Gastón SolnickiS “The Souffler” is a Delightfully Bleak Meditation

Gastón Solnicki’s latest film, “The Souffler,” is entrancing and mercurial, much like his previous work.The plot is simple-a hotel manager learns his workplace will soon close-but Solnicki uses this threadbare storyline to explore a changing world. It’s a collaboration between Solnicki and Willem Dafoe,a bleak,black comedy that’s impressionistic in style and substance,and it’s an utter delight.

Lucius (Willem Dafoe) is stunned when he learns the Intercontinental Hotel in Vienna, which he’s managed for decades, has been sold to an Argentinean (played by Solnicki) and will be redeveloped. He’s enraged, but also, perhaps, a little melancholy. He realizes the hotel’s loss is a symptom of something bigger. The hotel-a symbol of a city, a country, even a continent-risks fading into oblivion. No more guests skating nearby. No more signature cocktails at the lavish bar. No more soufflés served at it’s restaurant.

But honestly, if the soufflés are anything to go by, the Vienna Intercontinental might deserve its fate. The dish serves as a blunt, poetic metaphor for the decline of a decades-old hotel. This approach extends to the snippets of routine Solnicki captures. While Dafoe’s lucius does launch a futile, farcical battle against the developer, “the Souffleur” (co-writ