I Am a Hotel

Production

Leonard Cohen had the idea for the film based upon his personal experiences and his song "The Guests". It was originally intended for the Canadian pay TV network C-Channel, but when the network collapsed, the production was completed by Citytv with financial assistance from Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and the Canadian Film Development Corporation.

Scenes

Cohen features frequently, as an amused bystander ('the Resident'). Extensive dance routines in scenes 2 and 3 were choreographed by Ann(e) Ditchburn, who also dances as the Gypsy wife in scene 3. There are five scenes, each based on a Cohen song.

1. "The Guests" in which the characters enter via the lobby and are taken to their rooms; The bellboy and chambermaid meet in the corridor; and the manager and his wife apparently have angry words in the lobby after which she strides off.
2. "Memories" (in which the bellboy pursues the chambermaid around the laundry and ballroom)
3. "The Gypsy Wife" (in which the manager's wife, in fetching attire, dances on the boardroom table)
4. "Chelsea Hotel #2" (in which the two lovers try, and fail, to make love, and the admiral and diva at last face each other across the hallway)
5. "Suzanne" (in which scenes of Suzanne with Cohen are interspersed with shots of the two couples reunited and dancing together, and the hotel manager distraught and then drinking at the bar)

A short epilogue repeats the opening material from 'The Guests'. The final credits give the makers as 'Blue Memorial Video Ltd' and dedicate the piece to David Blue (1941-1982).

Cast

Release

The film was released on video in 1996.

Recognition

The film won a Golden Rose international television award at the 1984 Montreux TV festival in Montreux, Switzerland.

Additional reading