The Women And The Passenger

The Women And The Passenger. Love in a motel in Santiago

The women in this documentary have a lot of cleaning to do. They work in motel El Pasajero, where the guests generally don’t stay longer than a few hours. The rooms don’t have to be particularly beautiful, as long as there’s a bed on which the couples can indulge their carnal passions, sometimes under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

We don’t see or hear much of these visitors, other than the odd leg, disembodied voices and - increasingly as the film progresses - moaning. They are filmed nonchalantly, from a strange, accidental-looking angle, as if they are not important. The visitors are in fact just extras in this love story. How else could you get a positive view of love in a place like this? We follow four female cleaners during their daily rounds. 

They change the beds, polish the mirrors and energetically wipe down a clinical-looking sex chair. As they work, they talk about love. In spite of everything they see and hear at work, their idea of love is strikingly romantic.