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Summary
Two young lovers Renée and Pierre check into the Hôtel du Nord in Paris,
near to the canal Saint-Martin, with the intention of committing suicide together.
Pierre cannot bring himself to go through with it and, having wounded Renée, he
flees. The gunshot is overheard by Monsieur Edmond, a pimp who lives in an adjacent
room with his prostitute, Raymonde. Monsieur Edmond rushes Renée to hospital
and she recovers, miraculously.
Raymonde is tired of Paris and wants to move on, but Edmond, hearing that Renée
has been given a job as a waitress at the Hôtel du Nord, is reluctant to leave the
hotel. He is in love with Renée, but Renée’s thoughts are still with
Pierre, who has by now handed himself over to the police. When Renée visits
Pierre in prison, he scorns her and tells her to start a life without him.
Renée is hurt by this rejection and turns to Monsieur Edmond, although it soon
become clear that they are not destined for one another. Soon Pierre will be released
from prison and Renée will be able renew her relationship with him.
Meanwhile, the jealous Raymonde has betrayed Edmond to some old enemies who have a score
to settle. The scene is set for a dramatic conclusion at the Hôtel du Nord...
Review
This doom-laden, intensely atmospheric film epitomises the poetic realism of French cinema
of the late 1930s. Masters of the genre, Carné and Prévert create
a shadowy world where the harsh realities of an unsympathetic world intrude on and ultimately
ruin any aspirations to romantic idealism.
The hotel of the film's title can be interpreted as a metaphor the world as scene by the poetic realists - look at how much of human life is exhibited in the rooms and environs of the seemingly mundane rail-side hotel. Whilst the hotel staff are having a party at the start of the film, a young couple are sharing one last moment of happiness before killing themselves. The serenity and beauty the lovers see in the canal from their room contrasts with the morbid darkness of their immediate surroundings. Only a few doors away, a pimp and his prostitute are having a friendly row before going about their daily routine. A few minutes later, normality and idealism collide in a moment of horror and desperation... Jacques Prévert and Henri Jeanson's remarkable script (the high point being the scintillating dialogue between Jouvet and Arletty) is matched by some sublime acting, which includes probably the best screen performance from Louis Jouvet. The painful naivety of the two lovers portrayed by Annabella and Jean-Pierre Aumont is in shocking contrast to the sordid worldliness of Edmond and Raymonde, played by Jouvet and Arletty à la perfection. The film's sardonic ending is probably the best of any of Carné's films. Maurice Jaubert's music for the open-air ball heightens the tension to an almost unbearable pitch as fate takes its cruel, unavoidable course. Unlike in many of Carné's subsequent films, the tragic conclusion of the Hôtel du Nord does not feel contrived or laboured - if anything, it is understated. Yet its impact is immediate and shocking, like a bullet straight through the heart. From the first scene to the last, Hôtel du Nord is a compelling drama, one which offers one of the most powerful and disturbing expositions of the destructive power of love. This is a film which justly deserves its status as one of the all-time classics of French cinema. © James Travers 2001 Buy films by Marcel Carné Write a review for this film... |
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