The Royal Hotel: A complex exploration of the toxic and violent masculinity women face
Writer/director Kitty Green made a name for herself with The Assistant in 2019 and became a filmmaker people have been keeping a close eye on ever since. The feature was an immensely gripping and ‘on the edge of your seat’ movie full of great performances (especially the one from Julia Garner). At the same time, it also tackled social issues such as the #MeToo movement and abuse against women in the workplace. Green is now following it up with The Royal Hotel. While the movie’s certainly big on social issues and tension, it lacks the strong lead character The Assistant had.
At first, you wouldn’t think this film would become a thriller. You meet Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) when they’re having a great time during their holiday in Australia — partying and drinking on a fabulous cruise ship and doing dirty deeds with the boys. However, when Liv’s wallet runs dry, reality hits the friends extremely hard. The partying is over, and they have to go back to their everyday life. Despite being strapped for cash, the girls still want to travel and have a good time, and therefore they decide to take on a job in the Royal Hotel, a desolate pub in the middle of nowhere. The besties have to take a train, bus and car to get there, so you can already imagine in what kind of area the bar is located. From the moment they enter the Royal Hotel, you can practically smell the stale beer, the sweat and the dirty, dusty smell of the pub. Kudos certainly need to go to the production design and set design teams of this movie.
Liv and Hanna are greeted by the lovely but stern Carol (Ursula Yovich) and her dominant husband/pub owner, Billy (Hugo Weaving), whose poignant relationship turns violent on multiple occasions when Billy has been drinking a lot. His drinking ignites fear in Hanna. She had witnessed the violence caused by alcohol before because her mother drank. Therefore, she isn’t keen on working at the pub, even more so because the clientele consists mainly of men out for beer and girls (especially the ones serving them drinks). Liv can convince her to stay as desperate times call for desperate measures. Both ladies embrace the work-hard, play-hard mentality — Liv a bit more than Hanna. However, when the patrons see the ladies more as targets than as their bartenders, the girls get into hazardous situations.
If this story sounds familiar, then you’re a woman who sadly had to deal with the unwanted attention from drunk men, or you’ve seen Hotel Coolgardie. The 2016 documentary by Pete Gleeson explores the intense sexism and abuse a few Finnish female bartenders face when they’re working in a secluded pub in the Australian Outback. While the lead characters in The Royal Hotel pretend they’re Canadian ‘because everyone loves Canadians’, the stories are incredibly similar and, sadly, also very true to life. Green also took a lot of inspiration from Ted Kotcheff’s Wake in Fright, in which we witness the violent and abusive drinking culture from a male perspective. While Green leaves out the male gaze — as we see the story of Hanna and Liv through their eyes — she does include the physical, emotional and psychological impact of alcohol on men and the abuse of women that’s a result of it.
Green does an impeccable job of bringing those social issues perfectly to the big screen. The social economy in this movie stunningly resembles the one in real life. Yes, not all men become violent when they have one glass too many, and not all women are as innocent as they seem, but there’s a lot of truth running through the storyline of this movie.
What’s also beautifully integrated into the storyline is the thrilling vibe. You have to wait a long time for that, though, because the tension only starts to rise during the second part of this film. The Royal Hotel has a runtime of ‘only’ 91 minutes, so it would have been better if the thriller aspect of the movie was introduced earlier on. However, when the situation becomes much more dangerous and the men much more unruly, this movie becomes the thriller it promises to be.
It could have been even more gripping if there wasn’t a problem with one of the leading characters. Garner (Inventing Anna), Weaving (V for Vendetta) and Yovich (Top End Wedding) all give very compelling performances, as each knows how to bring out the many (hidden and visible) psychological layers of their characters. Still, we can’t say the same about Henwick (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery). It’s not a dig at Henwick — as she does the best with what she has been given — but Liv is so unexplored and out of focus that you don’t get the chance to get to know her.
You don’t understand what drives her, what makes her tick and why she’s even friends with Hanna. Both girls are the total opposite and have different views on whether they should stay or go. Their friendship is on the verge of collapsing throughout this movie due to the constant stress and the dangers lurking around the corners. So why are the girls still together? It’s something we will never know. Liv and her motives don’t entirely make sense, and therefore, it is hard to connect with this co-lead.
Despite this, the rushed ending and the very slow-burning tension (this could maybe be something you like), The Royal Hotel is still a complex exploration of the Australian Outback, the toxic and violent masculinity women have to face and the negative sides of an alcohol-fuelled society.
The Royal Hotel is out now in UK cinemas courtesy of Universal Pictures.
Score: 6/10