The Night Clerk

THE NIGHT CLERK Recently paroled, Frédéric, mid-20s, works nights at an upscale hotel in the breathtaking Pyrenees mountains. One night, he spots the hotel owner, Jacques Couvreur, and his son, concealing a damaged vehicle. When the police investigate the death of a hotel guest, Frederic covers for his boss, who rewards him by promoting him and taking him under his wing. He is moved by Jacques' paternal attitude and fascinated by his family and lifestyle ... until he realizes he is being set up to take the blame for their crimes. "The family is, for me, an important theme. In this story, you have on the one hand Frédéric, who suffers from lack of family, and on the other hand the Couvreur family, with an authoritarian father figure, both harsh and loving. A family which is apparently strong, with several generations of male figures, but also fragile, with its conflicts, its succession and legacy issues, and above all the father's disillusionment with not having the son he would have wished for." Raphael Jacoulot