Storyville: Hotel Folly – Folie à Deux

Even at their least convincing, ‘Storyville’ documentaries are rarely less than intriguing. And this is a case in point. Over five years, this film follows Helen Heraty – and to a lesser extent, her partner John – as they mortgage themselves up to the hilt to buy a historic mansion in York and convert it into a luxury hotel. They began the project in 2007, so anyone with even a tenuous grasp of recent British economic history can probably take a stab at guessing what happens next.

But there’s a problem or two. Despite the predictably mountainous obstacles they face, the couple are incredibly hard to root for. Heraty is particularly problematic – think the body of JK Rowling possessed by the spirits of Kirstie Allsopp and Katie Hopkins. But even that might be surmountable if this tale had wider resonance for the rest of austerity Britain. But it doesn’t, really. Heraty’s scheme is absurdly, aberrantly quixotic and she’s risked the futures of her seven children to take it on – and once or twice in the film, there are hints that things aren’t panning out too well for them.

There’s a tragic twist in the story which casts everything in a new light, but that only serves to make the viewer feel even more conflicted about what’s gone before. Funny, as in peculiar.