Black Mirror, Hotel Reverie: the original movie inspiring the episode

Yes, there’s an original noir movie that inspired the episode Hotel Reverie in season 7 of Black Mirror: let’s dive into it together.

It was defined the ‘San Junipero’ of Black Mirror Season 7: Hotel Reverie, the third episode of the latest season, captivated viewers with its distinct retro vibe, the presence of a tender love story, and the clever use of film noir—a classic cinematic genre that still holds a special place in the hearts of many cinephiles. We were so swept away by the way Brandy and Clara fall in love, in the captivating black-and-white backdrop of a classic film, that one question naturally came to mind: what’s the original movie that inspired the episode?

The plot of Hotel Reverie is truly unique. Brandy is a modern-day actress who agrees to take part in an innovative project: to remake a classic noir movie using advanced technology that allows her to ‘enter’ the film as a digital consciousness, interacting with the characters as if they were real people. In this way, the film unfolds in real time, with the original characters reacting live to dialogue and events as they happen. Of course, there will be surprises, because Brandy’s live actions will change the course of the story.

To answer your curiosity about the original noir movie behind Hotel Reverie: no, there isn’t an actual film called Hotel Reverie. The love story we see in the Black Mirror episode was written specifically for Season 7, drawing inspiration from the classic elements of 1940s and 1950s noir movies. The increasingly tangled plot, the sharp dialogues, and the instantly iconic lines—like the one Brandy has to deliver at the end to return to the real world—are all hallmarks of the genre. Anyone familiar with classic noir cinema will recognize those signature traits inside the episode.

And yet, there is a film that directly inspired Charlie Brooker in writing Hotel Reverie. He spoke about it himself in this interview with Radio Times: the Black Mirror creator already had a vague idea for an episode where an actor is immersed within a film, but he couldn’t quite figure out the right angle. The final spark came after Brooker watched the 1945 film Brief Encounter, widely regarded as one of the most beautiful films ever made: that classic film sparked the creation of Hotel Reverie in season seven of Black Mirror. You can find the original trailer below.

In the original plot of Brief Encounter, a married woman falls in love with a doctor she has just met. Their passion overwhelms them, but the relationship can’t fully unfold because the woman already has a husband. The two ultimately part ways in an iconic train station scene. Similarly, in Hotel Reverie, Clara is a married woman who falls for Dr. Alex Palmer. In the original version of the film (before the changes introduced in the remake), the two are also forced to part ways in the end, resigned to the fact that they cannot live out their love story.

Watch below the pivotal scene from Brief Encounter, where the protagonist realizes this is the last time she will see the man she has fallen in love with.

The charm of Hotel Reverie is inherited from the power of classic noir movies, and it’s this very quality that sparked the comparison with San Junipero, the episode from Black Mirror’s third season: a perfect example of how the aesthetics of old-time cinema can still move us all today.

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