Hotel de Love (1996)

Village Roadshow/Pratt Films Production

Cast

Ray Barrett - Jack

Julia Blake - Edith

Simon Bossell - Stephen

Saffron Burrows - Melissa

Pippa Grandison - Alison

Aden Young - Rick

Production Team

Craig Rosenberg- Director, Screenwriter

Michael Lake - Producer

David Parker - Producer

Bill Murphy - Editor

Simon Dobbin - Production Designer

Graham Burke,

Gregory Coote,

Peter Heller,

Richard Pratt,

Alex Waislitz - Executive Producers

Christine Woodruff - Songwriter

Brendan Campbell - Asst. Director

Steve Windon - Camera Operator

Gary Wilkins - Sound/Sound Director

Maura Fay - Casting

 

Filmed on location at Burnam Beeches and Global Studios, Melbourne

Distributed by Live Entertainment

 

Premiere Screening at the Toronto International Film Festival on 12 Sept. 1996.

 

Release Dates/Box Office Figures:

Australian release 19.12.96 59 screens

week's takings (end 8/1/97, no.18 at box office) $107,263

gross earnings (end 8/1/97) $822,974.

United States release 9.2.97 18 screens

opening weekend $50,947

gross earnings (end 23/2/97) $111,106

New Zealand release 13.3.97

video release (Australia) 20.8.97

 

Synopsis and Review

 

"Hotel de Love" is a funny and light hearted Aussie romp through the often agonising process of courtship and marriage.

As teenagers, fraternal twins Rick and Stephen fall in love with the beautiful and sophisticated Melissa. She arrives into their lives to enthral them both, then leaves. Only memories of the love and romance that could have been remain.

Ten years pass. Rick has become the manager of the Hotel de Love. Stephen pours his energy into his work at a bank. Neither have found love. Rick throughout his womanising remains cynical of life's promises of love; the sensitive and shy Stephen only dreams of romance.

The brother's parents arrive at the Hotel de Love to celebrate renewed marriage vows. It is not a happy marriage, however. Both yearn for the romance of youth and blame the other for their predicament. Stephen and Rick are there to be with their parents.

Soon after the family's reunion there is another, surprise arrival. Melissa has returned but - sadly for our love-forlorn pair - has come with beau in tow to once more rend the heartstrings of our brothers' love.

Misadventure follows as both Rick and Stephen try to win Melissa's heart. Rick tries to renew the brief romance that he and Melissa enjoyed while Stephen feels the time right to express love.

Commenting on his film Craig Rosenberg said, "Men appear to be battling between opposing viewpoints, especially on Saturday nights. On one hand, they aspire to be great romantics, yet they also possess a rampant womanising side. I thought it would be interesting to watch two characters who embodied these different attitudes battle for the same woman (Berardinelli 1997, 3)."

The setting is the ostentatious fantasyland of a love hotel-cum-honeymoon palace with the requisite theme rooms catering to the carnival taste of young lovers - 'The Rock Room', 'The Garden of Eden', and 'The Grand Finale Passion Suite', a replica of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. In the foyer an aging piano man plays chorus to the antics of the starring cast.

The film is successful for its frank and clever dialogue, the charm of the cast's acting, and some effective though generic stylistic elements. If not for these, the narrative's rather unchallengingresolution would undoubtably make the film, finally, unconvincing: in turning the sometimes tragic circumstance of love to farce Rosenberg provides a few cheap laughs and resolves a merely complicated plot while appearing to have nothing particularly thoughtful to say about love and romance itself. If the film says anything at all Rosenberg expressed it well when he said:

I hope that anyone who sees this [film], and realises that they have romantic feelings which they've never expressed is inspired to go and express them... quicksmart! (Berardinelli 1997, 7)

 

Production and Release

 

"Hotel de Love" is Craig Rosenberg's directorial debut. He also wrote the script. After studying law in Melbourne he went to California to study film and turned his attention to writing short stories. He won five national awards for short fiction in 1992 and sold his first screenplay in 1993.

 

The script for "Hotel de Love" was taken up by executive producer Peter Heller (former president of John Hughes Production, and past film division chief of Propaganda Pictures). Heller presented it to LIVE Entertainment who decided to take it on in association with Village Roadshow Pictures and Pratt Motion Pictures. Warner Roadshow Studios' managing director Michael Lake, and Australian filmmaker David Parker, "well-known for his deft comic touch" (Berardinelli 1997, 2) and a person familiar with Rosenberg's previous scripts were enlisted to produce the film.

Aden Young, ("Under Heaven" 1998, "Cosi" 1996, "Speed" 1994, "Black Robe" 1991) was cast in the role of cynical brother Rick, and Simon Bossell, known for his role in the comic hit "Spider and Rose", was cast in the role of sensitive brother Stephen. Saffron Burrows ("The Matchmaker" 1997, "Circle of Friends" 1995, "In The Name Of The Father" 1993) was cast as Melissa and Pippa Grandison ("Muriel's Wedding" 1994, "Over The Hill" 1993) was taken on as Rick's ex-girlfriend Alison.

Veteran actors Ray Barrett ("Heaven's Burning" 1997, "Hotel Sorrento" 1995, "The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith" 1978, "The Sundowners" 1960, ) and Julia Blake ("My Brilliant Career" 1979, "The Getting of Wisdom" 1977), were cast in the role of Rick and Stephen's parents, Jack and Edith.

Shooting began in Victoria, Australia in February 1996. Production designer Simon Dobbin ("A Thin Line Between Love and Hate," "Jason's Lyric") created the set while Burnam Beeches, a

former art deco hotel in Sherbrooke Forest, was selected as the exterior for the hotel. Most of the interior was shot at Global Studios in Melbourne. Production finished in mid-March after 31 days.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 12 September 1996. Such was its success that Hopgood in Cinema Papers (1996, 42) describes how Craig Rosenberg was given "60 seconds of rapturous applause" at the conclusion of the screening. Another Australian, well-known film critic David Stratton, told how Canada's leading film critic turned to him during the closing credits and said, "Why can't we make films as good as that in Canada? (1997, 2)."

"Hotel de Love" was subsequently released in the U.S. on 
9 February 1997 grossing $US111,106 after two weeks (International Movie Database 1998b) and came out on video in late August 1997 (Encore 1997b, 36).

Critique

Subsequent reviews of "Hotel de Love", despite the enthusiasm with which it was received at the Toronto Film Festival, were subdued. The Australian press were univocal in their commendation of the film while most, though not all, overseas reviews were rather deprecatory.

The predominant comment made of "Hotel de Love" was the film's "quirky" Australian-ess. Just under half of all canvassed reviews mention the word "quirky" in relation to the film. Voicing common sentiment was Terry Lawson (1997, 1) in the Detroit Free Press when he said: "...Strictly Ballroom and Muriel's Wedding established the standard for the country's quirky exports, a standard to which Hotel de Love ... obviously aspires."

Presanna Vasudevan, head of the Australian Film Commission in London, believes that the second Antipodean film renaissance - generally thought to have emerged around the time of "Malcolm" in 1985 (Allen 1996) - came with the making of "Strictly Ballroom". She says that it was at this time in the 1990s that "the truly idiosyncratic... quintessentially 'Oz' films... [were] ...making the same sort of impact... as film-makers... Peter Wier, Fred Schepsi, Philip Noyce and Gillian Armstrong made in the 1970s (Allen 1996)." With "Hotel de Love' this "quintessential" quality has become entrenched as a quirkiness through which Australian cinema has recently become known overseas.

The ubiquity of such comment in reviews of the film suggest that recent Australian film has a reputation - in America at least - for "quirky-ness" such that one might be forgiven for thinking that quirkiness is a particularly Australian characteristic. Described by O'Regan (1997, 20) as the "banality and richness of [the] contemporary... foregrounded and turned away from their usual moorings", this 'quirkiness' could also perhaps be well-described as a contrived generic quality that serves the commercial interests of Australian cinema as - in the words of O'Regan (1996, 81) - a "medium-sized English-language cinema".

However, when the "screw-ball humour" of such films as "Hotel de Love" (Stratton 1997, 1) is predicated - as many have argued - on the sense of superiority audiences feel towards the subjects of such films (Gehring 1986, 168) might it be that the success of recent Australian film in America is to be found in its distinctive 'quirky' Other-ness such that it is better able to give 'comic relief' than a domestic product of the same genre? In its efforts at commercial success, has Australian film found itself in the dubious position of projecting an image overseas of the "quirky" Australian, where the "banality of the contemporary" - here the banality of contemporary Australia - allows the overseas audience the luxury of a good laugh at our expense as Australians?

U.S. film reviewer Berardinelli similarly implies Australia having established a standard for itself in quirkiness, and that it serves the purposes of a commercially-orientated Australian cinema, when he says: "American moviegoers have developed something of a taste for certain Australian movies making distributors interested in acquiring more products from down under (1997, 1)."

The American-dominated film distribution and exhibition system demands of a commercial Australian cinema two things: that it understand American precepts concerning 'good entertainment'; and, that it not directly compete with the American product and provide something a little different (O'Regan 1996, 96). This 'difference' - the 'quirky-ness' emblematic of "Strictly Ballroom" and "Muriel's Wedding" - enables a distinctive Australian voice sufficient for modest international success. Being in unequal competition with Hollywood, yet desiring to take advantage of the benefits of being part of the wider English-speaking film milieu, a commercially-orientated Australian cinema can do nothing better than cultivate certain expectative norms for its product in order to capture market share.

This differentiating quality in Australian film is described by critic Ebert (1997, 2) in the Chicago Sun: "Hotel de Love is an Australian film in the current tradition of such films, which means that everyone seems secretly peculiar while trying to appear friendly and normal." While one should perhaps not ascribe too much depth to his remark it seems fit that it should be said of the 'quirky' screwball comedy of "Hotel de Love" where, for many, "humor is based on cruelty" (Gehring 1986, 159)

Although it is a matter of some disagreement how exactly audiences derive pleasure from comedy, the reason for the success of 'quirky' Australian film in America is probably understood by most to be less sinister. A woman in New York commenting on the film had this to say: "I doubt I would've bothered seeing it ["Hotel de Love"] in Melbourne [she was briefly resident there]. In America it's always refreshing to see an Australian movie to get a bit of culture here (Ausfilms1997, 2)." Although her words might suggest to some that she and many Americans find Australian films 'enculturating' it is probable that, for many, an Aussie film is simply an opportunity to sate their curiosity of another, fairly familiar, culture while having a 'good' laugh.

It might concern such audiences to learn, however, that for one Australian at least "Hotel de Love" is a film - for all its quirkiness - that does not represent Australia well. "This is an Australian film that doesn't look especially like an Australian film and you can consider that a plus or minus according to your feelings on the subject", says David Stratton, film critic for The Australian (1997, 1). When he goes on to say (1997, 2), however, that the film is "yet another winner from Australia in this truly vintage year", he makes clear the purpose of recent Australian cinema - to find financial success notwithstanding its failure to represent and project a meaningful and becoming 'Australian face' overseas.

With decreased public funding of cinema in Australia following economic recession and a change of government in the summer of '96, film-makers have been impelled towards projects that interest overseas, primarily American, backers (O'Regan 1997, 1).

The "two-tiered" trend in the Australian cinematic industry such that films seeking to address an Australian audience and an Australian identity suffer (Rowse 1988, 240) is confirmed by "Hotel de Love" with its palpable commercialism and American financing.

From screwball comedy's roots in vaudeville (Gehring 1986, 19) to the inspiration director Rosenberg found for the film, a conversation with a hotelier in Ontario, Canada (Amsden 1997, 1), "Hotel de Love" is almost entirely of American genesis.

Apart from the appearance of an Australian icon in the Grand Finale Suite - which was widely misinterpreted as a rugby stadium (Chase 1997), and a soccer stadium (Ebert 1997) - the film could easily have been a story of a few Aussies (distinguishable by their 'strain-ed inflexion) usurped of identity and 'quirky' for having been displaced to this plastic North American paradise.

 

Public Reception

 

The public reception of "Hotel de Love" in Australia subsequent to its release on 19 December '96 can perhaps be best measured by box office takings of other films screening at the same time.

•Baz Luhrmann's contemporary American take on "Romeo and Juliet" (Fox Productions) was at the top of the box office charts after two weeks at 159 screens having taken just under $6m.

•"Shine" (Ronin Pictures) had been screening 19 weeks on 39 screens Australia-wide and had taken a total of close to $7m.

•"Children of the Revolution" (Roadshow), released a week after "Hotel de Love" had, after two weeks, taken on 14 screens a total of $394,000.

•"Napolean", another Australian feature, released a week after Hotel de Love by Columbia, had on 119 screens taken a total of $765,791 after two weeks.

•"Hotel de Love", by comparison, had after three weeks screening on 59 screens taken a total of $822,974.

(Figures supplied by Motion Picture Distributor's Association of Australia, in Encore 1997a, 40)

 

Notes on Information Research

Most of the relevant hard-copy indices in the reference section of the Murdoch library were published prior to the release of the film in late 1996. The International Index to Film Periodicals 1996 (Moulds, 1997) refers to a review of the film in Variety magazine (Eisner 1996). Close on the shelf is the Encore Directory 1997 (McLean 1997) which has a brief entry of the film giving cast and crew details and - incidentally - the erroneous appellation of 'writer' to the film's editor Bill Murphy.

The Art Index (H W Wilson) accessible through Murdoch library's INNOPAC system makes reference to an article inCinema Papers (Hopgood 1996).

The CDROM Film Index International (BFI 1997) and the Expanded Academic ASAP International Edition (1997) online indices gives details of cast and crew, including work-related biographies, and links to a few related on-line and hard-copy articles.

The AUSTLit and APAIS networked CDROM databases in WebSPIRS, refers to an article in The Independent Monthlyand articles concerning director Craig Rosenberg's previous work as a short-story writer.

Several Databases (Australian Feature Films Index (1995), Cinedossier (1992), Get The Picture (1992), et.al.) were not up-to-date enough to cover "Hotel de Love", while others (e.g. Uncover) were inaccessible without an account.

Searches in the International Movie Database (1998a), which was to be the single most useful reference to the film, The RML Movie Page (1998), The All Movie Guide (1998), Cinemania (1998) and the AusFilms website (1998) provided film synopses, reviews, cast/crew details and biographies, release dates, box-office figures, location details, miscellaneous trivia, plus many links to on-line articles interviews and reviews.

The All Movie Guide (1998) and Cinemania (1998) also provide readers with the interactivity enabling submission of personal ratings of a film for incorporation into a ratings summary.

Cinemedia (1998) provides a link to the Hotel de Love Homepage (1998). This homepage is, unfortunately, still "under construction" and has no content.

Searching for topics relating to the film using search engines available through the Murdoch Server: AltaVista provided the greatest number of 'hits' at 427; Excite provided 281 'hits'; and InfoSeek 151. The Magellan and WebCrawler search engines both provided little more than ten 'hits' each. These 'hits' provided links to articles already found through relevant indices and databases, many different subsections of the Hotel de Love Homepage (all "under construction"), a variety of opinion on the film, and a number of 'risque' sites with no connection to the film other than a similarity in title.

In the J791.4.... section of the library looking through those journals relating to film I found box-office figures for the film's screen and video release (Encore 1997a, 1997b).

In The Times Index was reference to an article in a November '96 edition of the paper entitled "Do Australian film get the distribution they deserve? (Allen 1996)."

Finally, I 'phoned the Beatty Library asking that a search be done for any articles relating to the film published in the West Australian newspaper. I needed to confirm that the search was a W.A.-related topic and was given nine references to the film dating from 11 December 1996 to 26 July 1997. None were available through the Murdoch library.

 

Bibliography 1: Reviews-Interviews

Journals, Magazines and Newspapers

Eisner, K. 1996, 'Hotel de Love', Variety, No.364:8, p.127

•"...enough solid laugh lines and feel-good resolutions for a half-dozen romantic comedies."

•"...this Aussie crowd-pleaser could easily be the next 'Strictly Ballroom".

Hopgood, F. 1996, 'The story and the script', Cinema Papers, No.113, pp.42-45

•"Our characters are real people in an almost unreal place. It is not an unreal place because its a real hotel and people have to live and sleep there. The humour comes from a lot of the wilder aspects of it [the hotel]. In terms of the production design, even though these rooms were fantastically bizarre, they nonetheless had a bed in them and were real rooms." (Craig Rosenberg commenting on the humour of his film)

'Hotel de Love' 1997, American Spectator , v.30 no.4, p.69

'Hotel de Love' 1995, Independent Monthly, v.7 no.2, pp.85-87

Johnson, B. 1997, "Tart Aussie charm beats out Indian treacle', McLeans , v.110 no.8, p.62

• "...a good date movie"

• "Hotel de Love offers yet more compelling evidence that there must be something in the water, or the sunshine, of Australia that gives its film- makers a quirky edge."

 

Online Articles

Amsden, C. 1997, 'Hotel de kitsch. Director Craig Rosenberg reminisces about love in new film', View magazine, (Online), URL: http://www.viewmag.com/back/05-08/film (28/3/98)

• "Aussie director Craig Rosenberg says...'Men are civilised by being around women and that's a good thing.'"

Austin American Statesman 1997 (Online), URL: http://austin360.com/enter/movies/97feb/hotel/hewitt.html (28/3/98)

Berardinelli, J. 1997a, 'Hotel de Love', Cinema1, (Online), URL: http://www.cinema1.com/movies97/hoteldelove/us.html (26/3/98)

•"...quirky look at romance in the nineties"

•"A story in cinema only lives because of its magic, and Hotel de Love has that."

Berardinelli, J. 1997b, 'Hotel de Love', International Movie DataBase, (Online), URL: http://us.imdb.com (28/3/98)

•"Australians have a knack for making quirky little comedies that work...but this certainly isn't a shining example."

Chang, C. 1997, 'Hotel de Love', Cinemania, (Online), URL: http://cinemania.msn.com/Default/FrameMenu (8/4/98)

Chase, J. 1997, MovieMag International, (Online), URL: http://www.shoestring.org/mmi_revs/hoteldelov.html (28/3/98)

• "It's sly, funny, full of heart and gosh-darn cute."

Davis, S. 1997, 'Hotel de Love', Austin Chronicle, (Online), URL: http://www.auschron.com/issues/vol16/issue25/screens.film.html (28/3/98)

•"...the right kind of holiday audience ...would have appreciated this quirky, slightly out-of-control, romantic comedy."

•"...the film's winsome ways and quirkiness become tiresome"

Ebert, R. 1997, 'Hotel de Love', Chicago Sun Times, (Online), URL: http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1997/02/020704.html (28/3/98)

•"...works too earnestly at being daffy."

Goldberg, G. 1997, 'Hotel de Love: Soft focus, anyone?', RoughCut, (Online), URL: http://www.roughcut.com/reviews/movies/vault/hotel_de_love.html (28/3/98)

• "First-time director Rosenberg shoots from his own script and hits a frothy bull's-eye with Hotel de Love."

Hobson, L. 1997, 'Hotel farce worth checking out', Calgary Sun, (Online), URL: http://www.canoe.com/JamMoviesArtistsR2Z/rosenberg_craig.html (28/3/98)

•"...a witty and wily look at the complexities of love."

'Hotel de Love. A film by Craig Rosenberg' 1997, Pif Magazine, (Online), http://www.dimax.com/pif/vol19/delove.html (28/3/98)

•"...quirky tale of romance in the nineties."

'Hotel de Love' 1997, eyeWeekly, (Online), URL: http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_02.20.97/film/arpe.html (28/3/98)

•"...a pleasant surprise."

'Hotel de Love' 1997, Jam!Movies, (Online), URL: http://www.canoe.ca/JamMoviesReviewsH/hoteldelove_hobson.html (28/3/98)

'Hotel de Love' 1997, ScreenIt!, (Online), URL: http://www.screenit.com/movies/1997/hotel_de_love.html (28/3/98)

•"Obviously the sexual material makes this unsuitable for younger audiences... Stephen is undressed by a woman (down to his underwear) who takes some of her clothes off (her bare breasts are seen) and then climbs on top of him. It's implied that they then have sex."

James, C. 1997, 'Hotel de Love', BoxOffice, (Online), URL: http://www.boxoff.com/cgi/getreview.pl?where=Name&filename=All&terms=HOTEL+DE+LOV (28/3/98)

•"...thoroughly winsome, heartwarming, spirited and clever."

Lawson, T. 1997, ''Hotel de Love': Motion, no emotion in Down Underwhelming farce', Detroit Free Press, (Online), URL: http:// www.freep.com/fun/movies/qhote21.html (28/3/98)

• "...comes on too strong and is too transparent."

'Lightweight love, Australian style' 1997, SanFrancisco Examiner, (Online), URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file+//chronicle/archive/1997/02/07/DD18047.DTL (28/3/98)

• "Love blooms in a plastic paradise."

Phan, A. 1997, 'New face in Hollywood gives tips for success', Daily Bruin, (Online), URL: http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/DB/issues/97/02.05/ae.rosenberg.html (28/3/98)

•"...quirky romantic comedy about the lovelorn guests at a tacky honeymoon hotel."

Stratton, D. 1997, 'Hotel de Love', The Australian Online, (Online), URL: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arb/film/archive/61221d.html (26/3/98)

• "confident, briskly paced and, above all, very funny... yet another winner from Australia in this truly vintage year."

Walker, B. 1997, 'Hotel de Love', Washington Post, (Online), URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/hoteldelove.htm (28/3/98)

• "Much more boring than funny."

 

Bibliography 2: References

Books, Journals, Magazines and Newspapers

Allen, C. 1996, 'The wizard new movies of Oz', The Times, 19 Nov, p.36

Cinedossier 1992, Australian Film Institute, Melbourne.

Encore 1997a, v.14 Issue 21

Encore 1997b, v.15 Issue 12

Gehring, W. 1986, Screwball comedy: a genre of madcap romance, Greenwood Press, New York.

Get The Picture 1996, 4th edn, Australian Film Commission, Sydney.

Rowse & Moran 1984, ''Peculiarly Australian' - The Political Construction of Cultural Identity', in Australian society, 4th edn, eds Encel & Bryson, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne, pp. 229-279.

McLean, B. (ed) 1998, Encore directory 1998, Reed Business Information, Chatswood, NSW

Moulds, M. (ed) 1997, International index to film periodicals 1996, v.25, St James Publishing, London.

O'Regan, T. 1996, Australian national cinema, Routledge, London.

 

Online References

All Movie Guide 1998, (Online), URL: http://allmovie.com (26/3/98)

AltaVista 1998, (Online), URL: http://www.altavista.com (6/4/98)

Ausfilms 1998, (Online) URL: http://www.gann-online.com/ausfilms/index (26/3/98)

Cinemania 1998, (Online), URL: http://cinemania.msn.com/Default/FrameMenu (8/4/98)

Cinemedia 1998, (Online), URL: http://207.87.23.34/scripts/cinemedia (26/3/98)

Excite 1998, (Online), URL: http://www.excite.com (6/4/98)

Expanded Academic ASAP International Edition 1998, (Online), URL: http://www.searchbank.com/searchbank/murdoch (6/4/98)

Hotel de Love Homepage 1998, (Online), URL: http://www.hoteldelove.com (28/3/98)

InfoSeek 1998, (Online), URL: http://www.infoseek.com (6/4/98)

International Movie Database 1998a, (Online), URL: http://us.imdb.com (26/3/98)

International Movie Database 1998b, (Online), URL: http://us.imdb.com/More?business+Hotel+de+Love+(1996) (28/3/98)

Magellan 1998, (Online), URL: http://www.magellan.com (6/4/98)

O'Regan, T. 1997, 'Beyond 'Australian film'? Australian cinema in the 1990s', Oz Film Site, (Online), URL:http://kali.murdoch.edu.au/~cntinuum/film/1990s.html (26/3/98)

RML Movie Page 1998, (Online), URL: http://www.netspace.net.au/~haze/index.html (26/3/98)

ScreenSite 1998, (Online), URL: http://www.tcf.ua.edu/cgi-bin/AT-ScreenSitesearch.exe (8/4/98)

WebCrawler 1998, (Online), URL: http://webcrawler.com (28/3/98)

CDROMS

Australian Feature Films Index 1995, (CDROM), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne.

British Film Institute 1997, Film Index International 1997, (CDROM), Chadwyck-Healy, Cambridge.

  • Director Craig Rosenberg

compiled by Colin Fawkes (April 1998)