Diksha Sundriyal
Transporting the audience to the romantic air of Paris, Netflix’s ‘Berlin’ weaves a compelling story of a heist, which is made complicated by a romance that shouldn’t have happened. The titular character, who won hearts in ‘Money Heist,’ returns to reveal the previously unseen of and unheard-of parts of his story. This is the opportunity to peel away the layers of mystery that surround Berlin, but it is also a chance to get to see things unfold his way. What happens to his chaos when the Professor is not around to rein it in? All his chaos unravels on the streets of Paris, making the whole thing even more adventurous. While the heist is imaginary, does the same hold for other locations in the show? SPOILERS AHEAD
Gioconda and Le Reve D’or are Fictional Hotels
In ‘Berlin,’ the crew sets camp at the Gioconda Hotel. The choice of hotel is not based on the fact that it provides excellent service or any other amenity. In fact, it’s purely strategic. The hotel is right across the street from François Polignac, the man who holds the keys to the Vienot Auction House, the target of Berlin’s heist. Having an apartment right across the street allows Berlin and his crew to keep an eye on Polignac’s movements.
In reality, the scenes for the Gioconda Hotel were filmed at Rue Valentin Haüy. The name of the hotel was changed for the Netflix series. The same thing goes for another rather beautiful location in the series. After Berlin has succeeded in wooing Camille and they have embarked on a passionate affair, they go for a weekend getaway to Hotel Le Reve D’or. This is where Berlin goes through an upheaval when Camille reveals that she is still in love with her husband and will never leave her.
The beautiful surroundings of the hotel make Berlin, as well as the audience, acknowledge and appreciate its beauty, even though he doesn’t get to spend so much time there due to the accelerated timeline of the heist. Still, for the people interested in going to that location in real life, it must be noted that the real place is actually called Château d’Ormesson and was used by the crew of ‘Berlin’ to shoot parts of the series there.
In the show, Hotel Le Reve D’or serves not only as a romantic escape for Berlin and Camille but also becomes Berlin’s alibi should anyone point a finger at him post-heist. For all intents and purposes, he spent the night at the hotel, mainly because Camille had no idea when he slipped away to execute the heist that he’d been planning so intricately, following which he framed her husband. For her, Le Reve D’or is the only place where she can go and not worry about anything else in her life. That’s until the heist happens, and everything comes crashing down on her.
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