Dir. Jacques Deschamps, 2018. 80 min. DCP.
In French with English subtitles

At the Lesdiguières hotel school in Grenoble, students learn how to greet guests, fold tablecloths, and chop vegetables without looking. While this charming film has plenty of arresting fly-on-the-wall scenes about the challenges of the hospitality industry, director Jacques Deschamps had the brilliant idea of going beyond a typical documentary treatment by including a series of musical numbers in which a class of Lesdiguières students sing and dance about their dreams while going about their duties in the hotel’s kitchen, dining room, guest quarters, and restrooms, creating an utterly original and totally beguiling mix of documentary film and musical comedy.

• About the Presenter

  • Madeleine Schwartz writes about politics and art for The New York Review of Books, London Review of Books, and other publications.