THE ROYAL HOTEL

Australia, 2023, 91 minutes, Colour.

Julia Garner, Jessica Fenwick, Hugo Weaving, Ursula Yovich, Toby Wallace, Daniel Henschel, James Frecheville.

Directed by Kitty Green.

Writer-director, Kitty Green, notes that she grew up in a hotel. Which means that she knows what she is talking and writing about here. But, some years ago, she was impressed by a documentary, Hotel Coolggardie, which recorded the experience of two young women, from Europe, working for a time in the pub in the mining area of Western Australia. It focused on how the young women dealt with the situation, with the customers, with the response of the men who frequented the pub.

Kitty Green, along with writer, Oscar Redding, have produced a fictionalised version of Hotel Coolgardie.

This is a drama although it is advertised as a thriller (with a lot of discontented audiences who expected more thriller conventions). But, as a drama, set in an outback pub, many audiences will immediately remember the film version of Ken Cook’s novel, also made as a television miniseries, Wake in Fright. That was the story of an Englishman in Broken Hill, caught up with the drunken match oh culture, succumbing to it, waking in fright.

One of the phrases to describe this is “toxic masculinity”. And, this is the theme of this film – though not quite as aggressive, though definitely aggressive, as Wake in Fright.

Two young Canadians are holidaying in Sydney, played by Julia Garner (who worked with Kitty Green in The Assistant) and Jessica Fenwick. They run out of money, go to an employment agency, the only immediate job available way out in the outback, train, bus, car pickup and they arrive at the Royal Hotel.

A lot of what happens at the hotel is what we would be expecting. Live is more the goodtime girl and joins in the spirit of nights at the pub. Hannah, on the other hand, is strong-minded, doesn’t smile, but is wary of the men. The pub is owned by Billy, inheriting it from his family (played by Hugo Weaving), but Billy is unwell, alcoholic, chauvinist torts the young women. His partner, also work’s chauffeur at the hotel, is veteran first Nations actress Ursula Yovich, an anchor for the hotel, the Billy and for the girls.

The men come in each night from the mines, most of the miners, some of them with science and engineering background, especially Matt, a meteorologist played by Toby Wallace, who offers some friendship to the girls. There is also the minor, Teeth, James Frecheville, seemingly more subdued than the others, and more sympathetic. In fact, everybody survives well enough day by day, not as bad as Wake in Fright, though that is not particularly reassuring for Hannah.

And, while most of the men fail to respond well to the challenges, the most sinister character is Dolly, played with a mixture of smiling insinuation and violent outbursts by Daniel Henschel (many audiences still remembering his sinister serial killer in snow town).

On the one hand, the picture of life at the hotel, each night, is presented as realistic. However, the ending, looking realistic, is far more to be seen as symbolic, an apocalyptic ending to this kind of life at the Royal Hotel.

1. The title, sounding pretentious, the hotel in the outback, the family owning it for generations, the mining town, the surroundings?
2. The Australian literary and film tradition of Wake in Fright? The pub, the locals, the male ethos, presence of females, harassment and misogyny? The owners and coping? The aboriginal presence? Alcohol? The women coming in to serve at the bar? The documentary, Hotel Coolgardie, and this screenplay as a fictionalised version of documentary revelation?
3. The situation of overseas visitors in Australia, holiday, travel, enjoyment, issues of money, jobs? Hannah and Liv, Canadian backgrounds, getting away, furthest away, in Sydney, the touristic look, the clubs, music, drinking, dancing, flirting, the Norwegian and Hannah? Liv going to the bar, the card refused, the girls needing to get a job, the agency, as in the bush?
4. The visuals of the South Australian landscapes, the highways, the desert, the distances, Martin backgrounds, off the beaten track, by train, bypass, deposited, Carol and the car picking up the girls, the dust? Arriving at the hotel, the locked door, the rooms, the English girls upstairs spaced out?
5. Life at the hotel, the miners, Gladys and her drinking, the absence of women? Billy, managing the hotel, from his father, his moods, age, issues of money, owing the aboriginal delivery man $4300, not paying the girls, explaining how everything worked, his rules, exclusions for behaviour, but letting people in? The rituals?
6. The importance of Carol, aboriginal background, picking the girls up, working the kitchen, managing the hotel, her relationship with Billy, control of him, urging him to pay, forbidding him to drink, his collapsing, behaviour in the hotel, the final collapse, taken to hospital? Carol taking him, leaving everything behind?
7. Anna and Liv and their personalities, live more as the easy-going, not having the money, taking the job? The contrast with Hannah, more controlled, edgy? The trip, the arrival, the accommodation, the British girls and their stories, learning the ropes from Billy? Carol and the cooking? The girls gradually getting used to things, going to the swimming pool and its being empty, sunbaking? The friendship with Matty, his taking them for the drive, the distance, the service station, the key to the toilet on a box, finding the pool and falls? The good effect? And seeing the kangaroo?
8. The range of men, their behaviour, the drinking, the sexist remarks, the crude four letter comments, what is called “toxic masculinity”?
9. Matty, meteorologist, friendly, taking the girls out, with Hannah, drinking, the sexual approach, her refusal, his reaction, sleeping the car, his apology? His later making advances, a mixture, with Dolly, the effect of drink and flirting, Hannah rejecting him?
10. The contrast with Teeth, quiet, the miner, more polite, friendship with Liv, making progress, but the drink, the reactions, crashing the car, Billy banning him, his return, disgruntled at the end?
11. Dolly, sinister, smile, driving the British girl, returning, sitting at the bar, drinking, the seeming charm, but the advances, at the door and Hannah barricading the door, the later confrontations, live excusing him, and the suspicious, her wanting to leave? In the bar with the loner and the Jubilee couple having champagne, Dolly and his behaviour, Hannah and her stances, the violent reaction? Dolly coming upstairs, the confrontation with Hannah, pushing her, her injury? Dolly getting the support of Matty?
12. The ultimate effect on the girls, the experience of wake in fright, the misogyny, the need for self-preservation, the snake in the bottle, smashing it, the lighter for the candle on Liv’s birthday cake, the Canadian flag? And with the lighter, setting the hotel alight, their walking away?
13. Marketing emphasising the film is a thriller, the bloggers reacting badly? The film, however, as an Australian drama, the outback, men and women, realistic and symbolic, and the final five and walking away as more symbolic than realistic?