HOTEL AUSCHWITZ

Theatre director Martin has a new idea for a play, wanting to bring to the stage a new version of “The Investigation” by Peter Weiss, a piece about the Holocaust. Concerned about the implications of such a delicate subject, he decides to go on a trip to Auschwitz with some members of his cast to better grapple with the place itself. He is also secretly in love with his main actress, Sabine, whom he hopes to get closer to during the trip. However, the woman is already involved in an undisclosed relationship with Holger, her co-star. The group travels to Poland only to find out how personal squabbles and meaningless complications can derail even the highest of artistic callings. When Goska, a Polish Jew actress, joins the group, the situation becomes even more volatile.  

A black comedy more about the perils of merging artistic ambition with the darkest depths of history rather than about the Holocaust itself, this peculiar debut by Cornelius Schwalm (himself an actor and stage director) slowly emerges as an obliquely absurd satire, with a knack for framing the sacred through the trivial. A strong ensemble work drives home the ever-expanding ridiculing of intellectual pretension.