Hotels have always been favored locations for directors. These settings offer a lavish backdrop, sometimes even unique, for creating the most iconic scenes in cinema.
Midnight in Paris, To Catch A Thief, Pretty Woman and Lost in Translation all share the same “enclosed place where seduction, pleasure-seeking, negotiation and ambition are all intertwined”, as Edmund Goulding’s Grand Hotel (1932) describes in its synopsis.
Since then, film-makers have seized on the hotel as a symbol of romance, capable of representing a seemingly distant destination. The intimate setting of its rooms and suites can be the pretext for the most inflamed passions, the most unavowable confidences, forbidden desires and even directly serve the film’s narrative arc. Thanks to breathtaking natural settings, they are the backdrop for cult scenes in the films we all love.
These productions are increasingly inspiring our next vacation destinations. So it is with the so-called “jet setting” trend, which consists of drawing inspiration from our latest viewings on streaming platforms – both films and series – to follow in the footsteps of our fictional heroes and heroines to a place outside time and the outside world.
In fact, a recent study coroborated by teams from online booking platform Expedia shows that TV programs – and by extension audiovisual productions – now influence our travel decisions far more than posts on Instagram.
It has to be said that since James Bond criss-crossed hotels on five continents, there’s no better way to experience a live show in which you’re the hero.
The Carlton Cannes A Regent Hotel
A large part of the cult film To Catch A Thief (1955) was shot at the Carlton Cannes A Regent Hotel, notably in the mythical room 623 for the famous fireworks scene, conceived as an allegory for the rise of desire between the two protagonists, and which has since become the “Alfred Hitchcock Suite” in homage to the film’s director and master of suspense. A lover of the French Riviera, Hitchcock chose the Carlton in Cannes as the playground for Cary Grant as John Robie, a burglar who falls in love with Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly).
In the same Hitchcock vein, there’s the Empire Hotel. The hotel, located in the heart of San Francisco, was renamed in homage to the director’s 1958 masterpiece, Vertigo. The necklace scene takes place in one of the hotel’s rooms, when Scottie (James Stewart) discovers Madeleine’s (Kim Novak) deception.
The Beverly Hills Wilshire A Four Seasons Hotel, Los Angeles
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Featured photo : ©Midnight in Paris
