ALFREDS KURGARTEN

Alfreds Kurgarten is an intimate portrait of Alfred (59) who, in an idyllic Schwarzwald village, is the proprietor of a hotel and café, gently ravished by time. Though the tourists fail to show up, the place has become a refuge for nearby bachelors.

Alfred’s days pass quietly. Everything is overwhelming, and there are plans to be made. For everything, time -though there is plenty of it-, never quite seems to be enough. Defeated, Alfred rarely leaves the house, smokes for comfort, pops pills, and thinks back to times passed.Times in which he loved. Three times Alfred has been in love, and all three of these times, the affairs ended with himself in psychiatric care. To protect himself from a fourth time, Alfred has wed Georgia- a marriage of convenience in which the parties stay out of each other’s way. Georgia carries her own scars. She compulsively collects and hoards, so that there is little room left for Alfred.

The closer one looks at this gently unfolding tragedy, the more difficult it is to fathom how it can be borne. Yet suddenly, there a moments of joy, and peace.

Alfreds Kurgarten, is a quiet observation, sprinkled with monologues about life’s Big Questions.