Hotell

Lisa Langseth's Hotell is less a film and more a projection of the director's own unresolved struggles, awkwardly dressed up as character drama. What could have been an intimate and moving exploration of trauma and healing instead collapses under the weight of Langseth's personal agenda.

The narrative feels forced and uneven, as if every scene is engineered to showcase the director's ideas about identity, freedom, and emotional breakdowns rather than allowing the characters to breathe and develop naturally. Instead of nuanced storytelling, we get therapy sessions disguised as cinema - unsubtle, heavy-handed, and often self-indulgent.

The characters come across as pawns, each reduced to archetypes meant to echo Langseth's recurring themes of alienation and societal pressure. Their voices feel less like authentic individuals and more like echoes of the director's own internal dialogue. The result is that the film feels oddly hollow despite all its attempts at depth.

Visually, there's little to redeem it either: the sterile environments mirror the lifeless emotional core of the film, and the "hotel" setting that was supposed to be a place of liberation instead feels like a stage for Langseth's self-expression, not a believable narrative space.

Ultimately, Hotell struggles because it's less about telling a story than it is about the director working through her own issues on screen. While that might be cathartic for Langseth, it leaves the audience with an experience that feels more like watching someone's private diary than engaging with meaningful cinema.

I enjoyed watching this movie, but overall have mixed feelings about it. Alicia Vikander again impressed me, but I want to see her in different roles. She is very, very talented. The film attempts to explore a different approach to group therapy. Erika is behind the idea of becoming somebody else, whilst temporary, in an attempt to overcome depression. While the idea seems interesting and plausible, it did not unfold well in the movie. Some scenes were not believable; some characters were too grotesque. It left some questions unanswered. It is impossible to know the extend of brain damage of a newborn. Why the child remained in the hospital? The Peter's story line is not believable at all. I give it 7 for the great performances and original screenplay.

This woman gives birth too early and her child is born with brain damages. He must remain in hospital, but his mother can hardly watch him. And impossibly touch him.

So she goes into a deep depression, after a while trying to solve it with group therapy. She's wealthy, she invites the group and herself to a hotel and there, things start moving. The bullied girl, the woman who loathes her body, the man who was abused by his mother.

It's a strong drama. Calling it being lighted up by some humor almost on the slapstick level, is a false expression. But it's interesting with movies, where you hardly can tell whether it's a comedy or the opposite.

Vikander gives a powerful and memorable performance, with some good support from the surrounding characters. The story, however, veers far into the implausible at times, and crosses the boundary of good taste at least once to the extent that one suspects Vikander may harbor some regrets about participating, despite her otherwise strong performance. The implausibility results from a failure in the latter part of the film to effectively communicate Vikander's mindset-Erika's disposition toward Rikard is difficult to divine from the action presented, and their subsequent misadventure seems to defy the logic of the film. If one overlooks that bit, however, the rest of the film hangs together pretty well. All just my opinion, of course.

This one was very strange but also very wonderful in its own weird sort of a way. A group of people, all broken in some way, coming together and creating something new and powerful and perhaps life-changing.

Over-all a good plot, good performances and a very unique film. Alicia Vikander impressed me yet again. What a great actress she is.

Give this one a chance, I know I'm glad I did.