Hôtel des Amériques

Genre: Drama, Romance

Runtime: 94 mins

Rated: NR

Release Date: 1981

Countries: France

Languages: French

DIRECTED BY:

André Téchiné

WRITTEN BY:

Gilles Taurand, André Téchiné

CAST INCLUDES:

Catherine Deneuve, Patrick Dewaere, Etienne Chicot, Sabine Haudepin, Dominique Lavanant

ANGELIKA’S NOTE

The powerhouse team of Director André Téchiné and star Catherine Deneuve (FAREWELL TO THE NIGHT) are reunited in HOTEL DES AMERIQUES. Winning her the César Award for Best Actress, Deneuve sets the screen on fire in “one of the most beautiful French films of all time” (Les Inrocks). Hélène, a distracted pill-popping anesthetist, almost runs down Gilles one evening on a Biarritz street. She is still numb from the drowning death earlier that year of her lover, a visionary architect. While many filmmakers have attempted in vain to capture the unspoken complexities of grief, few understand its nuanced depths with the poetry, sensitivity and truth of Téchiné. A film where what is left unspoken is just as moving as what is said, this remains one of the most enchanting, yet reflective, love stories ever made.

SYNOPSIS

Helene (Catherine Deneuve), a pill-addicted anesthesiologist, is mourning the death of her boyfriend when, through a car accident she causes, she chances to meet the lethargic Gilles (Patrick Dewaere), a young man who lives for free at his mother’s hotel. Gilles pursues Helene romantically, and she eventually softens up. Gilles, however, is also devoted to Bernard (Étienne Chicot), a petty crook who revels in mugging gay men. All three struggle with relationships that seem to be going nowhere.