Whilst the majority of refugees from the political innovations of 20th century Europe found their way to Britain or North America, a forlorn proportion only made it to France. The Hotel International, Paris, a 2 star establishment, receives those who have squeezed out from under the brutal heels of local dictators. From this flotsam emerges a surgeon from Czechoslovakia, via Spain, and a White Russian , whose employment is summoning taxis for the patrons of a nightclub owned by one of his former junior officers. 'I am your father', the Russian tells the Czech at one point, which explains a part of their relationship. The plot for the rest recalls that of Puccini's opera La Boheme, set in Paris a hundred years before the events depicted here. Ingrid Bergman appears mostly in horizontal positions or in shadow, as if the director was consciously trying to reduce the impact of a performance that threatens to overwhelm. Charles Boyer strains to give the predicament of his character some significance. The slim pickings of the refugees might seem to imbue their lives with conventional pathos, but Remarque's vision is bleaker, suggesting the situation is a colossal waste of human energy, talent and life itself.
Review of Arch of Triumph
