:
We are about to
arrive in Brussels.
Are you okay?
I had to say something.
Anything.
But the only thing I say
is nothing.
All I can do is leave.
And she left.
She just left.
And I just had
to leave too.
I was scared stiff.
A mother feels
these things.
A hundred times
a second I thought,
"Don't let him do
anything stupid.
Please don't let him do
anything stupid."
I remember
he once asked me,
"How many reasons
does someone need
to commit suicide?"
I asked him what
he meant by how many.
He said,
"How many? Two, five, 10?"
That's what he was
thinking about.
He wanted to know
if he had enough.
The endgame.
My plan.
The one-word plan.
Murder.
The murder of myself.
Catch the train.
To nowhere.
There is one advantage
to killing yourself.
You never have
to look far for your victim.
You don't even
do it yourself,
the train does it for you.
What was his motive?
A locomotive.
If you think
it's all over quickly,
you're wrong.
Even if you're
lucky enough
to be decapitated
immediately,
apparently your head
remains conscious
for another
So you can imagine that what goes
through your mind isn't pleasant.
Seeing bits of your body
flying in all directions.
They say that
just before you die...
your life flashes
before your eyes like a film.
So?
Did you see anything?
- But who...
- Who pushed you?
Me, of course.
Who else, blockhead?
You?
Does he have
any distinguishing scars
or birthmarks?
Scars?
It was already broken,
wasn't it?
Did you notice anything
out of the ordinary?
I don't get it, Ben.
Honestly.
Ben.
Are you the man who escaped
from the dungeon of Silancium?
Who crossed Windrill Desert
alone with me?
Who fought Bailor?
Who crossed the swamps
of Ondekon with me?
Who conquered Zerdin?
You're level 80,
for God's sake.
And that's your endgame?
You just throw yourself
under a train?
Was that your plan?
Just click on exit
and log out.
"Gone out.
Don't worry."
That's good news,
isn't it?
It means he's gone out
for a bit and you don't have to worry.
My son doesn't
just go out for a bit
on a Saturday morning.
He's not able to.
Besides, look.
I found this.
I don't know
if you know, Ben, but...
in real life
dying is fairly definite.
You can't change
your mind.
You can die
as much as you like.
But not for real.
That's not the way
we play, Ben.
You're level 80.
Do you want to quit
this world, Ben?
Go on then, go.
But if you want revenge,
take revenge.
Otherwise you're exactly
what they say you are,
a loser.
Play to win, Ben.
Everything's
a matter of planning,
of strategy.
Don't you
just love Fanta?
I'm really happy...
that you're you.
We'll file a missing
person's report
and circulate his
description nationally.
What about this?
What are you going to do
about this?
I'll inform our
social services unit.
They're familiar
with things like that,
unfortunately.
Ben!
"I just wanted to go away,"
he said.
"But I didn't dare die
because I didn't know what that was."
Was that your big plan?
Ben?
How are we going
to do it?
Take poison?
No.
Imagine if you took poison
and then changed your mind.
You'd have to call
the Poison Center.
"Hello?"
The people
at the Poison Center
get lots of phone calls
like that.
That's for idiots.
Or you could hang
yourself.
That's cool. Apparently you die
with a huge erection.
But then
you shit yourself.
That's not cool
being found like that, eh?
Ben.
Do you know what else
they always find
under the fingernails
of someone
who's hung themselves?
Little bits of rope
and skin.
Do you know why?
Because they
always desperately try
to get the rope
off their neck.
But they can't.
The chair's too far away
and they can't reach it.
You think it's exciting,
huh, Ben?
Dying.
Dying.
Then everything is solved
in one fell swoop.
Ben is solved
in one fell swoop.
Aren't you going to take
one last look
to see if there's
another solution?
Take one last
look around.
You need to be more
creative, damn you!
Shut up, beautiful.
You are so beautiful.
"Assemble a guild," she said.
"Like in Archlord."
It was her idea.
Some quests are too big
for two.
"You have to help me,"
he said.
So we helped him.
We knew everyone would say
that you can't do that.
But that's more or less
why I did it.
Smoking's forbidden here,
Sabrina.
My name's Sabine.
You should be grateful
for not being able to smoke.
Yeah,
I'm really grateful.
You'll live half
a day longer.
You're not serious,
right?
You're not really
going to do this!
You know you can't!
I can't do it!
Sabine, you don't have
to do anything.
You insisted on coming.
I don't care whether
you come or not
but if you think
it's easy for us,
you're wrong.
Look.
The sea.
The end of the world.
You know what
they say, Ben?
Every end is a beginning.
Anyone want anything to eat?
Ben?
- Sabine?
- No, thanks.
Don't you feel very well,
Sabine?
Not really, no.
Is this how you want
it to be, Ben?
Right.
Ben, uh...
I'II...
Ben!
Ben!
I have to put my back into it.
Everything is a matter
of thinking ahead.
And thinking a-heart.
Everything is a matter
of willpower.
Courage is everything.
Ultimately doing the thing
that you can't do.
If you die in a game
then you're just
out of the game for a while
and you have to go
and look for your body.
All they found of me
was a tape.
And I had gone.
These are particularly
disturbing images
that once again remind us
that one Flemish youngster
takes his or her life every week.
In a recent study,
between 15 and 18
say that they have attempted
suicide at some point.
A very worrying figure.
And now the sports.
At the Indian Wells
tournament...
Everyone here today,
members of the family,
colleagues,
ladies and gentlemen,
girls and boys...
we've all come
together today
to say goodbye
to a very special young man
who was taken from us
so suddenly
and tragically.
Ben's life was never easy.
His condition made things
very difficult for him.
Maybe
we only realize now,
when it's too late,
that he battled against
his handicap,
if you can call it that,
that was much worse
than we could've imagined.
We never really
had any real contact with him
and won't be able to now.
Today all we can do
is accept
that some things
are just
too heavy to bear.
That is why...
Hello.
Thank you for coming.
I too have come
to an end,
as they say.
Come to an end.
I died of myself.
Fellow men
and un-fellow men...
my fight is over.
At the end of your life,
they say a film
of your life flashes
before your eyes.
Here are a few scenes
that may interest you.
Go on, Ben.
Now, the endgame.
She called it dying creatively.
Suicide without the dying.
Dying without quitting.
Or quitting without dying.
I had to learn everything.
But I'd forgotten
the most important thing.
Learning to lie.
To deceive.
Someone had to die first.
Otherwise you wouldn't
have come.
Not for a boy.
You can't keep on
begging and asking...
You're so angry, Mommy.
And asking again and again
that something be done
to put a stop to it.
That they'd finally stop
tormenting my son
and making his life...
sorry, but it's true...
making his life
so impossible.
His autism is his problem,
but it's not a problem to him.
The others are the problem.
The others.
They have to learn
to leave my kid alone.
Ben just wanted to quit.
Now he has.
Fortunately,
he's still alive.
He's alive.
In his own world, maybe,
but he's alive.
He's alive!
He's living his life.
She said,
"It's high time
to become who you are."
Just let it happen, Ben.
Don't be scared.
If you want
to learn to feel good,
you have to learn to feel.
Stroke him.
I've never been
what they call happy.
But I've never been
this kind of happy.
Beautiful, no?
You don't have to talk to animals.
Do you dare sit on it,
you two-bit hero?
As soon as people
see a horse,
they want to sit on it.
But has anyone
ever heard a horse
ask for that?
Do you?
If a horse could choose...
Yes, well...
It's hard to explain myself.
But I never tell lies.
Everything I say is true,
even when
I don't say a thing.
Someone always has to die first
before anything happens.
Otherwise life just goes on
as if there's no problem.
No. Someone always
has to die first.
And then everyone
suddenly wakes up.
But it's too late then.
That's why
someone had to die.
Every morning I play my game
from 5:45 till 6:33.
Always.
I've now reached level 80.
If you don't know
what that means,
it's just... high.
It means you're strong,
respected in the world.
Hundreds of thousands
of people online.
But for more than a year,
I've only been playing
with her.
REMEMBER, PRINCESS MAY BE
A MAN IN REAL LIFE
YOU ARE YOU
GLAD YOU ARE YOU TOO
In games you can be whoever
and whatever you like.
Here you can only be
one person...
the jerk you see
in the mirror.
I have to teach him
everything.
For example, I have to
teach him to laugh.
People like that.
To "give them a smile,"
as they say,
which means smiling when really
there's nothing to smile about.
That's how you create
your own avatar.
for my hands...
and 15 for my hair.
You're as strong as
your weapons and tools.
My heart rate meter,
for example,
to keep track of my heart,
as they say,
for when I get nervous.
Not that it makes me
less nervous,
but now I can see exactly
how nervous I am.
My mother.
Now she's going to say,
- "Good morning, Ben."
- Good morning, Ben.
People say that whether
it's a good morning or not.
"Good morning, Mom."
People never say,
"Bad morning."
Did you sleep well, son?
"Really well, Mom.
It's nice of you to ask.
Thank you."
Have you seen
my troll, Ben?
My brother Jonas.
He's still small.
I have to be
his big brother and all.
Trolls don't have horses.
But somehow I never seem
to know how to.
Calm down, Ben.
Calm down.
Easy now, Ben.
Okay?
Don't take
any of it to heart.
"I won't, Mom."
I won't, Mom.
I won't take heart.
Won't take it to heart.
You are allowed
to take heart, son.
Use your head,
don't get worked up.
Give me a kiss.
Go on.
I've also got a weapon
for fighting noise...
other noise, but nicer.
Nicer noise.
I've got to use my head.
Think ahead
and think a-heart.
Be prepared, be forewarned.
Forewarned is forearmed.
It's all a matter
of planning, of strategy.
I can't say I was taken totally
by surprise, but...
it just proved that...
that everything that'd happened
up till now wasn't right.
Before you do
something like that,
things must be...
it simply
proved to me that
things had just gone too far.
Way too far.
People are strange.
They talk
and talk and talk.
And they drink
each other's saliva.
All I can do is watch
and copy them,
imitate them.
Everything
I'll never learn.
Because there was always
something the matter...
with me and with my hand.
Throw it to someone.
This is getting
out of hand!
- Wrong.
- What's wrong with you?
I'm the man
who's always wrong,
but no one
could tell me exactly
how to be right.
Hi, you faggots!
Pat's got a new girlfriend.
Sit down, darling.
Not bad, eh? When an old girl's
in heat, sparks can fly.
Do you know what your hand
in her knickers feels like?
I don't want to know.
Have you ever given
a horse a lump of sugar?
Bogaert and Desmet.
I'm their best friend.
At least,
that's what they say.
Oh, there's Benny,
our best friend.
Our alien from Pluto.
Living proof that man
descended from mussels.
- Mussels?
- Hi, Benny-Boy.
The man from Mars!
Hi!
Whitney Houston
for Benny-Boy. Over.
Come in, Benny-boy, over.
Over, Benny-Boy.
Do you read me?
Hey, Benny-Boy.
Masturbation
makes you deaf!
Is anyone home?
Deaf.
Why did they always
come up with that?
If I sat there
playing quietly,
they thought my ears
weren't working.
The doctor said
I could hear
perfectly well
but I didn't listen.
He doesn't listen.
Then they thought there was something
wrong with my eyes.
Can you see what
those letters are?
- Yes.
- Yes.
Can you tell me
what those are?
Yes.
The idea is that you tell me
what the letters are.
C-O-H-Z-V,
S-Z-N-D-C,
V-K-C-N-R,
K-C-R-H-N,
V-O-R-K,
R-H-S-O-N, K-S-V-R-H.
He always
looked away as a baby.
He never looked at me.
He always looked
through me.
Think of them as a computer that is
configured differently.
They see everything.
They see every leaf
extremely clearly,
but they don't see
the tree.
They literally can't see
the wood for the trees.
The big picture...
that's what it's all about.
You have to try
to see the big picture
and see that
they don't see you.
- Look where you're walking.
- Retard.
Look where you're walking.
Retard.
Whitney Houston
for Benny-Boy...
we have a problem.
For Benny-Boy,
the man from Mars.
There are a couple every year.
Always on their own
in the playground.
It breaks my heart
to see them,
but what can you do?
You can't nanny them.
You can't hold their hand.
Not now, that's for sure.
I wanted my son to go
to an ordinary school.
My wife... my ex-wife...
and I sometimes
argued about it.
But he was much smarter than some
of the other kids there.
An understandable question.
Where is God?
Where is He?
Where is this man
with His long grey beard?
With all the wars, the poverty
and the injustice...
where is God?
People asked themselves
the same question
in Jesus's time.
Jesus was hanging there
on the cross
and they said, "Jesus,
why don't
you do something?
If your dad is
boss of the universe,
if you can raise
someone from the dead,
it's child's play for you.
Click clack and you're free."
Jesus, himself, wondered too.
What does
the New Testament say?
At the ninth hour,
Jesus cried with a loud voice,
"My God, my God,
why hast Thou forsaken me?"
At that moment Jesus
himself wonders that too.
He is so humiliated,
dispirited, disheartened,
that Jesus himself
doubts God.
He lets go.
In fact,
Jesus commits suicide.
Until he rises from the dead.
Until the resurrection.
And so God...
God damn it, Bogaert!
Leave Ben alone!
It's not the first time
I've had to tell you this!
You're going to
be in trouble!
Ben's just different
from you,
from the below-average
members of the class.
Fortunately for him,
if you ask me!
But you obviously find it
very difficult
to accept that someone
is different.
Or is there something
you want to share with us?
Maybe your thoughts
on the text
you no doubt studied
in detail last night?
- Yeah, okay.
- Right.
We're dying of curiosity.
Does anyone know
what Jesus said
when they took him down
from the cross?
"Hey! My feet first!"
That joke's grown
really long whiskers.
My God,
why hast Thou forsaken me?
I ask myself the same question
numerous times a day.
Whoa whoa whoa!
Hey! Calm down!
Take it easy.
Don't let them
push you around, Ben.
Keep your cool.
Kids like him
don't stand a chance.
They're easy prey.
They once stuck
a bandage over his mouth
and told him the headmaster
had said they had to.
He walked round all day
with the bandage over his mouth.
He always brought
a packed lunch with him,
but he never managed
to eat it.
But what are
you supposed to do?
What we always do...
too little. Nothing.
Here's our favorite boy.
Well, Benny-Boy?
Our Boy Jesus.
Leave him alone, guys.
Fuck off,
Freddy faggot.
It can't be easy, being different,
eh, Benny-Boy?
Whoa!
Better than average, eh?
In fact, we should
look up to you.
You're the man!
Calm down.
Don't get worked up.
Don't get worked up.
Just stay calm.
Smile.
They said
to keep on smiling.
Then it'll stop.
They'll stop.
Movie time!
Action.
Faggot!
Loser!
Faggot!
Loser!
Look at me, son.
If you don't tell me,
how am I supposed
to know, Vertriest?
Well, well!
Look who's here.
My favorite clients.
- The 10th visit is free.
- Do you know why you're here?
- I don't know.
- You really have no idea?
Is it a quiz?
Do you think
it's funny, Desmet?
To be honest, I don't think
it's the least bit funny.
Apparently you have been...
how shall I put it?
- Bullying Vertriest.
We teased him,
we didn't bully him.
We do it
to each other too.
But a normal person realizes
it's only in fun, sir.
We try to treat him
normally,
but normality doesn't come
easy for him.
We're not the ones throwing chairs
through windows, sir.
It's not easy
for us either.
That'll do. Save the act
for the playground!
As for you...
now's the time
to open your mouth.
Go on. Go on,
say something.
Tell me what
those two clowns did.
But it's easy
with hindsight.
Well, easier.
That's to say...
you feel like
an old campaigner
after the war's
been lost.
I can't remember how many times
I went to all these schools.
Always the same old story.
At this school
we try to prepare
the pupils
for the harsh realities
of life.
Sometimes we succeed
and sometimes we don't.
About the glass...
The headmaster said
they would let it be...
Thank you.
...if I let them have
another look at me.
I hope we don't meet
again soon.
So do I.
And you'll let us know
what the doctor decides,
whether he'll stay
at this school?
Yes.
Come on, Ben.
Your camera, Ben.
Take a look at it.
Seriously, look at it!
Come on, Ben.
It can't go on like this, Ben.
It just can't.
They come up with a theory
about my personality,
my character.
But they don't
even know me,
and they make me sound
like a monster.
And I wonder...
MARTIAN STRIPS
Well, son,
are you okay?
Is something wrong?
Do you want
to tell me something?
No.
You've got a message.
Oh, it's from that girl Scarlite.
When are we going
to see her in real life?
Or doesn't that
happen these days?
I'll leave you to chat,
or whatever you call it.
Good night, sleep tight.
Why do they say
"sleep tight"?
How do you sleep tight?
But she was waiting.
For me.
For me, Ben X.
Ben X.
She was waiting...
for me.
NOT WELL
I'M DEAD
I'M DEAD TIRED
REVIVE YOU TWO-BIT HERO
ARE YOU MAD?
It's nice weather.
Let's go to the hospital again, eh, Ben?
Let's go and see
the doctor.
Tell them everything again.
Dr. Meyvaert will
be pleased to see us.
What is everything?
I wasn't normal.
- I was special.
- You're special.
They all said so.
Your son is hypersensitive.
He's just sensitive.
Emotionally dysfunctional.
A light form
of psychosis.
Just a bit stressed.
Like his mom?
Let me give you this.
We can always take
a closer look.
"Take a closer look."
Closer to what?
WAITING ROOM
There's always a camera...
that sees everything.
Who's mad and who isn't.
Sir.
It's a waste of time.
Just a waste of time.
You've got to
face up to it, Bob.
It can't go on like this.
We need help.
The kid has no business
being here.
None.
None whatsoever.
I don't want
to lose my mind!
You won't lose anything.
They said, "Just let yourself go."
But they wouldn't
let me go.
A new line.
Suddenly they knew what it was.
I had a bad brain.
Asperger's Syndrome.
Asperger's Syndrome.
It's a form of autism.
That's what they discovered.
I've got autism.
Or autism has got me.
The man had spent
but hadn't learned
to leave his nose alone.
It's not easy.
And it won't get
any easier.
But you have to remember that Ben
isn't feeble-minded.
On the contrary,
he's very strong.
You could almost say
strong-minded.
He talks and talks
and talks,
the man who understands me.
He has extraordinary perception.
In fact, he's an extraordinary boy
who, every day,
fights to be ordinary.
The question is, should we help him
to dispel the illusion
that he can live
like a normal boy?
I've heard that
his grades are good.
- Yes. Yes.
- Excellent even.
So why would we take him
out of that school?
Because he's being
bullied to death.
That's why.
Right.
That happens.
It shouldn't,
but it does.
At some point,
they stick a label on you.
Autism.
Do you see?
But that word...
to me, my child was
simply my child.
To me, Ben was Ben.
They're volcanoes.
They're walking
volcanoes.
We don't know
when they'll erupt.
Time bombs living undercover
in our world.
And the reaction often happens
much later than the cause.
We'll just carry on
like before. We can do it.
We won't let them
get to us.
Then my fingers
told her everything.
But she said,
"No endgame without me."
COME
Come.
END = BEGINNING
The princess of letters
on the other side
of the land...
who is always by my side
when things
get out of hand.
Who knows me
without knowing my name.
Who could put me back
together again.
Who could make me
sleep tight.
She said, "Well, man,
where's your plan?"
The one-word plan.
"Let me help you,"
she said...
"to rise above it all.
To rise above yourself."
Calm down, Ben.
Calm down.
What's wrong
with you today?
Got your phone?
Call me if necessary.
Don't take
any of it to heart.
Give me a kiss.
And don't get worked up.
What exactly
happened that day?
Who can say?
I only knew that he...
I knew how my son felt
by the way he slammed
the door in the morning.
It wasn't a bad door
that morning.
At least
that's what I thought.
HEY MARTIAN,
HE WHO TALKS IS GETTING I
Me, the Martian.
I'd be getting it.
Getting it.
Getting it.
But getting what?
I was always getting it.
Always.
Ben?
Did you see it?
Did you see what I filmed?
Yes.
Right...
I didn't know you were
such a Holy Joe!
Are you okay, son?
You know you can tell me
if something's wrong.
Is there a problem?
- No.
- Okay.
What the hell
do you think you're doing?
Did you think
that was funny?
- Yes, I thought it was pretty funny.
- Am I laughing?
Maybe you haven't got
a sense of humor, sir.
Don't start, Bogaert.
Whoa whoa
whoa whoa whoa.
- You're playing with...
- Fire!
Yes, you're playing
with fire.
Can't you take
a joke, sir?
You should defend yourself, son.
Arm yourself against it.
Arm yourself.
Arm myself. A death cross.
Its costs 350 gold
in Archlord.
"If only we'd known,"
they say.
"If only we'd known."
What would
they have done?
You see it coming
every year.
You see it coming.
Every evening
you pray to God
that it'll turn out okay.
And usually it does.
But I guess...
this time
we forgot to pray.
You only know
how things turn out.
And we know that now.
I know one thing.
The school will
never be the same again.
Hi.
Uh... Ben X.
I don't know you
in real life,
but I still
know you really well.
I just want to say
that what counts in-game
counts in real life too.
You can't play an endgame
without your healer, and that's me.
I'm worried about you.
Tomorrow I'll catch a train
that gets to where
you live at 10:22.
I know you'll be there.
You've never failed
to keep an appointment, so...
see you tomorrow.
- Hi, Martian!
- Hi, Benny-Boy.
Hey, pal,
you're so tense.
Let's exchange ideas.
If you have any
in that retarded head.
The bus. My bus.
My always-there bus
that drives off.
It's nice here
amongst the trees.
Shall we sit on a bench
next to each other?
Beardman told you
not to get worked up.
And he's right.
Heart rate: 94.
What's that?
- That's some watch!
- You're spoiled.
Let me see!
Don't get aggressive!
Not like last time!
- Take it easy.
- You know what'll happen.
- We're friends.
- You know what'll happen.
Take it easy, Desmet.
We're all friends here.
Jesus, you're
really nuts.
- Relax.
- Call me if necessary.
- Yes, Mom.
- We're friends, aren't we?
- Hey, what's that? Hey!
- What's that?
A Nokia 3250. Christ!
What have you got that for?
You can't talk, so how can you
use a phone?
- We should have it.
- It's to text his mommy.
To send text messages?
Let's see.
Here, look at this.
An MMS from...
Who's that?
- Frankenstein's got a girlfriend!
- Scarlite.
She's called Scarlite.
Let's see.
Who's that?
Who is it?
He's got a girlfriend.
- Hey, she's not bad!
- Definitely isn't!
I just want to say
that what counts in-game
counts in real life too.
You can't play an endgame
without your healer.
Your healer?
Is she your healer?
Dealer more likely!
Incredible!
Tomorrow I'll catch a train that gets
to where you live at 10:22.
Tomorrow at 10:22,
at the station,
on the platform.
We'll be there too, eh, Desmet?
We've got to see this!
We can't miss out on our
best friend's first date!
True or not true?
Telephone.
Telephone, Benny.
- She's phoning him!
- It's Mommy!
Hello, Mommy.
I'm in the park
with my friends.
Leave a message
after the beep. Bye.
Bye, Mommy.
Oops, mailbox.
Let me know
where you are, okay?
Don't you mind being
stalked, Benny-boy?
Always having to listen
to bullshit from your mother?
I'll keep your phone,
eh, Benny-Boy?
What do you think?
- Easy! Easy with the crucifix!
- You are mad after all!
Hey, Benny, telephone.
It's Mommy.
Aren't you going to answer it?
It's Mommy.
She'll come and get you.
Come on, Ben.
Answer your phone.
My buddy Benny-Boy.
You crazy Martian!
We're not taking you with us again!
And to think we had
a present for you as well.
Look, this is only
for our best friends.
It's a little pill
that has a big effect.
It's called a Superman.
Superman.
Open your mouth.
There's a smiley on it,
for people like you
who never laugh.
Want it?
Some water to
wash it down.
You'll feel just
like Superman!
There! Now swallow.
The first one's free
because you're our friend.
It'll do you good.
You won't be so aggressive any more.
Here.
So you know what time it is when you go
whining to the fatmaster.
I don't believe this!
Jesus Christ!
I don't believe it!
Phone me, please.
What's that, Mom?
Nothing, son.
It's nothing.
Let's go and look
for Ben.
Damn it.
God damn it!
Damn!
Damn me!
Where are you?
Where are you?
Feel.
Feel me, Ben.
Ben.
You have to learn
to feel
if you want
to learn to feel good.
Ben!
What's up, son?
What happened?
Are you okay?
Just look at you!
Is everything okay?
What's the matter?
What's the matter
with you, Ben?
That'll do, son.
It's nothing, Mom.
That's what people
always say, it's nothing.
I'm healed, Mom.
I'm really healed.
Completely healed.
Your big brother
is Superman!
Calm down, Ben,
please!
That's enough!
There's water coming
out of your eyes, Mom.
Water is coming
out of your eyes
but I know what it is.
Salt and moisture.
Salt and moisture!
People say
I don't understand
because I don't understand
feelings, but I do.
I know what they are.
Do you remember
when I was little
I tried to push
those tears
back into your eyes?
It was just because
I didn't want you to be sad.
It's all right, Mom.
People always say
it's all right
and they ask,
"Is everything all right?"
And then you reply,
"Yes, yes!
"Yes, everything's all right.
Everything is right.
Everything's going right."
Everything's all right.
Everything's going right.
- I'm not crazy.
- No!
- Just a bit difficult.
- Calm down, Ben.
Yes, I'm a different cult.
But I'm training myself.
I'm training, training,
training.
I'm in bits.
But I've been reborn,
like in video games.
- You always get a new life.
- Come on, son.
Let's go home.
Come on, son.
That's it.
And then it was over.
I was over.
Eyes open again,
head shut once more.
Ben.
What's that, Ben?
Why didn't you tell me?
- Ben...
- Then it was time for truthfulness.
Shamefulness, painfulness.
Who did that?
Tell me, Ben.
Everything can be
destroyed so easily.
Everything can be
destroyed so easily.
Why couldn't I just be
destroyed too?
Stop it, Ben.
Stop it!
Jonas!
Jonas.
Then I saw that jerk
standing there again.
And I attacked him.
I'd heard it before,
the calling
of night falling.
Going right
to the end of pain.
How beautiful!
Blood flowing from a vein.
A bit later
my father came round.
My dad,
who also never knows
what to say.
So I usually
understand him that way.
She'd come too.
Sabine, his girlfriend,
as he'd always say.
Who always asked how I was
holding up.
How are you holding up?
- It can't go on like this.
- No, Sabine.
It can't go on like this.
But still, it will have to.
It will have to.
It's not the first time
and it won't be the last.
Come on, Sabine. Leave it.
It's okay, leave it.
Look after him.
The endgame.
The end, the end,
the end, the end.
The end, the end,
the end.
The end, the end,
the end, the end.
The endgame.
The endgame.
Heart rate: 55.
Under 13
and you're dead.
Then you've done it.
You're finished.
and you arrive.
Where there's death, there's life.
You can't play an endgame
without your healer
and that's me.
Tomorrow I'll catch a train that gets
to where you live at 10:22.
- And I know you'll be there...
- 9:36.
Got to go
to the station.
I've got to go
to the station.
Calm down.
Calm down, Ben.
GONE OU DON'T WORRY
I'll keep your phone.
The station.
The station.
on the platform.
We'll be there.
We've got to see.
I can't be late.
She shouldn't
have to wait.
She who doesn't know
what I look like, who I am.
That I'm not there.
But them...
I knew I'd find her.
I'd smell her,
like the dog I am.
There she was.
She'd come.
She'd really come.
For real!
She was waiting
for me.
She was sending
a text message.
Probably to me.
To me about whom she can only fantasize,
whom she doesn't recognize.
To me who is here
with a phone that's disappeared.
Then everything happened
so quickly, as they say.
But everything always happens
too quickly for me.
She left.
Because she couldn't see
the invisible me.
But what my head couldn't do,
my legs were able to.
There's the train.
A spaceship that has come
to collect us from a barren planet.
Courage is everything.
Doing what you thought
you couldn't do.
Her scent was enough.
The scent of a season
that had
yet to be invented
on a continent
still to be discovered,
but that I could smell
miles from the coast.
With her perfect neck
turned towards me,
she was dreaming
up a landscape.
I imagined how
I'd place my lips there,
staking my claim.
My claim to liberation.
Just sitting here
in the warmth from her body,
briefly, everything
was perfect.
This is a passenger
announcement:
We are about to
arrive in Brussels.
Are you okay?
I had to say something.
Anything.
But the only thing I say
is nothing.
All I can do is leave.
And she left.
She just left.
And I just had
to leave too.
I was scared stiff.
A mother feels
these things.
A hundred times
a second I thought,
"Don't let him do
anything stupid.
Please don't let him do
anything stupid."
I remember
he once asked me,
"How many reasons
does someone need
to commit suicide?"
I asked him what
he meant by how many.
He said,
"How many? Two, five, 10?"
That's what he was
thinking about.
He wanted to know
if he had enough.
The endgame.
My plan.
The one-word plan.
Murder.
The murder of myself.
Catch the train.
To nowhere.
There is one advantage
to killing yourself.
You never have
to look far for your victim.
You don't even
do it yourself,
the train does it for you.
What was his motive?
A locomotive.
If you think
it's all over quickly,
you're wrong.
Even if you're
lucky enough
to be decapitated
immediately,
apparently your head
remains conscious
for another
So you can imagine that what goes
through your mind isn't pleasant.
Seeing bits of your body
flying in all directions.
They say that
just before you die...
your life flashes
before your eyes like a film.
So?
Did you see anything?
- But who...
- Who pushed you?
Me, of course.
Who else, blockhead?
You?
Does he have
any distinguishing scars
or birthmarks?
Scars?
It was already broken,
wasn't it?
Did you notice anything
out of the ordinary?
I don't get it, Ben.
Honestly.
Ben.
Are you the man who escaped
from the dungeon of Silancium?
Who crossed Windrill Desert
alone with me?
Who fought Bailor?
Who crossed the swamps
of Ondekon with me?
Who conquered Zerdin?
You're level 80,
for God's sake.
And that's your endgame?
You just throw yourself
under a train?
Was that your plan?
Just click on exit
and log out.
"Gone out.
Don't worry."
That's good news,
isn't it?
It means he's gone out
for a bit and you don't have to worry.
My son doesn't
just go out for a bit
on a Saturday morning.
He's not able to.
Besides, look.
I found this.
I don't know
if you know, Ben, but...
in real life
dying is fairly definite.
You can't change
your mind.
You can die
as much as you like.
But not for real.
That's not the way
we play, Ben.
You're level 80.
Do you want to quit
this world, Ben?
Go on then, go.
But if you want revenge,
take revenge.
Otherwise you're exactly
what they say you are,
a loser.
Play to win, Ben.
Everything's
a matter of planning,
of strategy.
Don't you
just love Fanta?
I'm really happy...
that you're you.
We'll file a missing
person's report
and circulate his
description nationally.
What about this?
What are you going to do
about this?
I'll inform our
social services unit.
They're familiar
with things like that,
unfortunately.
Ben!
"I just wanted to go away,"
he said.
"But I didn't dare die
because I didn't know what that was."
Was that your big plan?
Ben?
How are we going
to do it?
Take poison?
No.
Imagine if you took poison
and then changed your mind.
You'd have to call
the Poison Center.
"Hello?"
The people
at the Poison Center
get lots of phone calls
like that.
That's for idiots.
Or you could hang
yourself.
That's cool. Apparently you die
with a huge erection.
But then
you shit yourself.
That's not cool
being found like that, eh?
Ben.
Do you know what else
they always find
under the fingernails
of someone
who's hung themselves?
Little bits of rope
and skin.
Do you know why?
Because they
always desperately try
to get the rope
off their neck.
But they can't.
The chair's too far away
and they can't reach it.
You think it's exciting,
huh, Ben?
Dying.
Dying.
Then everything is solved
in one fell swoop.
Ben is solved
in one fell swoop.
Aren't you going to take
one last look
to see if there's
another solution?
Take one last
look around.
You need to be more
creative, damn you!
Shut up, beautiful.
You are so beautiful.
"Assemble a guild," she said.
"Like in Archlord."
It was her idea.
Some quests are too big
for two.
"You have to help me,"
he said.
So we helped him.
We knew everyone would say
that you can't do that.
But that's more or less
why I did it.
Smoking's forbidden here,
Sabrina.
My name's Sabine.
You should be grateful
for not being able to smoke.
Yeah,
I'm really grateful.
You'll live half
a day longer.
You're not serious,
right?
You're not really
going to do this!
You know you can't!
I can't do it!
Sabine, you don't have
to do anything.
You insisted on coming.
I don't care whether
you come or not
but if you think
it's easy for us,
you're wrong.
Look.
The sea.
The end of the world.
You know what
they say, Ben?
Every end is a beginning.
Anyone want anything to eat?
Ben?
- Sabine?
- No, thanks.
Don't you feel very well,
Sabine?
Not really, no.
Is this how you want
it to be, Ben?
Right.
Ben, uh...
I'II...
Ben!
Ben!
I have to put my back into it.
Everything is a matter
of thinking ahead.
And thinking a-heart.
Everything is a matter
of willpower.
Courage is everything.
Ultimately doing the thing
that you can't do.
If you die in a game
then you're just
out of the game for a while
and you have to go
and look for your body.
All they found of me
was a tape.
And I had gone.
These are particularly
disturbing images
that once again remind us
that one Flemish youngster
takes his or her life every week.
In a recent study,
between 15 and 18
say that they have attempted
suicide at some point.
A very worrying figure.
And now the sports.
At the Indian Wells
tournament...
Everyone here today,
members of the family,
colleagues,
ladies and gentlemen,
girls and boys...
we've all come
together today
to say goodbye
to a very special young man
who was taken from us
so suddenly
and tragically.
Ben's life was never easy.
His condition made things
very difficult for him.
Maybe
we only realize now,
when it's too late,
that he battled against
his handicap,
if you can call it that,
that was much worse
than we could've imagined.
We never really
had any real contact with him
and won't be able to now.
Today all we can do
is accept
that some things
are just
too heavy to bear.
That is why...
Hello.
Thank you for coming.
I too have come
to an end,
as they say.
Come to an end.
I died of myself.
Fellow men
and un-fellow men...
my fight is over.
At the end of your life,
they say a film
of your life flashes
before your eyes.
Here are a few scenes
that may interest you.
Go on, Ben.
Now, the endgame.
She called it dying creatively.
Suicide without the dying.
Dying without quitting.
Or quitting without dying.
I had to learn everything.
But I'd forgotten
the most important thing.
Learning to lie.
To deceive.
Someone had to die first.
Otherwise you wouldn't
have come.
Not for a boy.
You can't keep on
begging and asking...
You're so angry, Mommy.
And asking again and again
that something be done
to put a stop to it.
That they'd finally stop
tormenting my son
and making his life...
sorry, but it's true...
making his life
so impossible.
His autism is his problem,
but it's not a problem to him.
The others are the problem.
The others.
They have to learn
to leave my kid alone.
Ben just wanted to quit.
Now he has.
Fortunately,
he's still alive.
He's alive.
In his own world, maybe,
but he's alive.
He's alive!
He's living his life.
She said,
"It's high time
to become who you are."
Just let it happen, Ben.
Don't be scared.
If you want
to learn to feel good,
you have to learn to feel.
Stroke him.
I've never been
what they call happy.
But I've never been
this kind of happy.
Beautiful, no?
You don't have to talk to animals.
Do you dare sit on it,
you two-bit hero?
As soon as people
see a horse,
they want to sit on it.
But has anyone
ever heard a horse
ask for that?
Do you?
If a horse could choose...
Yes, well...