Alfons Heiderich Quotes

Alfons answers Ed's description of an alien world by claiming it as the place in which his own life has significance. What feels provisional to the visitor is not provisional to the person trying to leave evidence that he lived there. His shortage of time gives the disagreement urgency without making Ed's wish to return home incomprehensible. The accusation concerns the terms of their relationship. If Ed treats this world principally as somewhere to escape, the people who belong to it risk becoming supporting figures in his return journey. Alfons insists on a purpose that does not depend on that journey succeeding. In another film passage, he asks Ed not to forget him. This complaint is harsher than that request: belated concern cannot supply time or attention that was absent before. The film lets someone outside Ed's home challenge the priority his search usually commands. Having a legitimate destination does not settle what he owes the people whose lives intersect with the route.