Sindre Kaspersen Austrian screenwriter and director Jessica Hausner's second feature film which she wrote, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 57th Cannes International Film Festival in 2004, was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 29th Toronto International Film Festival in 2004 and is an Austrian-German co-production which was produced by Austrian director and producer Antonin Svoboda, producer Suzanne Marian, producer Philippe Bober and Austrian cinematographer and producer Martin Gschlacht. It tells the story about Irene, a young woman who arrives at a grand hotel in the Austrian Alps where she has been hired to work as a receptionist. Irene looks forward to getting started with her new job, but her perception of her position changes when she learns about the woman she has replaced who strangely disappeared. Irene tries to find out more about the woman by asking the other employees, but they ignore her and as time goes by she begins to wonder whether or not her life is in danger. Precisely and acutely directed by Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner, this brilliantly paced fictional tale which is narrated from the protagonist's point of view, draws a dense portrayal of a dutiful and sociable woman who begins to reconsider her line of work at a less crowded countryside hotel when she becomes aware of the enigmatic story about her predecessor. While notable for it's Gothic milieu depictions, sterling production design by production designer Katharina Wöpperman, cinematography by the director's frequent collaborator Martin Gschlacht, editing by Austrian film editor Karina Ressler and significant use of sound, this subtle and modestly romanticizing psychological thriller contains some fine use of music. This cryptic, profoundly mysterious and character-driven horror story where a remote hotel functions a one of the central characters, is impelled and reinforced by it's minimalistic and rigorously structured style of filmmaking, lurking tension, cogent narrative structure, esoteric characters, the efficiently understated acting performance by Austrian actress Franziska Weisz as the female protagonist and a good supporting acting performances by Austrian actress Birgit Minichmayr. A dark, nuanced and poignantly atmospheric mystery.

two-rivers As in her previous film "Lovely Rita", Jessica Hausner creates a universe in which warm communication and deep understanding between human beings seems to be impossible. Irene arrives at the hotel, set right in the middle of a deep dark forest. She replaces an employee that has mysteriously disappeared… Those could be the core elements of a classic horror movie, but then we find out that "Hotel" is something more than just that.The camera follows Irene closely on her lonely walks along the corridors of the hotel basement, into the forest or while she quietly breaststrokes in the deserted hotel swimming pool. But only once an unusual, "creepy" event takes place which could be typical for a horror movie: After one of her swims Irene finds her glasses on the floor, partly broken, and her chain, which she uses as a lucky charm and which a little earlier she had refused to lend to fellow employee Petra, has disappeared.But there aren't any dramatic consequences. The chain reappears without much explication – it is said to have been found in the forest. This place, however, takes on a central significance in the film. People say that it is inhabited by a mysterious witch, although there is no actual evidence for that being more than just a legend. At least the witch can be seen as a puppet in a glass case somewhere in the hotel.So the real horror is not a monster coming from the outside. It therefore must be innate in humans – just as Simon would put it in William Golding's famous novel "Lord of the Flies". But here the particular bad nature of mankind does not manifest itself in violent actions that can be seen on the surface. In "Hotel" humans behave in an even meaner way: their relationships are marked by the almost complete absence of warmth and mutual comprehension.Nobody in the hotel is interested in establishing a friendly connection with Irene that goes beyond mere labor bonds. Being a newcomer in the hotel she nevertheless does not attract the curiosity of her companions. None of them wants to know anything about her circumstances of life. Irene, on the other hand, shows a longing for friendship, but is incapable of finding any fulfillment. On one occasion, she cannot find sleep because of some noise from the outside, and she eventually gets access to a room in which three people, Petra among them, are listening to music, drinking and smoking, pretending to have fun. But no real communication is going on, these people seem to be nothing more than ghosts. Finally Irene sits down in an armchair and falls asleep. When she wakes up, she finds those people gone, leaving behind nothing but the garbage they produced.Another time, Irene is dancing alone in a disco, beside her a guy is doing the same, apparently longing for physical contact but unable to establish it. When later he has finally succeeded to do so, it becomes obvious that a physical connection is easier to have than an emotional or spiritual one. Some kisses are exchanged, significantly while exploring a deep dark cave, but not many words are spoken. So the relationship eventually is a failure and Irene's longings left unsatisfied.Being deprived of a true love relationship and failing in her attempts to establish some kind of relationship to a colleague of the same sex, Irene decides to take a weekend off and return to the safe haven of humanity that might be represented by her parents. But also this attempt disappointingly breaks down. From a phone call to her parents, of which we can hear only Irene's part, it becomes evident that they are not exactly desperate to see her.Bearing all this is mind, the final events of the movie become easily explainable. During an evening control walk in the hotel basement, Irene steps out into the fresh air to smoke a cigarette as she has done on previous occasions. And as also happened before, when she wants to get back inside, the entry door has mysteriously closed. But this time it is also locked… What is there to do? Instead of screaming for help or trying to find another entrance, Irene chooses a different solution. Without reluctance or hesitation she walks into the dark forest, a place that throughout the movie has been portrayed as haunted and dreadful. But apparently this is a better way out than having to return to that cold and inhospitable place that is represented by the hotel. A place in which human ghosts walk alongside each other without even the remotest touch of what all humans deep in their heart long for: true love and understanding.

John Sundell If you ever see this movie, prepare for the dullest, least interesting, most event less, technically faulty movie maybe you'll ever see. This movie is, with all due respect for the author, crap. The outline for the movie sounds pretty interesting, but don't be fooled. It's about a German girl who gets a receptionist job at a hotel, and that's all there is to it. On the back of the DVD case it says "Thriller / Horror - Age rating: 15 years" (at least in Sweden it did), which just seems like a desperate attempt in convincing you to rent this awful movie.During the film, nothing of interest happens. There is no horror at all (besides a few crappy attempts on making illusionary scenes), the love story included is so dull and unskillfully executed that you just don't care and the characters have absolutely no depth. Believe me when I say that this movie contains worse acting, lightning, story, camera and characters than ANYTHING you'll ever see on public television. It's an utter disaster.More on the characters, the main character is so incredibly dull that you have absolutely no sympathy for her, the side characters add nothing to the story and the dialog in between characters would've been better removed.To conclude, I hate ordinary Hollywood movies (with a few exceptions of course) that are filled with clichés and bad movie-making. I guess that's why I rented this movie, to experience a different kind of hotel horror movie, but anything cliché and made-only-for- the-money would've been waaay better than this. I advise you to stay as far from this movie as you possibly can.

icegue I saw this "movie" last year and I'm sorry to say that it was the worst movie I ever saw. There is no acting, no story, no suspense, no music, ... There is NOTHING lasting the whole film long. The "highlight" of the "movie" is that a door is shut when the main character returns (of course you don't see how it's shut since the "movie" doesn't contain any action).I wouldn't call this piece even a "movie" since it is such an unbounded cheek. If i was possible to vote not from 1 to 10 but from -10 to 10 I would have chosen -10 without hesitating!How can 80 minutes of boredom win a prize?