Miscellaneous Crisis area as a place for new courage to face life in the film "Hôtel Silence"
"Hôtel Silence" by Swiss-Canadian filmmaker Léa Pool is an adaptation of a novel about resilience, friendship and the celebration of life. The film can be seen in cinemas after being nominated for the Prix Soleure at the 60th Solothurn Film Festival.
13.06.2025, 08:56
SDA
Jean (Sébastien Ricard) has lost his zest for life. At just over 50, the Canadian wants to die. His household effects are packed in boxes; what is to be done with them is listed; the rope has been bought and the hook fitted. When Jean confronts his mother in the retirement home about his situation, she takes the lipstick out of the drawer and wants to apply it. She is demented and praises him for his manual skills, but only inquires about the course of wars long past. She will hardly miss him.
But then Jean's daughter Rose arrives unexpectedly at the door. She seems to sense immediately that her father is up to something. When he pretends to her that he is going on vacation, she is rightly worried. Jean has secretly decided to postpone his departure to a European country devastated by war.
Courage to face life in a place of mourning
All this is revealed in the trailer for "Hôtel Silence". So it is not an anticipation that Jean is tired of life after his divorce. Ultimately, the planned suicide is not even the central theme of the film, which is based on the novel of the same name by Icelandic author Aude Ava Ólafsdóttir. For it is in the very place where Jean encounters destruction and the greatest form of grief that he finds new courage. And "Hôtel Silence" quickly develops from a personal drama into a film about the power of community.
Jean has moved into a room in a gigantic and equally run-down hotel in a small town on the beach. Like a cruise ship that has rammed into a place without a name and has been stuck there ever since, the magnificent white building rises out of a mountain of rubble and ashes. From the deck, you can look out over the open sea. Or of an abandoned train station where people were shot during the war, as the hotel owner Ana (Lorena Handschin) tells us. Jean finds himself in a place that beautifully represents the horror on the one hand and the view into the unknown on the other.
This environment not only puts his own situation into perspective. The village community also leaves him no time to think about his own misery. Word quickly gets around that Jean has arrived with nothing but a bag full of tools. And he is hired for all kinds of repair work. Jean cleans water pipes, renovates the old hotel cinema, installs doors and helps set up a new home for a group of women. He is inspired by the courage of the people.
"Hôtel Silence" doesn't tell a complex story and the only thing that may surprise you is the love story, of which you don't know for a long time in which direction it will develop. The dialog is also kept simple, occasionally tipping over into kitsch, and certain scenes are not quite as convincingly acted. Nevertheless, the movie remains gripping right to the end. The fates of the people, or even more so how they deal with them, are touching, not least against the backdrop of the current world situation.
Outstanding film music
The highest of all emotions, however, can be attributed to the artistic realization. The film music by Bernese composer Mario Batkovic, for example, is outstanding. And if the plot is too shallow for you, you will certainly enjoy the scenery. The setting of "Hôtel Silence" is unique.
Also worth mentioning are the scenes in which the humor shines through. They never detract from the seriousness that the plot deserves - and yet certain jokes help to classify the film correctly. "Hôtel Silence" is the film adaptation of a novel about a man who finds new vitality in a strange place. Nothing more and nothing less.*
*This text by Miriam Margani, Keystone-SDA, was realized with the help of the Gottlieb and Hans Vogt Foundation.
