Saturday, March 8, 2008

by Ari

Hotel Chevalier is the short film that acts as a prologue to The Darjeeling Limited. The 13 minute short gives you an effective look at the awkward, troubled relationship between Jack (Schwartzman) and his ex-girlfriend played by Natalie Portman. In The Darjeeling Limited, Jack is conflicted about whether or not he should meet his ex-lover in Italy after his spiritual bonding with his brothers Francis and Peter in India. As the film progresses we learn that Jack has the password to her voice-mail and regularly checks her messages.

The short film is pretty amusing for the most part. I like that Natalie Portman is basically a cold, tough, dominating bitch who probably sleeps around and seems to use Jack for her own personal amusement. And the way Schwartzman responds to her is appropriately cruel. After her condescending remark about never losing him as a friend, Jack replies, "I promise. I will never be your friend. Ever." Or when she says, "If we fuck I'm gonna feel like shit tomorrow", he coolly responds with, "that's okay with me".

I watched The Darjeeling Limited again after Hotel Chevalier and still have issues with the last 15 minutes or so, but Schwartzman's Jack is still great and the performances are good. My favorite part is still the most serious bit in the film, a sudden twist where the comedic tone quickly switches to somber and tragic after a fatal accident with a young child. "Look at those assholes" turns into the most moving section of the story. And was it ever confirmed that the characters Francis, Peter and Jack were based on Francis Coppola, Peter Bogdonavich and Jack Nicholson?