Hotel Pacific
Hotel Pacific (Polish: Zaklęte rewiry) is a 1975 Polish drama film directed by Janusz Majewski. It was entered into the 26th Berlin International Film Festival.
| Hotel Pacific | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Janusz Majewski |
| Written by | Pavel Hajný Henryk Worcell |
| Starring | Marek Kondrat |
| Music by | Jerzy Matuszkiewicz |
| Cinematography | Miroslav Ondříček |
| Edited by | Elżbieta Kurkowska |
Release date |
|
Running time | 94 minutes |
| Country | Poland Czechoslovakia |
| Language | Polish |
Plot
A jobless youth from upcountry Roman whose belongings are crammed into a single suitcase (Kondrat) is wandering through a midden-littered alleyway when he chances upon a well-dressed, mustachioed middle-aged man kicking out another glum-looking young man from the backdoor of a large hotel. Once the moustachioed man goes back inside the doorway, Roman approaches just in time to catch an even better dressed middle aged man, whom he asks for a job. This man turns out to be Albin, nephew of the hotel owner, who hires Roman on the spot.
Roman is taken inside to serve as a busboy and is roomed with the diminutive Fryc (Skamene), who very quickly introduces him to the hierarchy and rules among the hotel's kitchen staff. Roman very quickly finds out that violence is an everyday occurrence casually meted out by the senior waiters.
One day Fryc is offered a shot at joining the waiting staff on the condition that he trains someone to man the bar. He picks Roman, a choice agreed to by the hotel owner, Pancer (Randa). Albin is given fifty zloty and passes on thirty to Roman for his new uniform. Roman excels at the job and is transferred to the waiting staff, much to the consternation of Fryc, who had been promised the move. The two young men fall out as a consequence, though by this point Roman has garnered a new ally in Henek, a libidinous veteran waiter who teaches him how to get back at the senior waiters by stealing from the till.
Roman's initial exuberance rapidly dissipates as finds himself constantly hounded by the hotel's upper class clientele, who turn out to be very demanding and extremely unsympathetic. He is also regularly persecuted by the head waiter, Fornalski (Wilhelmi), the mustachioed middle-aged man encountered at the beginning of the film.
An accident occurs by the bar, resulting in the death of a senior waiter. Fryc reveals to Roman that it was caused by Fornalski's negligence. Roman threatens to report Fornalski to the waiters' union, causing the flustered maître d' to not only end his harassment of Roman, but also help the young man join the senior waiting staff.
In time Roman passes the waiting exam, qualifying to become a senior waiter. Fryc fails it for the third time in a row, however, and unsuccessfully attempts suicide, as a result of which he is fired from the hotel.
Some time passes, by which point Roman has grown a mustache and is in a relationship with Hela (Celinska), who also works in the tearoom. Their affair ends prematurely when Hela is fired by Pancer, who has forbidden his employees from romancing each other.
After seeing Hela off at the train station, Roman is accosted by Fryc, who has become a vagrant. The two men catch up over vodka in the station café, during the course of which they become progressively more inebriated. The mutual joy they derive from badmouthing the hotel and its rules proves fleeting, however, and the two former roommates part on bad terms, with Fryc telling Roman to fuck off.
The next day Roman suffers a meltdown in front of the tearoom clientele. This earns him a strong rebuke from Fornalski, who by this point had taken Albin's place as manager. Roman is sent upstairs to meet with Pancer, though it turns out that the owner only wanted his help in an ongoing investigation of embezzlement.
Roman works out that Fornalski is the embezzler wanted by Pancer, but keeps this information to himself, to the horror of the more wordly Henek, who would have blackmailed the older man. However, Roman has a change of heart upon learning that Pancer was the one who had snitch on his relationship with Hela.
To Fornalski's alarm Roman enters Pancer's office.
Cast
- Marek Kondrat - Roman Boryczko
- Roman Wilhelmi - Robert Fornalski
- Roman Skamene - Fryc
- Čestmír Řanda - Pancer
- Michał Pawlicki - Albin
- Martin Hron - Henek
- Stanisława Celińska - Hela
- Joanna Kasperska - Paulina
- Jaroslava Schallerová - Zośka
- Włodzimierz Boruński - Editor
- Czesław Wołłejko - Baron Humaniewski
- Tadeusz Drozda - Waiter
- Zdzisław Maklakiewicz - Waiter
- Bronislav Poloczek - Waiter
- Stanisław Zaczyk
- Ewa Ciepiela - Prostitute
- Václav Lohniský - Sinajský
- Juliusz Lubicz-Lisowski - Guest in the Restaurant