Hotel Beau Séjour
Hotel Beau Séjour (also just Beau Séjour) is a Flemish-language Belgian supernatural crime drama television series, created by Bert Van Dael, Sanne Nuyens and Benjamin Sprengers, and directed by Nathalie Basteyns and Kaat Beels. It began airing on Belgian channel Eén on 1 January 2017 and on Arte in France, Germany and French-speaking Belgium on 2 March. It debuted on Netflix in some countries on 16 March 2017.[2][3]
| Hotel Beau Séjour | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Supernatural drama Crime drama Neo-noir |
| Created by |
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| Directed by |
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| Country of origin | Belgium |
| Original language(s) | Flemish |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 10 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 50 min. |
| Production company(s) | De Mensen |
| Release | |
| Original network | Eén Netflix |
| Picture format | 1080i (16:9 HDTV) |
| Original release | January 1, 2017[1] – present |
| External links | |
| Production website | |
A second season was confirmed for the series in November 2017,[4] and filming began in 2019. It is expected to return in 2021.
Synopsis
First season: In the village Lanklaar, in Limburg, Maasland, near Belgium's Dutch border, Belgian teenager Kato Hoeven (Lynn Van Royen) awakens at the small Hotel Beau Séjour to find a bloody corpse in the bathtub – her own. She has no memory of the day before her death or why she was there. She soon discovers that five people are able to see her and communicate with her as she desperately tries to find out who was responsible for her murder and why they killed her.[5]
Second season: Maurice, a Belgian Naval officer, awakes to discover his own dead body hanging from a mast on his sailboat off the coast of Bruges. Refusing to believe he hanged himself, he must solve his own murder.[6]
Cast
Victim
- Lynn Van Royen – Kato Hoeven, teenaged murder victim
People who can see Kato
- Kris Cuppens – Luc Hoeven, Kato's father
- Charlotte Timmers – Sofia Otten, Kato's 18-year-old stepsister
- Joke Emmers – Ines Anthoni, Kato's friend
- Johan van Assche – Alexander Vinken, local 'crooked' cop
- Joren Seldeslachts – Charlie Vinken, Alexander's son
- Jan Hammenecker - Marcus Otten, Kristel's husband and Kato's father in law
Kato's Family
- Inge Paulussen – Kristel Brouwers, Kato's mother
- Jan Hammenecker – Marcus Otten, Kristel's husband and Kato's father in law
- Guus Bullen – Cyril Otten, Kato's 12-years-old brother in law
- Charlotte Timmers - Sofia Otten, Kato's 18-years-old sister in law
- Reinhilde Decleir – Renee Brouwers, Kato's maternal grandmother
Police
- Roel Vanderstukken – Bart Blom, local police officer and Alexander's partner
- Katrin Lohmann – Marion Schneider, federal police detective who is the lead investigator into Kato's death
- Mieke De Groote – Dora Plettinckx, federal police detective
Other
- Tiny Bertels – Hild Jacobs, Alexander's wife and Charlie's mother
- Maarten Nulens – Leon Vinken, Kato's boyfriend, Charlie's cousin, a motocross racer
- Barbara Sarafian – Melanie Engelenhof, Leon's mother, Alexander's widowed sister-in-law and owner of the Hotel Beau Séjour
Episodes
Season 1 (2017)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Belgium viewers (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Body" "Het lijk" | Nathalie Basteyns & Kaat Beel | Basteyns, Beels, Sanne Nuyens, Benjamin Sprengers & Bert Van Dael | 1 January 2017 | 1.36 | |
| Belgian teen Kato awakens at a hotel, bloody and beaten, and is shocked to find her own naked corpse in the bathtub. She flees out the window and into the night when someone attempts to come into the room. With no memory of what happened to her, she soon realizes she is dead, as people cannot seem to hear nor see her, including her own mother. In the woods, she encounters a lone horse. She later returns to the hotel to discover her body is no longer there, and her confusion grows as she finds her father and stepsister are able to see her and communicate with her. Though she is dead, Kato still eats, sleeps, and feels pain like she is still alive. Her mother, Kristel, files a missing person's report, and Kato's body is discovered in a gravel pit flooded with water. | |||||||
| 2 | 2 | "The Five" "De vijf" | Basteyns & Beel | Basteyns, Beels, Nuyens, Sprengers & Van Dael | 8 January 2017 | 1.54 | |
| Police investigate after Kato's body, now blindfolded with a scarf, is pulled from the flooded pit. Kato discovers she was last seen in public at a shooting festival, where she was drunk, and that the coroner found Ecstasy ("XTC") in her system, and possible evidence of sexual assault. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to her head. Kato is surprised to find out that she broke up with her boyfriend, motocross racer Leon, at the festival the night of her death. She finds that five people are able to see her and see any objects she moves: her father Luc, a high school principal and alcoholic who believes he is suffering from delusions; her stepsister Sofia; her friend Ines; Leon's cousin Charlie, who just moved to town after supposedly traveling abroad; and Charlie's father Alexander Vinken, a local police officer investigating her death. Someone stole both Luc's keys the night of the festival and 8,000 euro from the motocross club. Luc, the club treasurer, suspects local punks Gianni and Danny. Local police chief Alexander finds CCTV video of Kato from a gas station, riding a motorbike with a man wearing a helmet and a distinctive neckchain, but he deletes it from the server after he recognizes the man. | |||||||
| 3 | 3 | "The Medium" "Het medium" | Basteyns & Beel | Basteyns, Beels, Nuyens, Sprengers & Van Dael | 15 January 2017 | 1.53 | |
| The two federal police detectives working the case, the German-born Marion Schneider and Dora Plettinckx, discover nude photos of Kato on Kato's laptop. Charlie goes to see his psychiatrist, Dr. Schneider (Detective Schneider's mother), as it's revealed he takes medication to prevent hallucinations, and the story about him traveling abroad was a cover for his stay in an institution. Kato tells Alexander – whose widowed sister-in-law Melanie, Leon's mother, owns the Beau Séjour – that she woke up in room 108 but later finds him in the room ripping up the carpet, to destroy evidence, claiming it is for renovation. She tries to convince the other four to inform Schneider about the truth of where her body was found. Charlie uses a local man Jefke – who frequently goes to the police because he thinks he possesses psychic powers – by putting the idea about Beau Séjour's room 108 in his head so he will tell the police. Luminol reveals the crime scene in the bathtub. | |||||||
| 4 | 4 | "The Opening" "De opening" | Basteyns & Beel | Basteyns, Beels, Nuyens, Sprengers & Van Dael | 22 January 2017 | 1.43 | |
| An eyelash found on Kato's body is determined to be that of a female, leading the detectives to theorize Kato was killed by a male and female working together. Schneider discovers a Dutch victim, Claudia de Wit, whose disappearance exactly five years prior bears striking similarities to their case. They question Jefke, but he has an alibi for the night Kato was killed. Charlie informs Kato that she kissed him at the festival the night before her death, after she had broken up with Leon. She begins to suspect that the reason those five people can see her is because she met them shortly before her death. Ines is making extra money by storing XTC at her job for her cousins Gianni and Danny. Melanie confesses to Alexander, with Kato overhearing, that she was the one who moved Kato's body into the gravel pit after finding her dead in her hotel. The hotel's renovation was almost complete and the opening was upcoming. | |||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Full Moon" "Volle maan" | Basteyns & Beel | Basteyns, Beels, Nuyens, Sprengers & Van Dael | 29 January 2017 | 1.50 | |
| The police investigate additional CCTV footage of Kato on the highway with the unknown motorcyclist. Alexander, who is having an affair with Melanie, threatens Kato to not tell anyone that Melanie moved her body. Alexander plots to steal the DNA sample taken from Melanie during the investigation before it can be tested. Sofia's interest in Leon becomes apparent, and Luc is enraged when he discovers she is taking motocross lessons while wearing Kato's own riding gear. Sofia's younger brother, Cyril, meanwhile, has feelings for the much older Ines. Alexander informs Kato that the motorcyclist she is seen with in the video is Hannes Vanderkerk, a Dutch drug dealer. Charlie goes to a party to buy XTC from Ines' partners, in order to try to find Vanderkerk, and is beaten by them outside for mentioning his name. Kato follows them and gets Vanderkerk's number from one of their cellphones and uses it to track him down to a wedding. She arrives and is stunned when she discovers he is an older man who can see her too. | |||||||
| 6 | 6 | "The Wedding" "De bruiloft" | Basteyns & Beel | Basteyns, Beels, Nuyens, Sprengers & Van Dael | 5 February 2017 | 1.51 | |
| Vanderkerk, who doesn't know Kato is dead, angrily confronts her for being at the wedding. Ines, who has been arrested along with her cousins after a police raid, denies she had anything to do with the XTC. Bart, a young police officer who works with Alexander, helps her out by suggesting that she declares she was only there to buy drugs, as this would get her off with a small fine, instead of a jail sentence. Alexander tries to break into the DNA lab to steal Melanie's sample but cannot go through with it. A USB flash drive with the CCTV footage Alexander erased from the gas station is sent to Schneider. The video clearly shows Vanderkerk's face after he removes his helmet. Vanderkerk is brought in for questioning about the video; he claims Kato (who he now realizes is a ghost) was hitchhiking and he only gave her a ride. Kato sees him hiding a SIM card in his sock. Kato and Charlie begin a relationship. Sofia is shocked to find out that her late mother, Veerle, who was killed in a car crash seven years earlier in the Netherlands, had been having an affair with Leon's dad, Boris, who also died in the crash, and that Kato and Leon both knew the truth. Alexander realizes Charlie took the USB stick and sent it to the federal police at Kato's request. Luc informs Kristel about Kato still being present, and he and Kato eventually convince her by answering questions about things only Kato knew, including a specific recipe. Alexander confronts Vanderkerk in a police van and ends up shooting him after a struggle. | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | "The Film" "De film" | Basteyns & Beel | Basteyns, Beels, Nuyens, Sprengers & Van Dael | 12 February 2017 | 1.43 | |
| A video of Sofia and Leon having sex is leaked and goes viral in their town. His mother tells Sofia she is a whore like her mother, and Leon runs away to stay at the family caravan with Sofia. She confesses to Kato that she has been in love with Leon for a long time, and Kato says she is happy for them to be together. Sofia then confesses it was she who slipped the XTC into Kato's drink the night she was killed, because of her jealousy over Leon. Alexander claims he shot and killed Vanderkerk in self-defense as he tried to escape. He is suspended pending investigation, but not before he steals Vanderkerk's SIM card. He later burns the SIM card and other evidence related to Kato's murder and uses Bart to try to influence Schneider to investigate Vanderkerk. Luc, desperate to spend time with his ex wife Kristel, begins lying and saying Kato is there with them when she's not. Her husband, Marcus, becomes jealous and drunkenly breaks into Luc's office at the local school late at night, where he urinates all over his desk. Melanie is arrested after the DNA results come back. The next morning, the bodies of Leon and Sofia, naked and blindfolded with scarves like Kato, are found hanging from a tree at the motocross track. | |||||||
| 8 | 8 | "The Maasland Murders" "De Maaslandmoorden" | Basteyns & Beel | Basteyns, Beels, Nuyens, Sprengers & Van Dael | 19 February 2017 | 1.41 | |
| Autopsies reveal that Leon and Sofia died of asphyxiation before they were hanged and large amounts of rohypnol were in their systems. Ines confesses to Kato that she was the one who stole the 8,000 euro from the motocross club, in order to buy the XTC from Vanderkerk. Angry, Kato leaves before Ines can explain that she needed the money because she is pregnant. Alexander's wife, Hilde, confesses that it was she who was responsible for the video of Leon and Sofia, because she was angry over his affair with Leon's mother. Charlie looks at Sofia's online photo album, which includes flirty comments from someone named White. White's profile page includes a message from Kato close to midnight before she died, that she would meet him at the shooting festival. Alexander tells Charlie that he is more upset over Leon's death than he would have been if it were Charlie who died. Charlie tells Kato he wishes he were dead too, so they could be together forever. Marcus fires Ines, who works at his produce store, because of village gossip over the XTC. Melanie attempts suicide in jail. Alexander tells Kato that the reason Charlie was committed was because he tried to murder Leon when they were young teens. Charlie suddenly confesses to the police that he killed Kato, Leon and Sofia. | |||||||
| 9 | 9 | "The Confession" "De bekentenis" | Basteyns & Beel | Basteyns, Beels, Nuyens, Sprengers & Van Dael | 26 February 2017 | 1.40 | |
| Charlie, who was previously diagnosed with borderline personality disorder with psychotic tendencies, tells the police that he had been plotting for a year to kill Leon. He claims the reason he killed Kato was because she was dating Leon, and that he planned to kill Leon that night after showing him Kato's body as well but was interrupted. Alexander, who is convinced he is lying, instead insists Leon and Sofia's murders were revenge for his killing of Vanderkerk. He threatens Vanderkerk's sister who denies her involvement but gives him a clue about the location of Vanderkerk's lab, after initially sending him on a wild goose chase. Kato, meanwhile, believes Charlie's confession to the police includes details from the notebook in which she was compiling clues about her death. Kato is stunned to see the message from her on White's blog and insists she has no idea who that is. She and Ines create a fake profile to contact him. Detective Schneider, who is suspicious of Charlie's sudden confession, notices that his handwriting matches the envelope from the USB drive she received in the mail. Dr. Schneider tells her daughter that she cannot tell her any information about Charlie because of doctor-patient confidentiality. Alexander is cleared in the death of Vanderkerk, which was ruled self-defense. Following clues from Vanderkerk's sister, Alexander discovers the dead drug dealer's lab in an underground bunker, and finds Kato's grandmother Renée there as it's on her farmland. Cyril takes his mother's gun and threatens Luc after he found out that he is the father of Ines' baby. Ines, using the fake profile, gets White to agree to meet her outside a stadium at night, where she ends up confessing her pregnancy to Kato. White arrives on a motorcycle, wearing a white helmet, but drives off when he sees it's Ines. After he drives away, he takes off his helmet: It's Bart, the police officer. Cyril, who has been locked in Renée's attic as punishment for threatening Luc, discovers bundles of cash under the floorboards. Kato goes to confront her father and is hit on the head from behind. | |||||||
| 10 | 10 | "The Night" "De nacht" | Basteyns & Beel | Basteyns, Beels, Nuyens, Sprengers & Van Dael | 5 March 2017 | 1.47 | |
| Kato regains consciousness and finds she has been buried "alive" in a wooden box. Marcus is enraged when Kristel tells him that she is speaking with Kato's ghost via Luc, who he insists is manipulating her to win him back. He breaks into Luc's house and sends out an email from Luc's laptop to his contacts, including Kristel, announcing that he is resigning because he's an alcoholic who impregnated a student, Ines. Ines goes to the police station and tells officer Bart about the on-line messages from White. Bart deletes the White account and later tells Charlie's mother that he was sending anonymous messages to Sofia and Kato because he was shy and lonely. Detective Schneider discovers that Alexander is a crooked cop and arrests him. She gets a call that Claudia de Wit's body is found on a farm in the Netherlands. The owners of the property claim they saw wild horses attacking the dirt before they first dug up an empty coffin and found a second coffin with De Wit's body buried below. Alexander sees the word "Subaru" written on the inside of the coffin in a crime scene photograph; Detective Schneider cannot see the word, so Alexander knows Kato wrote it; the empty coffin dug up actually had Kato in it, but the farmer could not see her. He tells Schneider about Kato still being "present" and she thinks he is crazy. Cyril gives the drug money he found in the attick to Ines, who insists he return it to his step-grandmother Renée. Renée says that belonged to her only in her previous life and that Cyril can keep it. Kato, once again bloody, returns home after a fight with Marcus. She finds photos of Marcus with a Subaru. Suddenly, she realizes he can see her too when he arrives and attacks her. CCTV footage from the night of the murders shows the same Subaru, which the police trace to Marcus' dead wife, Veerle. They realize that the shooting festival marked the beginning of Boris and Veerle's affair, which triggered Marcus to commit the four murders, starting with Claudia de Wit. Marcus tells Kato he had to stop Sofia from leaving him to run away with Leon, another Vinken. Luc returns to the house after realizing Marcus mentioned his desk and thus he is the one who urinated all over it. He attacks Marcus when he sees him strangling Kato; Kristel comes in to see the struggle between the two men and shoots Luc in the leg. The police arrive and arrest Marcus for the murders. Kato soon vanishes, along with the "Subaru" writing inside the coffin in the photo. Ines, driving away to start a new life, sees the lone black horse. A flashback to the night of Kato's death shows the events that transpired, including Marcus witnessing Kato and Charlie kiss at the festival. Unaware that she had broken up with Leon, Marcus becomes enraged at her infidelity. After she has been left at the gas station by Vanderkerk, Marcus picks up the inebriated and drugged Kato with his car, takes her to room 108 at the Beau Séjour, the same room in which he says his wife began her affair six years earlier with Boris, and murders her. Back in the present, Charlie is released from prison. He is the only one who can still see Kato. He apologizes for the false confession and sleeps with her again before she finally disappears completely. | |||||||
Production
The series' first season was shot on location at the real Hotel Beau Séjour ("Nice Stay") in Dilsen-Stokkem.[7] The father of series co-creator Nathalie Basteyns stayed at the hotel 10 years before the show was created, and it made an impression upon him. Basteyns and Kaat Beels conceived the idea for the series immediately after this, when the child murders of serial killer Marc Dutroux were still fresh in people's minds. They elected to add a supernatural element to the story to set it apart from other similar neo-noir dramas currently airing. Lynn Van Royen, who portrays teenager Kato, was 28 and pregnant with her second child during the shoot. The creators and producers hope to make the series an anthology, with a different dead character in each season.[8]
A second season was announced in November 2017. Sanne Nuyens, Bert Van Dael and Roel Mondelaers will return as writers.[4] For the second season, the writers received a subsidy of 25,000 euros from the Flemish Audiovisual Fund.[9]
In February 2019, it was announced that the city of Bruges and production house De Mensen had reached an agreement to film the second season in the village of Zeebrugge, a port on the coast of Belgium. Filming began in summer 2019 with Gene Bervoets cast in a main role.[6][10] The second season will feature an all-new cast and storyline, albeit with a similar premise of a murder victim trying to solve his own death. It is expected to return in 2021.[11] In December 2019, it was reported that Bervoets was injured during filming. He was treated at the hospital and released the same day.[12]
Reception
Hotel Beau Séjour has been well received by critics, with particular praise for Lynn Van Royen's portrayal of the murdered Kato.[13] John Doyle of The Globe and Mail compared it favorably to the first season of HBO's True Detective, calling it "a remarkably textured, slow-burning and compelling murder mystery."[5] The Los Angeles Times called Hotel Beau Séjour a "worthy new addition to a crowded streaming field of moody European crime thrillers."[14]
American horror master Stephen King praised the series on Twitter, calling Hotel Beau Séjour "Eccentric, brilliant, and strangely touching. Supernatural fare for those who don't ordinarily like it."[15]
References
- "Nieuw op Eén: Beau séjour". VRT.be (in Dutch). 13 December 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- "From Iron Fist to Boardwalk Empire, here's what's new on Netflix, CraveTV and Shudder in March". National Post. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
- Decré, Hanne (24 February 2017). ""Beau séjour" krijgt miljoenenpubliek op Netflix". De Redactie. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
- ""Beau séjour" krijgt een tweede seizoen" (in Dutch). VRT NWS. 8 November 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
- Doyle, John (17 March 2017). "John Doyle: Euro noir is alive and well in the excellent Hotel Beau Séjour". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- Theuns, Koen (19 February 2019). "'Kneusje van de kust' haalt Vlaamse topserie binnen: "Onbetaalbare reclame"". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 22 February 2019.
- Sokol, Kirsten (31 December 2016). "Maak kennis met de nieuwe zondagavondreeks op Eén: "Beau Séjour"". De Redactie. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
- "Nathalie Basteyns (Beau séjour) : "La fiction belge s'exporte bien"". Le Figaro (in French). 2 March 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
- "Er komt een tweede seizoen van Beau Séjour, en dit is de enige manier waarop dat kan lukken". NewsMonkey.be. 8 November 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
- Mitchell, Wendy (11 October 2019). "'Beau Sejour 2', Hitler wine comedy among hot TV projects at Connext". Screen. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
- "Hoofdrol voor Gene Bervoets in tweede seizoen Beau Séjour" (in Dutch). Eén. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- "Gene Bervoets reageert na ongeval op set van 'Beau Séjour 2': "Het enige wat nu telt, is rust"". HLN.be. 30 December 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- Delahaye, Martine (2 March 2017). "TV : " Beau Séjour ", une morte vivante enquête sur son assassinat". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- Barton, Chris (24 March 2017). "Overrated/Underrated: The Shins' 'Heartworms' buries its strengths while 'Hotel Beau Séjour' is worth checking out". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
- "Thriller-koning Stephen King kijkt Beau Séjour op Netflix en strooit met complimenten". NewsMonkey.be. 13 April 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
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