Hotel Harabati

Colour, 35 mm
France, 2006, 94 min
Section: Variety Critics´ Choice

Synopsis

A masterfully crafted, low-key meditation on post-9/11 urban fear and malaise, Hotel Harabati manages that rare feat of keeping auds’ eyes glued to the screen while not actually showing its narrative hand. While waiting to catch a train from Paris to Venice, 35-year-old French couple Philippe (Laurent Lucas) and Marion (Helene Fillieres) pick up a tan valise left behind by a courtly, vaguely Middle Eastern gentleman. There is foreign writing and the phrase “tel Harabati” on the tag, and a great deal of foreign currency inside. Later, back in Paris, they begin telling his mother Nelly (Anouk Aimee) and their social circle they’ve been to Venice, when it’s clear from their private conversations they decided at the last minute not to go. When photos of Venice appear, the money resurfaces and the family is reunited in Syria. In his debut feature, Brice Cauvin exhibits the firm control over complex material usually associated with far more senior helmers.