'In the course of my cleaning duties, I examined the belongings of each guest of the hotel and observed through the details, lives that will remain unknown', says the temporary Chambermaid in a large seaside hotel, which, unable to communicate, lives through a rigid methodology of analysis of the exterior and a ritualised quotidian. Until the uncontrollable comes to disrupts this dynamic. Hotel Royal is fragmented and incomplete mosaic of contemporary societies. It could be dubbed a film about the horrors of the soul, about voyeurs or simply about misfits.
A woman finds herself, not sure how, in Beirut’s Hall of Fame after closing hours. Like Molly Bloom, and the more virtuous Penelope, this woman waits for her husband. She appears to have set a date with him. But he has not arrived. While she waits for her husband she interacts with the figures/statues in the Hall of Fame. She cleans the dust from their eyes, straightens out the baseball cap of another, she smooths out the cape of a third figure. She works so that they appear cleaner and better arranged. However, while she waits Hanan only makes an effort to improve the appearances of the figures that represent regional and world political leaders who are responsible for the chaos that ravages the Middle East. Despite Hanan’s effort, it will difficult for them to appear ‘clean.’
Extraction: The Raft of the Medusa portrays a brief moment of euphoria as the occupants on the raft spot a glimpsic illusion for their drift, hoping and praying to be rescued. We can almost hear the hoarse cries in an attempt to draw attention to their desperate plight, mustering their last ounce of strength to the void. This is their last chance of survival.
N/A
