Hotel America

This very fine film by one of France's great directors seems to be less seen than many others of his cinematic work. I am going to state frankly why. It deals with the ambiguity of relationships, and heterosexuals seem to prefer his films where they can identify with more ' family ' subject matter. Putting my neck out further I also consider this is his finest film, along with ' Quand on a 17 Ans ' ( Being 17 ). Both are somehow ' lost ' to popular audiences and the ambiguity of relationships, both heterosexual and homosexual are ingrained in both of them. In the latter a homosexual relationship is fought for, literally at times, and in ' Hotel des Ameriques ' both forms of sexuality struggle and fight to survive. The story has been related by other reviewers here, and I do not want to waste time in going over it. The film is set in Biarritz which in my opinion is a somewhat no man's land place, and two people superbly played by Catherine Deneuve and Patrick Dewaere ( a great loss to world cinema ) struggle to come to terms with their emotional and physical attraction. There is an undercurrent of bisexuality in Dewaere's character, and he is torn between her and his male friend who he seems to love as much as her. This battleground of feeling is fought out in transitory places; a lot in the hotel of the title, which in itself is struggling with change. The other places are an abandoned large house owned by Deneuve, and the apartment she is renting. Nowhere is ' home ' and the loss of place is as acute as the risk of failure in commitment to another person. As for the film itself it is classical in structure, and exquisitely filmed, and there is a scene in the hotel of the title which encapsulated the divisions of place and people. The hotel has been changed from its simplicity as an ordinary and friendly place to a more ' American ' style, and its quietly frightening opening party is set against a fake palm tree wall paper with the guests dancing to a waltz. The power of this scene is overwhelming and a stroke of genius on Techine's part. Two worlds collide here just like the worlds of the characters, and in the end we see coldly and honestly how fragile all of us are when it comes to overcoming repressed and dangerous feelings. The palm trees and the waltz show to me the disjunctions in life, and how false so-called ' romantic ' love can be. This film is filled with fear of loss, and the fight against depression. It has no optimism in the usual sense of the term, and in its way it rejects the fake American cinema of ' happy endings ' as much as it rejects the newly made over American style hotel. The waltz scene says it all and for those who like easy resolutions this film will not work, plus the fact that what we call heterosexual ' normality ' is questioned and undermined. An absolute masterpiece.