''The Hotel New Hampshire'' is a 1984 British-American
comedy-drama film
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
written and directed by
Tony Richardson
Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film ''Tom Jones (1963 film ...
based on
John Irving
John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter.
Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of ''The World According to G ...
's
1981 novel of the same name. A
co-production from the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, it stars
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and the ho ...
,
Beau Bridges
Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor and director. He is a three-time Emmy, two-time Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner, as well as a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee. Bridges was a ...
,
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...
,
Nastassja Kinski
Nastassja Aglaia Kinski (; , ; born 24 January 1961) is a German actress and former model who has appeared in more than 60 films in Europe and the United States. Her worldwide breakthrough was with ''Stay as You Are'' (1978). She then came to gl ...
, also featuring
Wilford Brimley
Anthony Wilford Brimley (September 27, 1934 – August 1, 2020) was an American actor. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and working odd jobs in the 1950s, Brimley started working as an extra and stuntman in Western films in the la ...
,
Amanda Plummer
Amanda Michael Plummer (born March 23, 1957) is an American actress. She is known for her work on stage and for her roles in such films as '' Joe Versus the Volcano'' (1990), ''The Fisher King'' (1991), ''Pulp Fiction'' (1994), and '' The Hunge ...
,
Matthew Modine
Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker, who rose to prominence through his role as U.S. Marine Private/Sergeant J.T. "Joker" Davis in ''Full Metal Jacket''. His other film roles include the title character ...
, and
Seth Green
Seth Benjamin Green ( ''né'' Gesshel-Green; born February 8, 1974) is an American actor, producer, and writer. Green's film debut came with a role in the comedy-drama film ''The Hotel New Hampshire'' (1984), and he went on to have supporting ...
. The film follows the Berry family that weathers all sorts of disasters and keeps going in spite of it all.
In an introductory foreword that he wrote for a later edition of the novel, author Irving stated that he was thrilled when Richardson informed him that he wanted to adapt the book to the screen. Irving wrote that he was very happy with the adaptation, complaining only that he felt Richardson tried to make the film ''too'' faithful to the book, noting the manner in which Richardson would often speed up the action in an attempt to include more material onscreen.
Noted for its assortment of oddball characters, ''The Hotel New Hampshire'' was theatrically released by
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...
on March 9, 1984. Although a box office failure grossing $5.1 million against its $7.5 million budget, it has been praised by the critics, particularly for its screenplay, performances, and faithful adaptation.
Plot
In the 1950s, Win Berry and his wife have five children, John, Franny, Frank, Lilly, and Egg. The Berrys decide to open a hotel near the
prep school
Preparatory school or prep school may refer to: Schools
*Preparatory school (United Kingdom), an independent school preparing children aged 8–13 for entry into fee-charging independent schools, usually public schools
*College-preparatory school, ...
that John, Franny, and Frank attend; they call it the Hotel New Hampshire.
John loses his virginity to the hotel waitress. Frank
comes out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
to Franny and John. Franny is raped by big man on campus Chip Dove and his buddies, and is rescued by Junior Jones and other black members of the football team. John confesses that he's in love with her. The family dog, Sorrow, dies and Frank has him
stuffed. Sorrow's reappearance at Christmas causes grandfather Iowa Bob to suffer a fatal heart attack.
A letter arrives from their friend Freud, inviting the Berrys to move to Vienna and run Freud's
gasthaus
A Gasthaus (also called ''Gasthof'', ''Landhaus'', or ''Pension'') is a German-style inn or tavern with a bar, a restaurant, banquet facilities and hotel rooms for rent.
Gasthäuser are typically found in smaller towns and are often family-owned. ...
. The family flies to Europe; tragically, the plane carrying Mrs. Berry and Egg explodes, killing them. In Vienna, the family moves into the gasthaus and renames it Hotel New Hampshire.
An upper floor houses prostitutes and the basement is occupied by various political radicals. Assisting Freud, who has gone blind, is Susie the Bear, a young lesbian who lives her life almost completely in a bear costume. One of the radicals, Ernst, resembles Chip Dove and Franny becomes infatuated with him. Susie and John, who are both in love with Franny, try to keep her away from him. Susie is initially successful in seducing Franny, who soon ends up with Ernst. Lilly, now an adult but still in a 13-year-old body, begins writing a novel called ''Trying to Grow''.
Miss Miscarriage, a radical, grows very fond of the family, and especially of Lilly. She invites John to hers, sleeping with him, then warns him to get the family out of Vienna. For her trouble, another of the radicals murders her. Back at the hotel, John and the rest of the family are caught up in the radicals' plan to blow up the
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...
with a
car bomb
A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles.
Car bombs can be roughly divided ...
. The blind Freud, to spare the family, volunteers to drive with one of the radicals. As he leaves, the Berrys attack the remaining radicals and Freud detonates the bomb right outside the hotel. Ernst is killed and Win is blinded in the explosion.
Hailed as heroes by the Austrians, the Berry family decides to return home. Lilly's novel is published and the interest in the Berrys' story leads to a biopic, written by Lilly and starring Franny as herself. The Berrys are in New York City when John and Susie run into Chipper Dove on the streets. The group lure him to Franny's hotel suite and take their revenge upon him, until Franny calls it off.
Meanwhile, John's love for Franny has not abated. She finally calls him over to her room, and hoping to get him over it once and for all, has sex with him for almost a day. Franny's Hollywood career is beginning to take off, with Frank acting as her agent and with Junior Jones back in the picture. Lilly's writing career has stalled, and depressed and suffering from
writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...
, she commits suicide.
Later, John is staying with his father at the latest Hotel New Hampshire, which stands empty. Susie comes to stay with them and she and John become involved. Win heartily approves because, as he puts it, every hotel needs a bear.
Cast
Production
Many outdoor scenes were shot at the
Hotel Tadoussac.
Tadoussac
Tadoussac () is a village in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saguenay and Saint Lawrence rivers. The indigenous Innu call the place ''Totouskak'' (plural for ''totouswk'' or ''totochak'') meaning "bosom", probably in reference to the t ...
is a village of 857 inhabitants (2005) in
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, Canada, which was once an important seventeenth century French trading post.
Lowe said "I can't wait for the movie to open. I think it's wonderful, and it really gives me a showcase to do some things I haven't been able to do."
[THE YOUNG ACTORS: FOR LOWE, AT 20, LEADING ROLES ALREADY
Lyman, Rick. ''Philadelphia Inquirer'', 11 Mar 1984: K.1.]
As a guest on the January 12, 2022, episode of the podcast “Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade”, Rob Lowe said Matthew Modine accidentally broke his nose with a steel-toed boot on a stunt gone wrong. Lowe claims the director was so mad at Modine, something evident during the whole production, he had his voice dubbed in post production by someone els
Music
The rock band
Queen (band), Queen was asked by producers to compose an entire soundtrack for the film, but the producers later changed their minds in favour of classical music.
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...
had already composed the song "
Keep Passing the Open Windows" and so it ended up on their 1984 album ''
The Works''.
"Keep passing the open windows"
This phrase recurs throughout the film as a
catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
among the Berry family. It is drawn from a story that the Berry parents tell their children, about a street performer called "The King of Mice". Saying "keep passing the open windows" is the family's way of telling each other to persevere. Lilly kills herself by jumping, having failed to pass that open window.
Flag error
When the Berry family is honored by the Austrian government, the hall is decorated not with
Austrian flags, but instead with the
flag of Tahiti, which is similar with its red and white stripes but has quite different and unequal proportions on its stripes.
Reception
Box office
''The Hotel New Hampshire'' opened on March 9, 1984, earning $1,075,800 in its opening weekend, ranking No. 11 at the United States box office. By the end of its run, the film grossed $5,142,858 in the domestic box office.
Based on an estimated $7.5 million budget,
this can be considered a
box office bomb
A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
.
Rob Lowe later said "When some studios do get a good movie, a movie that's different, they kill it. Orion – I hate that studio; I won't work for them again for all the money in the world – releases ''Hotel New Hampshire''
icwith a cartoon of a bear: people thought they were going to see Garfield the Cat. Then they change it to a bicycle for five: people thought they were going to see the
Von Trapp family
The term ''von'' () is used in German language surnames either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple preposition used by commoners that means ''of'' or ''from''.
Nobility directories like the ''Almanach de ...
."
Critical reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
the film has an approval rating of 71% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 6.26/10.
Home media
The film was released on
Region 1 DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
on July 10, 2001.
It was released on
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
on January 5, 2016.
References
https://open.spotify.com/episode/02avTs0TF3YxAePmW2WtVV?si=_BdtNmAhReKmsgDXjgk0Zw
External links
*
*
Movie stills*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotel New Hampshire, The
1984 films
1980s English-language films
1984 LGBT-related films
1980s romantic comedy-drama films
American coming-of-age comedy-drama films
American independent films
American LGBT-related films
American romantic comedy-drama films
American satirical films
British coming-of-age comedy films
British independent films
British LGBT-related films
British romantic comedy-drama films
Canadian romantic comedy-drama films
Canadian coming-of-age comedy-drama films
Canadian independent films
Canadian LGBT-related films
English-language Canadian films
Films directed by Tony Richardson
Bisexuality-related films
Films about dysfunctional families
Films about interracial romance
Films about terrorism
Films based on American novels
Films based on works by John Irving
Films set in Austria
Films set in hotels
Films set in the 1950s
Films set in New Hampshire
Films shot in Montreal
Gang rape in fiction
Incest in film
Lesbian-related films
Orion Pictures films
Films about rape
1984 comedy films
1984 drama films
1980s American films
1980s Canadian films
1980s British films