Thoughts (spoilers)

The film opens with a first communion party. A celebration of a child accepting one of the blessed sacrements and religion into her life and being. The family hosting the party own the hotel and have invited some of its long-term tenants to their daughter's lunch. A cake is cut and the girl, Lucette (like light?), is instructed to take it to one of the guests not at the lunch Mme Raymonde. Mme Raymonde is not at the lunch because her lover M.Edmond has not been invited.

The film ends with M.Edmond being shot and killed by a silver bullet. Along the way we learn that M.Edmond is a fugitive from justice and on the run from his previous associates one of whom he ratted on in order to escape the law. This associate, Nazarede, is aggrieved and wants M.Edmond's blood.

Blood is an early symbol in the film. One of the hotel's tenants donates blood on a regular basis. Some of his donations are said to have been given to Renee, a young woman who almost dies, from a single shot to the heart, in the hotel.

We learn that Renee is an orphan and for want of love she falls deeply for Pierre. He is a world weary cynic and draughtsman who draws up a plan for them to commit suicide together. So in love with Pierre is Renee that she agrees to die. But the plans go wrong. Renee finds herself entangled with another world weary cynic in the form of M.Edmond and both seek to escape the canal for the open sea. They don't.

Manolo is an orphan too. He is a minor character: A child rescued from the civil war in Spain that claimed his parents. He is rescued by the couple who own the hotel. They in turn rescue Renee when she returns after the failed suicide bid. At this point Renee has nothing in her life so the couple and hotel provide her with a home and family. As they did Manolo.

And so the film shows us how interconnected everyone is and how linked by literal and symbolic blood are people. There are lots of nods to fate and also to justice. By the time the film ends justice has been served to those who merited it in some way.

Although the story and its symbolism and humanity was poignant I found the film a bit vanilla. I attribute this, as others have done, to the lack of depth provided in the relationship between Renee and Pierre. Fortunately the film has other characters that help balance the dark heart of the film as represented by Edmond, Nazarede and Mme Raymonde.

Why do you refuse to remember me?