"People come, people go, nothing ever happens"--this line from the doctor easily sums up the purpose of Grand Hotel. While things do happen, to the new guests of the hotel, whatever happened before doesn't really matter, so in a sense, "nothing ever happens." The irony of this line is over the course of the film, two people fall in love, one person is murdered, and one person wins big in his first gambling experience, not to mention the deception and near adultery.
My husband and I recently saw Grand Budapest Hotel, so I couldn't help but make a few comparisons between the two films while watching Grand Hotel, which is clearly a more serious film in that there is little comedy. One of my favorite scenes from Grand Hotel is towards the end when the concierge checks the bellboys' hands for cleanliness. It's this moment that reminds the audience that these interactions are occurring in a public hotel, not in a private home. The audience is put in its place as observers, the rubber-neckers slowing down to look at this devastating car accident and human tragedy. Zero in Grand Budapest Hotel is one of those people watchers at first, but like the good bellboy he is, he doesn't share what sees. We, instead, are privy to it because we are along for the ride. Both films reveal what happens in hotels but of different areas: Grand Hotel focuses on the wealthy clientele whereas Grand Budapest Hotel focuses on the attentive, well-trained staff. What makes Grand Hotel really different is that everything that happens in the hotel seems contained to this place...we don't see how what happens in the hotel affects the characters' lives outside of the hotel. We are left to figure this out on our own.
Of the five award winners I've watched so far, I have to say that Grand Hotel was the best acting so far. I truly believed each person was who he/she was portraying, even the French dancer (Greta Garbo) who seemed over the top at first, but once I adjusted to the performance, it just seemed like Garbo was the dramatic, highly emotional dancer, not an actress pretending to be one.The Baron (John Barrymore) was so deceptive; at points, I wondered how much truth was in his words, but then his actions would show him to be an honest yet flawed man.
Having seen two movies in the past two months set in luxurious hotels in foreign countries, I wonder how many other films fit this description. Certainly the stories are different, but the setting is so similar. If you know a film set in a hotel, let me know. This may be a whole genre that I'm just discovering. And perhaps Grand Hotel started it all???
No comments:
Post a Comment