We made a budgetary decision not to spend more than €25.- per day per person for accommodation. The discrepancy between the various places we found tells one particular story of the Austrian countryside. It will also be reflected in the video we are producing. For these rooms become our film locations.
In one place, it’s a monastery. Heavy brown wooden furniture, no media, no internet, no bullshit. A bible, a cross, simple living, the walls scream: this is a room for reflection. Another place, working class town, rundown, forgotten. The TV is large, the furniture generic IKEA, the atmosphere nonexistent.
And then we arrived in Carinthia, to a house in the middle of nowhere. A beautiful house. In fancy magazines they will call it rustic, authentic. The kind of house that city slickers like us like. It makes us feel in tune with nature for around two days. From the second floor balcony one can see the mountains in all their glory. You get the feeling that you are living inside a post card.
And then, Mühlbach. A nice woman who runs her own place. She lives on the ground floor and rents the top one. She has an obsessive need to decorate. It is more of a film set than a pension room. Every room is colour coded, from pink to blue. The amount of stuffed animals can furnish five kindergartens. But there is more: the little ceramic sculptures and the various watches and the pictures and the fabric furniture covers. It is an orgy of paraphernalia of the highest order. It is her museum, and only the people who are lucky enough to stay at her place, get to see it.
And then, Tulfes. Now we’re talking. The high-end version of IKEA (which means same look, more expensive finish). The apartment is super slick, super equipped and still within the same price range. The difference is a one hour drive, but you find yourself in an utterly different universe. From the warm and the homey, to the cold, cool, magazine-like look.
Outside it’s raining cats and dogs and we can’t use the large garden or walk the streets of Tulfes. The apartment will become our set for the next two days. If the house in Mühlbach had more than a hint of Shining or Hitchcock to it, the one in Tulfes definitely bears a touch of David Fincher. (y)
On the Road with Moby-Dick 