Hotel do Norte

"Hotel du Nord " is the only Carné movie from the 1936-1946 era which has dialogs not written by Jacques Prévert,but by Henri Jeanson.Janson was much more interested in the Jouvet/Arletty couple than in the pair of lovers,Annabella/Aumont.The latter is rather bland ,and their story recalls oddly the Edith Piaf's song "les amants d'un jour",except that the chanteuse's tale is a tragic one.What's fascinating today is this popular little world ,the canal Saint-Martin settings.

This movie is dear to the French movies buffs for another very special reason.The pimp Jouvet tells his protégée Raymonde he wants a change of air(atmosphère) Because she does not understand the meaning of the world atmosphère,the whore Raymonde (wonderful Arletty)thinks it's an insult and she delivers this line,that is ,undeniably,the most famous of the whole French cinéma:

In French :"Atmosphère?Atmosphère?Est-ce que j'ai une gueule d'atmosphère?" Translation attempt:"Atmosphere?atmosphere?Have I got an atmosphere face? This is our French "Nobody's perfect".

I suppose I always felt that Hotel Du Nord was studio-bound, the movement of people cars and camera were just too effortlessly smooth and stagey to have been filmed on location. But no problem - it's still a much underrated lovely composition from Marcel Carne. The plot seems a bit choppy at times, as if they were making it up as they went along, but because it is unpredictable holds the attention to the bitter end. The comings and goings and goings-on at hotels are always full of rich possibilities anyway. The money shots when the two lovers are alone in their room are saddled with some rather stilted dialogue, but it's all so lovely to fall into any inanity can be accepted. Are these two young people symbols of a cancerous hopelessness in pre-War France or simply idiots? Suicide pacts are fairly common; if the suicidees are young and healthy with their lives before them untrammelled would you think anything other than that they were just misguided fools?

Arletty played the part of prostitute well - she kept that zipper on her dress busy throughout anyway! I've only seen a few films with Jouvet - he is the most impressive invention as pimp in HDN - my trouble is shallow: every time I see his face I think of Sonnie Hale in Evergreen!

A remarkably atmospheric, well acted and photographed film with so much happening it needs a few viewings to get it all in place. Annabella and Aumont made an exceptionally beautiful couple; Francois (Heurtebise) Perier in his 2nd film had a small amusing part as a gay man. All in all, a wonderful film. Next: Le Jour Se Leve.

"Hôtel du Nord" is a romantic-comic drama cloaked in poetic realism, beneath which lies a delicately woven tale of love, disappointment, and solidarity, wrapped in a veil of melancholy.

The story leads us to a modest hotel along the Canal Saint-Martin, where residents have gathered to celebrate a child's first communion. Among them is Raymonde, a prostitute, whose pimp Edmond stays in their room to develop photographs he had taken earlier. At that moment, a young couple, Renée and Pierre, arrive and rent a room for the night. They don't join the others - instead, they are planning a double suicide, unable to afford marriage or a home of their own. Soon after, Renée picks up a pistol... and a shot is heard.

Director Marcel Carné blends melodrama, humor, romance, and crime within the intimate setting of the hotel. The plot unfolds in a microcosm of marginalized lives: artisans, courtesans, petty criminals, and eternal idealists. Carefully composed shots and fluid camera movements create a sense that the viewer, too, is a guest at the hotel.

For the film, both the canal and hotel were recreated in a studio, adding to the dreamlike atmosphere. Rain, fog, and shimmering reflections in the water serve as enchanting visual motifs. The dialogue is tinged with irony and filled with layered, double-edged lines that echo the poetry of street life.

Thematically, the film aligns with the poetic realism of its time - the protagonists grapple with love, trust, solidarity, and loneliness. Carné often aims hopeful, sunlit arrows at his characters, but they dissolve into the grayness of reality before reaching their targets.

Annabella plays Renée - a gentle, emotional, yet dignified young woman, caught in the web of circumstances and rash decisions. She continues to fight and to hope. Her character balances delicately between shame, gratitude, and longing for love and a home. She is not passive, but the warmth she brings remains subtle, even elusive.

Jean-Pierre Aumont's Pierre is a youthful idealist, lost from the very beginning. His character sways between despair and youthful fervor that borders on madness. Pierre embodies the idea of immature or impossible love - and perhaps that's why his shadow lingers even after he disappears from the story.

Louis Jouvet's Edmond stands as the film's most dominant presence. A man with a turbulent past, he's seen too much and now longs for peace, weighed down by melancholic fatigue. A seasoned realist, Edmond still makes room for tenderness and love - until the narrative leads him back to the antihero's path so typical of poetic realism.

Arletty shines as Raymonde - the quintessential Parisian courtesan: bold, witty, brutally honest, yet warm and smiling. Beneath her sarcastic humor lies a profound emotional core. She's a woman of the margins, determined not to be overlooked or forgotten.

The supporting cast provides strong backing to the leads and enriches the hotel's small world.

In the end, Hôtel du Nord is a bittersweet story of everyday life - a portrait of ordinary people balancing on the edge of class and survival, without grand dreams but with immense hearts. Devoid of dramatic twists or lofty philosophies, it quietly reflects the fight for dignity in a world that seldom offers much. It's a stop worth visiting for anyone traveling the railways of world cinema - especially those who like to linger on the platform of poetic realism.

In a hotel in Paris two lovers agree to take their own lives, the woman is romanticizing the suicide in a degree she must represent the escapism of many not so well-off in prewar Paris. The hotel is in itself a meeting place for the people of the district. Pierre shoots Renee, but is disturbed by Edmond so he flees the scene.

The story in itself is not so extraordinary today, but nothing takes away from its impact still. It has no problem of holding your attention to the very end. Its my first meet with any involved in 'Hotel du Nord'. Louis Jouvet is very good in his joy and meaningless role that finds meaning for just a little while. So is Arletty.

A true classic. Beautifully filmed and acted. Reveals an area of Paris which is alive and filled with comedy and tragedy. Although the area of 'Hotel du Nord' and the Hotel itself still exists, it is not as gay (in the original sense of the word) and joyful as it once must have been. The film makes one yearn for the past, which has been lost, with a sigh and bittersweetness.