clementine

remembered that i can make my desktop wallpaper literally whatever i want

everyone talks about The Hotel Scene (rightfully so), but it makes you forget there’s actually TWO hotel scenes. on the surface, the scene of Patrick’s card getting declined is just exposition, but there’s so much more going on. And all of it goes back to this couple:

they feel like the key to the entire movie. they show up for 30 seconds, they complain about how the hotel doesn’t match the photos on its website, we chuckle a little and we move on. At least the first five or so times you watch it. But as I’ve watched this movie more and more, it’s started to gnaw at me—who are these guys? why are they here? why include them at all? I need their entire backstory. I need to know everything about them. Goddammit, I need answers!

Originally, this was going to be a post about the use of blue and green in the movie (working on that too…but that’s a much bigger undertaking), so I was hunting through the movie for every example I could find. In doing so, I realized the hotel guys are, in fact, wearing Patrick and Art’s signature shades of blue and green. And look at this:

THEY’RE THE SAME PHOTO. Green shirt on the left, blue shirt on the right. Same expressions. Finding this actually made me a little nauseous.

Baseline, the hotel guys are an example of a perfectly happy, boring, domestic couple, which you cannot find anywhere else in the movie—even Tashi’s mom is single—EXCEPT for Art and Patrick before they see Tashi (she was a homewrecker). The way they talk to each other in general is super similar, but even the flow of these two conversations line up. At the hotel, blue shirt tells green shirt he thinks Patrick is cute, green isn’t so sure. At the match, Patrick tells Art that Tashi is the hottest woman he’s ever seen, and Art isn’t so sure. These guys at the hotel echo Patrick and Art perfectly—reminding me of their past while also showing what we always hope they can return to in the future.

Which brings us to Patrick trying to check in to the hotel before the challenger. It’s not just about his card declining—it's that he’s trying to get back to The Hotel Room Scene but he can’t by himself. The couple arriving causes him to stop trying to get a room, showing him what he’s missing (Art). ALSO. The last line of the sign on the counter says “MAXIMUM OF TWO PERSONS PER ROOM”. Oh my godd when I tell you my jaw dropped after zooming in to read what I thought would be an inconsequential hotel policy and then I saw THAT. If that’s not a call out to The Hotel Scene then I don’t know what is.

Patrick’s trying to check back in, but he has to play the challenger and reunite with Art and Tashi before he can. That sign, his card declining...something about his fate won't let him. And you know what Luca Guadagnino said about what happens right after the movie—“They go back to the hotel room.” Once they reunite.

The "return to the hotel" is played out through these guys arriving at the hotel—who we hope are much older versions of Art and Patrick, who will be able to return to their boring, easy relationship (with Tashi this time). We get a triangulation of people, blue on the left and green on the right. Maybe it's a little far to say the hotel clerk is filling the role of Tashi, but I'll throw that out there too.

We all want to be checking into that hotel; to be in a spot good enough that the hotel will let us check in.

★ bonus little detail, there are three (3) statue of liberties in the lobby:

college student!patrick zweig x fem!reader

chapter 3/4 (chapter 1, chapter 2)

chapter word count: 916

synopsis: You have had a crush on Patrick all semester, but he only cares about keeping his tennis scholarship and passing his classes. Until he suddenly takes an interest in you. For some reason.

author's note: sorry for the delay on this chapter! will try to get the next one out faster. that one will pick up right where this one leaves off!

｡｡｡｡｡｡｡｡｡｡｡｡꩜˚⋆chapter 3 ⋆˚꩜｡｡｡｡｡｡｡｡｡｡｡

After the match, Patrick disappears into the locker room before you can see him again. All of the scenarios you were designing in your head as you watched him play suddenly shatter. You had hoped he would run into the stands after winning and pull you into his arms, heart racing with a broad smile on his face. Or maybe make plans with you for later. Could a dinner invite be in your future? But no, this was Patrick—he would never stoop to the level of going on a real date or so readily showing devotion to, let’s face it, a girl he just met. Even still, as you watched him play you focused on his eyes, which had been just inches from your face a couple hours ago.

As you sit defeated in the bleachers, reluctantly making new plans for the evening that wouldn’t involve him, your Blackberry buzzes.

Patrick: Movie tonight? You: Where? Patrick: Your place You: 50 sq ft dorm & roommate Patrick: K mine then. Crothers Hall 254. Patrick: 9pm You: What movie? Patrick: ;)

You roll your eyes at the stupid winking face, but internally you’re kicking your feet and giggling because of course that’s his response. You get up and finally make your way back to your dorm, trying to figure out what movie he could possibly pick, what an evening with Patrick Zweig will look like, and also if he wants to fuck you.

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You take a shower, grab dinner, ignore your homework, and before you know it, it’s time to walk over to his dorm. When you knock on the door, you hear frantic scrambling to clean up his room, like he wasn’t just sitting in there waiting around. He opens the door wearing clothes he clearly just threw on and his hair is a mess.

“Are you ready to have your mind totally expanded?” He asks, looking more excited by whatever he’s about to propose than you’ve ever seen him be.

“Umm…are you going to offer me drugs?” He steps aside to let you in and grabs a VHS from the top of his (very messy) dresser.

Patrick’s giddiness doesn’t falter for a second as he holds up the Blockbuster rental box. “Even better. Chris Nolan’s Memento.” Sure, it’s not at all shocking that he would love this movie, since basically every guy ever had seen it and loved it (even the ones who were too busy with tennis to see many movies). You found it to be perfectly enjoyable when you saw it a couple years ago, but it definitely wasn’t the spiritual experience he’s making it out to be now. His enthusiasm is really cute, though, and you don’t want to disappoint him, so you play along.

“Oh wow, this looks interesting. I haven’t heard of it, what’s it about?” This is clearly the exact response he was looking for and you’re happy to give it to him.

He starts rattling off information about the movie as he pops in the tape. “You’re not going to believe this, it’s in another league. The plot’s in reverse order so you really need to see it more than once to understand everything. Guy Pearce gives a great lead performance; the whole movie depends on it being great. It also has Carrie-Anne Moss, and Joe Pantoliano who you might remember from The Matrix. Oh, and Christopher Nolan is currently making—you can sit on my bed there—a Batman movie that comes out this summer.”

You take a tentative seat on Patrick’s bed and finally get a good look around the room. There are clothes tossed on floor, a stack of textbooks and a couple CDs on his desk. Really it’s just your average dorm—a room too small for anyone to live in comfortably, with that signature, indescribable dorm smell. The trailers start on the TV and he goes over to the mini fridge.

“Want a beer?” You nod, wondering if he gets that you’re thinking about this as a date. It really seems like, for him, a movie and a beer would be an average night in with his roommate.

“Hey, where’s your roommate?”

He settles on his bed next to you, his leg only a couple of inches away from yours. “Oh, Art?” He scratches his face. “He had a match at another school this evening, he’s spending the night there.”

“Huh. Do you do this,” you gesture to the TV and the beer and the two of you, “with your roommate a lot?”

He swallows and pauses for a minute before putting his arm around your waist and shifting closer to you. The movie has started, the screen filled with polaroids, and he lowers his voice, “I don’t do this with my roommate.” His moves are working and his intentions are clear, but you’re not going to be so easy.

You thread a hand through his hair, “Are you sure? You’ve never pressed your thigh against his while you were watching a movie together?” Your tone is teasing, lighthearted. It clearly gets at something deeper, though. His voice falters when he denies it. His cheeks redden.

You pull away from him, focus on the movie, and take a gulp of beer. Feigned indifference suits you well and it only makes Patrick want you more. For twenty minutes you watch him pretend to watch the movie in your peripheral vision.