Ìý User Rating 
Fans of Hidden and Lemming should relish this enigmatic Gallic drama, which deftly explores the increasingly troubled relationship of a middle-class thirtysomething Parisian couple, architect Philippe (Laurent Lucas) and voice-over artist Marion (Helene Fillieres). Written and directed by newcomer Brice Cauvin, the concise Hotel Harabati playfully blurs the boundaries between the real and the imagined, and unfolds against a backdrop of mysterious terrorist attacks in the French capital.
En route to a holiday without their children, Philippe and Marion are asked by a Middle Eastern gentleman at a station to keep an eye on a suitcase. He never returns and impulsively they decide to skip their trip to Venice and to take the bag back home, discovering that it's filled with foreign cash. However doubts and uncertainties soon begin to engulf the duo. Is this stranger, whom they glimpse on the streets and on TV, connected to a bombing campaign in Paris? Why are there photos of Venice in the roll of film that Marion develops? And why are they both so ambivalent about buying a flat?
"DISTINGUISHED BY THE INTELLIGENTLY PITCHED PERFORMANCES "
Without providing straightforward explanations, Cauvin roots his elliptical story in a recognizably everyday world of child-care arrangements, DIY tasks and visits to swimming baths. His preference for long shots allows us time to ponder the perplexing events we're shown, and to consider what's happening within the imaginations of the characters, not least the dream-like passage in Syria in search of the elusive hotel from which the film takes its name. Distinguished by the intelligently pitched performances of Lucas and Fillieres, there's also a memorable cameo from a diminutive Jewish opera-singer (Anthony Roth Costanzo), for whom Philippe temporarily deserts his family.
Hotel Harabati is out in the UK on 7th December 2007.
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