Hôtel des Amériques
| Hôtel des Amériques Hotel America |
|
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | André Téchiné |
| Written by | André Téchiné Gilles Taurand |
| Starring |
Catherine Deneuve Patrick Dewaere |
| Music by | Philippe Sarde |
| Cinematography | Bruno Nuytten |
| Edited by | Claudine Merlin |
|
Production
company |
Sara Films
|
| Distributed by | Parafrance Films |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
95 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Box office | $3.2 million |
Hôtel des Amériques (English: Hotel America) is a 1981 French drama film directed by André Téchiné, starring Catherine Deneuve and Patrick Dewaere. The film, set in Biarritz, tells the ill-fated romance of mismatched lovers. This is the first of several collaborations between Téchiné and Deneuve, who became his favorite actress.
In the French touristic city of Biarritz, Hélène, an anesthetist with unresolved emotional issues, is coming home one night. Driving alone, confused and somewhat dazed, she nearly hits a pedestrian. The two go for a coffee and end up spending the night in a diner so that she can file a report, but Gilles, the pedestrian, has fallen in love with her by the next morning. He asks her for a date, and while she accepts, she remains coldly indifferent toward him.
Unfulfilled and aimless, Gilles has recently come back from a trip to New York, bringing with him, Bernard, a friend he met there. Bernard is an unemployed aspiring musician and would-be serial seducer whose only real occupation is to enjoy the moment and spend time with his steady girlfriend, Colette, a cheerful post office clerk worker. Gilles’s mother runs the Hotel de la Gare with his younger sister, Elise. This fact makes life uncomplicated for the two friends who live for free at the hotel. Bernard would like to seduce Elise, a heavy reader who never goes out and repeatedly turns him down.
Keen about his developing relationship with Hélène, Gilles invites her to a restaurant at the local casino. They have dinner with Bernard and Colette, but the occasion ends up in discord. Hélène clearly dislikes Bernard’s attitude and Gilles confronts her. Bernard is his friend and Gilles is disappointed of her air of superiority. He backs off from the relationship suspecting that she could never really love someone less well off than her. Gilles’s disenchantment has the opposite effect on Hélène and she is unable to let him go. Hélène looks for him and they eventually sleep together in his mother's hotel, initiating a serious relationship.
Gilles finds a job as a tourist guide and paints Hélène beach front apartment. However her past comes to haunt their relationship. She is still mourning the death of her former lover, an architect who drown in Biarritz more than a year ago. It was in fact his tragic death what brought her to Biarritz, where she has few friends: Jacqueline the waitress at the cafe by the station where she had her first encounter with Gilles and Rudel, an older surgeon and who like Jacqueline is a frequent gambler at the casino. Many years ago Hélène and Rudel were lovers and he introduced her to the architect. Hélène has inherited La Salamandre, a big abandoned house outside town, where the architect was planning to live. The house is still in disrepair, but after taking Gilles there he insists on leaving the beachfront apartment and move to La Salamandre.
...
Wikipedia