Title of Proposal: Last Chance Hotel
Logline: A story about a man losing himself to the temporal idols of wealth and success and finding life while seeking death.
The Story:
Jack Monnier is a thirty-ish New York finance executive, driven and hugely successful, but emotionally hollow and spiritually drained. One day, reckless impetuosity results in a financial disaster in which, in the space of a few hours, he ruins both himself and a large, established finance house.
In the depths of his suicidal despair and self-pity, he is approached by an enigmatic oriental man who persuades him to accept a seductive proposition - a sojourn at a former Indian fort-palace, now converted to a grand hotel. Here, his new acquaintance assures him he will find either the peace of mind to happily accept his own death, or rediscover himself and the spiritual and emotional courage to go on with his life. The ultimate decision, he is told, will be his.
On the way to the mountain retreat he meets other new guests on the same ambiguous journey. Among them is Asha, an attractive but elusive Anglo/Indian woman.
As other guests at the hotel begin the second part of their journey - toward a tranquil end - Monnier begins to find new reasons for living, Asha among them. He decides to accept the harder option of life over easy death and return to New York but what was to be his last day at the hotel almost becomes his last day on earth when he barely survives Asha's attempt to kill him. The choice, he begins to understand, is not his after all.
Monnier manages to make his way back to New York and deal with his past - and his future - where he meets Asha again. She too, he learns, has decided to give this life another try before accepting the next.