Page 365 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

Fig. 3 Fig. 4

Many films are set wholly or partially in a luxury hotel, a young man received no reply to his letters. Distraught, he pours By contrast, the grand hotel in Berne is a compartmentalised The contrast between two different types of establishment,
location which, from the storytelling point of view, has many his heart out to the kind-hearted Gilberte, who with the best world where each area has its own place in the spatial hierarchy. inn and deluxe hotel, can be seen to represent a way of thinking
advantages. As a place to stay for short or long periods it brings of intentions offers him the same advice and comfort that she Rising from the foyer with its potted plants, bars and counters, that was very much alive during the interwar years and which also
together within its walls people from different backgrounds who does to the rest of the troops. At her instigation, the comrades swing doors and frosted glass is a staircase, this time enclosed contributed to the rise of totalitarian ideologies, from communism
would otherwise never meet. And because all guests are obliged mount a concerted attack to try to unravel the mystery of his within railings. All these obstacles that block the view and to fascism and Nazism which predominated at the time. This
to follow certain routes through the building they are bound to lady love’s silence. impede progress are a way of differentiating space according to debate distinguished between two kinds of society, the one rural,
cross each other’s path. As residents move up and down and back The film switches between scenes at the inn at Courgenay social class, and restrict visitors who, according to their status, vigorous and generous, the other urban, decadent and restricted.
and forth through public spaces large and small, there are endless and others set against the backdrop of the Eiger in Berne, where may or may not be admitted. The same segregation also applies to On one side are those who defend the country, in a united effort
possibilities for interesting encounters. Although it is an enclosed numerous messengers are dispatched to find out why the young social relationships. As we might expect, when a simple squaddy that goes beyond social class. On the other are the profiteers,
space where much activity takes place behind closed doors, there woman is being so fickle. As the two establishments appear in completely unfamiliar with such places turns up to act as a go- sitting around doing nothing, intent on safeguarding their social
is access to the outside, and external elements can easily find their parallel, it is easy to compare them. The inn immediately suggests between for the lovers, he is treated with utter disdain by the privileges, protecting their assets and preserving the old order.
way inside. The hotel is a microcosm, whose workings are based on open space. It consists of a single large room – both dining room receptionist, whose desk marks an insurmountable boundary Even so, the film shows that the two worlds can be reconciled
a clearly defined social hierarchy. It is a city in miniature, its long and cafe – with several doors leading off it. Dominating the room between the two worlds (fig. 4). The first scene in which the through marriage and through the sacrifice of the noble Gilberte,
corridors and spacious public rooms like streets and squares full is a wide, uncluttered wooden staircase, an obligatory element in Hôtel Eiger appears is equally telling. We see the staff busily who despite being a friend to so many is not indifferent to the
of frantic activity. Many film directors have seen the potential of many a mise en scène (fig. 3). At different points in the action, preparing for the flying club ball. In Switzerland, a country with young soldier’s charms.
the visual qualities of the grand hotel. Since so little material exists other areas typical of every inn – corridors, bedrooms, kitchens, a long-standing history of democracy and no aristocracy, what
relating to the Beau-Rivage Palace, we shall look at a selection of etc. – appear, but only when the plot demands. While this can be better than an aeronautical association to symbolise an elite or a COMEDY
films in which hotels have played a key role. seen as an attempt by the producers to save money, it also shows provincial ‘jet set’? It is a clear indication of the huge differences Billy Wilder’s 1959 comedy Some Like it Hot takes place
the director’s desire to represent the room as a place where people between a city hotel and a rural inn. in a quite different context. After a prologue in wintry Chicago,
ROMANTIC COMEDY can come together and socialise. As the plot unfolds, it becomes obvious that the reason the the second half of the movie is set at the Seminole-Ritz Hotel
Made in 1941, Franz Schnyder’s Gilberte de Courgenay is an The inn’s spatial function is obvious from the opening lovelorn soldier is receiving no reply to his letters is because his in sun-drenched Florida. In America’s ‘egalitarian’ society, social
almost reverential portrait of a real person, a charming innkeeper’s scene. A group of ravenous rookies pretend to be officers in order beloved’s father is intercepting them and locking them away in stratification does not disappear completely but takes a different
daughter who, during the First World War, exercised her talents as to be given the meal intended for senior ranks. The prologue is his desk drawer – yet another metaphor for compartmentalisation. form from that of old Europe. The only thing that matters is money.
a waitress at the station buffet at Courgenay, a little village near an opportunity to introduce each of the guests to the delightful The denouement happens in the open air. The old gentleman People’s family background and country of origin are unimportant.
Delémont in the Swiss Jura. Gilberte lavished so much care on Gilberte and, at the same time, to the audience. By presenting them decides to scare off his daughter’s suitor once and for all and The girls of the travelling orchestra whose peregrinations the film
the hundreds of soldiers serving on Switzerland’s northern border one by one, indicating what their peacetime jobs are and which part goes in person to the parade ground to confront the arrogant follows, are delighted to find themselves in this hotel. Each one
that she became a legend. In the middle of the Second World War, of the country they come from, the film also underlines the army’s young man. For the occasion, he adopts all the clichés associated cherishes the hope of meeting a millionaire who’ll marry her and
Zurich film producer Lazar Wechsler seized on the story to make unifying function which transcends social and cultural barriers. The with the cartoon capitalists that appeared in satirical magazines take her away from the sordidness of life on the road. Awaiting
a film about mobilisation, an issue that concerned most of the sudden appearance of the officers, all of them very much in the between the wars – bowler hat, cigar, coat with fur collar and their arrival is a guard of honour of possible suitors – ageing
Swiss population, in an attempt to trade on the success in 1938 of Prussian mould – a reference which every Swiss understood at the chauffeur-driven car. However, when he berates the young man certainly, but willing – lined up in the rocking chairs along the
another film about the military, Leopold Lindtberg’s Fusilier Wipf. time – might be expected to lead to brutal punishment. However, he makes the mistake of belittling his status as a simple soldier. The hotel’s veranda.
The romantic plot around which the film revolves brings the soldiers’ sheer nerve makes the situation farcical and all they conscript reacts with fury, accusing the older man of failing to do As in Gilberte de Courgenay, the plot of Some Like it Hot is
together two types of hotel, the inn at Courgenay and the Eiger, receive is a good-natured and fatherly ticking off. The breaking his patriotic duty. Disconcerted, the hotel boss leaves and, on his driven by pretence. While in the first, the young woman’s father
a luxury hotel in Berne where one of the young recruits worked down of class barriers reaches its high point at the Christmas party way home, meets a group of artillerymen whose proud bearing contents himself with intercepting a series of letters, here the game
in civilian life and where he fell madly in love with the owner’s in the inn’s main room where officers and men gather round the convinces him of the nobility of their cause. The decision is made. of ‘let’s pretend’ is played to the limit. In this classic comedy, two men
daughter. The attraction seemed mutual but after joining up, the same table with no obvious difference between them. His daughter will marry her soldier! disguise themselves as women and bluff their way into a female

Franz Schnyder, Gilberte de Courgenay, Switzerland, 1941. Franz Schnyder, Gilberte de Courgenay, Switzerland, 1941.
The main hall of the country inn: blonde Gilberte is carried shoulder high by all the At the grand hotel in Berne, the simple soldier from Zurich is greeted with total
soldiers while, at the top of the stairs, her dark-haired rival contemplates defeat. disdain by the hotel receptionist. The reception desk marks a boundary, while
the decor of wood panelling, draperies and pot plants together symbolise the status
of the luxury hotel.
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