As the recession of the 90s spreads around the world, film-makers in different countries reacted to it in different ways. Joel Schumacher's Falling Down was an outburst of anger, for instance, while Danny Boyle's Trainspotting is a serio-comic embracing of degradation.
Renato de Maria's Hotel Paura is something else altogether. Carlo, the hero of the film, loses everything in one of those vicious turns of the economic screw that is becoming more and more common. And yet, in the process, he rediscovers his faith in himself and in humanity.
'My challenge,' says the 38-year-old de Maria, known in Italy for his work on TV, film and a series of music videos on which he collaborated with top cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, 'is to avoid melodrama and stick with the story to the end - the story of a man and a woman, then of another woman and, finally, of a changed man.'
The key to this is 40-year-old Carlo (Sergio Castellito, star of Marco Ferreri's La carne and Giuseppe Tornatore's L'uomo delle stelle/The Star Man), a successful Milanese business executive. At the outset, he and his wife, Liliana (Iaia Forte) are about to move into a bigger apartment.
Then, suddenly, Carlo is made redundant and, one after another, the dominos of his life begin to collapse: no money, no home (the deposit on the new flat is non-refundable), no prospects. After a stay in a hostel for the homeless on the outskirts of Milan, Liliana takes their son (Matteo Urzia) to her parents' house for the summer.
No longer entitled to live in the hostel, Carlo ends up on the streets, all the while shielding his family from the truth. But, at the lowest point of his life, he begins to meet up with people who introduce him to a new set of values and to the 'Hotel Paura' of the title, an abandoned underground station where the homeless have set up a world of their own. First Ernesto (Roberto de Francesco), then Lucia (Isabella Ferrari, who won Best Supporting Actress prize last year at Venice for her performance in Ettore Scola's Diary of a Poor Young Man) help him find a new serenity, and a second 'Miracle in Milan' occurs.
It is, says de Maria, 'the story of a man who makes his way through society from top to bottom. It looks like a journey to hell, but it isn't: it is a journey like all the others - a road which leads to knowledge and self-awareness.'
Prod co: Angel Film, Union PN, with the participation of RAI and Canal +.
Prod: Nella Banfi.
Dir: Renato de Maria.
Guión (Scr): Renato de Maria, Claudio Lizza, from a story by Silvia Colombini, Alberto Sandrini.
Foto (Ph): Gianfilippo Corticelli.
Art dir (Prod des): Giada Calabria.
Mus: Avion Travel.
Mont (Ed): Mirco Garrone.
Ints (Cast): Sergio Castellito (Carlo Ruggeri), Iaia Forte (Liliana Ruggeri), Isabella Ferrari (Lucia), Robert de Francesco (Ernesto), Matteo Urzia (Paolo).
Ventas (Sales): TF1 International.
Duración (Running time): 100 mins.
PROGRAMACION (Screening): 21 Sep, 12.00, VE; 21 Sep, 19.00, VE; 21 Sep, 23.00, Astoria, 1; 22 Sep, 18.15, Astoria 3.
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