Review: Hotel Chevalier

Jason Schwartzman and his iPod.

Sept. 27, 2007 | Fans of Wes Anderson, Natalie Portman, and quirky cinema rejoice: Anderson today released a 13-minute short, Hotel Chevalier, as a free iTunes Store download. Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman hook up in Paris to tell a story of love (and life) gone cold.

As usual, the dialogue is (stylistically) flat and quirky, the characters are aloof and the setup is decidedly off-kilter.

Unfortunately, there's a giant elephant in the hotel room: Jason Schwartzman's character queues up a song on an iPod in anticipation of Portman's arrival. In most films, this wouldn't be much of a problem as we're practically hit over the head with product placement these days, and one stray iPod shouldn't be cause for alarm.

Wes Anderson is different. One of the pleasures of watching, say, The Royal Tenenbaums (or just about any other Anderson movie*) is the feeling that you're watching a realistic story which just happens to take place in a slightly skewed parallel (or imagined) universe in which high-technology never seems to have a home -- unless, of course, it's decades out of date.

As such, dropping an iPod into Hotel Chevalier is a bit like dropping a cell phone into Casablanca: It just doesn't belong. Forcing such an intrusion is jarring, to say the least. Unfortunately, in a 13-minute short film, one jarring scene can color the entire experience.

This is especially interesting if you consider that Apple is (currently) the sole distributor of Hotel Chevalier, and that its premier was hosted within a slew of Apple retail stores. Did Apple request the inclusion of an iPod? Did Anderson offer? Either way -- it's a distraction.

Schwartzman's character should have (and I think would have) opted for vinyl and a turntable. Even a cassette player would have felt more at home than the sleek modernity of an iPod.

It's nice that someone at Apple is a fan of Anderson's movies, and it's great to see original, exclusive content on iTunes, but that one iPod practically breaks the third wall: We're forced out of the imaginary world when we need to be lost in it. Anderson creates situations which feel plausible because the set, the dialogue, the props and the actors are consistently "in" that world. That iPod, cradled in a small, matching speaker rig seems to announce its presence like an obnoxious and uninvited house guest.

One possible scenario in which the iPod could work: Schwartzman's character purchased the iPod and only put the one song on it, in anticipation of Portman's arrival. That, at least, would seem in character -- and could have led to a wry exchange concerning the point of having an iPod with only one song. Then, he could have casually dropped it into the trash bin, due to the device having served its one and only purpose.

The hotel lobby also houses an Apple product -- a lamp-styled iMac G4. Hotel Chevalier was shot on location in an actual Paris hotel (rather than on an elaborate set) which may or may not actually house an iMac in its front lobby. The earlier inclusion of an iPod makes me wonder.

Beyond that one gripe, Chevalier is classic Wes Anderson: Portman's character arrives to bring Schwartzman home, despite the fact that she is apparently the past he's running from. Food is ordered (including one grilled fromage sandwich), they make out a bit, Portman disrobes (the nudity isn't much beyond what you might see on prime-time cable) and they ultimately end up on the balcony checking out a stunning view of Paris.

That's pretty much it, at least as far as the plot details are concerned.

Chevalier is billed as a prequel to Anderson's upcoming full-length Darjeeling Limited -- but he stresses that it's extra flavor, rather than a main dish. Portman apparently cameos in Darjeeling in blink or you'll miss it fashion, while Schwartzman's character returns as a lead, alongside Luke and Owen Wilson.

Ultimately, you probably either love Anderson's films or you hate them. If you're in the former camp -- you'll want to see this, as the price is right and it's certainly part of any complete collection. (Surely it will show up as an extra on the Darjeeling DVD?) As with Rushmore, the Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic, Hotel Chevalier isn't so much about "what happens" as it is about the way in which quirky characters react when things do eventually happen. Anderson's characters tend to observe events and then respond passively, as though they can't be bothered to respond with anything other than aloof disinterest.

If pressed to describe Anderson's style -- I would say that he writes dialogue spoken by adult characters from the perspective of a child describing adult behavior -- serious, bored and cold, full of masked emotions and "adult" language and impenetrable codes of conduct. (A great example of this is demonstrated in Rushmore when Rosemary Cross confronts Max, too old for his age, and asks if he thought he might get to "finger" her, and when Dirk writes the letter about Rosemary and Herman "giving each other hand jobs.") From this child-like perspective, everything is theatrical.

Anderson also loves to incorporate interesting song choices throughout his soundtracks, and he manages to fill much of the 13 minute running time of Hotel Chevalier with Where Do You Go To (My Lovely).

Unfortunately -- it emanates from that damned iPod.

*Bottle Rocket is the only Anderson film which doesn't seem to fit into the world he has since created. It's firmly rooted in the here and now, despite small glimpses of the quirks which dominate his later movies. It's also the only movie in which the set isn't a character all it's own: Rushmore's Academy, The Royal Tenenbaum's House, The Life Aquatic's Belafonte, the Hotel Chevalier's Hotel Room and (likely) Darjeeling's Train all play central roles in their respective films.

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