Sometimes life is a string of chaotic perversity with little sense of direction or purpose. 1984's The Hotel New Hampshire is one of several Tony Richardson movies that give this impression. But while his British New Wave movies, for all their idiosyncrasies, felt like they had real insight into normal life for young people in Britain in the '50s and '60s, The Hotel New Hampshire feels altogether surreal and disconnected from reality. Not in a bad way, though it does seem less remarkable than A Taste of Honey or The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
Beau Bridges plays a hotel owner and father of the large family that staffs it, including incestuous siblings Rob Lowe and Jodie Foster.
There are a lot of big names in this movie. Wallace Shawn invites them to leave their American hotel to run one in Germany where they meet Nastassja Kinski who always wears a bear costume because she's uncomfortable facing her humanity. However, in Germany they also meet Matthew Modine, a Communist revolutionary who happens to look exactly like the boy who instigated a gang rape of Foster's character, and is just as despicable. But she's attracted to both of them anyway.
The family has a dog named Sorrow who constantly farts. His name is used in dialogue throughout the film to give double meaning to lines; after she's raped, Foster's character says she wants to sleep with Sorrow. She doesn't know yet that her younger brother, played by Seth Green in his first role, has had the euthanised Sorrow stuffed. Which symbolises . . . I sure don't know what.
The movie moves along quickly and mostly the family is shown laughing and bickering through tragedy and good fortune and various bizarre incidents. Overall, I was struck by a kind of tenacious flippancy. I guess that's one way to get through life.
The Hotel New Hampshire is available on Amazon Prime.
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