Chevalier — Hotel

Have you seen Hotel Chevalier? Do you prefer it before or after watching Darjeeling? Let me know in the comments.

If you haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil the final beat. But I will talk about the song. Hotel Chevalier

Here’s the magic trick of Hotel Chevalier : It takes every Wes Anderson trope—the symmetry, the curated color palette (that specific, aching shade of yellow), the deadpan delivery—and strips away the ensemble cast. There is no Gene Hackman, no Bill Murray. Just two people in a room. Have you seen Hotel Chevalier

Just don’t answer the door if you hear a knock in a pink suit. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil the final beat

The answer arrives in a silk bathrobe.

For the next ten minutes, they dance. Not literally—though the camera glides like one. They spar with dialogue that is at once brutally honest and playfully cruel. She asks why he ran away. He asks why she’s here. The air is thick with the scent of old flowers and newer betrayals.

She is sunshine wrapped in jet lag. He is anxiety wrapped in a Louis XV robe.