Bunker Palace Hôtel (1989)
Directed by Enki Bilal

Film Review

A rare excursion by French cinema into science-fiction, Bunker Palace Hôtel is a boldly imaginative film that presents a disturbing yet chillingly plausible vision of a future world that is not so far removed from our own. Carole Bouquet (Lucie Aubrac) is as enticing as ever in the role of the unsuspecting spy Clara who shares our unease at what she experiences in the titular hotel.  On her arrival in this curious mausoleum, she is welcomed by a defective android receptionist and a mysterious, bald-headed Monsieur Holm, whose main role in life seems to be to kick-start the robotic slaves every time they malfunction.  Jean-Louis Trintignant is at his nightmare-inducing best as the sinister Mr Holm, the character who dominates the film like some expressionistic fiend, although even he has difficulty clinging on to the focus when Jean-Pierre Léaud shows up unexpectedly in an enjoyable cameo role.

Bunker Palace Hôtel was made around the time of the fall of the East European communist countries, and this no doubt impacted greatly on the screenwriters, allowing them to give the film its frightening immediacy. The nightmarish world that director Enki Bilal invites us to enter (not unlike the scary but welcoming Mr Holm) is one that feels too close to reality for comfort. It is one where machine guns rage incessantly in a war-scarred country, and where the elite of a self-important super-class hang out in luxurious underground shelters, far from the dangers that threaten them outside. It's a stark, albeit not very subtle, metaphor for the world that we see today. Here is a glimpse not of our future but our present...

Film Synopsis

In the not too distant future, a violent civil war brings down a totalitarian state.  As the war rages on the surface, the high ranking leaders of the old regime take flight and seek the sanctuary offered by Bunker Palace Hotel.  In this vast subterranean shelter the fugitives have their every need catered for.  They will be invulnerable to attack from the outside, and inside they can live as they have always lived, in comfort amidst the most opulent surroundings, dutifully served by androids.  On their arrival, these ex-leaders are welcomed by the shelter's genius creator, Holm.  Not long after, a spy from the rebel camp named Clara finds her way into the supposedly impregnable shelter, although her mission is far from clear.  As the hours pass, the leaders in exile become increasingly concerned that their president hasn't yet shown up.  Until he arrives there is a danger that anarchy may break out in Bunker Palace Hotel...