Hotel Chevalier

Hotel Chevalier

Hotel Chevalier is an American-French short film written and directed by Wes Anderson and released in 2007. Starring Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman, the 13-minute film acts as a prologue to Anderson’s 2007 feature The Darjeeling Limited. In the film, a man and a woman reunite in a hotel room after the man had left to escape their relationship.

About Hotel Chevalier in brief

Summary Hotel ChevalierHotel Chevalier is an American-French short film written and directed by Wes Anderson and released in 2007. Starring Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman, the 13-minute film acts as a prologue to Anderson’s 2007 feature The Darjeeling Limited. It was shot on location in a Parisian hotel by a small crew and self-financed by Anderson, who initially intended it to be a stand-alone work. Its first showing was at the Venice Film Festival première of the feature film on September 2, 2007, and it made its own debut later that month at Apple Stores in four U.S. cities. The film garnered near universal critical acclaim from reviewers, who compared it favorably to The Dar Jeeling Limited and praised its richness, poignancy, and careful construction. In the film, a man and a woman reunite in a hotel room after the man had left to escape their relationship. The woman tells the man that she does not want to lose his friendship, that she loves him and never meant to hurt him.

The man responds coldly that he will never be friend, but holds her when she embraces him. He then begins to undress the woman and the two move towards the window. After they step out on the balcony, the man draws a toothpick from his pocket and hands it to her with an upwards nod, which she reciprocates. After looking out for another few seconds she clasps his neck lightly and they step back inside the hotel. Anderson and Schwartzman had previously worked on the cult second feature, Rushmore, and had been living together in Portman’s Paris apartment in the months leading up to the shoot. The set was used as a setting for the films Love and The Vendôme and The Closer. The props were used by a crew of 15 Panavision cameramen and were shot at the 15th-century Hôtel Raphael in Paris, two blocks south-west of the Arc de Triomphe. The movie was released on September 11, 2007. It is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.