Hotel zur Unsterblichkeit

Wings of Fame was filmed at a time when Polygram began expanding into the field of feature film production and had ambitions to become a counterpart to the American Majors and the largest European production company capable of regularly producing commercial hits and festival successes. One of these was supposed to be Wings of Fame, an intellectual play on fleeting popularity and human vanity. This was also reflected in the star-studded cast - although Colin Firth still had his biggest hits ahead of him, Peter O'Toole was at his peak at the time and his colleagues were generally predicted to have a very decent future. The plot depicts a journalist and writer played by Colin Firth, who writes a book about the first-rate actor Peter O'Toole and, after desperately trying to contact him, accidentally kills him in a fit of rage. He also loses his life and both of them go to a place where the living are forbidden to enter. However, that world is far from the pictures painted by the major religions, and the status of the deceased is determined by their earthly fame. The plot is truly interesting, but I feel the whole execution is driven by festival ambitions and it somehow feels cold to me. Overall impression: 65%. (21.11.2010)

Ich mag Filme mit originellen Ideen. Und die, die solche Ideen gänzlich nutzen, mag ich besonders gern. Hotel zur Unsterblichkeit ist so ein Film. Die fantastische Zwischenwelt, welche wie ein Hotel für Promis aller Art aussieht, von deren Berühmtheit auf Erden nicht nur der Luxus, den sie genießen, sondern auch die Länge ihres Aufenthaltes abhängt, hat mich begeistert. Ein ausgezeichnet geschriebenes, ernstes sowie witziges Drehbuch (Welcher Idiot klaut hier ständig die Kreide?), Peter O´Toole und sein eingebildeter Schauspieler – der Liebling des Publikums, der sehr junge, aber schon damals großartige Colin Firth, viele Nebenfiguren, von denen die meisten nur kurz auftauchen, was aber völlig reicht… Und das Ende. Das alles ergibt zusammen mit der Regie, die manchmal fast Gilliam-Züge trägt, einen Film, der mir zwar lange entgangen, aber zum Glück nicht entkommen ist. (22.10.2011)