Summaries

Synopsis

An old man is tossed out onto the street from the entrance of the Hotel Busarewski. He shouts at the hotel manager from outside questioning aloud if that is any way to treat decent people as he staggers away up the street. At the moment a man (Thommy Berggren) arrives at the Swedish port city hotel. Inside the hotel manager in a wheelchair with an exaggerated self-image, questions where the decent people are and barks at one of his staff why the front roll up is not yet fixed. The manager rolls around an empty dining room suggesting ways to save money such as lightning used candles before the guests arrive or placing fewer buds in the vases. He angrily inspects the appetizers and salad prepared in a buffet for their funeral guests. He insists his quartet prove music even though the dining room is empty.Just as the manager interrupts the music, the man with two suitcases enters. The manager mistakes him as the new chef. The man corrects the manager that he is a waiter. The manager tells him he will work a funeral meal at 2:00 pm so he will learn the job. The waiter is told to use the stairs in the back rather than the guest elevator and to remember the hotel has a reputation of class and tradition. The manager starts the quartet playing again.At the front desk the desk clerk gives W, the new waiter, his key and whispers on this day he can take the elevator. On the top floor, W startles an older woman adjusting her uniform. W asks where No. 7 is and the woman says this is No. 3 and points him in the proper direction. The woman wants to know if his stay is temporary. W hesitantly agrees that it is. The woman jokes the it is a bit draughty on their floor but it suits the pigeons. W inspects his rather drab little room. He does indeed see a pigeon on the neighboring window sill and a woman showering near an open window across the way.W is in the dining room eating his dinner with his fellow employees. There is no conversation amongst all seated. W is noticed as a stranger. Finally, a portly man who works as the chef (Rainer Mieth) inquires across the room if W is a sailor. When W responds "partly", the man heartily laughs which inspires the rest of the room to erupt into extended laughter. When the manager appears at the door of the room, the silence returns. The manager asks if the employees have finished.W is lighting the candles by the buffet as the funeral guests await their entry. They somberly begin to occupy tables. A man invites them to be seated and the servers begin their work. In the kitchen, there is a mood of gaiety and singing. Entering the dining room, a man orders rags and water after having spilled on his fine suit. W aids in the cleaning effort. Even the maître d' lends a hand. The man who spilled his plate asks for a glass of schnapps. An older man who has snuck into the kitchen to scrape his plate jokes with W, wondering if the guests are puking.Later one funeral guest enters the bar and orders something strong. He tells the bartender he cannot believe that Evert is dead. Soon other guests join him at the bar. As soon as the last guest leaves the dining room, the candles are quickly blown out so as to preserve them. W and others start to disassemble the buffet table. Many of the funeral patrons remain in the lobby in somber despair. Regular dinner guests enter and are guided to the bar. Their carefree attitude is contrasted as they pass through the silent gathering of the grieving.W and another waiter make their way down the elevator with tables to be loaded on a cart in the basement. They are met by a custodian in a blue uniform. W can see a woman in a side room dressed in a negligee. A man stands up and appears dressing himself. The custodian tries to sell the waiters some transistor radios. As the waiters return to the lobby, they view a standoff between the manager and staff and a strapping young man who is intoxicated and accompanied by a couple of friends and a dog. The young man tries to throw a punch when he is denied entry and a beer. Finally, his friends convince him to leave.W gets a cup of coffee from the kitchen. The woman who pours it for him wants to know if W is just passing through. She tells W her intentions were the same 12 years ago. A man sitting at a table also realizes W has had a fairly challenging first day on the job. W steps outside in the back of the hotel. Several staff are watching the repair and restarting of a motorcycle. As the engine revs loudly, a manager shouts out that the hotel has guests to consider. W climbs the stairs back to his room where he encounters an attractive waitress he briefly greets. W is next seen resting in his small bed.Later, W awakens, ruffles up his hair and ventures outside. In the back lot the Chef and another of the kitchen staff are drinking coffee listening to the sounds of sex coming from an upstairs room. He sees the attractive waitress working the evening shift in the dining room full of patrons. W makes his way to the street in time to see the manager and his wheelchair being loaded into a car. The manager is heard vowing he has not given up. When the car pulls away, W continues down the street.His evening stroll takes W down some streetcar tracks. He can hear drunken laughter of three who have overindulged and are stumbling on the staircase. A man looks down from the level above and asks W where he is going. W has no answering continues on.Back at the bar of the hotel guest have gathered and are singing. An elderly man continuously remarks of his astonishment that Evert is dead and wanders among the dinner guests. Anna (Mona Seilitz), the attractive waitress escorts him back to the bar. The band is playing dance music and part of the dining room now serves as a dance floor. W makes his way through to return to his room.W keys the lock on his upstairs room. Just as he is about to enter, another man stands in the shadows in the hallway. Talkative Gustav "The Count" Svensson (Willie Andréason) introduces himself to W.He calls W a doomed bid of passage. He tells W he does not want such people but rather those who want to straighten out their lives. He tells W to write to the underground if he is interested, swearing to W it will be the count's last season at the hotel.In the dining room, a woman sings of the beginning of a love affair. The music rises to W's room leaving him lonely and forlorn. W stops writing a letter to think.The next morning, Anna is among the staff resetting the tables in the dining room. The boss rolls his wheelchair over to her and tells Anna she is beautiful. He wishes aloud that Anna had experienced the hotel thirty years ago when the hotel was vibrant and elegant. He goes on to tell Anna he is afraid to be at the hotel at night given the noise, vulgarity and slot machines. The manager goes on to tell Anna of a luncheon he is having that day with Director Ek and his attorney. He explains the fine China and a bouquet of flowers must be set. The manager promises to tell El that the installation of the slot machines has been a mistake. Further he complains how the staff is stealing food and liquor from the hotel.The manager's rant is interrupted by the old man arising from behind a sofa still exclaiming his amazement at the death of Evert. Anna escorts him to the cloak room. The man does not wish to go home and asks for a room, but is abruptly told the hotel is full. As he leaves, he continues to say he is not going home.Captain Simonsson (Arne Leif Nielsen) is the first lunch guest to arrive. He wishes to sit alone and dine without calls or interruptions. The manager directs him to another table explaining that the hotel management will be dining at his usual table in the corner. The captain orders an asparagus omelette and a number of alcoholic beverages.Inside the kitchen, the staff is being show the contents of a bag that contains stolen food. Anna is told that someone has sent her flowers. W pulls his coat on as he is about to begin his shift. The group looks accusing at W and asks if the bag is his. W denies ownership. The Count arrives to see Anna unwrapping the flowers.The manager wheels in upset that the directors of the hotel have yet to arrive. In the dining room, the captain asks W if there have been any calls for him. Then the captain tells Anna he is now available if someone wants to talk to him.Later, the manager waits in the lobby upset his guests never arrived. The maître d' tells the manager they must clear his table. W learns Anna has worked at the restaurant for six months. W also indicates he is just passing through. Anna advises she is quitting when they are ordered to clear the corner table. Anna says she is headed to a beach hotel on the coast. W questions Anna if it is too late in the season to move. Anna agrees. W asks if Anna lives there. Anna replies that she rents an apartment, however if it is late, there are times Anna stays at the hotel overnight. Anna instructs W to take the table flowers to the refrigerator.Ladies wait on the bar until their gentlemen companions join them for dinner. W cashes out and ends his shift. Another waiter advises he will serve the latest table but not before having a smoke on a pipe. W is sipping coffee where the kitchen staff is huddled around a table. The Count asks W if he made a fortune that evening. W advises he made enough for tobacco which draws a hearty laugh. the Count offer to take W out for a beer. W agrees. In the car ride over, the Count learns their female coworkers went home.W, the Count and Tony (Olle Karlsson) arrive at a gaudy nightclub with orange tables and overhead lighting. The Count orders a round of white wine for his companions and introduces the nightclub waiter to W. A scantily clad woman climbs behind the stage curtain behind them. The Count sends Tony off with money to bet on number seven. When Tony leaves the table, the Count apologizes for his encounter the previous night with W in the hallway upstairs. The Count admits he was driveling bullshit in a drunken state. The Counts says he knows people who come to work at the Busarewski. He says they do not stick together but go off on their own which ultimately leads to nothing while motioning to slash his own throat.In the corner, Tony has lost after placing the Count's bet and returns to the table. The Count tries to minimize the loss but his emotions peak and he breaks his glass shouting out that the establishment is full of swindlers. Nightclub security rises from their seats near the stage and asks the men to leave. The Count encourages W to leave the tip on the table.The three men arrive back at the Busarewski. The desk clerk advises the men that employees are not to use the elevator. His advisement is ignored. The men are upstairs around a table drinking whisky. As they sit, The Count gives W a gift telling it is from himself, Tony and Sven who the Count describes as a genius spending time in prison. Then the Count opens a wood box which contains a gun wrapped in a rag. He justifies his criminality as necessary because no one takes care of people like them. He explains what they are not given, they must take.One evening the chef is outside having a smoke when W appears in street clothes. The chef recognizes W is having a night off. The chef asks W if he found work on one of the ships nearby. They are interrupted in mid conversion by a delivery of flowers for Anna.Out on the street, a drunk tells nearby pedestrians that their days are numbered. W buys a sausage from a street vendor. Back inside the hotel dish room, the bus boys comment how slow business is that evening. Anna ends her shift and punches out. She finds W sleeping at a table in the employees dining room. When he is roused, he learns of the calm night at work. He asks Anna when she will be leaving for that summer hotel job. Anna does not know. She is called away before the conversation can continue.W is drinking coffee outside at the end of another night shift with other employees who depart just as Anna makes her way out of the building. W lingers and Anna turns around. Anna asks W of his plans for the evening. W says he might hit the town and Anna asks if he would like company. W agrees and excuses himself to change clothesAnna leads W to her apartment. She invites W inside, shows him where she lives, and offers to make him a cup of tea. W notices a photograph and asks if the people pictured are Anna's parents. Anna says the people are strangers to her. She says it is not her apartment. Anna laughs when W says the man looks like Danny Kaye. Anna asks if W is leaving soon. W agrees that he is, much like her. Anna gets emotional and explains that she hates it when people say they are leaving. She clings to W and wishes they would leave together. W fends off Anna's advances. He tells Anna they will talk about it some other time and decides to leave.W is sleeping in his room. He is startled awake by the Count. The Count pulls up at chair at W's bedside and unfolds a piece of paper. It is a map which show where the Count and Tony will be and where W is to wait for them in a blue van. Just as W rolls over to go back to sleep, the Count re-enters and gives W the code name Giliap. He says, if properly handled, the plans will become the new beginning to a new life.Anna enters the nightclub where Giliap, the Coun,t and his associates are gathered. She receives lots of cat calls before seating herself on the Count's armrest. The Count shows off Anna's legs to the men. The Count introduces another woman named Claire to Giliap before he leads Anna to the dance floor. Anna and the Count dance.As Giliap, Anna, and the Count ride in a car, Anna lays her head on the Count's shoulder. The Count waxes on about how the people of different economic statuses sleep and how unjust it is that wealth is not aligned with good and not bad people. The car is stopped by three vagrants. One approaches the Count's half opened car window and ask the Count for a cigarette. The Count seems to reach for one but then rolls up the window and traps the vagrant's arm. The Count burns the back of the man's hand with the tip of the cigarette. Anna is horrified and begs him to stop. The Count then exits the car and throws his cigarettes at the derelict. He comments that scum like that can be tormented and are still grateful. Giliap leaves the car and decides to walk.Giliap is resting in his room when Anna knocks at the door. She enters and apologizes about the previous day. Giliap offers her a chair. Anna comments that Giliap is quiet and often seems troubled, even secretive. Giliap says the secret about him is that he has no secrets. Anna says she and Giliap are quite the same. The Count watches from a car as Giliap and Anna head out for the evening.Anna and Giliap are drinking beer in a casino tavern. Anna is flirtatious and tells Giliap that his secret might be sitting right next to him. Giliap says he was supposed to go on a boat and find something meaningful he could bring home to someone like Anna. Anna fears Giliap will take all her feelings with him and disappear.

Giliap drives the Count in a blue van to his drop off location. The Count gives Giliap instructions on his identity and why he is parked where he is. Giliap pulls the van around to a side street as the Count slowly walks to a building giving signals to a man on a motorcycle and a man in a car. Giliap opens the back door of the van where another hotel worker has been riding. They set up a ramp from the street to the back of the van and wait. The Count pretends to read a newspaper. A sedan pulls up and then a motorcycle. Four men exit the car. A man with a gun rushes up from a doorway with a gun and encourages Sven to jump on the bike. Sven and one of his detainers try to jump on the motorcycle which crashes and falls over. The Count encourages everyone in the escape plot to run.Giliap and his companion from the van return to the hotel basement. The Count is smoking and sulking away from the other men gathered there. He tells the men what a sad chapter they have lived through and that his suit is ruined.Anna is sitting with Giliap in the employee dining room looking at the bouquet of roses she has received. Anna learns that Gustav the Count is ill and desires that Anna come up to him. The Count lays in bed surrounded by his colleagues from the hotel. He asks each one if he treated them unfairly or badly as if on his death bed. They all respond that he has not. Anna arrives. Gustav tells Anna that he is glad that she came up and confesses he has been overcome by the big black fear and it is getting so dark.Anna meets W in the casino club. W is distraught and asks Anna if they are doomed people without hope. He questions Anna what she wants from him when he has nothing to offer. Anna grabs his coat by the collar and shakes him.Later, W climbs the stair to Anna's apartment. He sees Gustav with flowers waiting at the door. Gustav tells W that Anna has left.The chef tells a manager that Anna has disappeared. The manager is not surprised and says it is the nature of their business. The manager expresses regret that that whatever he did and said, he meant no harm to Anna, trying to engage W in the conversation. W remains silent.Anna is waiting tables outside at a beach resort, wiping the table for a happy gentlemen who is greeting everyone good morning, when W arrives with bags in hand. Anna turns her back. W approaches. Anna inquiries when he arrived and W confirms he just got off the train. Another waitress named Lena (Pernilla Wallgren) is curious and watches from a distance.Anna is on the beach silently looking out at the surf. W is quietly sitting on a stairway nearby. Anna sits down beside him. Anna begins crying and falls into W's arms declaring she cannot talk now. That evening, Anna finishes cooking dinner in her apartment kitchen and bring a pan to W who is seated at a small table. They drink wine together while the dinner cools.At the train station, the Count disembark the train. Tony shows him the direction to the hotel before Tony departs on the train that is leaving. In the dining room, the hotel manager introduces the hotel staff, the orchestra, and his wife and thanks his guest for their summer stays. He announces the orchestra will then play the last dance of the summer.In Anna's apartment, W is relaxing after dinner when Anna rises from the table. W compliments Anna and her dress. They share a kiss. Meanwhile, in the dining room, the last dance of the summer is interrupted by the loud screeches of a bird. The Count assures the restaurant managers that bird is not dangerous. The Count produces the green parrot and places it on his shoulder. He requests a drink. The dining room manager suggests he would be better served in the bar, and escorts the count in that direction.Lena, Anna's roommate, modestly dresses for bad. Anna makes up a bed for her and W. The roommate tells Anna that someone started a brawl in the dining room. Anna undresses to sleep with W.Maintenance staff is closing up the hotel for the season. Anna is up early and dresses. W is still in bed. Anna tells W she will go clean up a bit and then they will go somewhere, the direction of which is to be determined. W tells Anna at least they have each other before Anna leaves.Anna is walking on the beach, when the Count appears from underneath the platform of staff guest rooms. He tells Anna not to be alarmed and he just wants to talk. He shows a fearful Anna a wooden box. He opens it and pulls out a handful of paper money announcing that they are rich. He tells Anna they must start again. Anna tries to back away. The Count unwraps a gun from a scarf and points it at her. He calls her repeatedly as she tries to get away. The Count shoots Anna and her body lays in the nearby sand. Two workmen hear the noise but go back to their hammering. The Count sweeps Anna up in his arms with deep regret. The Count realizes he cannot carry Anna up the steep sand dune. He lays her down, hovers over her and begins to cry.W and Anna's roommate head to the beach. The find some of the money that had blown out of the Count's box and gather it up. They are delighted until W hears the sound of a parrot. W peers under the platform and then quickly climbs the sand dune. Several people from the Hotel Busarewski are gathered around Anna's body. Lena drops the money she has gathered.W and Lena await with others at the train station. Lena turns toward W, hugs him and then runs away. The train bell sounds and the would be passengers step closer to the tracks. W stands his ground